Chapter 386: Earl Kelfield’s Troubles

Execute is a unique skill of warriors. When a monster’s health drops below a certain threshold, warriors can execute it. As the skill level increases, warriors can execute monsters when their health is below 10%. However, execution has a certain success rate, which is relatively low.

This is one of the most valuable skills for warriors, and nearly every warrior equips it.

The Black Bear of Blaketon fell to the ground, dropping two pieces of equipment. Upon inspection, these two items were the Sub-Legendary weapon Padok Flameblade and the Sub-Legendary item Landen’s Feign Death Amulet.

Padok Flameblade (Sub-Legendary): Requires Strength 630, Agility 350.

Attributes: One-handed sword, Attack 830-936, Strength +50, Critical Hit +20, 10% chance to deal triple critical damage. Ignore Level +11. Additional skills: Flame Strike, unleashing a fiery strike dealing 150% of attack damage as fire damage, plus an additional 100 fire damage per second for 10 seconds. Skill cooldown is 20 minutes. Flame Blade, imbues the blade with fire, converting 50% of attack damage into fire damage, lasting for 3 minutes. Skill cooldown is one full day.

Restriction: Can only be used by Lawful Good warriors.

Nie Yan sent the details of the Padok Flameblade to the party chat and said, “Whoever wants it, start bidding.”

“50,000 contribution.”

“90,000 contribution.”

…

Finally, Wu Feng won it for 610,000 guild contribution points. These points were distributed among all the team members present, each receiving about 120 points of guild contribution. Because it was a 5,000-member guild, the share for each individual was relatively small.

Nie Yan looked at the other Sub-Legendary item.

Landen’s Feign Death Amulet (Sub-Legendary): Requires Focus 50, Will 50.

Item Description: Landen was a legendary rogue whose life could be described as turbulent and grand, narrowly escaping death countless times. This is his amulet, which he used to evade numerous dangers.

Attributes: Defense 52-56, Darkvision +11, Dark Perception +9, Stealth +30, certain chance to resist mental magic attacks. Additional skill: Feign Death, entering a feigned death state to deceive enemies. In this state, threat is removed. This skill is only effective against creatures with lower intelligence.

Restriction: Can only be used by Lawful Good rogues.

This necklace was definitely a very good piece among all necklace-type equipment, offering defense, Darkvision, and the additional Feign Death skill.

The Feign Death skill was very useful. Nie Yan claimed the necklace and awarded each team member 200 contribution points.

Nie Yan equipped the necklace, while he temporarily stored the Deceiver’s Amulet in his backpack, planning to switch to it when needed.

Although the Black Bear only dropped two Sub-Legendary items, it was already considered very good.

Nie Yan had Cui Can Da Guang and Shui Se Yan Tou start calculating the contribution points, distributing rewards to the players based on their contributions and compensating those who had died. Each player received approximately 1,000 contribution points.

With the gradual devaluation of gold coins, the guild contribution points of Niu Ren Tribe became increasingly valuable. About 100 guild contribution points equated to roughly 1 gold coin. Based on this calculation, each team member could receive about 10 gold coins.

They searched through Krips Fortress and found several treasure chests, gaining a lot of loot. After finishing the exploration, Nie Yan repaired the teleportation point of Krips Fortress, connecting directly to other fortresses and Carol City.

He began reinforcing the walls of Krips Fortress, which rose to a height of over ten yards. Behind the walls, dozens of defensive structures were built. The guild headquarters was set up in the center of Krips Fortress, adjacent to the magic tower. In addition, a large number of residential houses were constructed, neatly arranged and radiating outward.

Once fully developed, Krips Fortress would reach the scale of a medium-sized city, with many surrounding areas suitable for leveling up. The population here would inevitably grow busier in the future. Nie Yan reserved large tracts of land for commercial districts, and had Bird Not Leaving Egg send people over to start setting up shops.

As for the subsequent credit point commercial district, it would be sold to the Long Yue Financial Group, who would be responsible for its development.

The guild supports its members by providing salaries and benefits. As the number of members grows, they can capture fortresses and collect taxes. The credit point commercial districts within the fortresses are handed over to large financial groups for development, and in return, these groups provide the guild with credit points and gold coins. The more fortresses the guild controls, the more money it earns, which improves player benefits. Better benefits lead to stronger players, who can then capture more fortresses. This is a virtuous cycle.

After selling the credit point commercial district of the mid-tier fortress to the Long Yue Financial Group, the benefits for the players of Niu Ren Tribe could be upgraded significantly.

Nie Yan spent about 100,000 gold coins on Krips Fortress before it finally started to take shape, no longer the dilapidated sight it once was, but instead looking brand new.

The players of Niu Ren Tribe began to move into Krips Fortress, making it lively and bustling.

There were still few buildings in Krips Fortress, and its defenses were weak. These would need gradual improvement. However, there were currently no enemies in Carol City capable of threatening Niu Ren Tribe. Nie Yan could therefore develop Krips Fortress at a steady pace.

News of the development of Krips Fortress spread like wildfire. Moreover, Krips Fortress had a magic tower, which was of great interest to the mage players. The magic tower in Carol City was too poor, with very few spells available for learning, and none of them were particularly good. Once the magic tower in Krips Fortress was opened, it immediately attracted attention.

Niu Ren Tribe became a holy temple that all mages aspired to join. Who wouldn’t want to study at the magic tower in Krips Fortress after their class change?

Nie Yan controlled the magic tower and set a rule that players outside of Niu Ren Tribe needed to pay a certain fee to enter the Krips Magic Tower. Players from Ji Lan Temple and the Holy Roman Empire needed to pay a basic maintenance fee of 300 gold coins, while ordinary players had to pay 3,000 gold coins to enter the Krips Magic Tower.

As more and more players became high-level mages, the Krips Magic Tower would become a significant source of income for Niu Ren Tribe.

Nie Yan arranged everything related to Krips Fortress and took a walk around it. The wide streets, neatly lined houses, and shops, although not yet occupied by players and merchants, hinted at future prosperity. The towering magic tower in the center had become a landmark. In addition, stores such as Xingkong Pharmacy, Xingkong General Store, and Xingkong Equipment Shop had already been established.

As for the subsequent credit transaction area, the Long Yue Financial Group had already sent people to complete the handover.

The development of Krips Fortress brought huge benefits, and the members of Niu Ren Tribe all wore smiles on their faces. They understood what a mid-tier fortress meant. They had just received a notice from the guild, announcing that the benefits for some veteran members of Niu Ren Tribe had been increased to 10,000 credit points, with around 2,000 members qualifying for this benefit. Other members also saw an increase in their benefits, all of which were funded by the Long Yue Financial Group. The credit transaction area in Krips Fortress would definitely allow the Long Yue Financial Group to earn substantial profits.

The other matters concerning Krips Fortress could be managed by Guo Huai.

A mid-tier fortress made all the major guilds in the Griland Empire envious. The Mage Alliance and Holy Guardians began organizing teams, preparing to head to the mid-tier fortresses in their cities. The fact that Niu Ren Tribe had cleared the monsters in Krips Fortress so quickly created a false impression that the monsters in mid-tier fortresses were easy to deal with. This mistaken belief would inevitably cost them dearly.

Nie Yan checked the time; there were about two hours left before he needed to log off. He had made plans with Xie Yao to attend her birthday party. Since Xie Yao’s birthday party would invite many people, he naturally could not miss it. Given Xie Yao’s family background, her birthday party was bound to be grand.

With two hours remaining before logging off, Nie Yan checked his task progress.

Task Progress: Talk to Count Kelfield, who may know some clues about the Abak Set.

Time for this task was running out, so he needed to trigger it.

“I’m going to leave the matters of Krips Fortress to you. I need to complete a task,” Nie Yan said to Cui Can Da Guang. Krips Fortress was basically under control, and they just needed to pay attention to a few minor details.

“Alright, you can rest assured. We’ll be here to watch over things,” Cui Can Da Guang replied. Krips Fortress was mostly set up, with only a few trivial matters left.

Nie Yan bid farewell to Cui Can Da Guang and others, then teleported back to Carol City from Krips Fortress. He rested briefly in Carol City and replenished his consumables.

He left Carol City, rode his Forcenna warhorse, and headed north.

About half an hour’s journey north of Carol City, there was a mountain called Morkos Mountain. At its foot stood an ancient castle, a relic from the co-governance era. Later, Count Kelfield purchased this castle, renovated it, and built beautiful gardens around it.

A task titled “Count Kelfield’s Dilemma” was posted at the Mercenary Guild in Carol City.

The task details were as follows:

“Count Kelfield has not had a good night’s sleep in two months. Skeletons often appear in his garden, and these evil creatures have disturbed the peace. Three of Count Kelfield’s servants have already been tragically killed by these evil creatures. Noble warrior, will you help Count Kelfield rid the garden of these cursed skeletons? Slay skeletons, quantity: 30.”

This was a simple task, but the reward was quite generous. Completing the task would earn one gold coin, which was a significant amount for ordinary players.