Nie Yan arrived at the guild headquarters, where Guo Huai and others were still busy managing guild affairs. Since they started handling guild management, they had no time to level up anymore. Moreover, they showed signs of transitioning into full-time guild management roles. The guild indeed needed several dedicated managerial talents, and entrusting such responsibilities to others was definitely not reassuring.
In addition to them, Guo Huai had also recruited several individuals from his family’s company specifically to oversee the screening of each guild member, map out the interpersonal dynamics within the guild, and weed out a significant number of spies infiltrated by rival guilds such as Triumph.
Nie Yan glanced through the profiles of the people who had signed agreements with the guild. There were over a hundred signatories, all highly talented individuals. Among them, eleven had obtained titles such as Shadow Dancer, Magic Master, and Divine Priest, making the guild remarkably talented. This group included Sun, Leader Brother Qi Zai, Taotie, Killer Baddie, Bilu Sha, Xia Chong Yubing, and others.
Specifically, there was one Divine Priest, two Shadow Dancers, two Guardian Knights, two Holy Swordsmen, two Magic Masters, one Holy Mage, and one Divine Warrior. These individuals already showed tremendous potential. Each of them received generous treatment from Bull Tribe, and Nie Yan had invested over a hundred gold coins in them. They used the best resources the guild could offer. Every day, Star Pharmacy supplied them with large quantities of potions, and they could form parties anytime with highly capable teammates, allowing them to level up quickly.
Their early entry into the game, access to more resources, personal dedication, and exceptional talent—all these factors combined led them to achieve their ultimate class titles in their previous lives. Nie Yan, however, had enhanced all these conditions for them.
Therefore, the elites remained elites.
When Nie Yan arrived, Taotie, Killer Baddie, Bilu Sha, Xia Chong Yubing, and others were chatting and preparing to form a party to level up. Upon seeing Nie Yan, they greeted him enthusiastically.
“Boss Nieyan, good to see you,” Taotie, around twenty years old, wearing shiny silver knight armor and fully equipped in gold, said. Some of his gear was self-acquired, while others were provided by Bull Tribe. At this stage, he was no worse than members from studios like Dry Leaf.
“Boss,” Killer Baddie greeted Nie Yan as an Elemental Mage. His set of Elemental Resonance gear was already the best equipment available for level 20.
These individuals represented Carol City’s future elite, yet they were all gathered here now.
Nie Yan nodded with a smile and chatted with them briefly, making them feel honored. From the moment they joined the guild, they had felt Bull Tribe’s astonishing financial strength, rivaling those of super guilds like Triumph. Nie Yan and Tang Yao’s identities were shrouded in mystery, making them hard to grasp. Nie Yan was always elusive, while Tang Yao was practically a ghost. Thus, they held a deep sense of reverence for Nie Yan and Tang Yao, surprised by Nie Yan’s approachability.
“You are now elite members of Bull Tribe. The guild has provided you with the best conditions. I hope you can create value for Bull Tribe in the future. If you achieve success, Bull Tribe will definitely reward you well,” Nie Yan said. He had invested heavily, and as long as one or two of them achieved the same success as before, it would be a guaranteed profit.
“Don’t worry, Boss Nieyan,” everyone responded in unison.
“Here’s the skill book Inferno Flame. Choose a suitable person from among them to learn it,” Nie Yan said, trading the book to Guo Huai.
The appearance of the Inferno Flame skill book immediately caught everyone’s attention.
It was an advanced magic!
Among major guilds, advanced magic was extremely scarce and highly sought after. The rarity of advanced magic was self-evident. Even exchanging five or six sets of golden equipment for an advanced magic book from a major guild might not be accepted. It was said that Triumph once deployed over 700 players to fight a Lord Boss to obtain an advanced magic book, at the cost of over 300 casualties.
No one in Bull Tribe had learned advanced magic yet, which was indeed a regret.
The appearance of Inferno Flame proved that Bull Tribe also had the capability to collect advanced magic.
“Several Elemental Mages and Arcane Mages have performed well. I’ll think about it,” Guo Huai said with slight concern. Choosing a technically reliable person to learn Inferno Flame was crucial. If Inferno Flame fell into the hands of someone technically inadequate, it would be useless.
Nie Yan was confident in these signatories. Each of them would eventually learn advanced magic; it was just a matter of timing.
“Take care of this,” Nie Yan said as he deposited sixteen pieces of equipment and six additional Sundering Blade fragments obtained from the Monastery of Light into the guild warehouse. “Have you located the premium magic sandalwood and premium fire mother crystal I requested?”
“I found someone selling them, but the price seems a bit high. We’re still negotiating. If you think it’s reasonable, we can buy it immediately,” Guo Huai replied, unaware of Nie Yan’s purpose for purchasing these materials.
“How much?” Nie Yan asked. Premium fire mother crystal and premium magic sandalwood were high-level items rarely seen at this stage, and guilds were generally reluctant to sell them.
“Three fire mother crystals and ten premium magic sandalwoods. They’re asking for 30 gold,” Guo Huai said. In his view, this was a substantial sum.
“Buy it. Have someone place it in my personal warehouse. The money can be collected from Star Pharmacy,” Nie Yan said. In his previous life, anything worth 30 gold before level 60 was something he wouldn’t even dare to dream of. But this time, the situation was completely different. He had experienced the feeling of being financially powerful.
Only thirty gold!
If he crafted a sub-legendary mounted crossbow, it would be worth at least 200 gold!
In his previous life, during the later stages, especially after the fortress wars began, major guilds earned substantial tax revenues from their fortresses, making them financially comfortable. A common sub-legendary item could sell for 500 to 600 gold without being unusual.
Sub-legendary items were equivalent to god-tier gear in the eyes of all players!
Although he couldn’t obtain the legendary mounted crossbow of the Headless Rider Doro for now, merely keeping it in his backpack and occasionally glancing at it was satisfying.
“Alright, I’ll have him buy it immediately,” Guo Huai nodded. Nie Yan’s willingness to spend 30 gold on raw materials must have a significant purpose, so he no longer hesitated.
Crafting a sub-legendary mounted crossbow wasn’t guaranteed to succeed; it might fail. Preparing one set of materials to test was necessary. As for the blacksmith to craft the mounted crossbow, Nie Yan thought of Senior Blacksmith Cardi. He should be capable, though it might require a hefty fee.
When crafting weapons with NPCs, as long as materials and blueprints were provided along with a certain amount of gold, they could complete the task. If the crafting failed, the responsibility fell on the player. If successful, the NPC would return the crafted weapon and blueprint.
As long as the blueprint remained, trying once wouldn’t hurt. After all, there were two sets of materials.
After finishing his instructions, Nie Yan left the guild headquarters. Besides the sub-legendary mounted crossbow, he also needed to synthesize the Sundering Blade.
In his previous life, the Sundering Blade’s highest price reached over 30 gold. When Nie Yan entered the game, many players were already level 60–70, making Sundering Blade fragments relatively common, selling for only ten gold. If joining a team for dungeons, the price would be lower, costing around three gold to gather a complete Sundering Blade.
Now, the game had just started. Even with a hundred gold, one couldn’t purchase a Sundering Blade. Level 30 dungeons hadn’t opened yet, and few teams dared to venture into level 30 areas. Where could players buy Sundering Blades?
Nie Yan’s equipment was still scattered. To assemble a powerful set, he needed to put in more effort. Crafting god-tier gear was difficult. In his previous life, guild leaders had invested significant thought into it. Nie Yan’s current achievements were already quite impressive. According to the game’s development in his previous life, during levels 20–30, even the shadow of sub-legendary gear was nowhere to be seen. At best, one could gather fragments. However, out of thousands of fragments, how many could be combined into a single sub-legendary item was questionable. It wasn’t until reaching level 100 that leaders of major guilds could wear so-called sub-legendary god-tier gear. As for Nie Yan, he at least had clear goals: the first was the legendary Order Scroll Volume I, the second was the sub-legendary mounted crossbow of the Headless Rider Doro, and the third was the legendary Soget Shadow.
“Boss Nieyan has placed over a dozen level 30 gears in the warehouse again, mostly Paladin sets.”
“Where do you think Boss Nieyan and Boss Yao are leveling up?” Bilu Sha, Xia Chong Yubing, and others discussed.
“Who knows? But one thing is certain—I’ve secured my level 30 golden set. I want the Divine Judgment set, and no one is taking it from me,” Taotie said enthusiastically, looking at the golden gears. Each golden gear required nearly 3,000 contribution points, but for elite players like Taotie, it wasn’t difficult. Donating a level 20 golden gear could earn 1,000 guild contribution points, while a silver gear could earn 200 points. Donating more would suffice.
“Here’s Inferno Flame,” Guo Huai said to everyone, sharing the skill book’s attributes.
“Boss Turtle, give it to me. I’ll pay 20,000 guild contribution points,” Killer Baddie excitedly said.
Killer Baddie had performed well recently and was among the best technically in the guild, making him a suitable candidate. Guo Huai looked at Xia Chong Yubing, an Arcane Mage and the only one qualified to compete with Killer Baddie for Inferno Flame.
Xia Chong Yubing shook his head, “Give it to Baddie. I already have two small AoE spells. I don’t need an advanced magic for now. Besides, Baddie and I often team up. It doesn’t matter who learns it.”
“Alright, it goes to Baddie then,” Guo Huai nodded.
“Thank you, Boss,” Killer Baddie excitedly took the Inferno Flame skill book from Guo Huai.
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