“Have you gained anything recently from grinding monsters and completing quests?” Nie Yan asked Tang Yao, who was beside him. It had been a while since they last chatted like this.
“Not bad. I got a Ghost Wolf and a Book of Sigils. I don’t know what it’s for, but the Mainframe gave me a task clue. Besides the Book of Sigils, I found two sub-legendary items,” Tang Yao replied. His gains were pretty decent.
“A Book of Sigils? The Sigil Book of Malkinson?” Nie Yan suddenly recalled something and asked in surprise.
“Yes. How, do you know about it? I searched the official website but couldn’t find any information. The official site is so annoying; they don’t release details about high-difficulty tasks.”
Nie Yan had some vague knowledge about the Book of Sigils—it was an item related to the legendary mage Malkinson. In a past life, it was the secondary equipment of Mo Da Shi Hunshi Laoyao, a powerful mage. With this item, he quickly joined the ranks of the top three mages and became a formidable figure. Nie Yan never expected that in this timeline, the Book of Sigils of Malkinson had ended up in Tang Yao’s hands, while Hunshi Laoyao had seemingly vanished somewhere.
History had changed its course due to Nie Yan’s intervention.
“You should continue with this task; you’re sure to gain something valuable. Malkinson was a legendary mage of the Glinlan Empire, a master of ultimate techniques,” Nie Yan said, hoping his words would make Tang Yao take the matter seriously.
“Oh, I see,” Tang Yao finally started to treat the Book of Sigils with more seriousness.
Nie Yan himself only knew the name of the Book of Sigils and didn’t know much about it, so he couldn’t offer Tang Yao any specific advice.
“Besides flying mounts, have you gained anything else recently?” Tang Yao asked.
At this question, Nie Yan suddenly remembered the Song of the Thornbird he had obtained earlier. Since getting the book, he hadn’t had time to look at its contents. But he remembered that many bards sang about the Song of the Thornbird. Bremair was a bard himself—perhaps he could provide some clues.
“I got a copy of the Song of the Thornbird. It might trigger a quest. Let’s find a tavern and check out what’s inside,” Nie Yan said. The two entered a tavern and sat in a corner booth.
Nie Yan took out the Song of the Thornbird from his backpack and started flipping through it.
As he turned to the first page, he suddenly felt a strange sensation. Guided by some mysterious force, he ran his fingers over the large characters on the first page. A system notification popped up.
‘System: In the dark age, follow the trail of history. The most beautiful things can only be obtained at a terrible cost. Seek the Assassin’s Heart and let the flames bloom in your hands.’
Nie Yan checked his quest log.
Quest Progress: Seek the Assassin’s Heart.
It was a quest for the Assassin’s Heart. Looking at the level of the quest, it was a Legendary Quest!
Nie Yan knew almost nothing about what the Assassin’s Heart actually was. It might be related to those eight thieves. He flipped through the Song of the Thornbird and saw passages written in ancient common script.
“The blade of Gascoigne, ablaze with fire, devours lives. The suffering people, under the lash, struggle to survive… The slaves praying for light in the darkness… Though they know destruction lies ahead, they rush like moths into the flame, seeking that brief moment of light and warmth. They resolutely chase freedom with their lives…”
As Nie Yan flipped through the book, he saw biographies of the eight thieves. They came from different backgrounds—one was once a blacksmith, another a thief, and another a noble’s slave. After enduring many hardships, they came together and became famous assassins who met their end bravely, creating an epic legend.
The book repeatedly mentioned a place called Paternoster City, an enigmatic city that had vanished into the annals of history.
Nie Yan murmured the name, Paternoster City. He felt he had heard it somewhere before but couldn’t recall. He searched the official website but found no relevant information. Such legendary quests were rarely detailed on official sites. He lost focus, staring blankly as he pondered.
“What are you thinking about?” Tang Yao asked, seeing Nie Yan deep in thought.
“Paternoster City, have you seen that name somewhere?” Nie Yan asked. If Tang Yao could provide some clues, he might be able to recall some information, as the name seemed familiar.
“Paternoster? Paternoster Warhammer?” Tang Yao asked in confusion.
Nie Yan was momentarily stunned, then suddenly understood and said excitedly, “Yes, it’s the Paternoster Warhammer!”
The Paternoster Warhammer was a divine-level weapon. It was famous because the Orc King Isolde once used it to summon lightning and kill the legendary dragon slayer, Killer Gilsfer. The warhammer’s name thus entered history.
This led to a realization: to solve the mystery of the Song of the Thornbird and find the Assassin’s Heart, he might have to go to the Orc King’s city to trigger new clues.
Thinking about the Orc King’s city, Nie Yan thought of Angel Dominion. It seemed he was destined to pay them a visit. This legendary quest might be too difficult for him at his current level. He would need to reach level 100 and complete the Shadow Dancer class change first. Once he became a Shadow Dancer, he could definitely cause Angel Dominion some headaches.
Nie Yan put away the Song of the Thornbird and said to Tang Yao beside him, “Let’s go. We need to find the bard Bremair.”
The two passed through street after street, winding through alleyways, until they arrived at a white building. They checked the signboard, which read “The Home of Bard Bremair.”
Nie Yan stepped inside, with Tang Yao following closely behind.
As they entered the garden, Nie Yan saw Bremair himself. The bard looked to be in his forties, slightly aged, wearing a white robe that exuded an air of elegance, though his face bore a deep, unshakable sadness.
This was the classic image of a bard, and Nie Yan was quite familiar with the design of Faith NPCs.
Bremair turned his gaze toward Nie Yan and asked, “Honored Master Nieyan, may I ask what brings you here?”
“Honored Master Bremair, I found something in the Dolen Mountains. Is this yours?” Nie Yan took out a piece of musical score fragment and asked.
Bremair’s gaze focused on the fragment in Nie Yan’s hand, and he looked excited as he said, “Yes, this is mine. It is very important to me. Thank you, Honored Master Nieyan.”
Nie Yan used standard dialogue to interact with Bremair, triggering the quest and handing over the musical score fragment.
“May the gods bless you,” Bremair said devoutly as he accepted the fragment. He handed Nie Yan the first reward: over 50,000 experience points and more than ten gold coins. For an ordinary quest, this reward was quite generous.
But Nie Yan’s ambitions lay elsewhere.
Nie Yan checked his experience bar—it had only increased by 1%. As for the ten-odd gold coins, they were negligible to him.
“Honored Master Nieyan, would you be willing to help me find the remaining fragments? I will offer you greater rewards,” Bremair pleaded. According to the quest design, a player might be lucky enough to find one fragment, but finding a second one was already somewhat difficult. Each player could collect at most five or six fragments unless they were like Skybreaker, who could spend large sums to buy them.
Nie Yan took out a second musical score fragment and handed it to Bremair. After a while, he received the second reward: over 100,000 experience points and sixteen gold coins. As he continued handing in fragments, the rewards became more valuable. After submitting six fragments, Bremair waved his right hand, and a golden light flashed before Nie Yan. The time around him suddenly froze, leaving only Nie Yan able to move. A giant Fortune Wheel appeared in the sky before him.
Sure enough, the Fortune Wheel appeared.
Nie Yan had encountered similar scenes before. Unlike the Fate Dice, which had a 50% chance of bringing misfortune, the Fortune Wheel did not bring bad luck.
Nie Yan looked at the markings. When spinning the Fortune Wheel, there was a 1% chance of obtaining a flying mount, a 1% chance of obtaining a legendary item, a 5% chance of obtaining a sub-legendary item, a 5% chance of obtaining a special item, a 20% chance of receiving money, and a 20% chance of receiving experience. If none of these occurred, there would be no reward. Among these, there was a 1% chance of receiving an extremely generous reward, a 3% chance of a medium reward, and a 16% chance of a regular reward.
Nie Yan took a deep breath, touched the wheel, and it began spinning rapidly, faster and faster until it became a blur.
The reward was purely a matter of luck, heavily dependent on fortune. Fortunately, unlike the Fate Dice, it wouldn’t bring misfortune. At an even second, Nie Yan suddenly reached out and touched the wheel. It stopped abruptly, and his finger pointed to the experience reward, granting him 200,000 experience points. For Nie Yan, experience was almost irrelevant, so he regretfully wasted a chance.
He still had five more chances. Nie Yan calmed his emotions. What he wanted most was a flying mount or a legendary item. Failing that, a sub-legendary or special item would also be acceptable.
“Did you get anything good?” Tang Yao, unaware of the situation, asked eagerly.
“No,” Nie Yan shook his head and continued handing the musical score fragments one by one to Bremair.
“Oh,” Tang Yao looked disappointed.
Nie Yan checked his experience bar. Just from the experience rewards alone, he had gained about 30%, nearing the next level.
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