Nie Yan went underground and ran an errand. The five guilds of the Tuoba family had been attacking the War God Tribe’s fortress for a long time without success. Nie Yan received news that the War God Tribe had already completed two Frost Iron Armor Catapults, and the third one was still under construction, expected to be completed soon.
Once all three Iron Armor Catapults were completed, the War God Tribe would launch a full-scale counterattack. Previously, during the battle for Krips Fortress, the War Blade Bloodthirsty Guild used Iron Armor Catapults to massacre players from the Bull Tribe, and now they would use Frost Iron Armor Catapults to slaughter the five guilds of the Tuoba family. If the Tuoba family did not possess some advanced machinery or powerful summoned creatures, they would definitely be at a disadvantage.
The battle unfolded exactly as Nie Yan had anticipated. On the sixth day of the battle for Nisod City, the War God Tribe completed all three Frost Iron Armor Catapults. The Frost Iron Armor Catapults appeared before the world in a proud manner, mercilessly slaughtering players from the five Tuoba family guilds. All the Tuoba family’s encircling legions began to collapse comprehensively.
Defeat was inevitable.
The War God Tribe started gaining a certain advantage. As long as they protected the three Frost Iron Armor Catapults, there would be no problem. As for the matters concerning Nisod City, Nie Yan left them in the hands of Guo Huai. The situation was already under control.
Nie Yan sold the equipment he had brought up from underground again. This batch of equipment was only sold for 500,000 gold coins. Equipment with attributes like +Dark Vision and +Focus had already saturated the market, and demand for such equipment would only increase again after some time.
Selling equipment like this was most profitable during the first few times; afterward, the profits would decrease, even becoming less profitable than doing other things. Nie Yan made plans with Duoduo to continue reselling equipment later. The profits from this round of equipment reselling allowed both guilds to earn a substantial amount.
Guo Huai sent news that Sun had received a flying mount quest and was currently working on it. Nie Yan also received a message from King’s Domain, who had just obtained two sub-legendary pieces of equipment. King’s Domain was quite fast.
Under Guo Huai’s coordination, the Bull Tribe, together with several other guilds, captured all the primary fortresses of Carol City. They were now busily upgrading the fortresses’ buildings and defenses. Everyone in the Bull Tribe was extremely busy.
Nie Yan checked the progress of his various quests. There were three quests currently in progress. The first was the Ten Paladins Legend quest. Nie Yan had accepted commissions from Kars and was searching for the truth, including finding the dragon girl Benita. Nie Yan estimated that completing this quest would require at least level 100 and would be very difficult, so he temporarily set it aside. The second quest was to find the Spirit Communication Talisman of the Spider Queen Phinas, which was also a high-level quest with considerable difficulty, making it temporarily unattainable. The third quest was to collect the Abak Set, which Nie Yan could only complete upon reaching the Golden City. The Golden City could be entered at level 60, and he should be able to receive the quest guidance upon arriving there.
Additionally, he was being pursued by the Wandering Soul Princess Aina. However, Aina had not appeared for a long time. Nie Yan speculated that she might suddenly appear during a certain phase of the quest, attempting to capture him and affecting the quest’s progress, so he needed to be very cautious while completing the quests.
Nie Yan prepared by purchasing a large amount of consumables and teleported to the Emerald City, Hildirok, heading toward the Golden City. While on the way, a system prompt suddenly sounded.
System: ‘Lava from the volcano erupts from underground, disaster befalls Hilton Fortress. The warriors of the Grelan Empire defend Hilton Fortress, bravely resisting the invasion of monsters. The expansion pack “Defense of Hilton Fortress” is now open. Warriors, head to Hilton Fortress and use your mighty strength to defend this heroic city of humanity!’
Nie Yan’s heart skipped a beat. The monster siege of Hilton Fortress had finally begun. The siege would last for about four or five days, during which the NPCs inside the fortress would suffer heavy casualties. Afterward, players would enter Hilton Fortress to become the main defense force against the monster attacks. Additionally, after reaching level 100, some underground players would gradually arrive on the surface, starting the war between the two factions.
Seeing this system message, Nie Yan felt a weight lifted from his heart. He had successfully predicted the monster siege of Hilton Fortress. He wondered whether the NPCs there had made adequate preparations beforehand. Nie Yan checked his titles and found that he was still a Scholar.
Scholar: 2/5 progress toward the next title, Great Seer.
Nie Yan’s prediction of the monster siege of Hilton Fortress only completed 3/5 of the requirements for promotion to Great Seer. Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel puzzled; obtaining the title of Great Seer seemed excessively difficult, especially since predicting wars wasn’t something that happened frequently.
Nie Yan searched the official website for information about the Great Seer title. To advance from Scholar to Great Seer, the completion percentage was determined by the scale of the predicted events. Predicting an ordinary battle counted as 1/5, and completing five predictions would allow promotion. Nie Yan’s successful prediction of the monster siege of Hilton Fortress counted as three events, thus completing 3/5 of the requirements.
Nie Yan looked at the rights of the Great Seer title. A Great Seer would receive a fiefdom in their home country, including a city of their own. All taxes from the city would belong to the Great Seer, who could also establish the city’s laws. Additionally, in the Grelan Empire and the Sa’thern Empire, the rights of a Great Seer were equivalent to those of an elder in the council, bringing many supreme honors. Legend also said that a Great Seer could communicate with gods and nature, and possess a powerful summoned creature of their own.
Many aspects still required exploration by players, as not all details were listed on the official website.
However, Nie Yan was still quite tempted by the benefits of becoming a Great Seer. The city mentioned was not just a simple fortress but a large city like Carol City or Nisod City, complete with many surrounding fortresses. However, the Great Seer title was still somewhat distant for Nie Yan. The game’s historical progression had already changed, making it very difficult for Nie Yan to predict the next event. Moreover, the Great Divination skill could only be used once every ten days and was not guaranteed to be effective.
Nie Yan temporarily gave up, wondering whether there would be any rewards for successfully predicting the monster siege of Hilton Fortress, though the system provided no notification. After the siege ended, Nie Yan would have to visit Hilton Fortress to see if there were any special rewards.
At this moment, he was already on his way to the Golden City.
The Golden City was located to the south of Hildirok. It was rich in gold, and a wealthy mine lord had built a magnificent castle there, standing halfway up the hill of Burks Mountain. Later, the mine lord turned away from the light and became a demon, known as the famous boss, Mine Slave Igrin. Mine Slave Igrin was a level 90 lord, and players were currently too afraid to challenge him, so they could only venture into the underground mine dungeon beneath the Golden City.
Nie Yan rode his Forcarna warhorse toward that direction.
In the distance, on the hillside, the massive castle came into Nie Yan’s sight. That was the Golden City. Above the Golden City was the activity area of Mine Slave Igrin, while below was a famous instance dungeon, the Golden City Underground Mine. The group led by Cui Can Dao Guang had already cleared this instance. It was said that when they arrived here, they had a conflict with a guild from Hildirok. That guild, with about 2,000 members, blocked Cui Can Dao Guang and his group in the Golden City, but they were still defeated by Cui Can Dao Guang’s team. Twenty people fought them so effectively that they had no chance to retaliate, thus establishing the Bull Tribe’s reputation in Hildirok.
When guilds in Hildirok encountered players from the Bull Tribe coming to the instance dungeon, they all had to be courteous, understanding which people they could provoke and which they could not. This was already a long time ago. At that time, Nie Yan was still underground, and minor conflicts were common while leveling up or doing instance dungeons. It would be an overreaction to send the entire guild to besiege someone over a small conflict.
Now, the number of players at around level 60 was still quite large, making the Golden City particularly lively. There were even people setting up stalls to sell items along the forest paths outside the Golden City.
Nie Yan moved along, following the crowd to the outside of the Golden City, wearing a large black cloak that completely concealed his appearance.
“Looking for a group for the Golden City Underground Mine, mage with 800+ magic damage…”
“Seeking priests and paladins for the Golden City Underground Mine instance group. Requirements: priests with 1000+ healing, paladins with 500+ healing.”
Outside the Golden City, the area was bustling with voices, gathering about two or three thousand players. Occasionally, someone would shout out looking to form a group to enter the instance dungeon. Players from various guilds of the Grelan Empire gathered here, many coming from other cities, and many were free players looking to join an instance group.
Since this was not a safe zone, the players were relatively cautious.
Groups of people scattered around, scrutinizing everyone passing by. When they encountered suitable candidates for their group, they would approach to inquire. They had very high requirements for each player, and any slight mismatch with the conditions they set would result in the solo players being rejected.
However, occasionally, some lower-tier groups would set off toward the Golden City Underground Mine. They weren’t there to clear the instance; they were just there to farm monsters for leveling up, and if they were lucky, they might get one or two good pieces of equipment.
Nie Yan moved through the crowd, his black cloak concealing his appearance, and no one recognized him. Ordinary players were already accustomed to seeing players wearing cloaks, so they paid no attention as Nie Yan passed by, completely unaware that the person in the black cloak was none other than the famous rogue, Kuang Zei Nie Yan.
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage