Nie Yan logged off and contacted Tang Yao and Gu Huai. Gu Huai had already completed the process of recruiting Cui Can Dao Guang into the guild. The number of members in the Niu Ren Tribe had reached an astonishing 106,000. For a level-one guild, such a large membership was extremely rare. After reaching 106,000 members, the influx of new players gradually slowed down. Gu Huai and others started dividing responsibilities, scrutinizing the backgrounds of each member. Those with suspicious backgrounds who failed the screening were expelled from the guild. Although this process could not fully guarantee that there were no spies from rival guilds, it at least ensured a certain level of purity within the guild.
A statistical review showed that around 3,000 members were level ten or higher. While this ratio was somewhat low, it was still acceptable.
Cui Can Dao Guang, along with leaders like Dai Tou Da Ge Qi Zai, formed the guild’s elite team. Joining the elite team usually required signing an agreement. It wasn’t easy to leave the elite team once entered; members had to return all the resources provided by the guild and pay a large penalty fee. Each guild invested heavily in its elite team, as every member was considered a top talent. If these elite members left, it would cause significant losses to the guild. Therefore, agreements were necessary to bind them.
However, once entering the elite team, members would gain access to more guild resources, which would definitely offer greater development opportunities compared to ordinary players, so they still signed the agreements.
After signing the agreements, the guild’s only Primary Resurrection (Chu Ji Fu Huo) was handed over to Dai Tou Da Ge Qi Zai.
At this stage, a Basic Resurrection was extremely valuable. Even if someone offered dozens of gold coins on the market, it might still be difficult to purchase one due to its rarity. Most elite teams of large guilds had not yet obtained Basic Resurrection, which would not become more common until players reached level twenty.
Basic Resurrection could only revive players within a team and could not be used during combat. When raiding dungeons, sometimes the team would suffer heavy casualties midway and be unable to proceed. With Basic Resurrection, they could revive their teammates. When facing the final boss, it was difficult to achieve a flawless victory, often requiring the sacrifice of several players to defeat the boss. The resurrection ability helped avoid many losses.
Therefore, for players like Dai Tou Da Ge Qi Zai, having the Primary Resurrection (Chu Ji Fu Huo) made dungeon runs significantly easier.
Everything was progressing in an orderly manner. Nie Yan believed that with the skills of Dai Tou Da Ge Qi Zai, Cui Can Dao Guang, and others, the team would eventually develop formidable combat power after a period of coordination and practice.
After finishing his conversation with Tang Yao and Gu Huai, Nie Yan continued to follow his own training and learning plan. After this period of intensive training, he felt full of strength, his physical reactions had become sharper than before, and he had grown about three centimeters taller and stronger.
Nie Yan’s parents were about to return soon, and his longing for them grew stronger.
Just as Nie Yan anxiously awaited their return, his aunt and uncle visited again, only to find that his parents had not yet returned, and they left disappointed. Since they learned Nie Yan had the opportunity to be admitted to the First Military Academy, although they were reluctant, they had no choice but to treat him with smiles. However, they still kept thinking about the money they had lent to Nie Yan’s parents.
Nie Yan really did not want to use in-game currency, because before the implementation of the in-game currency to real currency exchange, every gold coin in the game was extremely valuable. However, the black market exchange rate for in-game currency was far below its actual value, as a group of powerful players deliberately kept the buyout prices low. Selling in-game currency was too unprofitable; every gold coin was now capital for Nie Yan to deal with Cao Xu in the future.
Nie Yan called Tang Yao and said, “Yaozi, do you have some money? Lend me for now, I’ll pay you back in a few days.”
“How much do you need?” Tang Yao asked, quite surprised, as Nie Yan rarely borrowed money from him.
“Maybe around 500,000.” Nie Yan replied after thinking for a moment. This was the first time Nie Yan had ever borrowed money from Tang Yao. Once his parents returned in a few days, he could repay the loan.
“That much, huh? Give me your bank account number, I’ll transfer the money to you.”
“Aren’t you going to ask me what I need this money for?”
“You rarely borrow money from me. When you do, I know you must have a real reason, something important. If you don’t tell me, I won’t ask. No matter how much you borrow, I’ll find a way to get it for you. After all, we grew up together, like brothers!” Tang Yao said. After his father became wealthy, more and more people flattered and fawned over him, but fewer and fewer treated him genuinely. Most of them had ulterior motives, which made him cherish his friendship with Nie Yan even more. In his view, friendship was priceless. He didn’t lack money, but he did lack true friends.
“My dad owed some money before he left, and people are coming after it. I don’t want to use my in-game gold, so I have to borrow from you,” Nie Yan explained.
“It’s those relatives of yours who only care about money, isn’t it?” Tang Yao sneered. “They’ll regret it one day!” With Nie Yan’s current development in the game, once the real money and in-game currency exchange was opened, his wealth would be unimaginable. He wouldn’t even care about such a small amount of money in the future.
A while later, Tang Yao said over the phone, “I’ve transferred the money to your account.”
Nie Yan withdrew some cash from the bank and walked towards the houses of his uncles and aunts. They lived not far from Nie Yan’s home, in the same neighborhood, where they often saw each other. However, Nie Yan had never felt any warmth from them, not even as much as from the neighbors.
Nie Yan knocked on the iron door of his uncle Luo Ming’s house.
“Who is it?” A voice that was unpleasant to hear came from inside—it was his aunt’s raspy voice.
“It’s me,” Nie Yan replied coldly, without a trace of anger. He had no reason to be angry with these irrelevant people.
His aunt opened the iron door. Seeing Nie Yan, she showed a look of dislike, but then seemed to remember something and her expression froze. In a stiff tone, she asked, “Oh, it’s Xiao Yan. What’s up? Do you want to come in and sit down?” But she made no move to let Nie Yan inside.
“No need. I just want to ask how much money my parents borrowed from you?”
“Seventy thousand, and with interest it’s about two hundred and twenty thousand. What’s the matter?” His aunt glanced at Nie Yan and asked.
“This is for you. Give me back the IOU from my parents.” Nie Yan’s voice was icy cold. This was clearly a very high interest loan. He could imagine how much difficulty his parents had faced when they borrowed the money, having to endure all kinds of hardships and agree to such a high interest rate. It must have been even harder than borrowing from a stranger! If his father’s business failed, what would be the consequences? His parents might never get back on their feet for the rest of their lives!
Thinking about it, Nie Yan remembered how naive he had been back then, not knowing the pressure his parents had endured. He had even resented them for abandoning him, constantly troubling them and making them feel guilty, without ever enjoying a single day of happiness.
In this life, he would never let such things happen again. Moreover, he would become stronger, so he would have the ability to protect this family.
“Where did you get all this money?” His aunt was stunned when she saw Nie Yan take out so much cash and asked.
“Don’t ask so many questions. Just give me back the IOU from my parents!” Nie Yan’s face was filled with coldness.
Seeing Nie Yan’s anger, his aunt immediately lost her nerve. Nie Yan was not the same as before. If he really got angry, he might do anything! She quickly went into the room to fetch the IOU and handed it back to Nie Yan.
Nie Yan looked at the IOU and confirmed it was his father’s handwriting. He didn’t bother to say anything else and turned to leave.
“What a strange thing, where did this kid get so much money. Could it be that…” The old woman thought of something, shuddered, and quickly closed the iron door.
Nie Yan went from house to house, knocking on doors and repaying the debts. By the afternoon, he had finished everything.
“Did you pay them all back?” Tang Yao called Nie Yan to ask.
“Yeah, I paid them all back. I’ll pay you back in a few days.” Nie Yan said. Comparing Tang Yao with those relatives, he could feel the difference in human warmth.
“No rush, it’s okay.” Tang Yao waved his hand. He wasn’t in a hurry for the money anyway. Suddenly thinking of something, he said, “How about you just give me a few game coins in the game instead?”
“That works too.” Nie Yan nodded. In fact, even in the black market, despite the depressed prices, game coins were still very valuable, because the in-game currency in Faith was extremely scarce. “I might have something to do in the game later. You guys can level up first.”
“Okay.”
After finishing his conversation with Tang Yao, Nie Yan spent the whole day training. At night, he logged back into the game.
In search of the key to open the epic treasure chest, Nie Yan began to search the island thoroughly, not missing an inch of land, heading toward a dilapidated altar dozens of yards away. Unexpectedly, he found some unexpected gains. In a corner, he discovered an unlocked silver chest, from which he obtained two recipes.
Looking at them, one was the recipe for Black Elf Midge Venom and the other was the recipe for Black Elf Arrow Quenching Toxin. The first one was a mid-level recipe used to coat sharp weapons like blades, swords, and daggers with venom, while the second was used for arrows. The midge toxin could deal 30 points of damage over 20 seconds, and its material was midge insects, which were hard to find and could only be obtained at level 30 or higher. The other arrow quenching toxin could deal an additional 50 points of poison damage, using some more common herbs, but requiring seven different kinds. Each batch of potion would cost at least ten silver coins and could be used three times. Arrow quenching toxin had always had the worst sales of all potions, thus offering little economic benefit. However, for Nie Yan, it was definitely a great item. He must have Niao Bu Sheng Dan find someone to produce it once he returned.
The ruins of the altar in the distance were overgrown with weeds, barely revealing the rough outline of the altar. Could the key to the epic treasure chest really be found here? Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel doubtful.
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