A rustling sound came from the trees beside Nie Yan, who spun around just in time to spot a player in white robes stepping out from behind the undergrowth.
"I'm Black Heaven," Black Heaven explained, after seeing Nie Yan tightly gripping his dagger. He walked up to Black Hell's corpse. He never thought his big brother would lose. Because in his mind, his big brother had always been invincible. He couldn't help but spend a little while longer observing Nie Yan. The Mad Rogue, whose name was renowned across the entire Viridian Empire, didn't look much older than him.
Because his big brother had told him not to interfere in the duel, Black Heaven had stayed off to the side, observing as a spectator.
Black Heaven had watched the entire battle, and he had to admit Nie Yan was really strong, one of the very few people that was a match for his big brother. The only thing that left him feeling puzzled was why Nie Yan remained unaffected despite having been plainly struck by Piercing Shriek.
In such a short span of time, just what could Nie Yan have done to block the effects of Piercing Shriek?
Black Heaven didn't bother taking any precautions as he directly got to work on resurrecting Black Hell. Because of the bet his big brother made with Nie Yan earlier, he was confident Nie Yan wouldn't act against him.
A gentle radiance gradually poured out of Black Heaven's palm.
Nie Yan sheathed his dagger, then stepped off to the side before sizing up Black Heaven. This person was a revered Archbishop in the previous timeline.
Black Heaven still looked a little immature, with the appearance of a seventeen or eighteen-year-old. Clad in pure-white robes, he carried a redwood staff which glowed with a dull radiance.
Nie Yan took particular note of the golden falcon stitched to the side of Black Heaven's collar. It was the symbol of the Temple of Light, which signified that the owner had learned the Templar Magic for their class. Almost all Templar Magic for the Priest class were blessings. Only at the later stages of the game could they learn other skills like formidable group revival spells.
Black Heaven was a Priest who could cast Templar Magic!
If Black Heaven really was willing to join Asskickers United, then Nie Yan would have truly picked up a treasure. The rarity of a Priest who could cast Templar Magic even surpassed that of a Mage who could cast advanced magic.
Due to a limited cast range, most Mages would have no choice but to get close to the action when they wanted to cast advanced magic. All advanced magic required at least one set of incantation gestures and syllables to cast, with many even requiring two or three sets. Who knows what might happen during that time? A Paladin could rush up to the Mage with a low-level silencing spell and stop the advanced magic mid-cast.
Priests were different as they could cast Templar Magic in the relative safety of the backline or under the protection of numerous players. Even the lowest-ranking Templar Magic blessing would be able to raise the stats of an ally by 30%. At the later stages of the game, if a Priest learned rank 6 Templar Magic, they would be able to increase the fighting strength of their allies by over 200%, allowing even the most average of Warriors to transform into unstoppable tanks.
As such, Priests who knew Templar Magic were highly sought after by numerous large guilds.
If Nie Yan wanted to win the loyalty of a Priest like Black Heaven, he would have to do much more than winning a simple bet.
Let's wait for him to join first... Nie Yan thought it might be a good idea to have Black Heaven mingle with Young Seven's group. Once he grew closer with everyone, he would naturally become more willing to serve the guild's interests.
As Nie Yan gazed at Black Hell's corpse, a sense of regret overtook him. It was a pity Black Hell wasn't willing to join Asskickers United. His usage of anti-Thief spells had reached the cusp of perfection, and his overall PvP ability was truly deserving of admiration. If he hadn't honed his reaction speed over two lifetimes, he would've definitely fallen today.
Black Hell was certainly an expert among experts. For such a player to appear only several weeks after the game's release was really rare. He might have been an obscure figure in the previous timeline, but it absolutely wasn't due to a lack of skill.
Nie Yan felt confident Black Hell would go on to accomplish many amazing things in the future. As for why Black Hell wished to stay low-key, he had no way of knowing.
Since Black Hell was unwilling to leave Dark Hero, Nie Yan was helpless in the matter. All he could do was sigh with regret.
As a bright radiance descended on Black Hell, he was returned to life.
Black Hell opened his eyes and got back on his feet. Spotting Nie Yan off to the side, he said, "I lost. You're really strong." He was magnanimous in defeat.
"You as well," Nie Yan said with sincerity
"I've fulfilled one part of our bet. The Chapter of Harmony is already yours. As for Black Heaven, I'll let him withdraw from Dark Hero to join Asskickers United."
"Big Brother…" Black Heaven wanted to say something.
However, Black Hell waved his hand, cutting him off. "You'll have a much better future in Asskickers United. I'll continue staying in Dark Hero. Besides, we can still level together, even if we're in different guilds." He'd been wanting to find a guild for his little brother for quite some time now, and he originally settled on Sapphire Shrine as well, because he had an old friend there. However, with Nie Yan's intervention, it seemed that was no longer possible. Nevertheless, Asskickers United wasn't a bad option either.
Seeing as nothing would be able to change his big brother's mind, Black Heaven could only drop the subject. Even if he joined Asskickers United, he could still meet with his big brother often.
"I'm entrusting Black Heaven to Asskickers United. I hope you guys won't mistreat him; otherwise, no matter how powerful your guild grows, I, Black Hell, will personally annihilate it. I'm a man of my word." Black Hell's eyes flashed with a cold light. He absolutely possessed the ability! Even though Dark Hero was in decline, so long as he revealed himself, he could immediately gather a powerful force that was capable of uprooting any guild.
"Don't worry, I've never treated any of the people under me unfairly," Nie Yan said with a faint smile.
Black Hell didn't respond with words but simply nodded his head.
"This is your Dark Priest's Shadow Robes. I'm returning it to you," Nie Yan said before handing over the piece of equipment to Black Hell.
"I have a question. How did you escape my Howl of Terror?" Black Hell asked. He couldn't figure out where he had gone wrong.
"I have an item called the Slaughter Fiend Medallion. It has a supplementary skill that allows me to become immune to Mind Magic for three seconds," Nie Yan explained.
"No wonder…" Black Hell nodded. So that was where he had miscalculated. When he PvPed in the future, he would definitely have to take note of such skills. However, for Nie Yan to be able to use a skill like that to counter his Howl of Terror was really impressive. His Howl of Terror lasted for two seconds. If Nie Yan's timing had been off by even a little bit, the battle would've ended very differently. The reputation of the Mad Rogue was well deserved.
At the urging of Black Hell, Black Heaven withdrew from Dark Hero, and Nie Yan invited him into Asskickers United.
"If there are any guild expeditions, you can whisper me." Black Heaven understood that his big brother valued honour above everything else. He also couldn't do anything to go against his big brother's principles.
Nie Yan nodded. "Aside from the occasional guild expedition, we don't restrict the freedom of our guild members." When they held a guild expedition later on, he would invite Black Heaven, so he could get more familiar with his fellow guild members.
Black Hell and Black Heaven bid farewell and departed. Staring at Black Hell's back, Nie Yan couldn't help but sigh. Just what sort of background did Black Hell have? Why was he so low-key? It was truly a mystery.
The duel with Black Hell was quite exhilarating for Nie Yan. Black Hell really did have a lot of curses. On top of several crowd control skills, he was really difficult to deal with. With skills like that, it would definitely be a cinch for Black Hell to class advance into a Shadowmancer.
Nie Yan reminded himself there were still many powerful players in Conviction. Just because he comprehended the mysteries of a Shadow Dancer didn't mean he could look down on all the outstanding heroes of the world.
After settling his mind, Nie Yan examined the Chapter of Harmony.
-Chapter of Harmony
Description: The fifth chapter of Volume I of the Book of Order. A fragment of a Legendary item. Whoever shall possess this chapter will receive the inheritance of the God of Light. Your mission is to spread the glory of light!
Properties: Receive 2 Intelligence and 1 mastery point every 5 levels. Focus +15, Willpower +15, Reflect +15, Strength +15, Dexterity +15.
Circle of Healing: Heal surrounding allies, up to a maximum of 100 players, by 1000 health. Cooldown: 5 days
Empower Status Magic: Increase the effects of all Curses and Blessings by 200%. Ignore all stun, paralysis, petrify, and similar crowd control effects. Cooldown: 2 days
Restrictions: Can only be bound by a member of the Righteous Guardian of Order.
Note: Item effects are applied immediately upon entering the player's bag.
The Chapter of Harmony was most useful on Priests.
Nie Yan checked his bag. It had a total of five chapters from the Book of Order. He now only needed the Chapter of Virtue, and he'd have collected all six chapters from Volume I of the Book of Order.
He already knew the exact location of the last chapter. However, he could delay retrieving it until after he finished powerlevelling Young Seven, Undying Scoundrel, and the others in Everlasting City. It was hidden in a Level 35 map, so he didn't have to worry too much.
「How's the progress on clearing your red names?」Nie Yan inquired in the party chat.
「Very good. At our current pace, we'll be able to return to Calore by tomorrow morning at the latest,」Undying Scoundrel replied.
「That fast? How?」Nie Yan asked with a hint of surprise. Back then, it had taken Tang Yao quite a few days to fully clear his red name.
「We're rounding the Scaled Frogs up into a giant horde, then killing them all at once. Our red names go down pretty fast,」Summer Bug explained.
Nie Yan almost forgot. With several Mages using area-of-effect spells to kill large numbers of Scaled Frogs at once, of course their red names would be cleared pretty quickly.
After Nie Yan and the others spent a day mobbing Scaled Frogs, the entire group finally cleared their red names.
All of them activated Return Scrolls and returned to Calore.
"Is everyone here?" Nie Yan asked.
Everyone did a headcount. Off to the side, Undying Scoundrel said, "Everyone's accounted for."
With the nine brothers who participated in the Kiln Fire Woods operation, plus Nie Yan, Yao Yao, and Tang Yao, there were twelve people altogether.
Nie Yan nodded. "Since everyone is here, we can all set off. The goal this time is to get you all to Level 30!" It was about time he fulfilled the promise he made back at Kiln Fire Woods. Their destination was Everlasting City!
The group of players all let out excited cheers. They would finally get a taste of what it was like to level up, Nie Yan style.