Nie Yan could imagine that in his previous life, many people had wanted to experience climbing this staircase, but amid jeers and mockery, most had given up. Finally, an unremarkable little rogue climbed all the way to the top. He received some surprisingly good rewards and made the event public, after which players learned that it was a hidden quest set by the main brain. Many players rushed to try their luck, but by the time they reached the top, the quest had long ended. Only the first person to complete the climb received rewards, while all the followers got nothing.
In this timeline, Nie Yan was the first one. The rogue guild’s tower had only been built a few days ago. Magical elevators moved extremely fast, and few players chose to climb the stairs. Thus, in these few days, not a single player had the perseverance to complete the entire staircase.
Time passed second by second. Nie Yan climbed higher and higher. Looking out the window, everything had become so tiny it was invisible, and he was now nearly at the clouds. Mocking voices kept coming, but Nie Yan seemed to hear nothing.
After more than ten minutes, Nie Yan finally reached the top of the main tower and stepped onto the rooftop.
Many people were glancing in Nie Yan’s direction.
“Look, that fool didn’t take the magic elevator. Instead, he climbed all the way from the bottom to the top.”
“Haha, what an idiot. Looking at him gives me a sense of intellectual superiority.”
As people were discussing, suddenly a white light shone from Nie Yan, dazzlingly bright, similar to the glow when leveling up, but with a slight difference. It appeared to be a reward for completing a task. Players were surprised. There were no NPCs near the staircase, so how could he have received a reward just by climbing the stairs?
The players immediately thought of a hidden quest. Otherwise, why would that hooded guy spend more than ten minutes climbing over two thousand steps?
No one laughed at Nie Yan anymore. Some people quietly slipped into the magical elevator, preparing to climb the stairs like Nie Yan had, determined not to be beaten to it.
Nie Yan glanced at the system message he had just received.
[System: Reward of Folly. You have gained 10 Willpower. In times of darkness, even when faced with the mockery of thousands, may you always adhere to your beliefs, just as you did today, until you succeed. Success comes from persistence.]
Willpower was a relatively rare attribute. Ordinary players had at most around 50 points. High-level mages might have more, reaching up to 100 points at most. Equipment that increased Willpower was rare, though Nie Yan was an exception, having already reached over 200 points.
Willpower had many uses. People with high Willpower were less likely to be controlled by mental magic, and even if controlled, the duration would be significantly reduced. It could also greatly reduce damage from mental magic attacks. Willpower was also a requirement for certain specific equipment. For mages, high-level spell damage was supported by Willpower. Willpower had many other uses as well. Though seemingly insignificant, it could prove crucial in unexpected situations.
A reward of 10 Willpower was quite impressive.
Nie Yan murmured the message again: “In times of darkness, even when faced with the mockery of thousands, may you always adhere to your beliefs, just as you did today, until you succeed. Success comes from persistence.” A flash of realization crossed his mind, and he smiled slightly. This was indeed a gain for him.
Suddenly, Nie Yan thought of something and checked his character status. Behind the statuses of Justice, Courage, Benevolence, Honesty, and Sacrifice, there was a new one: Perseverance. Perseverance meant having an unshakable and steadfast belief.
Unexpectedly, he had gained another status. Now he had six character statuses. Nie Yan speculated that perhaps gathering a certain number of statuses would grant a reward.
However, the exact number was hard to determine.
According to numerology in Faith, 7 was an unlucky number, representing the end of a cycle. It was rarely used except in the weekly cycle of astronomy. 8 and 9 were possibilities, and it might even require collecting ten or more statuses.
It might take a long time to collect all the character statuses.
Looking around the hall, Nie Yan noticed everyone watching him with strange expressions. He ignored them, walked to the balcony, and jumped off. The wind roared past him as he rapidly descended, getting closer and closer to the ground. Just before landing, Nie Yan activated the Feather Fall gem skill and landed lightly.
“Does that guy want to jump off the building?”
“This main tower must be at least two or three hundred yards high.”
People hurried to the balcony, leaning over to look down. They saw Nie Yan land safely and quickly disappear into a nearby alley of the rogue guild.
“Wow, it’s a Feather Fall device. That guy must be rich.”
At this time, players with Feather Fall devices were still rare, and such devices were sold at astronomical prices in several auction houses.
Nie Yan’s appearance and disappearance were merely a fleeting episode for these players. They had no idea what reward he had obtained—it remained a mystery. Many players tried to imitate Nie Yan, climbing from the base to the summit of the tower, but they gained nothing. Some were so unwilling to accept this that they even ascended and descended five or six times.
It was not Nie Yan who was foolish, but them!
In the following days, Nie Yan upgraded all his equipment, enchanted them, embedded gems, and enhanced some special items. He also needed to prepare some things before obtaining a Life Crystal to hatch the Dark Winged Dragon. Additionally, he needed to find Life Emerald Crystals to synthesize the Longed-for Necklace.
The Bull Tribe continued developing steadily, now controlling one mid-level fortress and ten low-level fortresses. Meanwhile, the three guilds, Jialan Temple, Holy Roman Empire, and Holy Flame, each controlled four fortresses.
Besides the fortresses, under Gu Huai’s command, the Bull Tribe started opening mines outside, sending miners to dig for ores and collect resources, as well as arranging for resource gathering to supply the guild’s production professions. However, they encountered several problems, with players from the Angel Domination guild ambushing them, causing mining and resource collection to be interrupted several times. In response, the Bull Tribe retaliated by sending teams led by Sun and Bad Guy to cause them some trouble.
Currently, the Bull Tribe wasn’t quite ready to focus on harassment. They needed to consolidate their foundation first.
After Nie Yan had fully upgraded his equipment, he went underground and asked the members of Angel Descent to find a suitable place for him to level up. He spent five days leveling up to level 76 and earned over 800,000 gold coins in total.
“I heard the Griffon Grove will open in about ten more days,” Gu Huai sent Nie Yan the latest news.
Upon hearing this message from Gu Huai, Nie Yan’s heart stirred. In his previous life, he hadn’t visited the Griffon Grove, but he had heard some information about it. In his previous life, by the time Nie Yan was reborn, five flying mount maps had been opened: Griffon Grove, Wind Serpent Canyon, Dragonfly Swamp, Phoenix Nest, and Dragon Valley. These places were extremely dangerous, generally requiring teams of at least twenty people to enter. If one was lucky, they might obtain a griffon egg or a griffon cub, which were the flying mounts that players dreamed of.
Griffons, Wind Serpents, and Dragonflies were considered high-level creatures. As for Phoenixes and Dragons, they only existed in legends, and no one had ever truly obtained one.
These maps were located on the borders of the Glirland Empire and the Saturn Empire, in lawless territories that no nation could claim as their own. Nie Yan remembered that after the Griffon Grove opened in his previous life, countless guilds began forming teams to explore it. Many teams returned in defeat, but some were said to have obtained great treasures. For example, the Triumph Empire’s team obtained a griffon cub from the Griffon Grove, which caused great excitement throughout the entire empire.
Despite being repeatedly wiped out, the powerful temptation of flying mounts continued to attract guilds to keep coming.
Nie Yan’s eyes gleamed with an unusual light as he thought about the upcoming Griffon Grove. He wondered whether the major mage guilds had started selling Mist Dispelling Scrolls yet.
Mist Dispelling Scrolls were a special type of scroll with a very specific use, although their range of effect was quite large. With one Mist Dispelling Scroll and the magic of five high-level mages, the mist within a radius of three thousand yards could be dispelled for six hours. Usually, one could find an unremarkable high-level mage selling Mist Dispelling Scrolls by searching the various rooms of the mage guild. Unless players actively approached him for a conversation, they wouldn’t know what he was selling. Once players spoke with him, he would introduce the function and price of the Mist Dispelling Scroll.
In Nie Yan’s previous life, when the Mist Dispelling Scrolls were first sold, players would shake their heads and walk away after seeing them. A mere scrap of parchment costing 500 gold coins was simply outrageous. It wasn’t until later, after players became familiar with the Griffon Grove instance, that the Mist Dispelling Scrolls gained recognition. The Griffon Grove was filled with mist everywhere, and without the Mist Dispelling Scrolls, it was almost impossible to move forward. At that time, each city’s mage guild would only produce five Mist Dispelling Scrolls every five days at exactly 12:00. Due to the high demand and limited supply, many guilds rushed to buy them, and they would be sold out as soon as they appeared. They were never enough to meet the demand. Almost every day, players from major guilds would wait at the mage guilds, just to purchase a single Mist Dispelling Scroll so they could venture into the Griffon Grove!
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