Chapter 452: Crimson Gold

Nie Yan remembered that Hilton Fortress had experienced a siege by monsters. The NPCs here fought fiercely against the monsters for five entire days before the war ended. After that battle, the number of NPCs in Hilton Fortress decreased significantly. When players started entering the fortress, it was filled with ruins everywhere. The players replaced the city guards and became the main force against the monsters.

The NPCs here wore strange clothing, adorned with peculiar scale armor. Due to the frequent annual attacks by underground monsters, the NPCs crafted armor from the scales of these slain monsters. Since the scales varied in size, the armor appeared somewhat bizarre.

Nie Yan inquired among several NPCs about the whereabouts of High Commander Brexspire, who was known to be unpredictable. He often ventured into underground caves to hunt monsters and would return only after a long time.

“Excuse me, do you know where I can find Mr. Brexspire?” Nie Yan asked a merchant who was selling leather goods.

“Respected Mr. Nieyan, the Demon Slayer, Great Scholar, and Master Rogue, Mr. Brexspire returns to Hilton Fortress every six days. Each time he comes back, he brings a large amount of loot, which he sells to merchants like us and purchases consumables. He is expected to return in one day’s time. Please wait patiently,” the NPC leather merchant replied respectfully. Nie Yan’s titles made the merchant somewhat fearful, as Nie Yan was considered a rare and significant figure in the entire Hilton Fortress.

Nie Yan had no choice but to wait and wandered around Hilton Fortress.

He tried to recall all the information he had about Hilton Fortress from his previous life. Suddenly, he remembered that there was a secret shop in Hilton Fortress that sold a large number of monster pelts. Sometimes, it even offered rare legendary monster skins. Additionally, there were many patterns for tailors to make clothing, occasionally including some valuable items.

The secret shop released a limited number of monster pelts and patterns each day, which would not restock once sold. In his past life, major guilds often dispatched dedicated members to camp there and snatch up the items. If a significant amount of time had passed since the last purchase, the items would accumulate. Given that no other players should have visited the secret shop before Nie Yan, it was guaranteed to have amassed a considerable number of valuable items.

Besides the secret shop, Hilton Fortress also had a slave trading market where slaves from various places were often sold. Slaves were different from mercenaries. Hiring a mercenary required paying a certain fee at regular intervals; if payment was missed for a while, a breach of contract penalty would be incurred, and the mercenary would leave when the contract expired. However, once a slave was purchased, he became the buyer’s property.

According to the system settings, only players who had undergone the first class change were eligible to purchase slaves, and each player could buy only one slave. If the player was the leader of a level-five guild, they could purchase three slaves, and leaders of guilds higher than level five could purchase more. Some special titles also came with different privileges.

Each slave had different talents and abilities. Some slaves were useless, while others were master-level production or combat professionals.

Nie Yan could take advantage of the current situation where not many players had come to Hilton Fortress and these two places had not yet been discovered by players to look for some good things.

If he found the slave trading market, he could have the players in his guild who had undergone class changes purchase one or two slaves.

As for the exact locations of these two places, Nie Yan had no memory of them. He asked several NPCs, but they all said they didn’t know.

Nie Yan suddenly remembered that he had an acquaintance in Hilton Fortress, the physician Blayvens.

Shortly after Nie Yan entered the game, he had helped the physician Blayvens search for fine silk at Randuo Lake, when he was still a low-level player. He decided to find physician Blayvens, who might know the exact locations of these two places.

Nie Yan started inquiring about physician Blayvens.

“Physician Blayvens serves in the army of Hilton. The army of Hilton Fortress has always been stationed on the southern side of the fortress,” an old, short man provided the answer.

Nie Yan wandered as he made his way to the southern side of the fortress, which would take at least fifteen minutes to reach.

He arrived at an open square with few surrounding buildings. Looking northward, he saw a distant volcano emitting thick black smoke into the sky, forming a dark cloud that covered the heavens.

As Nie Yan walked, he overheard several NPCs whispering.

“Mount Anfrat has become active again these days. It will probably erupt in five or six days. The last eruption was about twenty years ago,” an elderly man said in a hoarse voice.

“Mount Anfrat is very far from here. It takes a long time to ride from Hilton Fortress to Mount Anfrat. Its eruption is like a grand fireworks display for us,” a young warrior laughed loudly.

“There have been two earthquakes in the past few days…” the elderly man sounded pessimistic.

Nie Yan smiled upon hearing these words. The attitudes of the young and the old toward life were always different.

This was just a small episode. There were always many NPCs conversing on the streets. By listening to their conversations, Nie Yan learned about some situations in Hilton Fortress. He was surprised to learn that Hilton Fortress had five high-ranking commanders and thirty ordinary commanders, which was extremely rare elsewhere in the Grinland Empire. The entire city of Carol had only one high-ranking commander and two ordinary commanders.

The military strength of Hilton Fortress was thus evident.

“Respected Mr. Nieyan, the Demon Slayer, Great Scholar, and Master Rogue, may I ask what you need? We have top-quality sulfur from Mount Anfrat volcano and…” an NPC general goods merchant approached.

“Sorry, I don’t need anything,” Nie Yan shook his head.

The general goods merchant dared not persist and retreated.

Mount Anfrat… Mount Anfrat… Nie Yan murmured to himself. He seemed to recall something but couldn’t quite grasp it. His intuition told him he might have missed something, but he couldn’t remember what it was.

“Maybe I’m just imagining things,” Nie Yan chuckled. There was no connection between him and Mount Anfrat!

The prosperity and bustle of Hilton Fortress—how long would it last? How much time would pass before players truly entered and filled the fortress?

As Nie Yan walked along the streets of Hilton Fortress, he felt a sense of desolation and remoteness. In both his past and present lives, he had witnessed the rise and fall, glory and sorrow of this ancient fortress.

“We have Dark Red Gold from Mount Anfrat for sale, respected sir. Would you like to buy some?” a short boy, about twelve or thirteen years old, wearing ragged clothes covered in dirt, his eyes black and bright, held out a piece of dark red metal.

“I don’t need it…” Nie Yan had already refused countless vendors hawking their goods and instinctively declined.

The boy’s eyes showed a hint of disappointment as he turned to leave.

“Wait, is that Dark Red Gold?” Nie Yan suddenly called out anxiously, staring at the piece of dark red metal in the boy’s hand. The metal emitted a deep crimson glow, definitely Dark Red Gold, and at least quality 3! He had almost missed a good item.

“Yes, respected sir. This Dark Red Gold is produced by Mount Anfrat. I found it in the pits of Mount Anfrat. An old man told me it could be sold for two gold coins,” the boy earnestly said. To him, two gold coins were a significant fortune.

“Can I take a look?” Nie Yan asked. He couldn’t help but smile slightly. A piece of quality 3 Dark Red Gold would sell for at least one or two thousand gold coins in the current market. It was an excellent material for crafting shield warrior armor and was rarely available for purchase. The boy was actually saying it was only worth two gold coins. Nie Yan looked at the boy’s name, which was Kalens.

“Sure.” The boy Kalens handed the Dark Red Gold to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan confirmed that it was indeed quality 3.

“Sir, would you like to buy it?” the boy Kalens asked, looking at Nie Yan with hope.

“Yes.” Nie Yan nodded. He noticed some details: the boy Kalens was emaciated, appearing somewhat malnourished, his hands were covered in black dirt, and there were burn marks on them.

“That’s great, respected sir. Thank you.” Kalens said excitedly.

Seeing Kalens’ pitiful state, Nie Yan’s heart softened. “This piece of Dark Red Gold is worth more than two gold coins.”

“How much is it worth then?” Kalens asked with a confused look.

“It’s worth a thousand gold coins. If you had a thousand gold coins, what would you do with it?”

Kalens paused for a moment and then replied firmly, “I would use that money to rescue my companions.”

Nie Yan placed a thousand gold coins in the trade window and confirmed the transaction with Kalens. He didn’t quite understand why he had so foolishly bought the piece of Dark Red Gold for a thousand gold coins. Perhaps beneath his cold exterior, Nie Yan still had a lingering sense of innocence that had not been extinguished.

“Respected sir, thank you. May the Holy Lord bless you.” Kalens knelt before Nie Yan, bowing low with his forehead touching the ground. This was the most sincere and solemn gesture he could offer to express his gratitude.

Nie Yan was taken aback by the solemnity of this gesture and was about to say something when Kalens got up and ran down a nearby alley, quickly disappearing from sight.

Seeing Kalens run off, Nie Yan felt a sense of emotion, something he hadn’t expected to feel for an NPC.

As Nie Yan was about to continue on his way, he suddenly noticed a new status in his character attribute status bar: Honesty.

Earlier, when he told Kalens that the Dark Red Gold was worth a thousand gold coins, the system had rewarded him with the Honesty attribute.

Nie Yan previously had three statuses: Justice, Courage, and Mercy. Now he had gained another one: Honesty. What task had the main brain arranged? Nie Yan was somewhat puzzled and could only slowly unravel this mystery.