“The item belongs to a necromancer; it’s a soul-summoning medium. With this skull, a necromancer can summon one or two additional undead creatures,” Duo Duo explained.
Nie Yan suddenly understood. Once a necromancer possessed such a soul-summoning medium, they could summon two or even more undead creatures. With these, necromancers could build their undead armies. Naturally, such items would be highly sought after. If the drop rate was low, they would be even more valuable. Combined with the fact that the soul-summoning skull Nie Yan had dropped was of a relatively high quality, it was even more precious.
Duo Duo’s quoted price must have been genuine, Nie Yan thought. Selling the skull to Duo Duo would indeed earn him a tidy sum, but selling such an item for mere money was too wasteful. It would be better to exchange it for some equipment.
“Do you have any good stuff? Swap me one or two pieces,” Nie Yan asked. With Angel’s Fall being such a large guild, they surely wouldn’t lack sub-legendary gear.
Duo Duo understood Nie Yan’s meaning. As a guild leader, he didn’t care much about a few ten thousand gold coins. What they needed more were good equipments to enhance the guild’s strength. Thinking for a moment, he said, “I have a sub-legendary pair of mage gloves. They are suitable for Lawful Good characters. You can take a look.”
After a while, Duo Duo had someone bring the gloves over.
Okofei’s Hands (Sub-legendary): Requires Intelligence 529.
Item Description: Okofei was a highly knowledgeable grand enchanter whose knowledge encompassed all types of magic. These are the gloves he used to wear.
Attributes: Defense 336-369, +32 Magic, +58 Intelligence, All Magic Enhancement 10%, comes with Light Curse, which uses light magic to curse enemies, causing a 3-second confusion state with a debuff effect. Skill cooldown is three hours. Life Corrosion, casts a spell to apply a corrosion effect on enemies, reducing their defense by 20% and deducting a certain amount of health per second, related to the caster’s intelligence. Skill cooldown is three hours.
Limitation: None.
After some discussion, Duo Duo exchanged the gloves for Nie Yan’s soul-summoning skull and additionally paid Nie Yan over 13,000 gold coins to complete the transaction.
“Then we’ll meet in five days,” Duo Duo said, as there was nothing else to discuss.
“Alright,” Nie Yan nodded.
After chatting for a while, Duo Duo left to lead the Angel’s Fall players against a level 60 mutated lord.
Nie Yan remained in the tavern, quietly waiting for the Dark Portal to open. He glanced at the Fang of Finas he had obtained, but couldn’t take it out because it was covered in deadly poison. He could only view it in his inventory.
Fang of Finas: Quest item, Spirit-Touched item, converts 30% of your basic attack damage into deadly poison damage.
The term “Spirit-Touched” was unfamiliar to Nie Yan, but he could sense the dense dark power emanating from it. Its additional attributes were impressive. With Nie Yan’s current attack power of over 1,600, 30% of that was around 500, all converted into poison damage. This damage ignored all types of armor and was only affected by the opponent’s poison resistance. Based on his past experiences, the more complex the attack composition, the higher the damage output against boss-level creatures. Altering attack composition was more effective than simply increasing attack power.
Nie Yan checked his quest status.
Quest Progress: Seek the Eye of Finas, Spirit-Touched Item 1/3.
The quest had only just begun!
Nie Yan glanced at Bennett’s spirit floating beside him. The other Spirit-Touched items would have to wait for now.
Soon, he received a message that Angel’s Fall had already defeated the old spider priest and obtained a sub-legendary item. After all, it was a mutated lord, so the gear obtained naturally wouldn’t be of poor quality.
The Dark Portal was finally about to cool down. Nie Yan left the graveyard town, turned invisible, and dashed eastward, finding an isolated spot to activate the Dark Portal.
A dark portal appeared before Nie Yan. He stepped into it and vanished into the darkness.
Outside the graveyard town, hundreds of Angel’s Fall players were cleaning up the battlefield. The scene was chaotic, with bodies scattered across an area spanning hundreds of yards, indicating how fierce the battle had been.
“Did Nie Yan leave?” Duo Duo asked the nearby Kuang Ao Zhan Qiang.
“He should have already left,” Kuang Ao Zhan Qiang nodded. In fact, when Nie Yan left, they had sent people to track his location. They were very curious about how he returned to the surface but dared not provoke him, to avoid breaking their cooperation. It seemed somewhat unrealistic to track Nie Yan.
“He might have used some kind of teleportation to return,” Duo Duo said, though this was merely his assumption.
“Do you think Nie Yan is trustworthy?”
“Whether he is trustworthy or not will be known in five days. If he is willing to cooperate, it will benefit both parties. If Nie Yan returns, the people we send must be careful and polite. He can find other partners, but we can only work with him,” Duo Duo said. Currently, Nie Yan was the only one capable of traveling between the underground and the surface. He controlled the advantageous resources, leaving them with no choice.
“I understand,” Kuang Ao Zhan Qiang nodded. A successful cooperation would bring tremendous benefits to Angel’s Fall, but if Nie Yan went back on his word, they would be helpless, as they belonged to different factions, and their cooperation couldn’t be bound by the mainframe’s protocol, making it prone to issues.
A bright light suddenly appeared before Nie Yan. The blinding rays caused his pupils to contract violently, his eyes stinging painfully, and his vision turned completely white.
After a long while, Nie Yan’s eyes gradually adjusted. Before him was a clear blue sky with floating white clouds, instantly lifting his mood.
He was back!
This was his world!
Nie Yan checked his coordinates and found himself in the wilderness near Emerald City. He began to use his recall scroll to reach Emerald City, then teleported to Carol City from there.
Carol City was more prosperous than ever. Nie Yan arrived at the Bull Tribe’s office in Carol City.
When the Bull Tribe players saw Nie Yan, they were shocked, confirming they weren’t mistaken.
“Boss Nie Yan, you’re back!”
“Hello, Boss Nie Yan!” The Bull Tribe players excitedly greeted him.
These past five days had been the hardest for the Bull Tribe. The war between Bull Tribe and Blade of Blood was in full swing, with neither side able to extricate themselves. The Bull Tribe could only struggle to hold on. Without Nie Yan, they felt like they had lost their backbone. Fortunately, Guo Huai and others managed adequately, and Shui Se Yantou, who had experience managing a studio, also assisted. Overall, the Bull Tribe’s operations remained relatively smooth.
When the Bull Tribe players in the guild chat heard that Nie Yan had returned, they became ecstatic, excitedly shouting in the chat.
“Welcome back, Boss Nie Yan!”
“Welcome back, Boss Nie Yan!”
“Welcome back, Boss Nie Yan!”
…
The news of Nie Yan’s return spread like wildfire, invigorating the Bull Tribe and dispelling their previous gloom.
What moved Nie Yan the most was the phrase, “Welcome back, Boss Nie Yan!” After spending so many days underground, it felt like a different lifetime. The Bull Tribe was his home, and Granland was his sky!
“Where is Wangfeng de Woniu? Have him come over,” Nie Yan said in the guild chat.
After a while, Zhao Li, Guo Huai, Shui Se Yantou, and others all arrived.
“You finally came back! If you had delayed any longer, we were going to quit!” Shui Se Yantou laughed, walking up and punching Nie Yan’s chest lightly.
“How is the guild doing now?” Nie Yan asked. After so many days, he feared the guild’s finances might be nearly depleted.
“You’d better ask them,” Shui Se Yantou replied with a wry smile.
At this point, Guo Huai walked over, looking somewhat helpless. “The Bull Tribe is in such a mess that one word cannot describe it. If you hadn’t returned soon, the guild would have disbanded. Here’s the ledger. Take a look.”
Nie Yan glanced at the ledger, which listed a series of expenses. He checked the total: 536,286 gold coins. Of this, 360,000 was for bounties, and the rest was for guild members’ compensation. This figure shocked Nie Yan. When he had left, the guild had less than 200,000 gold coins in total. This ledger clearly showed how drained the Bull Tribe had become!
“How much money is left in the guild?” Nie Yan asked.
“About two thousand gold coins,” Guo Huai said with a bitter smile.
A large guild like theirs was left with only two thousand gold coins. Nie Yan could imagine how dire the Bull Tribe’s situation had become.
“Have you collected the income from the Star Pharmacy and the shops?” Nie Yan asked. He had instructed Guo Huai to retrieve the money from those places.
“We did. Also, our three allied guilds—Shen Shou Tribe, Jialan Temple, and the Holy Roman Empire—provided some support, and the Longyue Financial Group injected 170,000 gold coins into the Bull Tribe. Our brothers also contributed nearly 150,000 gold coins, but it still wasn’t enough,” Guo Huai said. The attrition against Blade of Blood had indeed been fierce.
“Blade of Blood is also in a bad state. They’ve spent at least 700,000 gold coins, and their entire guild’s finances are on the verge of collapse. If it weren’t for the Century Financial Group, the Mage Alliance, and the Sacred Guardians continuously supporting them, they would have already fallen. It’s said that Angel’s Dominion has also gotten involved.”
Nie Yan nodded, roughly understanding the situation. A guild wouldn’t collapse after a few defeats. Take Triumph Empire, for example. Although their reputation had greatly diminished, the guild was still able to continue functioning. However, if financial problems arose, things would become difficult. Guild activities required funding, and fallen players needed compensation. If a guild couldn’t even provide compensation, who would still want to follow them? It would be no surprise if the guild collapsed. This was the situation both the Bull Tribe and Blade of Blood were currently facing.
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