Chapter 375: Preparation for Reclaiming the Land

The Grand Thief carried the memories of Nie Yan’s past.

The Grand Thief had a multitude of skills, and each player’s understanding of those skills varied, resulting in vastly different effects. Nie Yan had gained a deeper understanding of the Thief class in his previous life, so naturally, he would be much stronger this time around as a Grand Thief.

Suddenly, Nie Yan remembered that he still had a Grand Thief skill book in his backpack. He quickly pulled it out. In the early stages, each Grand Thief skill book was extremely expensive, becoming more common only later on.

He took out the skill book and examined it.

Skill Book: Reverse Backstab (Free Skill)

Skill Description: The thief evades the opponent’s attack through body movements, granting two seconds of invincibility, circles behind the enemy to attack, and causes an enhanced backstab effect.

Execution Requirements: Physical Action (requires a weapon), 50 Rage Points.

Skill Attributes: Upon hitting the target, grants an additional 100%-300% attack damage bonus and armor-piercing damage.

Skill Cooldown: Thirty seconds.

User Restriction: Thieves and those with the Grand Thief profession title, usable by any faction.

Generally, skills above the Grand Thief level carried the “Free Skill” label. If used well, Free Skills could unleash combat power two to three times greater than normal. If used poorly, they might be less practical than regular skills.

Nie Yan learned this skill and glanced at his skill bar. This Reverse Backstab required Rage Points, which could be obtained during combat—either by attacking enemies or being attacked.

Reverse Backstab was a combo skill. Upon completion, it would generate combo points. These combo points needed to be released using an execute skill. The more combo points accumulated, the higher the damage when executing the final blow.

The Grand Thief’s combo and execute skills needed to be gathered gradually. After transitioning to the Grand Thief class, the skill bar would change significantly. Regular skills would be gradually replaced by Free Skills, and some regular skills could be upgraded to Free Skills through quests or other methods.

Nie Yan was filled with anticipation for the Grand Thief class. Some skills were familiar, while others presented entirely new challenges.

“Honored Grand Thief, Demon Hunter, and Scholar, this is your honor medal. May the Thief Guild be proud of you,” Parrot said formally.

Nie Yan confirmed the trade, and the honor medal dropped into his backpack. It was made of dark metal, engraved with ancient patterns in the style of the Co-Rule Era.

He examined the medal’s attributes.

Nie Yan’s Grand Thief Honor Medal: Unique Item.

Attribute Description: Stealth +20, Perception +30. Comes with the skill Shadow Phantom Strike (Free Skill). The thief dodges enemy attacks through body movements and footwork, delivering a lethal strike to the opponent. This is an execute skill. Each combo point grants additional critical damage. Skill cooldown: 60 seconds. Comes with the skill Death Exemption, which grants immunity to all control effects for 2 seconds, speed increase of 10%.

Restriction: Use only by Nie Yan. This item is bound, non-tradable, and non-droppable.

Shadow Phantom Strike and Death Exemption were both extremely powerful skills. As Free Skills, Shadow Phantom Strike was like Reverse Backstab—both required mastery. Death Exemption’s ability to ignore control effects was also very useful, potentially life-saving in critical moments.

Nie Yan equipped the Grand Thief Honor Medal.

“Honored Mr. Nie Yan, may glory walk with you,” Parrot blessed.

“Thank you, honored Mr. Parrot,” Nie Yan replied. He bid farewell to Parrot and left the Thief Guild. To develop further in the future, he must first master the Grand Thief skills. As more Free Skills became available and were used proficiently, he could become a true powerhouse.

Nie Yan made his way through the streets toward the auction house.

The streets were bustling with people. Wearing a large cloak, Nie Yan blended into the crowd. No one could recognize him unless he removed the cloak.

By chance, he opened the Super Trading Channel. The page views had reached over a million, and the daily trading volume was staggering. Due to the Super Trading Channel, several auction houses in Karol City had seen a 70% increase in sales. Nie Yan’s daily earnings from the six auction houses had risen from a few thousand gold coins to thirty thousand gold coins—a staggering income.

Many players were watching the homepage of the Super Trading Channel. As soon as equipment with +Dark Vision appeared, they immediately participated in the auctions.

Soon, Nie Yan arrived at the auction house and continued releasing equipment with +Dark Vision onto the market. This batch of equipment had better attributes than the previous one, sparking another wave of fierce competition at the auction house. The entire player base of Karol City was captivated. The wealthy went crazy bidding, while those with less money could only watch in envy, hoping for the day when they could afford +2 or +3 Dark Vision gear.

The popularity of the large auction houses was driving Bloodthirsty Blade to madness. He understood that every piece of +Dark Vision equipment sold on the market meant that the profits would eventually end up in Nie Yan’s pocket—easily hundreds of thousands of gold coins. With such massive daily earnings, how could the War Blade Bloodthirsty continue?

Nie Yan didn’t care. As long as Bloodthirsty Blade remained, his bounty order against him would never be lifted.

He visited the guild office. The players coming and going from the office all wore cheerful expressions. Thinking about Bloodthirsty Blade’s current pitiful state brought them great satisfaction.

When they saw Nie Yan enter, they greeted him enthusiastically. His arrival stirred up the entire guild.

“Where are Dao Guang and the others?” Nie Yan asked Guo Huai.

“Dao Guang and the others went to the Niran Arena. As you instructed, they’re preparing to clear out the monsters there. They should be back in about an hour,” Guo Huai replied.

“When they return, we’ll form a team to clear the mid-tier fortress,” Nie Yan said. Today should be enough time to clear it out.

“Today?” Guo Huai was taken aback. He had originally planned to go in a few days.

“For those who are changing professions, forget it—don’t want to interfere with their progress. Players below level 50 can go to the mid-tier fortress and probably gain two or three levels, which is much faster than leveling outside. Start gathering people—those at least level 45, at least five thousand players,” Nie Yan said. Clearing the mid-tier fortress was a major undertaking.

Nie Yan began preparing various items. He took out a full 60,000 gold coins to purchase consumables, acquiring large quantities of area-damage magic bombs, various magic scrolls, and potions.

Purple Smoke delivered a batch of area-damage magic bombs, including as many as five to six thousand low-tier bombs and over a thousand mid-tier bombs. Mid-tier area-damage magic bombs had an AoE damage of 500 and dealt an additional 300% damage against mechanical units.

The entire Bullman Tribe began mobilizing. Guo Huai started calling in players, and the management team operated efficiently, sending messages to all the Bullman Tribe members.

Players from the Bullman Tribe who were leveling or grinding monsters across Karol City received the message. Upon hearing that Nie Yan himself was organizing a guild event, they immediately returned using Return Scrolls without hesitation. Those on missions postponed them if possible; if not, they submitted leave requests to the management.

White light after white light flashed at Karol City’s teleportation array as Bullman Tribe players returned to Karol City and rushed toward the guild office. The area outside the office grew more and more crowded with Bullman Tribe players gathering. Guo Huai and others began counting them, teleporting some of them back to the fortress in batches.

Inside the office, Nie Yan took command, receiving messages summarized by Guo Huai.

Meanwhile, system notifications kept popping up.

System: Frosty Cloak sold successfully, earning 5,200 gold coins.

System: Rock Warrior Armor sold successfully, earning 5,880 gold coins.

…

The equipment Nie Yan auctioned today was the best in this batch—not only had +Dark Vision, but also good additional attributes. Even without the +Dark Vision, they were still decent gear, highly favored by high-end players. Top-tier players were especially enthusiastic about these items.

Soon, Nie Yan received 510,000 gold coins—much higher than expected. He summoned A Chen to take 200,000 gold coins to support the War God Tribe. With this 250,000 gold coins, War God would temporarily face no financial issues and would soon experience a development boom. Nie Yan also gave 50,000 gold coins each to the Ji Lan Temple and the Holy Roman Empire guilds, as they had also helped in the fight against Bloodthirsty Blade.

Another 60,000 gold coins were spent entirely on consumables.

Only 100,000 gold coins remained from the 510,000, which were kept in the Bullman Tribe to cover guild expenses. Additionally, Nie Yan’s daily profits had already reached as high as 80,000 gold coins.

The Bullman Tribe currently had over 500,000 gold coins remaining, plus profits from various virtual assets. They could easily manage for six or seven days. After that, Nie Yan would have another batch of equipment ready for auction, starting a new round.

This cycle ensured the Bullman Tribe would never run out of funds. As for Bloodthirsty Blade, they were already struggling financially, and how many more days they could last was questionable.

After arranging everything properly, Nie Yan relaxed a bit. He glanced at his skills and resolved to find time to practice Reverse Backstab and Shadow Phantom Strike. Without mastering these two skills, these powerful abilities would be wasted.

Soon, Cui Can Dao Guang and others began returning. By then, nearly five hundred people had gathered outside the Bullman Tribe office—team leaders from various squads and important members of the Bullman Tribe. The other members had already teleported back to the fortress.