The upgrade of Starry Sky Pharmacy was remarkable, with all its branches renovated into level-seven pharmacies. The main store was upgraded to a level-ten pharmacy, which must have cost a fortune! Starry Sky Pharmacy showcased its formidable financial strength, and soon, aspiring alchemists flocked to join. The benefits and treatment offered by Starry Sky Pharmacy had significantly improved. With continuous expansion of branch pharmacies and the influx of many alchemists, Starry Sky Pharmacy had become the undisputed leader in the pharmaceutical industry across the entire Griland region. Besides Starry Sky Pharmacy, other related industries also developed rapidly, including alchemy, equipment crafting, enchantment, and item decomposition. These industries were relatively smaller in scale and didn’t engage in large-scale recruitment. Nie Yan personally handpicked a few individuals, sufficient to develop two or three branch stores.
Reaching its current level, Starry Sky Pharmacy had already performed admirably. As for other industries, the competition was fierce, making entry extremely difficult. Expanding too broadly without confidence in success could be risky. A steady and methodical approach was the key to success. Many enterprises’ downfalls often began with reckless expansion.
After the upgrades of all Starry Sky Pharmacy branches, the estimated daily profit could reach over 30,000 gold coins. In the future, as the number of alchemists increased and players’ demand for potions grew, profits would surely continue to rise.
Both Bull Tribe and Starry Sky Pharmacy had made significant moves, immediately drawing players’ attention. Many players suddenly realized that Starry Sky Pharmacy and Bull Tribe were actually connected, explaining their close relationship. With such a powerful backing as Starry Sky Pharmacy, it was no wonder Bull Tribe could endure prolonged confrontations against Blade Blood.
The reason the name Naiyan commanded respect wasn’t merely due to his personal skills, but more because of the formidable strength behind him.
After arranging guild affairs, Nie Yan headed toward the Thieves’ Guild to take on a class change quest. The thief class change quest had five difficulty levels: easy, normal, hard, advanced, and expert. The attribute rewards for completing the quest were the same across all levels, but completing higher difficulty quests offered additional item rewards. It was said that completing the expert-level quest could reward a legendary item. However, Nie Yan dared not attempt the expert-level quest, as even countless skilled players, including Sun and others, had tried and failed to complete it in previous lifetimes.
The expert-level quest was extremely difficult. If the quest failed, the penalties were severe, and one couldn’t attempt the class change quest again for ten days. Nie Yan wasn’t willing to take such a risk. He estimated that the advanced-level quest should still be manageable.
Soon, Nie Yan arrived at the entrance of the Thieves’ Guild. The guild was an ancient wooden building, appearing quite dilapidated, with a spire-like structure that exuded a unique style.
Nie Yan entered the Thieves’ Guild. Inside, it was very dim, almost without lighting. The dark interior had rows of worn-out chairs and tables. At the front of the hall stood several NPCs, cloaked figures hunched over, with only sharp eyes visible beneath their hoods.
Thief NPCs generally preferred wearing cloaks. A legend circulated within the Thieves’ Guild:
One day, a cloaked figure passed through a village where three servants of Death were slaughtering the villagers. The figure fought bare-handed, killing one of the servants, earning a sharp dagger known as Hades’ Dagger of Death. Using this dagger, he stabbed another servant, gaining the ability of invisibility. Using this skill, he crept behind the last servant and pierced his heart, obtaining the power of shadows.
His actions enraged Death, and to escape Death’s pursuit, he never revealed his true face again.
This was the origin of thieves.
Of course, it was just a legend, something to be heard and forgotten. Nie Yan walked forward. A thin player was sitting on a chair ahead, listening to one of the NPCs’ instructions, likely receiving the class change quest.
Currently, few players had the capability to take on the class change quest. The figure ahead looked familiar.
Nie Yan recalled—it was indeed Shou Gou from the Triumph Empire. What a coincidence to meet here.
Nie Yan glanced at the five NPC thieves ahead; all of them offered class change quests.
Nie Yan walked straight ahead.
Hearing footsteps from behind, Shou Gou turned around and saw Nie Yan. He immediately stood up, looking nervous, stammering, “N-Nie Yan, sir.” He suddenly realized he had slipped up and felt embarrassed.
After being killed twice by Nie Yan, Shou Gou had studied the battle recordings repeatedly and practiced thief techniques obsessively. However, every time he watched Nie Yan’s recordings, he felt a deep sense of helplessness. No matter how much he practiced, he couldn’t reach Nie Yan’s level. Nie Yan was like a god-like figure.
The techniques Nie Yan used were extremely difficult. The more Shou Gou studied them, the more awestruck he became.
Shou Gou actually called him “boss,” making Nie Yan chuckle inwardly. Thinking about it, there was no need to hold grudges against someone like Shou Gou; they were simply on completely different levels.
“You’re here too,” Nie Yan said with a faint smile to Shou Gou before walking toward one of the NPC thieves to accept the advanced-level class change quest.
Seeing Nie Yan’s smile, Shou Gou’s heart quivered. He stood frozen, surprised that Nie Yan would greet him. A big shot like Nie Yan could easily ignore someone like him. After a moment of silence and recalling their rivalry, he accepted his quest from the NPC thief and quietly left.
He no longer dared to challenge Nie Yan, feeling as insignificant as dust in Nie Yan’s presence.
When Nie Yan turned around, Shou Gou had already left. Nie Yan sat in front of one of the NPC thieves.
Grand Thief Feisteron: level 60.
Feisteron turned to Nie Yan and asked, “Dancer of Shadows, thief Nie Yan, do you willingly inherit the will of the Grand Thief and change your class to Grand Thief?”
System: Do you wish to accept the Grand Thief class change quest? Difficulty: Advanced.
Yes!
System: You have accepted the Grand Thief class change quest.
“Greed leads to downfall. The former Niran Arena, located in the north of Ishber Mountain, was a famous den of vice. Money blinded everyone’s eyes, and countless wealthy merchants from major cities squandered fortunes there. Two months ago, the place was visited by a group of evil thieves. They slaughtered over a dozen civilians and locked more than a hundred hostages in cages, demanding ransoms from their families. Those who seek sudden wealth through unjust means will surely face punishment from the Temple. Honorable warrior, will you help us rescue the hostages?”
“Yes, honorable Grand Thief Feisteron.”
System: You have accepted the task progress: Rescue the Hostages, 0/100.
The Grand Thief class change quest was random, and Nie Yan hadn’t expected to receive a rescue mission.
“These are one hundred instant teleport scrolls. Those evil thieves are very powerful. Remember not to confront them directly. Hand these teleport scrolls to the hostages, and they will be able to escape,” said Grand Thief Feisteron.
Nie Yan clicked the trade confirmation and stored the instant teleport scrolls in his backpack. From Feisteron’s words, he obtained crucial information: those thieves were very strong, possibly unbeatable. It seemed he could only use stealth.
Stealth was unquestionably the most useful skill for thieves! It was natural for the Grand Thief class change quest to test one’s proficiency in stealth.
Nie Yan continued chatting with Grand Thief Feisteron, inquiring further details about the quest.
After obtaining all the detailed information, Nie Yan exited the Thieves’ Guild and went to an NPC shop to prepare a large amount of consumables.
“Nie Yan,” Yaoyao sent him a message.
“What’s up? How is your Karls’ Blessing quest going?” Nie Yan asked. Yaoyao’s sweet voice gave him a refreshing feeling. Immediately, he thought of Xie Yao. The voice in the game was specially processed, making it impossible for him to compare the two voices directly.
In the past few days, Nie Yan had picked up Xie Yao for classes every day, and their relationship had become more harmonious. They deliberately avoided the awkward incident from a few days ago. Gradually, Nie Yan felt that Xie Yao and Yaoyao were becoming more like one person, but he only had a vague impression in his heart. Every time he tried to probe either Xie Yao or Yaoyao, he got nowhere. It would be too abrupt to ask directly.
“I’ve completed the second stage of the Karls’ Blessing quest and am working on the third,” Yaoyao replied. She had been in a closed map for days, unable to contact the outside world. Finally finishing the second stage, she contacted Nie Yan as soon as she emerged.
“How many levels are you now?” Nie Yan asked, somewhat surprised that Yaoyao had completed the second stage of the Karls’ Blessing quest alone. The quest’s difficulty was extremely high; many top experts couldn’t complete two stages.
“Level 52.”
“You can now attempt the class change quest,” Nie Yan said. Having completed two stages of the Karls’ Blessing quest, Yaoyao should be among the top-tier players in Bull Tribe.
Recalling his past life, Yaoyao’s skills were decent but not top-tier. Nie Yan never expected that the butterfly effect caused by him in this life would be so significant. Influenced by Nie Yan, Yaoyao was gradually becoming one of the top-tier players. In fact, Yaoyao’s talent was quite good.
Yaoyao felt slightly annoyed. It seemed that every time she chatted with Nie Yan, he only cared about these kinds of topics.
“How is Bull Tribe doing now?” Yaoyao asked. She had already instructed Longyue Financial Group to continuously gather gold coins. During this period, over 200,000 gold coins had been invested into Bull Tribe.
“The crisis has passed. What comes next won’t be our problem, but Blade Blood’s,” Nie Yan said with a relaxed smile.
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