Century Syndicate has many ways to accumulate wealth. Its various studios, shops, and auction houses generate massive amounts of gold daily, which they reinvest to expand their power, recruiting countless guilds as their subordinates and foot soldiers.
The emergence of the Bull Tribe disrupted some of Century Syndicate’s business plans, nearly dismantling its carefully built structure in the Glireland Empire. Otherwise, Century Syndicate would have grown even stronger within the game world.
Despite this, Century Syndicate remains an awe-inspiring force.
The Century Syndicate employs a variety of methods, leveraging hype, financing, and resale tactics to accumulate wealth. Backed by massive capital, they are nearly unstoppable, generating substantial profits on a daily basis. However, their operations were recently targeted and disrupted by the Bull Tribe.
Li Rui bribed two high-ranking Century Syndicate executives through various channels, obtaining a large amount of intelligence. With this insider knowledge, Guo Huai used the Bull Tribe’s five million gold to act preemptively, repeatedly beating Century Syndicate to the punch. After several operations, the Bull Tribe’s five million gold swelled to over six million.
Century Syndicate’s liquid capital in Glireland Empire is around seven million gold. Ordinary capital simply cannot threaten them, as there are few rivals in the entire Glireland Empire capable of matching their financial prowess. Ordinary guilds or syndicates struggle to raise such massive sums of gold. The Bull Tribe is the first organization bold enough to challenge Century Syndicate’s capital. Besides financial operations, Century Syndicate’s several acquisitions were also preempted by the Bull Tribe, with three shops successfully acquired by Guo Huai and his team.
Due to the Bull Tribe’s sabotage, Century Syndicate not only failed to profit recently but also suffered losses of nearly 600,000 gold, forcing them to act more cautiously.
The Bull Tribe operated very secretly, so Century Syndicate remained unaware of their involvement.
A mysterious capital repeatedly obstructed Century Syndicate, immediately drawing Cao Xu’s attention. He set up a trap to strike back at the Bull Tribe, only to find their capital suddenly disappeared, leaving no trace.
The capital market temporarily quieted down, but the entire Glireland Empire remained turbulent, with various factions stirring, each vying for their own interests. The Bull Tribe’s Frost Armored Catapult continued steadily leveling one Mage Alliance fortress after another. Their ultimate target was Egdun Fortress; if the Frost Armored Catapult reached Egdun Fortress, the entire Mage Alliance would be in grave danger.
Century Syndicate, thrown into chaos by Li Rui, Guo Huai, and others, had no time to focus on the Mage Alliance and even suspended their financial support. This allowed the Bull Tribe to deal with the Mage Alliance at their leisure.
As the situation gradually stabilized, Nie Yan’s burdens eased significantly, giving him more free time to move around.
Nie Yan occasionally went out to level up in secluded areas. Over nearly two days of continuous leveling using Death Ripple Scrolls and Intermediate and Advanced Area Damage Magic Bombs, he finally reached level 97, standing just one level away from the coveted level 100.
As usual, Nie Yan leveled in the Lost City of Fear Canyon, a place where mechanical monsters gathered—it was the ruins of goblin habitation.
In the ancient city, battered mechanical puppets, riddled with rust and missing many parts, wandered the open streets. Though seemingly unremarkable aside from their towering height, these level 100 creatures possessed formidable combat power. In a direct fight, Nie Yan stood no chance against them. They had powerful stun abilities, and without a strong shield, one could be stunned to death.
Nie Yan used his usual method to level. He used crossbow bolts to attract groups of mechanical puppets, then threw dark golden metal shards behind him. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Several consecutive explosions erupted, spewing scorching flames and sending shockwaves that seemed capable of tearing apart surrounding buildings.
The explosive force was dozens of times more powerful than basic Area Damage Magic Bombs, with a significantly larger blast radius—comparable to the detonation of high-grade TNT, leaving one utterly awestruck.
The shockwave swept through, and the mechanical puppets’ health bars immediately displayed damage values of over ten thousand. After several Advanced Area Damage Magic Bombs, the ground was littered with scattered parts.
The Advanced Area Damage Magic Bombs were specially crafted for Nie Yan by Ziyan, costing around 100 gold per unit. A total of over 5,000 were made, all used by Nie Yan for leveling up. Purchasing them at an alchemy shop would cost several times more, with a daily limit of only ten. Homemade Advanced Area Damage Magic Bombs were relatively cheaper.
Nie Yan had lost count of how many mechanical puppets he had defeated, but the loot obtained was worth nearly 300,000 gold.
At this point, leveling up was extremely difficult for Nie Yan, requiring an immense amount of experience. An ordinary player would need at least a month to level from 96 to 97, but Nie Yan accomplished it in less than a day. This speed was truly astonishing. From level 95 to 97, Nie Yan essentially “bought” his way through experience, something most players couldn’t replicate even if they had the money, as acquiring such a large quantity of Advanced Area Damage Magic Bombs at this level was nearly impossible.
After eliminating roughly two to three hundred mechanical puppets, Nie Yan approached to collect the loot, rummaging through the ruins. The ground was strewn with various iron bars, screws, and other debris, interspersed with scattered equipment. Occasionally, one might find a rare treasure. Most of the equipment was white-grade, with some bronze-grade items, while silver-grade or higher level 100 equipment was rare. Nie Yan picked up several scattered energy crystals, which could be synthesized into energy gems—widely used in mechanical crafting.
Pushing aside a few iron bars, Nie Yan suddenly noticed a gem amidst the scattered parts, emitting an emerald glow, about the size of a thumb, shaped like a regular rhombus.
This gem should be quite high-level, probably worth a decent amount of gold, Nie Yan mused.
Gems like this, Nie Yan obtained at least sixty or seventy daily, so he paid little attention, casually picking it up. Just as he was about to toss it into his backpack, he noticed the gem’s name.
Emerald Life Gem? Seeing the name, Nie Yan’s heart skipped a beat—it was actually this!
After a long and fruitless search, it had finally appeared effortlessly!
Nie Yan hurriedly rummaged through the corners of his backpack, retrieving several items.
One Dreaming Azure Gem, one Blazing Crimson Gem, one Emerald Life Gem, and a Magic Silver Necklace could be synthesized into a Longing Necklace. The Blazing Crimson Gem, Dreaming Azure Gem, and Magic Silver Necklace had lain in Nie Yan’s backpack for who-knows-how-long. Now, finally, the missing Emerald Life Gem had been found.
At last, a complete set of materials was gathered—what a relief! Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel emotional. To find these gems, Nie Yan had nearly mobilized the entire Bull Tribe, yet the Emerald Life Gem had remained elusive.
Nie Yan couldn’t help but think—if this place dropped Emerald Life Gems, perhaps once the Bull Tribe’s players reached sufficient levels, they could come here to farm monsters, possibly obtaining more. After all, the more Longing Necklaces, the better.
The three differently colored gems shimmered in Nie Yan’s palm, their hues intertwining.
He wondered what kind of necklace would result from the synthesis. If the Longing Necklace was successfully created, it would randomly grant a +1 bonus to a production profession skill level.
Nie Yan took out Pandora’s Box and placed the Dreaming Azure Gem and other materials inside, his heart racing with excitement. Finally, he could synthesize the coveted Longing Necklace!
If the Longing Necklace was successfully created, regardless of which production profession skill it enhanced, it would greatly benefit the Bull Tribe. Ideally, it would boost Alchemy, Herbalism, and Engineering skills—the Bull Tribe’s most developed production professions. With numerous high-level practitioners, any of them wearing the Longing Necklace could become a Master. Acquiring a single Longing Necklace would grant the Bull Tribe access to Master-level items.
For each production profession, reaching Master level was a threshold. Once crossed, production efficiency would dramatically increase—equivalent to five high-level professionals. Their output would be significantly superior, and they could even produce advanced items. For example, in the Apothecary profession, each Master-level potion in a previous life could fetch hundreds or even thousands of gold. Master-level potion ingredients were extremely rare, yet their effects were powerful, creating massive demand. Many people fought fiercely over a single Master-level potion. Additionally, a Master-level Apothecary could take five apprentices, instantly elevating their Apothecary level to Intermediate and teaching them various potion recipes.
If used wisely, a single Longing Necklace would undoubtedly be an invaluable treasure!
Nie Yan carefully placed the three gems and the Magic Silver Necklace into Pandora’s Box, checking that the synthesis conditions were met.
System: Are you sure you want to synthesize these items into a new item?
Confirm!
Nie Yan took a deep breath and clicked confirm. Instantly, a dazzling light erupted, radiant as the sun, blinding his vision with brilliant white.
Although the failure rate for synthesis was generally very low, Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel nervous, silently praying for success.
The Longing Necklace was too important, and the materials were too difficult to gather. After painstaking effort to collect a complete set, if the synthesis failed, Nie Yan estimated he would be so devastated he might consider bashing his head against a wall.
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