Chapter 115: Freedom’s Price

After paying the hiring fee, Nie Yan saw an old man with a limp walking toward him.

Seeing the old man, Nie Yan became even more certain—this was the one, no doubt!

“Respected sir, I am Inselas. Thank you for hiring me. My family and I offer our sincere gratitude,” said Inselas. His face was aged, his clothes tattered, his exposed skin as dry and rough as old tree bark. He had a crippled leg and was generally unattractive in appearance.

Inselas having a family made sense after some thought.

“This is the shop. I’m entrusting it to you for management. I will explain in detail how to operate it,” Nie Yan nodded toward Inselas. He was thinking about how to maximize the value of Inselas’s diplomatic skill. For now, assigning him to manage the apothecary seemed appropriate.

Nie Yan felt quite confident entrusting the shop to Inselas. Employees with a reputation score over 30 were unlikely to steal, and Inselas’s reputation was as high as 37.

Nie Yan repaired the shop, had Niaobushengdan deliver all the potions already crafted for sale, and posted a recruitment advertisement looking for potion crafters. He knew that relying solely on a future potion master wouldn’t be enough to develop the pharmacy; a large number of intermediate potion crafters would also be needed.

He decided on the shop’s name: Starlight Apothecary. Not particularly unique, but simple and easy to remember.

Nie Yan instructed Inselas to start selling Blackphenol Potions, their ingredients, and formulas. To avoid revealing his identity, Nie Yan set the shop owner’s name to hidden.

Each unit of Blackphenol Potion ingredients was priced at twenty copper coins, each Blackphenol Potion at sixty copper coins, and each Blackphenol Potion formula at thirty silver coins—much higher than market purchase prices, especially the formula, which was outrageously expensive. Nie Yan planned to list these items at high prices first. Whether or not large guilds wanted to buy them was fine with him. In the near future, Blackphenol Potion prices wouldn’t drop, so every sale counted. Once prices stabilized, he could sell off the rest.

After arranging everything, Nie Yan looked around the shop. It was empty inside, but he planned to fill it with more potions to get the apothecary fully operational.

Currently, potion crafters were of very low levels. Even if he hired a few, their levels wouldn’t be high, so there was no need to rush. Nie Yan turned and walked out.

“Huh, when did a pharmacy open here?” Three players passing by noticed Nie Yan’s pharmacy. After all, amidst so many dilapidated buildings, the sudden appearance of a refined and brand-new structure was hard to miss.

“Let’s go check it out.”

The three players walked over and looked up, discovering Nie Yan just exiting the shop.

“Hey, buddy, when did this pharmacy open?” The one who greeted Nie Yan was a warrior named Shifenhaochang, with a burly build around six feet tall, his voice booming and startling.

Nie Yan glanced at Shifenhaochang and replied with a light smile, “I’m just passing by. I came in to take a look. I don’t know when it opened.”

“Oh, okay, thanks. Tuoba, let’s go inside and see if there are healing potions or mana potions.”

“It seems like there aren’t any,” Nie Yan replied to Shifenhaochang, since the pharmacy hadn’t officially opened yet.

“A newly opened pharmacy probably doesn’t have much stock,” another lazy-sounding player added.

Nie Yan looked at the young man behind Shifenhaochang. He was a paladin, handsome but somewhat unkempt and laid-back. The name Tuoba sounded familiar. Checking the name, Nie Yan found it wasn’t someone he knew. He walked out and passed Shifenhaochang and the others.

“No healing or mana potions at all! What kind of pharmacy is this? And located in such a remote place, business must be terrible,” another arcane mage commented.

Shifenhaochang and the other two entered the pharmacy.

“Grass, it’s Blackphenol Potion! And even the formula!”

“So expensive!”

Nie Yan had just reached the street when Shifenhaochang’s loud voice came from behind. They hadn’t expected to find the recently popular Blackphenol Potion here. Major guilds were desperately seeking Blackphenol Potion formulas, yet here they were available for sale. Just this alone indicated that the shop owner must be no ordinary person.

Hearing Shifenhaochang’s voice, Nie Yan paused briefly, smiled faintly, and walked away. Players had already discovered the Blackphenol Potion sales here. He knew the news would spread quickly. Guilds needing Blackphenol Potions would definitely come to check. Those in urgent need might even purchase some.

Blackphenol Potions were already extremely rare on the market, let alone their formulas. Nie Yan was sure there would be many interested players.

“Nie Yan, where are you now?” Tang Yao sent a message to Nie Yan.

“In Carol City. How are you and Yulan and the others doing with monster hunting?”

“I’m almost 56% into level six. Pretty good leveling speed, right?” Tang Yao said proudly. He was becoming more proficient with magic, and with the monster-hunting coordinates Nie Yan provided, their levels were rising quickly.

But if Nie Yan told Tang Yao he was already level nine, who knows how he would react.

“Not bad,” Nie Yan nodded. This leveling speed was already top-tier, only slightly slower than the elite players grinding in the Saos Valley hunting werewolves.

“I met Chen Bo again. That guy kept spouting nonsense and even wanted to duel me, but I one-shot him with a Fireball. He tried to get Yulan and Yaoya to drive me away, but he didn’t even look in the mirror to see who he is. No one in the team would listen to him, not even Baikaisui, who stood on my side. Chen Bo couldn’t face the embarrassment and left the party,” Tang Yao said joyfully.

One-shotting Chen Bo and driving him out of the team, Tang Yao must have felt extremely proud.

Tang Yao, equipped with Pyromancer gear, had fire damage bonuses. At present, even the top fire-damage players in guild elite teams couldn’t exceed that. With Chen Bo’s gear, there was no way he could withstand Tang Yao’s Fireball. As a rogue, getting one-shotted by Tang Yao’s Fireball during a duel was a huge failure. If Nie Yan had been the one fighting, Tang Yao wouldn’t have had the chance to cast Fireball at all.

“Be careful. Chen Bo holds grudges easily. If he wants to save face, he’ll definitely cause you trouble,” Nie Yan warned, worried that Chen Bo might send people to ambush Tang Yao. After all, Chen Bo wasn’t known for being broad-minded.

“Scared of him? If he comes, we can fight again,” Tang Yao replied confidently in his usual carefree manner.

Tang Yao was always this kind of person. Even after Nie Yan’s warning, he probably wouldn’t pay much attention. Remembering Tang Yao’s unfortunate incident at a bar in their previous life, Nie Yan felt a pang in his heart. Brother, if anyone dares to harm you in this life, I’ll make them pay back tenfold, whether in the game or in real life!

Nie Yan took a deep breath to calm himself.

“Better safe than sorry.”

“Do you want to level with us? Some of the girls in the team miss you.”

“I have some other things to do. You guys keep leveling. It’s too slow for me to level with you,” Nie Yan replied casually.

“Uh, what level are you?” Tang Yao was surprised. He suddenly realized he had forgotten to ask Nie Yan’s level.

“I’m over level nine. Don’t tell others, to avoid drawing too much attention,” Nie Yan said. With his close friend, there was no need to hide his level.

“Grass, so fast! How did you level up so quickly?”

“After I finish things here, I’ll help you level up,” Nie Yan said. He still needed to retrieve a Chapter of Order and planned to come back and team up with Tang Yao. Nie Yan had many efficient ways for mages to level up quickly.

“Then we have a deal,” Tang Yao said excitedly. He had no idea how Nie Yan leveled so fast, but his speed was impressive.

Nie Yan and Tang Yao chatted for a while before ending the voice call. After preparing some consumables, Nie Yan headed toward the teleportation point.

Nie Yan carefully evaluated the difficulty of obtaining the Chapter of Order and the attributes of each chapter before finally deciding on his target: the sixth chapter of the Chapter of Order—the Chapter of Freedom! Compared to the Chapter of Courage, the Chapter of Freedom was more suitable for rogues.

Nie Yan arrived at the teleportation point and stepped into the teleportation circle.

System: Are you sure you wish to teleport to Heims, the Gate of the Deadlands? This is a special teleportation that costs 20 silver coins.

Nie Yan clicked confirm. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a desolate and barren landscape. The sky was gloomy, and cold winds howled. This was a lifeless wasteland, with remnants of ancient war machines and numerous half-buried bones in the sand, faintly telling their stories. This had once been an ancient battlefield, but the noise of the past was long gone. Now, it was a dead zone, untouched by anyone.

On the map of Atlantis, Heims lay north of the Greelan Empire. Legends say there was an entrance to the underground city here. On this side, the entrance was guarded by a group of archangels, while on the other side, demons stood, completely separating the two worlds. During the co-governance era, countless wars occurred here, resulting in the deaths of millions of creatures.

The existence of Heims, the Gate of the Deadlands, was legendary. The official announcement that the Chapter of Freedom was hidden somewhere within Heims caused a massive stir among players. Countless teams entered here, and countless PKs occurred, making this place a true land of death.

The first volume of the Chapter of Order consisted of six chapters. If they hadn’t been found within three months, the official would reveal their locations. Once all six chapters of the Chapter of Order were found, the next expansion pack would be released.

Therefore, Nie Yan only had three months. If he couldn’t collect all six chapters of the Chapter of Order within three months, he would have to join other players in the scramble for the Chapter of Order.

Whatever the case, he needed to get the Chapter of Freedom first, Nie Yan thought.