Far beneath the ground, there exist two other kingdoms, realms of the evil faction. When players from the good faction enter the evil faction’s territory, their attributes drop significantly. The two factions are hostile toward each other, and if a player from the good faction appears in the evil faction’s domain, they will be attacked by evil faction players.
The two factions are constantly at war, and every year, Hilton Fortress faces waves of underground monsters. Besides Hilton Fortress, players can also access the evil faction’s territory through various underground passages.
Many high-reward missions issued by Carol City can only be completed in the evil faction’s domain.
As a player from the good faction, undertaking missions in the evil faction’s territory is extremely difficult. Not only must one face attacks from numerous evil faction players, but encountering evil faction NPCs is also highly dangerous. Some evil faction NPCs can easily defeat good faction players.
However, with the Deceiver’s Necklace, everything changes. Using this necklace allows one to switch factions and transform into a player of the evil faction, enabling them to complete missions under that identity.
Of course, the Deceiver’s Necklace can be detected by certain skills, such as True Sight.
The Deceiver’s Necklace functions similarly to a Disguise Gem, but within the evil faction, the Disguise Gem’s effect duration is too short to be useful. Only the Deceiver’s Necklace, which maintains the deception effect for three hours, is practical for completing missions.
For players who rarely venture into the evil faction’s territory, the Deceiver’s Necklace might seem useless. However, Nie Yan knows about many missions that can only be completed in the evil faction. Thus, such a treasure as the Deceiver’s Necklace proves invaluable.
He would definitely visit the evil faction many times in the future. Never did he expect to obtain a Deceiver’s Necklace here—what a great deal!
Nie Yan looked at his teammates and asked, “Who among you needs this Deceiver’s Necklace?” Although he had a need for it himself, as the guild leader, he couldn’t just silently claim the item.
“This necklace doesn’t seem useful to us,” Tang Yao replied. He felt a headache whenever he saw equipment with complicated attributes. Switching factions provides no attribute bonuses and even reduces attributes—what use could it possibly have?
Nie Yan turned his gaze to Shui Se Yan Tou and Cui Can Dao Guang.
Shui Se Yan Tou shook his head. “We probably won’t need it for now. We can borrow it from you if we need it later.”
They could somewhat perceive the necklace’s usefulness, but visiting the evil faction was rare, and even if they did, they might not necessarily need the item.
“Then I’ll take the Deceiver’s Necklace. Let me know if you need it,” Nie Yan said, preparing to distribute guild contribution points to his teammates.
“Forget about the guild contribution,” Shui Se Yan Tou stopped Nie Yan. As core members of the guild, they didn’t need contribution points. Their equipment came directly from the guild, and even their mounts were provided by the guild.
After insistent requests from his teammates, Nie Yan finally abandoned the idea of distributing guild contribution points.
“What’s the other item?” Cui Can Dao Guang asked. Besides the two pieces of equipment, there was still one left.
Nie Yan picked up the item—it was a fragment of a diary, with some scattered words written on it. He glanced at it and read some broken sentences.
“I am so deeply in love with Empress Finas. Her beauty is etched deeply in my mind… She is so enchanting… Her flawless, pure body shines like a brilliant crystal… Unfortunately, she is the exalted empress, while I am merely her humble pet and slave, a troglodyte… Even the humble can love…”
The phrase “Even the humble can love” stirred something within Nie Yan. In his past life, wasn’t he also humble? Back then, he had stubbornly guarded his love. This life’s brilliance was the result of rebirth, like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon.
Nie Yan gradually sorted out his thoughts. It seemed the storyline revolved around the troglodyte lord Bennett and Empress Finas. As for how the plot would develop next, he needed to continue searching for the remaining diary fragments. He wondered what the final outcome of this quest would be.
“Do you think we can handle that troglodyte lord?” Cui Can Dao Guang asked. They had barely survived an encounter with an ordinary elite troglodyte guard. How much more difficult would it be to face a higher-level troglodyte lord?
“One step at a time. If we end up wiped out, there’s nothing we can do. We just need to be careful not to lose our gear,” Nie Yan replied. They could only do their best, even if they ended up defeated here.
“That’s all we can do,” Cui Can Dao Guang nodded.
“You guys keep pushing forward. I’ll go check inside first,” Nie Yan said, preparing to explore ahead. They needed to locate the lord first to prepare themselves. Otherwise, an unexpected encounter with the troglodyte lord would be disastrous.
“Will you be in danger going alone?” Cui Can Dao Guang asked.
This was a level 50 map! All the team members focused their attention on Nie Yan.
Nie Yan smiled confidently. “Don’t worry. I have many escape skills. If I run into trouble, escaping won’t be a problem.”
Nie Yan’s confidence was not arrogance. Even if all his escape skills failed, he still had a random teleportation scroll. He should be safe.
Thinking about it, the team members realized Nie Yan had faced countless dangers since founding Bullhead Tribe. Yet he always managed to turn the tide with his exceptional skills.
All the team members were resurrected and scattered around, resting to recover mana and health.
“Just be careful,” Cui Can Dao Guang said. They trusted Nie Yan’s skills, so they didn’t try to stop him.
“Alright, stay in touch,” Nie Yan nodded, waved at Shui Se Yan Tou, Sun, and others, activated stealth, and disappeared from their sight.
After parting ways with the team, Nie Yan stealthily moved deeper into the cave, preparing to scout ahead and find clues related to the mission. He gradually ventured deeper into the cavern. The crystal cave was spacious and labyrinthine, filled with crystal troglodytes wandering around.
Using stealth, Nie Yan skillfully bypassed one crystal troglodyte after another, moving past them unnoticed.
His stealth and concealment attributes were already very high, allowing him to completely avoid detection by the crystal troglodytes. Following the winding cave passages, he made his way toward the cave’s depths.
Looking back, he could no longer see his teammates.
The area was filled with crystal ore, likely a mining area. In the past, many miners would come here to dig.
Most players learned one or two gathering skills as a secondary profession, selling the mined ores to crafting players for extra income.
In his past life, Nie Yan had learned mining and experienced the hardships of working tirelessly in a confined space. He understood the loneliness and isolation deeply. Back then, he had no family, living only for revenge. It was a painful memory. His past life’s hardships had forged his willpower. In this life, no matter how much hardship he faced, he was determined to become someone extraordinary.
Nie Yan arrived at a junction with two passages. One was wide and likely led to the spawn area of the troglodyte lord Bennett. The other was narrow.
Based on his familiarity with quests, Nie Yan could tell the narrow passage probably led to a side quest.
Entering the narrow passage entrance, he looked ahead and saw eight troglodyte guards blocking the way. However, there were many obstacles nearby, making these guards easier to handle than the previous ones.
The troglodyte guards completely blocked Nie Yan’s path, but after observing, he determined it wasn’t too difficult to pass. Activating the skill from his Ring of the Crawler, he climbed up the nearby wall and crawled along its top toward the front.
Soon, Nie Yan passed through the guarded area, flipped down from above, and continued deeper inside.
After walking a bit through the narrow passage, Nie Yan’s eyes locked onto a distant chest. The chest was jet-black, translucent, and entirely carved from black crystal, adorned with intricate patterns.
A dark golden chest!
A level 50 dark golden chest! Nie Yan’s heart pounded as he approached the chest and crouched down to open it.
System: Opening chest. Progress: 3%… 5%… 6%… 7%…
The progress was painfully slow. As time passed, a crystal troglodyte approached from the distance. Nie Yan had to interrupt the opening process midway, circled behind the troglodyte, stunned it with a sneak attack, and quickly eliminated it.
Nie Yan returned and continued opening the chest. With crystal troglodytes frequently patrolling nearby, he had to interrupt the process several times.
After a while, the chest clicked open.
A crisp system prompt sounded, and Nie Yan checked it.
System Prompt: The ‘Lockpicking Expert’ skill has been upgraded to Advanced.
His lockpicking skill had advanced! Nie Yan remembered that the skill’s proficiency was still far from the next level. He shouldn’t have advanced so quickly. Checking the skill’s proficiency, he found that successfully opening the chest had granted him a massive 35 points, instantly advancing Lockpicking Expert to the advanced level.
Nie Yan reached into the chest and searched around, finally pulling out a thick skill book.
The skill book had golden edging and was covered in strange runes. Seeing the book, Nie Yan’s eyebrows lifted—this was a Tier 1 skill book! Considering this was a level 50 map and the chest was of dark golden quality, obtaining a Tier 1 skill book was perfectly normal.
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage