Huge, black-scaled frogs moved among the trees, their terrifying appearances sending chills down people’s spines. Tang Yao felt a bit dazed; were these level-30 creatures something they could handle?
“Your Arcane Sprite’s level ignore has already reached +7, right?” Nie Yan asked. Level ignore was an extremely useful attribute, especially when fighting monsters or players above your level, where its effects were particularly noticeable. With a level ignore of +7, you could effectively damage creatures within 12 levels above your own. If the target was more than 12 levels higher, there was a certain probability of completely ignoring the level difference and inflicting damage.
“Yeah,” Tang Yao nodded.
“You can damage these scale frogs. As long as one out of every five attacks reaches your level ignore threshold, you can wear them down. Plus, with the Arcane Sprite, you don’t have to worry about running out of mana, because you’ll never actually run out!” Nie Yan had precisely calculated this point before bringing Tang Yao along to farm these frogs. Farming these level-30 frogs, regardless of what loot they dropped, would grant a substantial amount of experience. It was time to level up.
Nie Yan glanced at the level rankings. Currently, the top-ranked player in the entire Gliran Empire was Po Tian, the leader of Triumph. After the opening of the Saust Valley and the Medusa’s Nest, Po Tian’s level skyrocketed, and he was already level 15. The third and sixth places were also occupied by members of Triumph. The second place was a level 14 player from the Holy Arbiter guild. Ban Xing De Hu Li (Half-Awake Fox) was already level 13, ranking fourth. The fifth place was a player from Lumina Flame. The Warrior Alliance’s Ai Qing Sha Shang (Love Strike) ranked seventh.
As for the former top guild in the previous timeline, Angel Domination, which was aligned with the lawful good faction, their territory was on the Saeturn Empire’s side, having no overlap with the Gliran Empire.
Five relatively powerful factions had risen in the Gliran Empire: Triumph, Lumina Flame, Holy Arbiter, Holy Roman Empire, and Warrior Alliance. Other guilds were slightly inferior.
Of course, many more guilds would rise in the future, but in the early stages, only these five factions were strong. At present, their influence was still very small, insufficient to affect the overall landscape of Gliran. Once they divided up Gliran’s fortresses, gained substantial tax revenues from them, strengthened their forces, and secured seats in the Gliran Parliament, they would be able to influence Gliran’s future policies.
If, as in the previous timeline, Cao Xu united the five major guilds—Triumph, Lumina Flame, and others—and occupied numerous fortresses, solidifying his position as the overlord with seven seats in the Gliran Parliament, guilds like Holy Arbiter, Holy Roman Empire, and Warrior Alliance would all have to yield to his might. In that case, Nie Yan would have a hard time.
To prevent such a scenario, Nie Yan knew he couldn’t afford to be low-key and never stand out. Even if he were strong enough to take on a hundred men single-handedly, could he really take on ten thousand?
Thinking about the potential future, Nie Yan’s heart sank. Although he had already collected several promising items like the Chapter of Courage, Chapter of Freedom, and the Sogot Shadow, it still wasn’t enough. He needed to take more drastic measures.
“My mana may be inexhaustible, but these frogs are level-30 monsters. Their movement speed is far superior to mine. A single hit from them would mean instant death,” Tang Yao said with a bitter smile.
“Don’t worry, we have this,” Nie Yan said, pulling out a vial of Mist Dust.
“What’s this thing good for?” Tang Yao had seen the properties of Mist Dust but couldn’t figure out its usefulness.
Mist Dust: Creates a mist within a 30×30 yard radius, reducing the vision range of all parties by 15 points. Effective against all creatures up to level 50 (excluding undead), lasting for 120 minutes.
“This item is extremely useful. You’ll see soon enough,” Nie Yan said mysteriously.
“If this Mist Dust could reduce the enemy’s vision without affecting ours, it would be somewhat useful. But if it reduces vision for both sides, it probably won’t be very effective. You’re not mistaken about the description, are you? Besides, this stuff might be okay for PvP, but reducing vision by just 15 points is practically useless. And would monsters even be affected by this?” Tang Yao asked, puzzled.
Moreover, reducing vision by 15 points didn’t seem to have much effect. Which ordinary player didn’t have a vision range of fifty or sixty? If in a pitch-black area, players’ vision would drop to only five or six points, and then releasing a mist might have some effect. But who would intentionally go to such a place for a duel?
“Mist Dust does reduce vision for both sides, but monsters also have attribute data. Each of us has a base vision of around 30, which can be boosted to over 60 with attributes like perception. My current vision is 57. Every monster has certain attribute weaknesses. For example, these scale frogs have a vision range of only about 40 yards. In other words, as long as you attack them from beyond a 40-yard range, they won’t be able to see you. However, your attack range isn’t that long. If we use Mist Dust to reduce their vision by another 15 points, that should do it. As long as you circle around them while attacking, they’ll never be able to spot or attack you,” Nie Yan explained.
“Really that effective?” Tang Yao was stunned. Nie Yan spoke so convincingly that it might actually work.
“Alright, get ready. We still need to go deeper.”
“Go deeper? Can’t we just farm here?”
“Farming regular scale frogs here would be a waste of Mist Dust. We need to go deeper to farm elites and sub-elites.” Nie Yan knew of three elite-level scale frog spawn points in this vast area that covered two mountain ranges. Like Lion King, they respawned once a day. There were even more sub-elites.
Tang Yao’s head was a bit dizzy. Farming level-30 regular monsters already seemed out of reach for him. Nie Yan actually wanted to farm elites? That was unbelievable. Was Nie Yan making a mistake? An elite-level monster at level 30 would probably have over ten thousand hit points. Would his attacks even be effective?
“Don’t just stand there, come on,” Nie Yan said.
The headquarters of the Triumph guild was a hall in Karol City, a facility provided by the server for each guild, and it was quite spacious, capable of accommodating hundreds of people.
All the elite players of Triumph had gathered here.
The leader of their guild was Po Tian, a burly, dark-skinned man in his forties with a towering frame. He was a Wild Swordsman, and the murderous glint in his eyes sent chills down people’s spines. In real life, he was Cao Xu’s business partner and a notorious underworld figure. Without his ruthless tactics, Cao Xu would never have amassed such immense wealth. Conversely, without Cao Xu, his influence wouldn’t have grown to such terrifying proportions. He commanded at least fifty or sixty thousand subordinates, many of whom were hardened killers. His entry into *Faith* was primarily for money laundering and gradually rehabilitating his public image. Leveraging his extensive connections, the Triumph guild expanded at an astonishing pace.
At this moment, Po Tian was like an enraged lion, while the members below him were too terrified to speak. It was rare for their leader to be this angry.
“Because of you, our dungeon progress is delayed by at least a day. Orange, you explain first. How could the three of you be killed by a single rogue? Are you just here to eat and do nothing? Have you been living too comfortably?” Po Tian roared in anger.
Orange and the others dared not argue back and could only obediently recount the events.
“I don’t know what happened. During the fight, I only saw his dagger flash, and then I was stunned,” Night Shadow was still confused. The fight was too brief, and Nie Yan’s movements were too fast for him to even see clearly.
Po Tian listened to their report in silence, his expression darkening.
Night Shadow and the others quickly shut up, nervously watching Po Tian. They knew what would happen if Po Tian got really angry.
“Alright, you can go now. First, go to the Medusa’s Nest and retrieve the lost equipment. Tomorrow, we’ll head into the Misty Forest,” Po Tian said calmly, making it hard to read his thoughts.
Night Shadow, Orange, and Zang Dao felt a great relief and quickly moved aside.
If something happened once, it might be a coincidence. For example, last time when Zi Huo was killed, it might have been due to his own carelessness. But this time, Nie Yan had killed three of their guild’s elites, especially Orange, who ranked third in the guild. This person, Nie Yan, was no ordinary opponent. If he were a top-tier rogue, he might even be worth recruiting.
Nie Yan and Tang Yao carefully moved through the deep forest. Suddenly, Nie Yan’s voice chat rang. Seeing the name of the caller, it was Po Tian, the leader of the Triumph guild.
Visitors with ill intentions were not uncommon, but Nie Yan still answered the call. He knew that Triumph had close ties with Cao Xu, and he understood that some things had to be faced eventually.
“Nie Yan?” Po Tian’s deep, slightly hoarse voice came through.
“That’s right.”
“You’ve killed four of our guild members: Zi Huo, Ye Ying, Ju Zi, and Cang Dao. Now I’m giving you two choices. The first is to join Triumph, and I can forget everything that’s happened. The second is that you should understand, Triumph will never let any enemy go. I’m busy, so you have three minutes to respond,” Po Tian said in a tone that was both condescending and threatening.
“The first option is out of the question. I have no interest in joining Triumph. So I choose the second. Bring whatever you’ve got, I’ll be ready anytime,” Nie Yan replied without backing down. In both this life and the previous, how many grudges had he accumulated with Triumph? When had he ever feared them?
“I admire your straightforwardness,” Po Tian sneered and hung up the call.
Seeing Nie Yan’s expression change, Tang Yao asked, “What happened?”
“Nothing much,” Nie Yan waved his hand dismissively, then suddenly smiled broadly and said, “Tang Yao, want to start a guild and play around with it?”
“What? Start a guild?” Tang Yao was taken aback by Nie Yan’s sudden question.
“A guild even stronger than Triumph Empire and Lumina Flame!”
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