Players arriving in Okolen City either have flying mounts or usually level up in Abernathy Grassland. After entering Okolen City, they strolled around, filled with curiosity about this new place.
Although Okolen City is much smaller compared to major cities like Carol City in the Granland Empire, it is already considered excellent among player-built cities. Seeing its neatly arranged streets and rows of buildings, players were amazed, wondering how much money it must have cost to construct such a city.
Nie Yan built a mercenary guild in the city center and began offering high salaries to recruit NPCs, forming his own NPC army. Although notices had been posted, it would still take a long time before the NPCs gradually arrived in Okolen City.
Nie Yan was contemplating how to develop Okolen City’s commerce, knowing that only a thriving commercial sector could retain players once they arrived. While he was planning, Guo Huai sent him a message: many merchants had already contacted him, eager to establish themselves in Okolen City. Although Okolen was only just getting started, these merchants keenly sensed its potential business opportunities.
The Abernathy Grassland would become a transit hub between the Granland and Sathorne Empires, where goods from both nations would circulate. This advantageous geographical location destined it to become a bustling commercial center, and merchants with vision naturally wouldn’t miss such an opportunity.
Their enthusiastic contacts with Guo Huai coincidentally solved a major problem for Nie Yan.
“How many merchants have contacted you so far, and what are their backgrounds?” Nie Yan asked, as he would need to carefully evaluate the qualifications of merchants planning to settle in Okolen City.
“A total of 212 merchants, with about 40% coming from the Sathorne Empire. Some well-known merchants include the Red Moon Commercial Association, which currently controls 60% of the scroll market in Sathorne. They’ve decided to send trade caravans here. They’re all complaining about the high teleportation costs. When will your flight points be completed, and how large a scale are you planning?”
“Don’t worry about the flight points; they can be handled easily. For now, we can purchase some giant bats from Granland and Sathorne Empires. During the three-month protection period, we can use the giant bats without issues. However, after the protection period ends, relying solely on them will be risky. We need to acquire stronger flying mounts and establish a flying mount transport team; otherwise, we may become targets for other factions,” Nie Yan explained. Giant bats were non-combat mounts used only for transportation. During the three-month protection period, guilds like Angel Dominion wouldn’t dare attack them, but afterward, using giant bats would pose significant risks.
“About how much does a giant bat cost?” Guo Huai asked, unfamiliar with the market.
“Roughly ten thousand gold coins, not too expensive.”
“How many do you plan to buy?”
“If we buy too few, it won’t be enough. I estimate we’ll need at least 600 giant bats to handle the traffic flow in Okolen City,” Nie Yan replied.
“Six hundred?!” Guo Huai gasped in shock. Purchasing 600 giant bats would cost six million gold coins, which was staggering. “Will we be able to recoup six million gold coins from this investment?”
“Giant bats are essential. We’ll establish flight points in the cities nearest to Abernathy Grassland in both Granland and Sathorne Empires, using Okolen City as a transit hub. Each giant bat can make about five round trips to Granland or Sathorne per day, transporting roughly 3,000 people daily. That’s far from sufficient for a city. We’ll start with 600 giant bats and expand further later. Although we might not profit directly from the flight points, if Okolen City thrives, our income will far exceed this investment.”
“Alright, you’ve convinced me,” Guo Huai said. Although he winced at the six million gold coins, he realized that Cowherd Tribe wasn’t short on funds anymore—after all, Nie Yan’s Star Pharmacy alone could earn that much in a single day.
Giant bats were only a temporary solution. Within three months, they needed to acquire more offensive flying mounts; otherwise, guilds like Angel Dominion would surely intercept Cowherd Tribe from the skies. Nie Yan resolved to visit the Griffon Lands again soon.
Everything proceeded smoothly. After about five to six hours, Okolen City welcomed its first batch of resident NPCs—nomadic tribes from the nearby grasslands, who had fallen into hardship and poverty and came to see what the city had to offer.
Although they weren’t warriors but ordinary civilians, for Nie Yan, this was a promising sign.
Nie Yan provided them with some food supplies purchased from Granland Empire NPC stores and assigned them jobs, helping them settle into Okolen City.
“Revered Great Prophet Nie Yan, thank you for your mercy, giving us a place to live,” an elderly NPC with white beard and hair knelt down, expressing his gratitude.
“Respected elder, please rise. In Okolen, there’s no need for such formalities,” Nie Yan replied.
The arrival of NPCs would enrich Okolen City’s population and diversity.
From these NPCs, Nie Yan gathered scattered information: in the northern part of Abernathy Grassland, the human Kolens tribe and the orcish Sodan tribe were waging war over territory, causing refugees to flee toward Okolen. On a grassland about ten minutes away from Okolen, a terrifying Ape King had appeared, descending from the Mologo Mountains. It was a level 180 lord that had already slaughtered two small nomadic tribes.
With the arrival of these NPCs, Nie Yan’s access to information greatly improved. Due to his approachable nature and kindness toward NPCs, Nie Yan quickly gained their support and admiration.
Cowherd Tribe players purchased numerous giant bats from major cities, carrying large sacks of grain, and landed in Okolen City.
Nie Yan was ready to recruit more NPCs.
“The level 180 lord is advancing this way and could soon threaten our city. Interested in checking it out together?” Nie Yan asked Cui Can Dao Guang and others, as it had been a long time since they last grouped up for monster hunting.
“No problem. You take the lead,” Cui Can Dao Guang replied.
Hearing that Nie Yan would lead a raid against a level 180 lord, everyone became excited. A level 180 lord posed a significant challenge.
Nie Yan began organizing the operation. Ordinary players couldn’t handle a level 180 lord, as their attacks would be ineffective. Only top-tier professional players were qualified for this task.
“Are we just the twelve of us?” Yu Wang Ran Qing Chun asked.
“Others can’t come. We’ll have our twelve plus Yalop. We should be fine, but if things get too tough, we’ll retreat,” Nie Yan said. They could at least scout first. Xie Yao, Lei Su, and others were rushing in from various locations, unconcerned about teleportation costs, making their arrival in Okolen City relatively convenient.
As everyone was discussing, Bu Si De Huai (Killable Rogue) urgently messaged Nie Yan: “Boss, I heard from Yu Wang that you guys are going after a lord. Add me in.”
“You’ve promoted to Archmage?” Nie Yan was slightly surprised to see the message from Killable Rogue.
“Just finished my class change quest,” Killable Rogue chuckled.
“Great, excellent!” Nie Yan couldn’t help but express his joy. Previously, many top players in Cowherd Tribe had failed their class changes. Killable Rogue successfully promoting was a pleasant surprise. With Killable Rogue, Cowherd Tribe now had thirteen top-tier professional players.
After such a long time, three more top-tier professions had emerged in Granland and Sathorne Empires, though they were all solo players whose identities remained unknown to Nie Yan. It was said that guilds like Angel Dominion and Zhu Shen Zhi Jian had attempted to contact them without success. Although more top-tier players had appeared outside, they still couldn’t threaten Cowherd Tribe. Now, with the addition of Killable Rogue, they had four Archmages in total.
With another Archmage joining the team, they had even greater confidence in defeating the Ape King.
Nie Yan and others gathered in Okolen City. Soon, Killable Rogue arrived last, slightly out of breath.
Yu Wang Ran Qing Chun walked over and patted Killable Rogue’s shoulder: “Why so late? Everyone’s been waiting for five or six minutes.”
“Before coming, I adjusted my gear and socketed some gems into a few items, which made me late. Sorry, sorry,” Killable Rogue apologized with a smile, fully aware that every minute was precious for these twelve people.
Nie Yan looked at Killable Rogue. The latter had changed much of his gear, now wearing a silver-gray robe with a golden eagle embroidered on the chest. The magical aura radiating from the robe indicated it was a legendary-grade item. Nie Yan had seen many legendary-grade item pictures before but had never encountered a robe like this.
“How did your class change quest go?” Nie Yan smiled and asked.
“This robe was obtained during the class change quest—the Mannix Golden Eagle Robe, a legendary-grade upgradeable item,” Killable Rogue said excitedly, clearly very satisfied with his new gear.
Mannix Golden Eagle Robe? Nie Yan furrowed his brow. Suddenly, he remembered who Mannix was. Over two hundred years ago, Mannix and twelve powerful Archmages formed the Golden Eagle Organization, exerting great influence in Granland Empire. Renowned for his exceptional magical talent and hailed as a magic prodigy, Mannix was later assassinated by agents of the Undead Empire. Nevertheless, Mannix’s strength was unquestionable, and his remaining equipment was naturally extraordinary.
“Good catch. It’s a fine item,” Nie Yan smiled and nodded approvingly.
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