Chapter 175 – Treasure Hunter (1/2)

Chapter 175 – Treasure Hunter

Nie Yan glanced at the name of the retreating figure, Hapless Frog. He knitted his brows, thinking it sounded vaguely familiar. If he remembered correctly, Hapless Frog was a professional gamer. He never stepped over the threshold to become a Shadow Dancer in the previous timeline, but that had nothing to do with his skill. It was because he poured all his energy into a different grand undertaking, opening treasure chests! He was a talented, albeit somewhat eccentric Thief. When it came to seeking treasure, however, very few people could match him; he was considered the undisputed champion of treasure-hunting.

There were actually quite a few who held the Shadow Dancer title in the previous timeline, though some of them chose to keep their identities private. On the other hand, very few players earned the Treasure Hunter title. In the entire Viridian Empire, there were maybe two or three—Hapless Frog was one of them!

Nie Yan knew just how difficult it was to earn the Treasure Hunter title. In his past life, he didn’t manage to get the title even after finding and opening close to 6,000 chests. He didn’t find many chests in normal maps back then, but he used to find three to five chests every day, on average, when he explored dungeons. Even so, he was still far from getting the title.

From the rumours he remembered from his past life, over sixty percent of Hapless Frog’s skills were dedicated to helping him escape from dangerous situations; he only had a small number of combat skills at hand. The number of skills available increased as the game progressed. A player might have around 20 to 30 skills on the lower range, or 30 to 40 skills on the higher range. Most players had more skills available than they could possibly use, so they focused on the few handy skills that suited their playstyle the most.

Hapless Frog was no exception, but most of his go-to skills were all meant for fleeing! His style revolved so much around escaping that he dared to explore Level 150–160 maps in search of treasure chests when he was only Level 80–90. He was certainly an oddball. He missed the opportunity to become a Shadow Dancer due to his lack of offensive skills, but by no means was he some unknown player. Many amazing figures, even the guild leaders of large guilds, would contact him with the hope of procuring some of the items he dug up.

Nie Yan received a message. He glanced at the identity of the sender in the chat window and was surprised to see that it was Hapless Frog.

「Hey, hey, not bad! You’re pretty amazing! I lost fair and square, so the gold treasure chest is all yours. Just a quick question. Are you the same Nirvana Flame from Asskickers United?」Hapless Frog could be considered a pretty open-minded individual. Then again, with things like treasure chests, if you missed out on one you could go somewhere else and find another one.

Nie Yan chuckled as he read the question. Hapless Frog probably saw his name before at some point. He didn’t reply to Hapless Frog but sent an invitation to the Union of Assassins instead. Hapless Frog operated as a solo player because he sold to everyone. His business would take a big hit if he chose a side, so an invite to Asskickers United would probably be met with refusal.

Nie Yan didn’t bother recruiting him as he was aware of this fact.

Hapless Frog felt Nie Yan wasn’t going to reply. Just as he was about to move on to the next area to search for treasure chests, a system notification popped up.

Nirvana Flame has invited you to join Union of Assassins (Special Server). Do you accept?

Hapless Frog felt like he’d heard of the name before from his peers in the gaming circle. It was an organization for professional players that was established a few days ago. It became a hot topic of discussion after a large amount of Battle Crazed Alliance joined.

The Union of Assassins was just a chat server. It didn’t have the restrictive nature of a guild, so Hapless Frog didn’t see any harm in checking out what all the fuss was about.

Hapless Frog hit accept and entered the server. He briefly scanned over the Union of Assassins’ introduction and instantly understood what it was about. The organization could become very helpful to his business in the future. Looking at the top of the server’s rankings, he saw five anonymous Princes. He wondered what position Nie Yan held.

Nie Yan confirmed that Hapless Frog had joined the Union of Assassins. He would have to complete several tasks and earn points in order to receive the title of Baron. Nie Yan expected that with his skills, Hapless Frog wouldn’t face any problems advancing in rank.

The combined efforts of Sleepy Fox, Kill Love, and Fa Lan helped the Union of Assassins grow to nearly 2,000 members. Their network of contacts extended far more deeply than the players that founded the Union of Assassins in the previous timeline. Sleepy Fox and Kill Love were influential figures who basically knew everyone of importance in the professional gaming circle. They invited over five hundred members from their respective organizations alone. They also attracted a great deal of clients.

Fa Lan, on the other hand, wasn’t a professional player. He was, however, a towering everwood in other large virtual reality games. The reputation he built up for himself during his time spent playing those games, allowed him to be in close contact with many professional players. Furthermore, he also knew many bosses from various large companies. It wasn’t long before he had invited several hundred people as well, all of whom were potential customers.

Once the Union of Assassins was acknowledged by more and more professional players, it would certainly experience an even more explosive growth in the future.

After adding Hapless Frog to the Union of Assassins, Nie Yan planned to search for more treasure chests while making his way to the Light Monastery.

「Do you mind me asking what you used to get over that cliff?」

Hapless Frog knew his question was rather intrusive, but he couldn’t help himself. As a player who devoted himself to searching for treasure chests, Nie Yan’s abilities truly possessed an irresistible attractive force.

Nie Yan pondered whether or not he wanted to share this information. He concluded that revealing it to Hapless Frog wouldn’t be of any harm to him.

「Crawler Ring, it’s a rare item.」

When Hapless Frog read the reply, he gave up any hope of acquiring one. Rare items were difficult to find; one could only come upon them by chance.