Chapter 37 – Joke Becomes a Reality

Since Sleepy Fox was capable of leading the Holy Empire to a position of reverence, it meant he had a little boldness in him. Nie Yan pondered for a brief moment. If he wanted to be fully equipped with top-tier gear, it wouldn’t be possible unless he ran dungeons. The equipment that could be bought in stores and the auction house were mostly second-rate gear because most guilds were unlikely to sell the equipment if it was a rare drop. The only method for obtaining the best gear was by running dungeons with a team. Although Holy Empire’s elite team wasn’t as strong as the one in his previous life, they were still a decent alternative.

“If that’s the case, send me a message when you’re ready to run the dungeon,” Nie Yan replied.

Swift Slash was also listening to the conversation going on between Nie Yan and Sleepy Fox. At this moment, Dark Massacre had been put in an awkward situation. If he wanted to deal with Nie Yan, not only would he have to go up against Splendid Temple, he’d have to face Holy Empire as well. How could his own forces possibly stand up against two entire guilds?

“Swift Slash, spare me some face. Let’s forget about the matters that occurred today, alright? Brother Nie Yan is a friend of mine,” Sleepy Fox said with a smile. His smiling expression contained a trace of danger. If Swift Slash wasn’t willing to look past his grievances, Sleepy Fox’s Holy Empire certainly wouldn’t be as easy to deal with as Splendid Temple.

“Since Guild Leader Sleepy Fox has spoken, I’ll let this matter pass.” Swift Slash swept his gaze at Nie Yan and Splendid Star and coldly snorted. He then turned to face his party. “We’re leaving.”

Swift Slash brought the rest of Dark Massacre with him and departed.

After his departure, Sleepy Fox began walking over to Nie Yan’s side.

Seeing Sleepy Fox walking over, Splendid Star looked beside him and said, “Wow, I never thought you were friends with the guild leader of Holy Empire. As for today’s matters, thank you.”

Splendid Star made conjectures but no definite conclusions regarding Nie Yan’s identity. However, since Sleepy Fox was treating him so courteously, he must have some kind of background.

“We just happened to meet by chance, nothing too close,” Nie Yan replied with a faint smile.

“Eh… Is that so?” Splendid Star examined Nie Yan’s facial expression and determined it was unlikely he was lying. However, if that were the truth, the manner in which Sleepy Fox treated Nie Yan really was worth thinking over.

“Brother Splendid Star, your harvests today were rather decent,” Sleepy Fox interrupted. An amiable smile lay on his face and his tone was serene. He did not mention the conflict that had occurred moments ago, as if what they were fighting for was merely a single piece of equipment. This was expected of the leader of Holy Empire, Sleepy Fox did indeed have a fairly broad heart.

“Ah… Brother Fox, please don’t bring that up. If you want this Gold-tier armour, there’s no harm in giving it to you as a gift,” Splendid Star replied dejectedly.

“Eh? Why is that? Don’t tell me the equipment’s properties are bad?”

“It’s not that… The properties aren’t bad. You’ll understand when you see it for yourself.”

Afterwards, Splendid Star shared the properties of the Gold-tier armour he had just recently obtained.

Unyielding Armour of Courage (Gold)
Requirements: Level 100
Properties: Defense 585–621, Thorns Aura +5, Strength Blessing +12, Counter +15
Weight: 38 lb
Restrictions: Warrior; can be equipped by all factions.

Sleepy Foxed sucked in a breath of air. “It is a Gold-tier armour! Ah, what a pity…” Sleepy Fox sighed after exclaiming in admiration. This armour was strong but it was currently useless as it could only be equipped at Level 100. Who the hell knew how long that would take to reach!

“Indeed, it’s a pity. Moreover, the properties on it are rather decent too. I went through such hardships to get this armour only to discover I have to wait until Level 100 to equip it. Even if I threw it up in my shop, I doubt many people would want it.” Splendid Star sighed.

It was no wonder Splendid Star felt so dejected.

“No matter, just chuck it in your storage and treat it as a treasure,” Sleepy Fox comforted with a smile.

“Haha. Indeed, it is a treasure!” Splendid Star laughed loudly. He then stored the armour back into his bag.

“Expert, we meet again! Next time, we’ll able to run a dungeon together!” The Paladin Flying Stone walked over and greeted with an excited laugh.

“Mhmm…” Nie Yan replied with a slight nod.

When everyone from Holy Empire suddenly began referring to Nie Yan as “Expert,” Splendid Star stared at him with an astonished expression. Just how high was his degree of skill?

“I still have business to attend to, so I’ll be leaving first. I won’t be troubling you two guild leaders any longer.” Nie Yan excused himself and said his farewells. He still had many matters left unattended.

The current highest leveled player within the game was already Level 6. Moreover, the experts of top guilds like Sleepy Fox and his group were all Level 5. Although Nie Yan did indeed obtain quite a few good pieces of equipment, this time, around, the fact remained that he still had to slowly catch up bit by bit. Hence, he didn’t want too much of his time being squandered.

“Brother Nie Yan, don’t forget your promise!” Sleepy Fox, seeing Nie Yan wanted to depart, quickly called out and reminded him of their promise.

“I’ll be fine as long as you give me three hours’ prior notice,” Nie Yan replied.

“I’ll add you as a friend then,” Sleepy Fox suggested and sent Nie Yan a friend request.

“Me as well,” Splendid Star interrupted and sent Nie Yan a friend request at the same time. He also sent Sleepy Fox one as well. Holy Empire was much stronger than Splendid Temple. Thus, adding Sleepy Fox as a friend undoubtedly gained him a powerful ally as well.

「System: You’ve added Sleepy Fox as a friend.」

「System: You’ve added Splendid Star as a friend.」

In his previous life, Nie Yan and Splendid Star had only been mere acquaintances. He had sold many pieces of equipment to Splendid Star with methods such as real life credit exchanges. However, whenever Nie Yan sold to Splendid Star, he would always buy them ten percent above the market price, which aided Nie Yan out of several desperate situations. Thus, their relationship in Nie Yan’s past life carrying over in this one could also be considered a type of fate.

After leaving Sleepy Fox and Splendid Star, Nie Yan headed in the direction of Link’s transfer point.

Due to the devastation and havoc caused by the Guardian of Order running amok, Link had become a ruin of its former self—barely any buildings remained standing.

I can finally finish Physician Blevins’ quest. However, it’s still best if I purchase more Bat Teeth first, Nie Yan pondered. Quite a bit of time had already passed, so the players should’ve picked up quite a few Bat Teeth by now. As for Physician Blevins, since he had already issued the quest, he wouldn’t leave before the deadline ended.

Nie Yan arrived at Mordor and hung up his sign: “One Copper for One Stack of Bat Teeth!” Immediately, the area bustled with activity and a large crowd of players gathered around his shop. From Nie Yan’s perspective, these players were akin to an oncoming wave of money.

“Brother, you’re here to purchase Bat Teeth again?”

“I have a stack here with me.

“I have a stack as well!”

The business was even livelier than it had been earlier in the morning.

Nie Yan’s storage began rapidly accumulating with Bat Teeth. Only after an hour did business slow down. However, by that time, his personal storage had no less than three thousand stacks of Bat Teeth piled up. He also made trips to two other towns and purchased two thousand more stacks. Afterwards, he exchanged all five thousand stacks of Bat Teeth with Blacksmith Kade for a net profit of fifty silvers.

In addition to his remaining capital, he had a total of sixty-one silvers in inventory.

The average beginner player regarded this amount as an unimaginably large sum of money.

I’ve purchased quite a few Bat Teeth today. I’ll wait until tomorrow and continue buying more, Nie Yan thought. He glanced at the time—June 7th. It appeared the day after tomorrow would be the announcement for the opening of a new dungeon, Sosil Valley. When the time came, he guessed many large guilds would be lining up to explore the area. Suddenly, Nie Yan recalled a certain something and smacked his head. How did I manage to forget this too!?

The final boss in the Level 3 dungeon, Sosil Valley, named Bousso the Roaming Werewolf was quite difficult to deal with. Moreover, the claws of the werewolves in the dungeon were all coated with a highly toxic poison. Perhaps, not few would horrendously fall victim to this dungeon. For example, in his previous life, he and his friends had been met with such a fate when they first made their attempts. Before the dungeon had opened, one of the known cures for the poison, Black Phenol, only sold for two coppers each and the recipes to create it only sold for sixty coppers each. However, once the dungeon opened, on that day alone the price of Black Phenol shot up by five hundred percent and the recipe’s price shot up by a thousand. One of his friends joked around about the matter saying if he could go back in time, he would have stocked up on Black Phenol and Black Phenol Recipes with the intent of striking it rich once the dungeon opened.

At that time the matter had only been a joke, but who could have known Nie Yan would actually go back in time? This joke had ended up becoming a reality!