The rewards of pioneering exploration far exceed those of following others to grind monsters, a fact widely acknowledged by all major guilds. The drop rate of equipment is significantly higher, and golden chests and even dark golden chests are not uncommon. Those golden and dark golden pieces of equipment are indeed tempting. However, the difficulty of pioneering exploration still makes many large guilds hesitate. During pioneering exploration, there are more elite creatures, and sometimes even lord-level creatures, making party wipes quite common. If a team experiences several consecutive wipes, even an elite team would become an ordinary one.
Therefore, most guilds dare not take such risks. Only stronger elite guilds dare to organize teams for pioneering exploration, but even they only dare to explore maps of the same level. If anyone dares to explore higher-level maps, there’s only one phrase to describe it: suicide.
Most of the dark golden chests still end up in the hands of major guilds.
However, there are often tragic incidents, such as finding a dark golden chest but discovering that one’s lock-picking skill is insufficient, forcing the team to leave disappointed.
Nie Yan touched the chest and felt relieved that his lock-picking expert could open chests beyond his level and was capable of handling chests of this level.
“It looks like I need to find some lower-level chests to practice my lock-picking skills,” Nie Yan thought. He bent down and started opening the treasure chest. The opening process was very slow. He pulled up the official website and saw that the competition for virtual assets had reached a fever pitch, with some prices already soaring to around 1,500 gold coins and continuing to rise. He decided that he could wait until the asset auction was nearly over to see which option was more suitable before making a move.
Additionally, there was a new announcement on the official website regarding credit point exchanges, highlighted in bold large font.
The credit point exchange will appear in the form of a trading hall, with dedicated payment methods available. For example, if you want to exchange one gold coin or a piece of equipment for credit points, you can list the item at a fixed price in the trading hall. Alternatively, you can negotiate with players in the trading hall who are looking to buy equipment, agree on a price, and the buyer can pay with credit points.
All these transactions will be conducted under federal supervision. According to federal law, virtual currencies are not allowed to be used for purchasing items in the real world to prevent virtual currencies from replacing credit points, which could otherwise lead to market disorder.
Once the virtual asset auction ends, the credit point exchange will be activated.
The credit point trading will result in a massive inflow of capital into Faith, continuously driving up the prices of equipment and in-game currency. Some financial tycoons have begun to build their own power bases within the game.
Undoubtedly, the activation of credit point exchange will greatly stimulate the development of the professional gamer industry, a trend that can already be observed from the recent performance of the Assassin Alliance. After promotion by players like Ban Xing De Hu Li (Half-Awake Fox) and Ai Qing Sha Shang (Love Injury), the number of members in the Assassin Alliance has surged. The number of professional gamers has exceeded twelve thousand, while the client base has surpassed eight thousand. The alliance now processes around five to six hundred commissions and several thousand equipment transactions daily, generating over three hundred gold coins in daily income for Nie Yan.
Nie Yan already controls two of the most profitable auction houses in the future, owns countless land properties, has Starry Sky Pharmacies spread across major cities, and commands the powerful Bull Tribe. Even if Cao Xu and his group were to come, Nie Yan would not fear a confrontation.
The money he currently has is enough to purchase another virtual asset. He must capture a fortress before the credit point exchange opens, as this would provide him with the capital to stand against Cao Xu.
Nie Yan has steadily built his empire step by step. Within just about a month since the game’s launch, he has already reached this level of achievement, which is quite impressive.
As he was deep in thought, the dark golden chest clicked open. Nie Yan reached inside and pulled out two pieces of equipment.
Dark Rite Staff (Dark Golden): Requires Level 40.
Attributes: Attack 332-338, Intelligence +20, comes with Level 5 Dark Bloom skill, 50% enhanced damage against non-undead and mechanical units.
Restriction: Can only be used by Orderly Good Light-aligned Mages.
The black ritual staff is a top-tier item for mages, and dark golden staffs are already rare. Unfortunately, it requires level 40 to use.
Nie Yan posted the attributes in the guild channel and asked, “Who among you wants this staff?”
“Boss, how much guild contribution is required?” asked Sha Bu Si De Huai Dan (Undying Bad Guy). Acquiring equipment requires guild contribution points, which is a necessary condition. With so many people competing in the guild, Nie Yan couldn’t show favoritism to anyone.
“40,000 honor points for a Level 40 dark golden item, 6,000 honor points for +20 Intelligence, 10,000 honor points for Level 5 Dark Bloom, and 10,000 honor points for enhanced damage,” Nie Yan replied, strictly following the pricing standards.
“Thirty-four thousand total? Let me check. I don’t have enough. Does anyone else want it?” Sha Bu Si De Huai Dan turned to the other team members. If no one else wanted it, he would try to gather enough honor points to reach thirty-four thousand.
These top-tier guild members earned money quickly, and by donating equipment or gold coins, they could accumulate large amounts of guild contribution. Dark golden equipment was extremely rare, and they were currently only able to use golden-grade gear. High-level dark golden items were rarely seen, so when they finally encountered a Level 40 dark golden staff with good attributes, they naturally wouldn’t let it slip away. The staff’s attributes were excellent, and since Level 40 gear would soon be usable, they were eager to obtain it.
“I have enough,” Xia Chong Yu Bing (Summer Insect Whispering Ice) said. He checked his guild contribution points, which he had never spent before, and found he had fifty-one thousand.
“Damn, what a beast. He’s saved up so many guild contribution points. Well, you can have it then,” Sha Bu Si De Huai Dan replied after checking Xia Chong Yu Bing’s contribution points in the guild channel. He was shocked by how many points Xia Chong Yu Bing had. Who would dare compete with him now?
Sha Bu Si De Huai Dan, Xia Chong Yu Bing, Cui Can Dao Guang (Gleaming Blade), and others were among the wealthiest players in the guild. Ordinary elite members considered having a few thousand guild contribution points quite impressive, while most had only a few hundred left, needing to temporarily gather points when they needed equipment. Players like them, who could casually trade tens of thousands of guild contribution points, were truly formidable.
That’s how a strong player should be!
Since the staff now had an owner, Nie Yan didn’t say anything else. He looked at the remaining piece of equipment and his heart skipped a beat—it was another great item!
Flyer’s Ring (Dark Golden): Special Item.
Attribute Description: Reduces the user’s weight by 90%, granting the ability to leap. The maximum distance for a leap is approximately 10 yards. Cannot be used in combat. Skill cooldown time is ten minutes.
Restriction: Can be used by all factions.
This kind of special item is a rare and valuable treasure. While it might seem insignificant to ordinary players, in Nie Yan’s eyes, such special items were even more useful than some sub-legendary items.
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage