Chapter 288 - Zennarde’s Cenotaph

It was difficult to determine the true value of a title. Even the lowest ranking ones provided the player some benefit in the form of preferential treatment from NPCs, to say nothing of high-ranking titles such as Demon Hunter and Grand Scholar. Demon Hunter greatly raised Nie Yan’s Influence, albeit only in human cities, while Grand Scholar granted him an even wider host of privileges.

Nie Yan wondered what sort of benefits he would receive by upgrading his Demon Hunter title from Intermediate to Advanced.

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan diverted all his experience to Lil’ Gold whose mobbing speed far exceeded his own. It would only become faster with every level Lil’ Gold gained.

Nie Yan’s intuition told him that he and Yao Yao would most likely be stuck in Zennarde’s Domain for at least the next several days.

These Undead Bone Hunters were seemingly endless. Nie Yan didn’t know how long it would take to get through them. They dropped about 1 silver upon death but pretty much nothing else. Even so, the profit from grinding them wasn’t too bad since it was impossible to encounter such drop rates in ordinary maps.

Nie Yan continued drawing aggro, while Yao Yao rested on the sidelines, drinking Spring Water to restore her mana. He fired out an endless stream of bolts and built up a large group of Undead Bone Hunters behind him.

After Nie Yan rounded them up, Yao Yao and Lil’ Gold would unleash their magic. Lil’ Gold with his Dragon Breath and Yao Yao with her Holy Ardent Blaze. Swaths of Undead Bone Hunters collapsed to the ground.

Nie Yan’s progress bar steadily rose. He discovered a kill only counted if he got the last hit. So he asked Yao Yao if she could leave the kills to him and Lil’ Gold. Like this, his quest would progress at a much faster rate.

Lil’ Gold charged into the fray and swept through the Undead Bone Hunters.

Before long, Lil’ Gold rose to Level 28 and learned two new skills:

Meteor Drop (Junior): Summon a giant meteor, dealing 200% damage to all targets in a 20 meter radius and persisting burn damage for 20 seconds. Cast Time: 10 seconds. Cooldown: 30 minutes. Ranks up at Level 60.Explosive Counter (Junior): When attacked, has a chance to retaliate against the enemy, dealing 200% damage. Ranks up at Level 50.

These two skills were quite formidable.Even though it became harder and harder to raise Lil Gold’s level, he became increasingly stronger with every level.

Seeing Lil’ Gold learn two new skills, Nie Yan raised an eyebrow in surprise. Somehow, Lil’ Gold’s growth kept exceeding his expectations.

Nie Yan made a decision. Even at the cost of himself, he would definitely make Lil’ Gold skyrocket in level.

Nie Yan used his Cavalry Crossbow to aggro about 60 Undead Bone Hunters, the screeching mob surging forward like a tide. A scorching hot meteor descended from the sky and smashed into them with a loud bang, causing flames to fly everywhere. Under the raging flames, the Undead Bone Hunters collapsed in droves.

Nie Yan checked his progress.

Task 6 - Kill 50,000 Level 30 or higher undead. (Progress: 1,223/50,000)

The number of kills rapidly accumulated.

“How much Spring Water do you have left?” Nie Yan asked. A Mage’s sustainability was far too lacking. At regular intervals, they would be forced to take large numbers of Mana Potions, Spring Waters, and so on to replenish their mana.

“I prepared plenty before we set out. I still have over 60 stacks left,” Yao Yao replied after checking her bag.

Because Yao Yao bought the Premium Spring Water, she could restore her mana to full with a single pouch, whereas others would be forced to chug down five or six ordinary Spring Waters. She wouldn’t be running out of them anytime soon!

Since each stack contained 20 pouches, that meant she had over 1,200 pouches of Premium Spring Water which could last her at least six days.

Nie Yan was speechless. Each pouch of Premium Spring Water cost 1 silver. This meant she had spent over 1,200 silver or 12 gold! Even he would think twice about spending so much gold on something like this. In all of Conviction, Yao Yao might be the sole person who could behave so lavishly.

Since it appeared Yao Yao had prepared well in advance, there would be no problem with them levelling here for a few days.

Nie Yan and Yao Yao spent the next few days in relative peace. Nie Yan would occasionally deal with outside affairs such as Asskickers United’s growth, movements from Bloodthirst Blades and Alliance of Mages, and so on.

It was a period of rapid growth for large guilds. Asskickers United also quickly expanded, ranking up to a Level 5 guild with almost 60,000 members. The five auxiliary guilds also grew to around 10,000 members each, for a grand total of about 110,000!

Thanks to the investment of Dragonsoar Financial Group, more and more guild members reached level 40. Many of them were provided with mounts, causing about 10% of the guild to get around on horseback. This signified the start of a new era. Players were no longer restricted to their starting cities. They could start travelling throughout the Viridian Empire.

Nie Yan was clearer than anyone else about what this signified!

Guo Huai received reports that players from Bloodthirst Blades had started appearing in maps that bordered Calore’s territory. Because Calore and Radiant City were relatively close, the two guilds had already made some contact. However, both sides acted with restraint for the time being, so no conflicts had broken out yet. Nevertheless, the smell of gunpowder was in the air.

Due to the future competition for strongholds, the two guilds would inevitably become enemies.

But apart from these matters, Nie Yan spent the remainder of his time with Yao Yao, levelling up on the Undead Bone Hunters.

Yao Yao especially enjoyed these dull days.

On the second day of grinding in Zennarde’s Domain, Nie Yan completed Task 6 and received the Advanced Demon Hunter title, increasing his Influence in all human cities by 16.

Nie Yan’s goal was to reach 100 Influence. When a player reached 100 Influence in a city, they would receive special rewards, among which included the Glory Set.

Among all equipment, the Glory Set was only second to Sub Legendary sets. In the eyes of players, it counted among godly gear. In the previous timeline, not many people possessed it. Even giving an optimistic estimate, they would number no more than several thousand in the entire Viridian Empire.

The vast majority of players would be over Level 100 by the time they obtained this set.

Nie Yan also received another quest.

Task 7 - Kill 200,000 Level 30 or higher undead. (Progress: 0/200,000)

Nie Yan was curious as to what came after Advanced Demon Hunter. During this time, he and Yao Yao grinded in Zennarde’s Domain nonstop.On day five, Nie Yan was more than three quarters of the way to complete Task 7.Task 7 - Kill 200,000 Level 30 or higher undead. (Progress: 162,832/200,000)

After killing countless undead, Nie Yan also unlocked a skill from the Glimpse of Darkness:

Gale Ambush: Dash toward a target at 300% movement speed, ambushing them and dealing 160% damage while ignoring armour and level difference. Cooldown: 5 days.

The number of powerful skills at his disposal kept increasing, but Nie Yan’s level was lagging further behind every moment. Although he got back up to Level 30, it still fell well short of Yao Yao, who had already climbed to Level 42. On the leaderboards, players who were Level 45–46 could be found everywhere. However, the top of the level leaderboards didn’t mean anything to Nie Yan. He could catch back up at any time. What made him most excited was that after sacrificing his own level growth, Lil’ Gold had risen to Level 35! With over 3000 health and over 1000 attack and magic power, Lil’ Gold was an extremely formidable opponent. When there was such a strong pet by his side, why would he have to worry about his level not keeping up?

It was a pity he had no stat points to add after levelling back up to 30. In Conviction, if a player dropped levels, they wouldn’t lose their stat points. So after gaining those levels back, naturally they wouldn’t receive any.

On another note, because he was stuck in Zennarde’s Domain, Nie Yan couldn’t personally participate in the stronghold battle between Holy Empire and Radiant Sacred Flame. However, he sent over 100 of his strongest players to represent Asskickers United in the battle. With Resplendent Bladelight and the others there to help out, there wouldn’t be any problems in securing the stronghold. After all, Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors didn’t send people to fight. They were all busy trying to secure strongholds for themselves! Where would they find the time to help a futureless Radiant Sacred Flame?

During the fight, a minor incident occurred when Shadow Killer assassinated Sleepy Fox out of nowhere, almost causing Holy Empire to collapse. Fortunately, Asskickers United’s powerful forces stood strong and carried the day, turning the tide back against Radiant Sacred Flame. Shadow Killer disappeared after his single kill, leaving only a single sentence for Asskickers United: “Tell Nirvana Flame to wash his neck, lest I dirty my blade!”

Shadow Killer’s provocative words set all of Asskickers United into a murderous frenzy.

Nie Yan, who was still stuck in Zennarde’s Domain, cracked out a faint smile after hearing these words. If Shadow Killer really dared to come, he wouldn’t mind toying around with him for a bit.

In the previous timeline, Nie Yan had no hope of competing with a player on the level of Shadow Killer. But after reincarnating, Nie Yan had undergone a complete transformation, breaking free from his cocoon and becoming a butterfly, an obscure nameless figure to the illustrious leader of Asskickers United. The present him had already long since surpassed his past self! Fearless and unrivalled, this was Nie Yan’s motto in this life.

While paying attention to what was happening in the outside world, Nie Yan and Yao Yao continued pushing forward. The Undead Bone Hunters here didn’t respawn. They finally found some clues when Nie Yan discovered a guidestone. It was covered in cracks and was already heavily eroded by the elements. Nevertheless, he could still clearly make out an arrow pointing toward a certain direction, below which were several characters written in the dragon language: Zennarde’s Cenotaph.

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