Chapter 170 – Kill Stealing (1/2)

Chapter 170 – Kill Stealing

After finishing his business with the Union of Assassins, Nie Yan checked the level leaderboards. Currently in first place was Tang Yao at Level 25 followed by Heaven Breaker at Level 24. Although Heaven Breaker was consistently a level behind Tang Yao, the gap between them was actually growing wider.

「Eh, you’re out?」Tang Yao sent a message.

「Yep, I’m finally out.」

「Wanna join back up with us to hunt Scaled Frogs?」

「Nah, I’ve got some stuff to do. Go on without me. Besides, the experience should still be pretty good, even at your level,」Nie Yan replied.

Overtaking the top players on the leaderboards wasn’t difficult. It wouldn’t make much of a difference if he put off levelling for a few days. Ranking up his Lockpicking Specialist skill would be a better use of his time. Otherwise, he’d be helpless when he encountered a locked chest on higher level maps.

The guild treasury was filled with no less than five hundred pieces of Level 30 equipment. Some of it was from his time in the quest map, but most of them came from Tang Yao and the others who contributed around four hundred pieces of equipment. They had killed several dozen Sub-Elite and Elite Scaled Frogs every single day for the last week or so on a non-stop grind.

The frightening quantity of high-level equipment in the treasury left the guild members speechless! However, they also felt a little depressed. Though it was nice to see so many pieces of high-level equipment, none of them were even close to Level 30, so they wouldn’t be able to use all of that equipment for a long time. Plus, there was a severe shortage of low-level equipment in the guild!

「What are you busy with?」Tang Yao blankly asked.

「I found a Lockpicking skill recently, but it’s still only at Junior rank. I want to raise it a bit before heading off to a high-level map.」

Nie Yan planned to hop from one place to the next opening chests, mainly to improve his Lockpicking Specialist skill. It would also give him an opportunity to pick up some more low-level equipment for the guild. He felt it was about time he started collecting the other chapters from the Book of Order as well.

「Oh, so it’s like that… Alright, I see then.」

「Did you clear your red name yet?」

「Yeah, it’s cleared, but I still didn’t find a Killer’s Demonic Medallion.」

「Really? I guess you’re pretty unlucky. So be it then…」

Despite his casual reply to Tang Yao, he was confused that the Killer’s Demonic Medallion didn’t drop. There was no mistake, he knew for a fact that Scaled Frogs dropped the Killer’s Demonic Medallion. Was it possibly due to Tang Yao’s red name not being severe enough…? No, that was impossible! He had killed almost a hundred players!

At times, luck came in waves you were helpless to resist. Other times, you could be so down on your luck it was like you were stuck in a deep pit.

Arriving at the Starry Night Potion Shop, Nie Yan upgraded it to a Tier 4 shop. He also found that Bird had hired many Tinkerers, Scroll Makers, Disassemblers, etc. Basically, anyone who had reached the Master rank in their respective crafting profession in the previous timeline was scouted out by the Starry Night Potion Shop. Its formidable financial fortunes swayed the hearts of many. Some of them signed on immediately, while others chose to wait and see. Even though the Starry Night Potion Shop dominated the market for Alchemists, there was no guarantee of similar results in other markets. However, the invitation from the Starry Night Potion Shop did ensure that the ones who didn’t join straight away wouldn’t rashly accept an offer from another power.

Nie Yan was elated at the rapid expansion of his capital, but he also felt a sense of crisis. All of the properties in several cities had been snatched up. His properties accounted for less than three percent of the purchasable land in the Viridian Empire. Luckily, they were all relatively valuable. If he calculated their worth later on, they could possibly make up around thirty percent of the total value of the empire’s real-estate market. Many of his properties had fallen into the hands of the major guilds, top teams, or wealthy individuals.

However, the most lucrative part of Conviction wasn’t in real-estate. No, it laid in the most important military structure that every major power would soon struggle for control over, strongholds! For guilds, a stronghold was equivalent to a base. It also accommodated various business enterprises because ordinary players were allowed to trade inside. Guilds could tax every transaction made within their stronghold. As for management, they could assign housing and various other things to players. As such, many powers would rather focus all their energy on expanding their forces, heavily investing into their guild treasuries, than spend too much resources on purchasing land. Waiting for real-estate to appreciate was a long and slow process. With a powerful force, however, what awaited them in the future would not merely be land but entire cities within strongholds!

Nie Yan sent a message to Guo Huai.

「Did Young Seven and the others get those Unknown Transfer Scrolls I asked for?」

「Yeah, they got two.」

「Good, send them to me through the mail.」

「Alright.」

Nie Yan felt he had way too many things on his plate right now. Although there was so much he could do as a person who had woken up in the past, he could only focus on a few things at a time while doing his utmost to improve his strength.

After withdrawing the Unknown Transfer Scrolls, he teleported to Link Town. Evading the sight of other players, he exited the town gates. He really wasn’t afraid of common players, he just didn’t want to deal with the problems caused by someone following him

His destination was a certain cave in the Peaceful Dream Gill, a Level 20 map. The Chapter of Wisdom was inside, guarded by a Hellfire Guard. The Hellfire Guard would fall asleep for two minutes every two hours. He planned to take advantage of that time to get around the guard and snatch the chapter. Two minutes wasn’t enough to let him safely evacuate, but by using an Unknown Transfer Scroll, he would be able to immediately escape. The scroll made getting the Chapter of Wisdom much easier.

However, the Chapter of Wisdom was mainly for Mages. The bonuses it gave to them were especially powerful. So it wasn’t that useful to Nie Yan. Just like with the Chapter of Courage and the Chapter of Freedom, the former was more suited for Warriors who bravely took up the vanguard, while the latter was more suited for a Thief like him.

The Peaceful Dream Gill was the go-to place for Level 10–20 players to level. Currently, a party of six was grinding mobs there: one Paladin, one Priest, and four Mages.