Chapter 190: Charged Weapons

“How is the team doing now?” Nie Yan sent a message to Cui Can Dao Guang, asking. Besides providing some information to Cui Can Dao Guang and others, he hadn’t been involved with the guild’s elite team for a long time. In fact, he had full confidence in people like Cui Can Dao Guang and Daibiao Ge Xiqi.

“We’re doing okay. We’ve cleared the Shadow Swamp instance on normal difficulty at level 20,” Cui Can Dao Guang replied. With the information Nie Yan had provided, their progress had already surpassed the elite teams of other guilds. They were all surprised about where Nie Yan had obtained his information, suspecting it might be from some insider sources.

“How is cooperation with your teammates going?”

“Daibiao Ge Xiqi and Yi Yan are both quite good. Yi Yan is especially impressive. The others are all top-notch as well. Cow Tribe truly has a wealth of talent,” Cui Can Dao Guang said. It was hard to imagine how Nie Yan had managed to bring all these people together. Back in Hengzong Tianxia, he and Hei Zhuo had been the strongest, while the others had been merely adequate. Upon joining Cow Tribe, he suddenly discovered that many of his teammates were just as strong as he was. It was a real pleasure to run instances with such people.

While the elite teams of other guilds were still attempting to clear the Shadow Swamp, Cui Can Dao Guang’s team had already completed both the normal and challenging difficulties of the Shadow Swamp instance. The gear they replaced was all stored in the guild warehouse, significantly enhancing the strength of more than a dozen second-line teams. Those second-line teams were now also striving to conquer the Shadow Swamp.

These people were all top-tier players throughout Karol City. After forming a team and developing synergy, how much potential could they unleash? Nie Yan was eager to see.

“Some more of Hengzong Tianxia’s members have followed me over, about 3,000 or so. They’ve all joined Cow Tribe. However, whether any of them are Hei Zhuo’s people remains uncertain,” Cui Can Dao Guang said. After all, these people had joined later on, and having followed Hei Zhuo for so long, it was hard to say whether they might harbor ulterior motives. However, the majority of the brothers had gradually integrated into Cow Tribe.

“Don’t worry. I’ll have Xiao Chong and Wangfeng de Woniu keep an eye on them. Even if there are some among them with ill intentions, they won’t be able to stir up much trouble,” Nie Yan smiled. Could they possibly incite rebellion among Cow Tribe’s players? The people from Hengzong Tianxia joining Cow Tribe wouldn’t even make a ripple.

Every day, a large number of players joined Cow Tribe. Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel some anticipation about how big Cow Tribe would eventually become.

In his previous life, Hengzong Tianxia had been a major guild. In this life, however, it was hard to say whether it would be completely disrupted due to Cow Tribe.

“How many people are left in Hengzong Tianxia now?” Nie Yan asked.

“There are probably around 20,000 to 30,000 left. I know Hei Zhuo a bit; he does have some ability. Although many people have left the guild, it hasn’t had a significant impact on Hengzong Tianxia,” Cui Can Dao Guang said. The little conflict between him and Hei Zhuo was something he was too embarrassed to mention.

Hengzong Tianxia still had around 20,000 to 30,000 members, which was still a considerable force. However, for the current Cow Tribe, it wasn’t really anything significant. Cow Tribe was still in its rapid development phase. Hengzong Tianxia would soon be left far behind by Cow Tribe, eventually unable to even see its shadow.

“You guys continue clearing instances. If you have any needs, just let Wangfeng de Woniu know,” Nie Yan said. Cow Tribe was financially strong, and if the elite team had any reasonable requests, they would almost always be fulfilled.

System: Player Wu Feng has deposited 3 superior fire mother crystals and 10 superior magic nanmu wood into your warehouse.

The items he had asked Guo Huai to purchase had already arrived in the warehouse. Nie Yan retrieved the items from the guild warehouse, then went to the Starry Sky Pharmacy to collect 50 gold coins, and made his way toward the workshop of senior blacksmith Cadi in Karol City.

Walking along the familiar streets, Nie Yan recalled how he had acquired his first bucket of gold by collecting bat teeth. At that time, he had been busy earning silver coins bit by bit. More than half a month had passed, and now he owned countless plots of gold-rich land, had become the silent partner of the Starry Sky Pharmacy, and the leader of the emerging guild, Cow Tribe.

Such twists of fate were truly mysterious.

Nie Yan entered Cadi’s smithy. Cadi’s workshop had been upgraded to level two and was much more spacious than before.

“Respected Demon Hunter, what can I do for you?” Cadi immediately became extremely respectful upon seeing Nie Yan. Karol City had a very strict hierarchy. Cadi was merely a senior blacksmith. If he showed even the slightest disrespect toward Nie Yan, who bore the title of Demon Hunter, he would be taken to the Inquisition for punishment by fire branding, even though he knew Nie Yan personally.

“I want to forge two items. The first is the Slicer. Here are the fragments of the Slicer.” Since he had the identity of a Demon Hunter, Nie Yan didn’t need to haggle with NPCs like ordinary players.

“Synthesizing a Slicer will cost 50 silver coins in materials. You can enjoy a 40% discount, so it will be 30 silver coins,” the blacksmith Cadi said, taking the twenty fragments of the Slicer and beginning the forging process.

A warrior entered Cadi’s smithy and was surprised to see Cadi treating Nie Yan with such respect.

Nie Yan glanced at the warrior, who looked to be in his mid-to-late twenties, wearing a fine set of metal armor that concealed its brilliance but still showed some signs of excellence. Nie Yan used a Super Insight ability on the warrior. His name was Tuoru Luhui. Nie Yan hadn’t heard of him before.

“Hey, brother, hello,” Tuoru Luhui approached and greeted Nie Yan.

“Hello,” Nie Yan nodded slightly. He wasn’t in the habit of engaging in lengthy conversations with strangers.

“You’re here to forge some equipment, right? That blacksmith seems to be treating you with great respect. I have some materials here and want him to forge me a weapon. Can you help me negotiate a discount?” Tuoru Luhui asked. Players could get a maximum 10% discount from NPCs through successful negotiation. The success rate of negotiation was related to the player’s respect value, and some players with negotiation skills could also achieve this effect.

Negotiation? Nie Yan showed a hesitant expression. He always disliked the tedious task of haggling with NPCs using quest dialogue.

“If the negotiation is successful, I can get a discount of 70 silver coins on the forging cost of seven gold coins. I can give you half of that,” Tuoru Luhui explained upon seeing Nie Yan’s slightly impatient expression.

Generally speaking, a forging cost of seven gold coins meant it was an extremely rare and high-quality weapon, but such a small amount of money was nothing to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan said casually, “If you’re willing to hand over the materials to me, I can have Cadi give you a 40% discount directly.”

Tuoru Luhui looked at Nie Yan warily. Was this person trying to take advantage of him and steal his materials?

Nie Yan didn’t want to say much more. Cadi was busy at the forge, sweating and working hard for a while before finally finishing the Slicer. He then walked over to Nie Yan with the weapon.

“Respected Demon Hunter, the Slicer has been completed,” the blacksmith Cadi handed the Slicer to Nie Yan.

It was a sharp dagger, about seven inches long, with sharp serrated edges on the blade. This design could easily pierce an opponent’s armor, causing continuous bleeding damage.

Holding it in his hand, the weight was just right, and a sense of familiarity surged over him. In his previous life, from level 39 to 60, he had always used this dagger.

Slicer (Epic Charged Weapon, Special Item): Main-hand weapon, requires Strength 120, Agility 100, and Willpower 20.

Attributes: Attack 206-229, 10% chance to pierce armor, additional 10% bleeding damage for 5 seconds when using skills. Attached skill: Detonation, which infuses energy into the opponent’s body to explode, providing additional damage. Charge 0/100.

Attack Speed: 2.9

Weight: 5 pounds.

Restriction: Can be used by thieves of all factions.

This dagger was the most powerful weapon before level 50, with strong piercing and bleeding damage. Especially the Detonation skill at the end, which was very effective even against bosses because the explosive damage ignored armor.

Charged weapons generally required Willpower. If Willpower was insufficient, using the weapon forcibly would cause self-damage.

The level of Willpower also affected the charging speed. The higher the Willpower, the faster the charging speed.

For example, Nie Yan’s current Willpower was 37, so his charging speed was about 20 per day.

The maximum energy for Detonation was 100. The more energy charged, the higher the damage from the Detonation skill. If there were 20 energy points, it could cause damage equivalent to twice his attack. Moreover, this damage ignored armor! It was effective against even players and bosses with high defense.

After using it once, regardless of how much energy remains, it will be completely consumed.

With a charged dagger, as long as enough energy is charged, it is even possible to easily defeat some high-defense warriors!

At this stage, most ordinary players would consider having 10 Willpower quite good. However, thanks to the bonus effects from two Order Chapters, Nie Yan had 37 Willpower. Therefore, his charging speed was far beyond that of ordinary players, allowing him to maximize the effectiveness of the Slicer.

Nie Yan equipped the Slicer as his main-hand weapon and the Blood Pact Dagger as his off-hand weapon, significantly boosting his attack power. The attack values of main-hand and off-hand weapons are not simply added together but calculated through a specific formula. The off-hand weapon contributes about 20% of its attack value to the main-hand.

After checking his current attack power, it was around 430.

Among thieves, such attack power was quite formidable, making it no problem to deal with plate-armored warriors.

Tuoru Luhui cautiously observed Nie Yan, looking at his side profile, which seemed familiar. He suddenly remembered where he had seen Nie Yan before. He had seen Nie Yan in the video of Cow Tribe’s battle against the Triumph Empire. Nie Yan was quite a well-known figure. Considering how respectfully Cadi treated Nie Yan, would such a person really have any reason to deceive him?

Tuoru Luhui spoke up, “Brother, I’ll trade you the materials. Can you help me forge this sword?”