Chapter 282: Peace

At the moment when the dark sea witch Banim perished, the golden earth dragon was enveloped in bursts of golden light, rapidly levelling up from level 20 to level 26. Since Nie Yan had set the experience gain to be exclusive to the golden earth dragon, it ascended six levels consecutively.

Nie Yan leapt onto a stone platform and checked the golden earth dragon’s attributes. Its stats had increased dramatically. Its health had risen to 1030, and its attack power had reached 730-757. As the level increased further, the terrifying growth potential of the golden earth dragon began to show its might. It was evident that as it continued to grow, this pet would become incredibly powerful.

The golden earth dragon had grown even larger, now nearly the same height as Nie Yan.

After recalling the golden earth dragon, Nie Yan still needed to collect the loot dropped by the dark sea witch Banim!

He jumped down from the stone platform, plummeting over thirty yards before splashing into the turbulent sea with a loud splash.

Activating his underwater breathing ability, Nie Yan dove deeper into the ocean. With the light filtering down from above, he reached the seabed. However, Banim’s corpse had already vanished. He searched around the seabed and found a few items. There were three in total, one of which was a glowing pearl emitting a brilliant luster. Nie Yan’s heart stirred. Could it be that item?

He decided to wait until returning to shore before examining them further, placing the loot into his backpack and preparing to surface.

Suddenly, Nie Yan was blinded by a flash of white light.

Looking into the distance, he noticed a faint glow emanating from the far reaches of the deep sea.

This light beam felt oddly familiar. Its gentle yet penetrating glow reminded him of the Order Scroll.

Curious, Nie Yan swam toward it. In his previous life, he had never heard of an Order Scroll appearing in this area.

In the darkness, turbulent currents surged, violently pushing him around, almost sweeping him away.

A strong sense of danger surged from the depths of his heart. Could there be other monsters lurking here besides the dark sea witch Banim? Thinking this, Nie Yan prepared a scroll of random teleportation in case he needed to escape in an emergency.

Struggling to maintain his direction, he swam forward with great difficulty. After about five minutes, he drew closer to the source of light. In the endless darkness of the sea, a thin golden scroll floated mid-water, emitting dazzling white light.

As he saw its full form, Nie Yan’s heart pounded with excitement—it was indeed an Order Scroll!

Nie Yan had no idea whether anyone had found this scroll in his previous life. He hadn’t known about this Order Scroll’s existence here; his discovery was purely coincidental.

If he hadn’t noticed the light, he wouldn’t have swum in this direction.

In his previous life, every Order Scroll had been obtained by players after long periods of exploration. There had only been thirty-one in total, with five still unaccounted for.

The number of Order Scrolls near Karol City was limited—about twelve. The remaining twenty-four were scattered across other cities, some even located in the distant Sa’thern Empire. Although Nie Yan knew the approximate locations of many Order Scrolls, acquiring them was extremely difficult, often guarded by high-level monsters or hidden in inaccessible places. Even assembling the Shadow of Darkness had been a great feat.

Discovering another Order Scroll filled Nie Yan with excitement. The Shadow of Darkness was already powerful; what would happen if he managed to collect another scroll?

He swam toward the floating Order Scroll in the sea.

From the ocean depths, a song like celestial music drifted through the water, distant and enchanting, drawing him into a trance.

Countless illusions appeared in Nie Yan’s mind—beautiful women clad in thin veils dancing gracefully, displaying their seductive figures. He felt drowsy, as if he were in a paradise, his body relaxed and floating in mid-air.

Just as he was about to fall asleep, a sudden jolt surged in his heart, momentarily clearing his mind. It was the song of the mermaid witch!

Legends spoke of mermaid witches living deep beneath the sea. As they swam, they sang enchanting songs that stirred the most primal desires in people. Anyone who heard their song would involuntarily fall into a deep slumber, only awakening long after.

Only those with extraordinary willpower could resist this song.

The mermaid witch’s song was irresistible.

If he waited for the mermaid witch to approach, it would be his end. The mermaid witch was a monster over a hundred levels.

Struggling to maintain consciousness, Nie Yan accelerated toward the Order Scroll ahead. The surging currents around him battered his body, pushing him backward.

Nie Yan could see a figure swimming beneath the deep sea. It had the upper body of a young girl, glowing faintly with a pale white light, and the lower body of a fish covered in dark scales. In her hand was a golden trident, gleaming with a cold, sharp light.

Just seeing her swim past filled Nie Yan with immense tension. Though her body was no larger than an ordinary human’s, to Nie Yan, she was an invincible force!

Perhaps she had noticed Nie Yan, for she began swimming toward him.

The enchanting song echoed through the sea, and a powerful wave of drowsiness surged over Nie Yan. He forced himself to stay awake and swam toward the Order Scroll.

The mermaid witch below swung her trident, releasing a crescent-shaped magical blade flying toward Nie Yan.

Nie Yan rolled aside, feeling the sharp blade graze past him before slicing into the distance.

The mermaid witch darted forward like a needle, piercing toward Nie Yan.

As she neared, a powerful current slammed into Nie Yan. With one hand, he grabbed the Order Scroll beside him and rolled sideways.

The mermaid witch’s trident swept past, and Nie Yan felt a chill on his neck. If that trident had struck him, he would have died instantly!

At the critical moment, the mermaid witch swung her trident downward at Nie Yan.

In an instant, Nie Yan crushed the random teleportation scroll in his hand as fast as he could. He seemed to see the trident slicing into his head.

With a twist of light and shadow, Nie Yan vanished from the spot.

The mermaid witch could no longer find him.

When he reappeared, Nie Yan had no idea where he was. He vaguely saw a jungle. In the distance, a heavy roar of a monster echoed. Drowsiness overcame him, and he quickly retreated, hiding in a corner between two trees before falling asleep.

The higher one’s Will and Focus attributes, the greater the resistance to sleep. However, the mermaid witch’s sleep effect was too strong. After struggling for a while, Nie Yan eventually succumbed.

The sleep didn’t last long—about half a minute—before Nie Yan awoke.

Nearby, many level 50 ghost bears roamed the jungle. Fortunately, none had noticed him, or else they would have attacked during his sleep and sent him straight back to the respawn point.

Seeing several ghost bears approaching, Nie Yan looked up. Extending his left hand, he shot a strand of spider silk and leapt upward, landing steadily on a branch. From here, the ghost bears posed no threat. He opened his backpack to check his loot from the endless sea.

Nie Yan eagerly took out the Order Scroll and examined it.

Scroll of Peace: Volume 5, Chapter 2 of the Order Scroll, a legendary item fragment.

Item Description: The bearer of the Scroll of Peace shall receive divine inheritance. Your mission is to spread the glory of the gods.

Item Attributes: When targeted by magical attacks, the bearer has a certain probability of rendering them ineffective. Each level gained increases maximum health by 5 points. +30 to Endurance, +20 to Tenacity, +30 to Constitution, +20 to Movement Speed. Grants the skill Divine Blessing: When used, grants complete immunity to spells and a 30% increase in health for 60 seconds. Skill cooldown: 2 natural days. Current cooldown: 1/2.

Usage Restriction: This item may only be used by Lawful Good characters.

Note: The effects of this item activate immediately upon being placed in the backpack.

Like other Order Scrolls, the Scroll of Peace could not be traded and would be lost upon death. Its attributes were no less impressive than other scrolls. The first attribute’s strength was yet to be determined, but the +5 health per level was already highly desirable. At level 100, Nie Yan would have hundreds more health points than an ordinary rogue. As for Divine Blessing, it was far more practical than Divine Arbitration, which had a cooldown of ten natural days, while Divine Blessing only required two.

As Nie Yan obtained the Scroll of Peace, he received two system messages.

System: Player Yan Hui has obtained Volume 5, Chapter 3 of the Order Scroll—Scroll of Love. Coordinates: (Moonlight City 38535, 38532, 35582). Coordinates will be broadcast once every hour.

System: Player Can Se has obtained Volume 5, Chapter 5 of the Order Scroll—Scroll of Knowledge. Coordinates: (Radiant City 58535, 53582, 582). Coordinates will be broadcast once every hour.

Moonlight City and Radiant City were the strongholds of the Mage Alliance and Bloodthirsty Blade, respectively. Nie Yan immediately became wary—were these two players affiliated with either faction?

He thought, if he were cornered, it would be a serious problem. He should ask Guo Huai to prepare some random teleportation scrolls first—he was completely out of them.

Nie Yan planned to have Guo Huai track the locations of these two players across cities. If he could obtain their Order Scrolls, that would be best. If not, he would make other arrangements. With his location being broadcast every hour, it would be extremely dangerous if the Bloodthirsty Blade or Mage Alliance found out.