The first-tier skill books differ from ordinary and advanced skill books. They are usually combat-intensive skills that reflect the characteristics of first-tier professions. Their effects are often significantly stronger than ordinary skills, but their cooldown times are not as long as those of advanced skills.
Nie Yan continued rummaging through the dark gold treasure chest but found nothing else. He looked at the first-tier skill book he had obtained. It was a skill book for a Thief class.
Skill Book: Reverse Backstab (Free Skill)
Skill Description: The thief dodges the opponent’s attack through body movements, granting two seconds of invincibility, circles behind the enemy to attack, and inflicts an enhanced backstab effect.
Requirements: Physical movement (requires a weapon), 50 rage points.
Skill Attributes: Inflicts an additional 100%-300% attack damage upon hitting the target, armor-piercing damage.
Cooldown Time: Thirty seconds.
User Restriction: Thieves, Greater Thieves and above, usable by any faction.
Thieves are divided into Thief, Greater Thief, and Shadow Dancer. As the tiers progress, the freedom and flexibility of combat increase significantly. Especially after reaching the Shadow Dancer tier, all skills are fully mastered and can be freely used with high flexibility and significantly enhanced power.
Free skills have already appeared at the first-tier profession level, and Reverse Backstab belongs to this category.
A skill that can dodge attacks, grants invincibility, and enhances backstab damage has very strong effects. Moreover, its cooldown time is only thirty seconds.
However, as a free skill, mastering this skill requires personal exploration and practice.
In Nie Yan’s past life, the value of a free skill was so high that it was worth thousands of gold coins on the market, yet remained scarce and in high demand—far exceeding the value of mounts or advanced skills. This clearly showed how highly players valued free skills. Moreover, free skill books were extremely rare. Having even one person among ten thousand possessing a free skill was considered fortunate.
Reaching the Shadow Dancer tier, having five or six free skills was already considered exceptional.
In his past life, after becoming a Greater Thief, Nie Yan had once obtained a free skill book, but at that time, due to financial hardship, he had no choice but to sell it to a Shadow Dancer.
In this life, Nie Yan naturally would not do something so foolish. He placed Reverse Backstab into his backpack, planning to use it after reaching level 50 and advancing into the Greater Thief class.
Nie Yan continued searching forward, hoping for more discoveries. Passing through narrow passages, he noticed some signs of artificial construction. The nearby rock walls were smoothed out and covered with densely packed, crooked, tadpole-like inscriptions, which he could not understand at all.
The lighting here was dim and eerie.
After hesitating for a moment, he walked forward. Stepping onto the smooth ground, a chill rose from beneath his feet, making the soles of his feet feel numb. Suddenly, the ground beneath his feet vibrated slightly, and something pressed against the soles of his feet.
“It’s a trap!” Nie Yan’s heart suddenly jumped. He saw many cold, sharp arrowheads suddenly appear on the nearby rock walls, and the same happened on the ground ahead and behind him.
These arrows were densely packed, exuding a chilling aura of death.
As the arrows emerged, Nie Yan remained still, standing rooted in place. Fortunately, the trap did not release the arrows!
Faced with so many arrowheads, Nie Yan inhaled sharply.
Luckily, he had guessed correctly. As he suspected, the moment his foot left the ground, he would have been pierced by arrows.
But he couldn’t stay still forever!
Looking ahead, the area within ten yards ahead was completely covered with arrowheads.
Nie Yan recalled that he still had a Ring of the Leaper in his backpack!
Nie Yan equipped the Ring of the Leaper, aimed carefully, and leapt forward. It felt as though he were soaring through clouds, and he successfully cleared the dangerous area.
Behind him, a dense sound of arrows striking filled the air. Looking back, he saw the walls and floor filled with arrows, like straw scattered everywhere.
Seeing this scene, Nie Yan felt a sense of relief after surviving a life-threatening situation.
He proceeded forward cautiously, now even more alert to possible traps. Although many traps here were extremely well hidden, Nie Yan managed to identify and avoid them. Still, it was quite dangerous—several times he nearly fell into the trap zone.
After passing through a narrow passage, a cold, chilling breeze came his way. Nie Yan looked ahead and gasped in horror.
Before him was a closed, expansive hall, covered in webs. A massive black spider crouched in the center of the stone chamber, resting on its web, occupying an area of about ten yards in diameter. It was a terrifyingly large spider!
Nie Yan had never seen such a giant spider in either his past or current life. He quickly retreated into the narrow passage to avoid being attacked by the black spider. Looking at the spider ahead, he saw its hideous form—eight giant compound eyes in front and a body covered in densely packed, needle-like bristles. Upon closer inspection, Nie Yan suddenly noticed something surprising: the spider’s eyes were colorless and lifeless.
Was it dead?
Nie Yan hesitated, looking at the spider’s back. He realized that its back had already been opened—it was just an empty shell!
Even so, the sight was still quite terrifying.
Looking beneath the spider’s body in the distance, on a stone table hidden within the web, a black orb emitted dazzling brilliance. The orb was pitch black, spherical, about the size of a fist.
Nie Yan couldn’t help but be drawn to this black sphere.
What was it?
Nie Yan raised his ranger’s crossbow and began shooting randomly into the chamber, unsure if there were any unknown dangers inside.
Arrow after arrow struck the distant stone walls. Some arrows pierced through the black spider’s empty shell, but the chamber remained silent.
After confirming there were no dangers, Nie Yan cautiously approached the orb, carefully watching for any possible traps beneath his feet. Finally, he reached the orb.
Nie Yan took a deep breath and reached out, grasping the smooth, spherical black orb. A cold sensation immediately spread into his palm.
The orb was smooth and silky, with no roughness at all.
Nie Yan placed the orb in his palm and checked its attributes.
Fenas’ Life Essence: Special Item.
Item Attributes: Grants +12 Dark Vision, +12 Dark Perception, and +100% Dark Magic Effect to the holder.
This item takes effect immediately upon being placed in the backpack.
Quest Bonus Attribute: Weakens Queen Spider Fenas’ attributes by 30% while held.
Nie Yan examined the value of Fenas’ Life Essence, estimating it to be worth over ten thousand gold coins. In the Light Faction, equipment that increased Dark Vision was extremely rare. An item with +1 Dark Vision could sell for as high as ten gold coins, so one with +12 was obviously extremely valuable. Dark Perception was also highly valuable, enhancing perception in darkness and helping lock onto opponents. Moreover, since this item took effect immediately upon being placed in the backpack, it was difficult to estimate the value of these two attributes. The +100% Dark Magic Effect was also useful to Nie Yan, as it enhanced the effects of Necrotic Rites!
Seeing the Dark Vision attribute on Fenas’ Life Essence, Nie Yan’s eyes lit up, and an irresistible thought surfaced in his mind.
Equipment that grants Dark Vision!
An item with +1 Dark Vision in the Evil Faction could be sold for just a few silver coins, but transporting it to the Light Faction could fetch prices of several to even dozens of gold coins. What a massive profit margin!
Nie Yan could use the Deceiver’s Necklace to acquire items from the Evil Faction and sell them in his own auction house to profit from the price difference!
In his past life, many people had considered transporting items from the Good Faction to the Evil Faction for sale, or vice versa, but most had failed. The reason was simple: the Good and Evil Factions could not communicate or trade. Any contact or item exchange between the two factions was considered smuggling and would be punished by NPCs in Carol City.
Transporting large quantities of items from the Good Faction to the Evil Faction, even including intentionally discarding items for Evil Faction players to pick up, would be considered treasonous acts by Carol City’s enforcers if the value exceeded ten gold coins. They would track the perpetrator down and arrest them.
However, someone like Nie Yan sneaking into the Evil Faction to purchase equipment and selling it in the Good Faction was allowed. But if he tried to transport items from the Good Faction to the Evil Faction for sale, no matter the method, Carol City’s enforcers would come after him the moment he returned to the city. This act was considered treason, and even a Grand Scholar title couldn’t protect him. Thus, the exchange of items between the two factions was extremely difficult.
Money was never enough. Nie Yan estimated that if he went to the Evil Faction once with his Deceiver’s Necklace and brought back five full backpacks of high-end equipment to sell in the Good Faction’s auction house, he could earn at least 50,000 to 60,000 gold coins.
Some equipment that sold for just a few dozen gold coins in the Evil Faction could fetch thousands of gold coins in the Good Faction, especially equipment that granted Dark Vision.
If he could transport Evil Faction items over, Nie Yan wouldn’t limit the market to Carol City alone. He would sell them in other locations and also use them to stock the Bull Tribe guild’s warehouse.
Of course, this was just a concept. Whether it could succeed was uncertain, but with such massive profit potential, it was worth the risk.
Thinking about this, Nie Yan placed Fenas’ Life Essence into his backpack. This item would still be useful for upcoming tasks. He searched the surrounding area but found nothing else. He retraced his steps and headed back outside.
“How are things on your side?” Nie Yan asked in the party chat.
“Sun has already located the Den Lord ahead,” answered Cui Can Dao Guang. They had found the Den Lord’s location and were now waiting for Nie Yan.
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