Chapter 45: Expert Level Difficulty

“Featherfall Gem? What is that? We’ve cleared the Treant Forest five or six times, but never dropped anything like a Featherfall Gem,” Dusk said in astonishment.

Of course, Dusk had no idea what a Featherfall Gem was. It was a drop exclusive to expert-level content, and only from the Treant King. The difficulty of the instance changed according to the level composition of the team. The more high-level players in the team, the higher the difficulty of the instance.

It wasn’t easy for players to attempt the expert-level Treant Forest. Even elite teams from major guilds couldn’t complete it effortlessly. Therefore, the Featherfall Gem was particularly valuable.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” Nie Yan said with a faint smile.

Dusk felt puzzled but decided to follow the team and see what would happen since Nie Yan wouldn’t explain further.

“This Brother Tang Yao’s equipment is really strange. A normal arcane mage shouldn’t be wearing the Fire-Seeker set,” Dusk said in surprise.

From the perspective of team management, if a Fire-Seeker set dropped in an instance, it should be prioritized for an elemental mage. Giving it to an arcane mage was just too odd.

Nie Yan smiled faintly but didn’t explain.

Tang Yao blushed slightly. He felt a bit uneasy wearing the Fire-Seeker set and secretly resolved to obtain a top-tier set specifically for arcane mages. That would truly make him feel proud.

“How did you get to know the leader of the Holy Roman Empire?” Yaoyao asked with her sparkling big eyes, like a curious child.

“It’s not as mysterious as you think,” Nie Yan replied calmly, recounting the events of yesterday in Link Town, though he omitted the part about the Chapter of Courage.

“But I still think you’re amazing,” Yaoyao said earnestly. Otherwise, Foxhalfsleep wouldn’t hold Nie Yan in such high regard.

“I find it a bit strange that the dragon creature would suddenly appear in the town. Usually, elite or lord-level creatures wouldn’t leave their designated areas,” Dusk said, puzzled.

Nie Yan glanced at the Chapter of Courage in his backpack, hoping no one would connect the appearance of the Order Warden to him.

“What’s so strange about that? The mainframe probably brought a monster to attack the town to add some excitement for players. It’s not uncommon,” Tang Yao said naturally, unintentionally helping Nie Yan out of a tight spot.

“Maybe you’re right,” Dusk nodded.

A group of more than twenty players crossed an open grassland. In the distance, they saw a dense forest at the foot of a hill, lush and shrouded in mist. It was about ten to fifteen minutes from Trak Town, a famous 20-player instance map known as the Treant Forest.

At the entrance of the Treant Forest, many players were gathered, mostly in groups of twenty, all here to tackle the instance.

“The Treant Forest is bustling too, there are quite a few people here.”

“With players leveling up, they want better gear, so they have to join teams to clear instances.”

The Treant Forest was relatively challenging, and the gear it dropped was significantly better than that of regular instances. Many teams couldn’t clear the Treant Forest completely, but farming regular mobs for gear was still a viable option. If they couldn’t defeat the boss, they could just retreat, although this would reduce their team’s honor. However, most teams weren’t elite teams, so the reduction in team honor wasn’t a big concern as long as they didn’t get wiped out.

Currently in Faith, there were a total of 36 twenty-player instances within level 5, scattered across the Granland Empire, varying in difficulty. Among them were six high-difficulty instances that required a certain level of team honor to enter, while the others had no team honor requirements.

“Magic damage 37, Holy Word caster, looking for Treant Forest group.”

“Defense 35, 170 HP, attack 67, Berserker looking for Treant Forest party!”

The entrance of the Treant Forest was quite lively, with many players shouting to form groups. Upon seeing Nie Yan and the others, they rushed over to ask.

“Boss, pick me.”

“Brother, do you still have a spot in your team?”

Bai Kaishui stepped forward to handle the crowd, saying, “No spots left, everyone please disperse.”

The players could only leave in disappointment.

“Wait here for a moment, I’ll go start the instance,” Nie Yan said, heading toward a glowing boulder at the entrance of the Treant Forest. As he approached the boulder and reached out to touch it, a strange feeling welled up from the bottom of his heart.

‘You stand before this lush forest and discover this peculiar boulder, engraved with some strange words: Jungle Walkers, they absorb dew in the morning sunlight. The shepherd’s flute floats through the woods, awaken from ancient times, sleeping spirits of the trees. A member of the Granland Elders Council says, there are signs of dark elves in the woods. You mutter to yourself: damn dark elves, why can’t they just settle down.’

System: Do you wish to enter the Treant Forest?

Yes!

Nie Yan clicked confirm.

System: Please select the difficulty of the instance: Easy, Normal, Hard, Expert, Master?

Expert!

System: Are you sure?

Yes!

Nie Yan selected the Expert difficulty. A flash of white light passed, and when Nie Yan and the others opened their eyes again, they were already in a lush forest, shaded by green trees. Although rays of sunlight pierced through the gaps in the canopy, the entire environment still felt somewhat eerie.

System: You have entered the Treant Forest instance, difficulty: Expert!

The other nineteen team members also received this message, each looking at each other in surprise.

“Why is it Expert difficulty?”

“Captain Nie, did you pick the wrong difficulty? Why is it Expert level?”

“Yeah, how could we possibly clear Expert difficulty?” the team members became anxious.

Yu Lan looked at Nie Yan. Nie Yan’s expression was calm. Someone like Nie Yan wouldn’t make such a basic mistake. Could it be that Nie Yan intentionally chose Expert difficulty? No one had dared to attempt the Expert-level Treant Forest yet. Even the lowest and simplest instances became extremely difficult when set to Expert, let alone the Expert-level Treant Forest.

“I brought you all in, so I naturally have a way to get you all out,” Nie Yan said calmly.

“You’re talking big. No team has ever cleared an Expert-level instance. Do you really think we can do it? Our team hasn’t even cleared the easiest level of the Treant Forest. Don’t try to show off and drag our entire team down with you,” Chen Bo mocked, his tone extremely unpleasant.

“Is he your friend?” Seeing Chen Bo’s rudeness, Dusk couldn’t stand it anymore and glanced at Nie Yan, asking.

“No,” Nie Yan shook his head.

“If a teammate in our team spoke to our captain like that, our captain would have kicked him out long ago. He wouldn’t be allowed to speak so much nonsense,” Dusk sneered, looking at Nie Yan, “Nie, you really have a good temper.”

In Dusk’s opinion, Nie Yan must have confidence to choose the Expert-level Treant Forest. This was going to be interesting. Originally, he just came along for fun, but unexpectedly, there was an unexpected gain.

Chen Bo felt angry in his heart, but since Dusk was invited by Bai Kaishui, offending Dusk would mean offending Bai Kaishui as well, which would only make him more isolated within the team.

“Chen Bo, Nie Yan is a friend I invited. If you have any complaints about me, just say them directly,” Yaoyao frowned slightly, saying. Nie Yan hadn’t retaliated against Chen Bo, mostly for her sake. If she didn’t speak up for Nie Yan, it would be too unreasonable.

“Yaoyao, it’s not like that,” seeing Yaoyao’s anger, Chen Bo hurried to explain.

Yaoyao let out a cold snort and turned her head away.

“I’m just here as a guest. I’ll leave after finishing the Treant Forest instance. We’re just cooperating. I’m not the captain either. The real captain is this beautiful lady,” Nie Yan pointed to Yu Lan beside him, explaining to Dusk. He wasn’t a good-tempered person, and Chen Bo had indeed annoyed him. Nie Yan decided to teach Chen Bo a lesson, but fighting with someone like him would lower his own status.

“Chen Bo, from now on, keep your mouth shut, or don’t blame me for being rude,” Yu Lan scolded, apologizing to Nie Yan and the others, “He’s just like this. I apologize to Nie Yan on his behalf.”

Yu Lan also felt very embarrassed. She and Chen Bo had been classmates for over a decade, and their parents were good colleagues. She couldn’t afford to be too harsh on him.

Unexpectedly, Yu Lan defended the outsiders. Chen Bo shot a resentful glance at Nie Yan and Dusk.

Dusk also felt that arguing with Chen Bo would lower his own status, so he changed the subject, “Nie Yan must have been well-prepared, otherwise he wouldn’t have chosen Expert difficulty.” Dusk was one of Foxhalfsleep’s subordinates, and he also wanted to see just how capable Nie Yan really was.

“Actually, Expert difficulty isn’t that difficult. It’s just that the boss’s HP is 30% higher. The requirements for tank warriors’ defense and mages’ damage output are slightly higher. The Treant King’s abilities have a larger variation, but I’ll remind you all when the time comes,” Nie Yan said confidently.

Although Nie Yan spoke casually, Dusk understood what a 30% increase in HP meant in an instance. Even slight deviations, like 1% less HP, 1 less defense, or 1-2 less magic damage, could lead to a total wipe. Where did Nie Yan’s confidence come from?