Chapter 123 – 130 Strength! (1/2)
Chapter 123 – 130 Strength!
Disappear was an exceptional life-saving skill. In his previous timeline, it enabled Quiet Life to turn the tide of battle or escape the grasp of death unscathed on multiple occasions. As such, one could imagine just how vital this skill was to the success of both him and Victorious Return. As for Sacrificial Gambit, Nie Yan already possessed 360 health—30% of that would be around 100. In other words, once the skill was activated, he had a 50% chance of dealing 200 damage, 20% chance of dealing 300 damage, or 10% chance of dealing 500 damage. Although there was a 20% chance of missing, in terms of potential single-target damage output, it was still an extremely, terrifying skill.
In that respect, Sacrificial Gambit classified as an advanced Thief skill. Although a two-day cooldown might seem a little excessive, such a powerful skill naturally demanded some restrictions in place, much like Elemental Palace Magic and Templar Magic which had similar drawbacks. Not to mention, there was also Adjudicator of God, the skill from the Chapter of Courage, which required ten full days before it could be used again. To this date, the skill had still yet to come off cooldown! Even if used efficiently, he would only be able to cast such a skill thirty-six times a year at most!
With Adjudicator of God, Disappear, and Sacrificial Gambit, Nie Yan reckoned he was pretty close to tackling another chapter from the Book of Order, but now wasn’t the right time.
Checking his stats, he confirmed that his Strength had risen to 83. If he learned the five passive skill books he had requested from Sleepy Fox, then figured out a way to raise his Strength by a few more points, he would finally be able to equip Sulgata’s Boots.
「How’s things on your side?」Nie Yan sent a message to Tang Yao.
「Not bad, I’m still grinding on the skeletons. My Arcane Fairy is only at 67% though. Hell, why is it so hard to rank it up? I’ve been at it for two days already. I swear I’m about to die from boredom! If I took the experience for myself instead, I would have already been Level 10!」Tang Yao said in a gloomy and dissatisfied tone.
「Well, I don’t really know what to say… Arcane Fairies are just difficult to raise. Hold out for another day or two, alright?」Nie Yan chuckled. In truth, this sort of monotonous grinding was like a form of torture for someone as restless as Tang Yao. Then again, his brother’s temperament could use a bit of grinding and tempering…
「Sigh… I understand,」Tang Yao replied dejectedly. Rather than one or two days, he would be here for at least three more. After all, if he stayed here to train for another two days after raising his fairy’s rank, he would easily be able to reach Level 10 or higher. Naturally, he didn’t want to let such an opportunity slip by, since if he wanted to come back here, he would need to fork over another twenty silver for the transfer fee. Not to mention, without the Skeleton Kodos’ protection, he would have no way of reaching these sandy dunes.
「Well, you should keep levelling. I’ll be returning to the city first, but before that, did you bring a Return Scroll with you? I can give you one if you didn’t.」
「No worries, I brought one. I’ll be fine on my own.」
「Ah, alright. I’ll be leaving then. Catch you later.」
Nie Yan found a spacious and empty area before he began channeling a Return Scroll. After a brilliant flash of light, he was teleported back to Calore.
「Have you found the skill books for Backstab and Eviscerate yet?」Nie Yan sent Sleepy Fox a message as he leisurely strolled toward the auction house.
「We’ve found them. Where are you right now? I’ll have someone deliver them to you.」
「Calore. I’ll be beside the Auction House entrance.」
「Gotcha, someone’ll be there in five minutes tops!」
Nie Yan patiently waited at the auction house entrance. Soon, a player from Holy Empire found him and initiated a trade, placing seven skill books in the trade window.
「Here are the items our guild leader asked me to give you.」
「Here’s the thirty silver as payment.」He placed the money in the trade window.
「Alright, thanks.」
After receiving the payment, the Holy Empire player said goodbye before departing.
Nie Yan scanned over these skill books. Backstab and Eviscerate were both active skills that dealt decent damage. This left him quite satisfied since he was currently lacking such skills, hence why he had asked Sleepy Fox to search for a few. Afterwards, he glanced over at the five remaining skill books.
Power of the Barbarian, Primal Strength, Strength Amplification, Strength of the Restless, and Power of the Warlock increased Strength by 6, 5, 5, 5, and 6 respectively.
Despite being uncommon, skill books such as these were fairly inexpensive. Although their efficiency was limited, and Thieves didn’t place much importance on Strength, once they entered Nie Yan’s hands, it became an entirely different matter. After learning the five passive skills, his Strength rose to 110. Now, he was only 20 points away from his target of 130.
This gap could be easily remedied. He proceeded into the auction house and sat down in a corner.
After purchasing all equipment and consumables that protected against petrification, he opened up the gem section in the auction house’s catalogue, whereupon a dazzling display of glittering jewels was presented before his eyes. After searching for Strength Gems, immediately hundreds of results were projected on the display.
The Strength Gems were all of the lowest quality—Strength +3. If he wished to socket them, then he would need to bring them over to a Jewelsmith and pay a fee of three silver. In ordinary circumstances, most players would never part with this such a sum After all, equipment was swapped out too often at this stage of the game. If socketed on a good piece of equipment, there was the fear that the piece of equipment would be wasted. If socketed on a mediocre piece of equipment, then it was a waste of money. Therefore, player demand for Strength Gems greatly declined, which was why their price was somewhat on the low side, costing only three silver.
Nie Yan spent twenty-four silver to purchase eight Strength Gems. Afterwards, he headed over to a Jewelsmith and socketed two gems each into his gloves, shoulder guards, leg guards, and leather chest-armour.