"Violet Mist, all the materials are here. The boss has some matters to take care of, so he'll be back in 5 days. During this time, manufacture as many Magic Bombs as possible, especially the Intermediate-ranked ones!" Bird instructed. He had tasked his subordinates to gather enough materials for over a thousand crafting attempts, the cost of which nearly made him keel over. A single Junior Magic Bomb had a material cost of roughly 1 gold. But this paled in comparison to the 15 gold material cost of an Intermediate Magic Bomb. He had only managed to secure enough materials for 30 Intermediate Magic Bombs. Like this, 1,500 gold went down the drain. He felt spending so much gold on crafting material was a waste, especially when finances were so tight. However, Nie Yan's orders were clear, so he would naturally carry out his task to a tee.
As the average level of the player base rose, so would the number of players using Magic Bombs. Tasoyi Village had already become a player hotspot, so the Junior Magic Bombs sold there regularly ran out of stock.
A Junior Magic Bomb would sell for 5 gold or higher in the auction house. Advanced Tinkerers were capable of manufacturing 200 Junior Magic Bombs a day. Subtracting the material costs, this was a net profit of 800 gold!
This was the most lucrative business Nie Yan could think of for the time being, so he wasn't stingy about the material costs. Even if he kept more than half the Junior Magic Bombs for himself and put up the rest for sale, he would still make profit!
Violet Mist's personal workshop was filled to the brim with crafting materials.
"Violet Mist, work hard. If your perform well, I'll let the boss know, so he'll give you a raise," Bird encouraged.
"Yes! I'll do my best!" Violet Mist nodded. She gazed at the piles of crafting materials. It appeared she was going to be very busy for the next few days.
She got to work right away, her nimble fingers constantly moving as she produced one Magic Bomb after another.
Violet Mist was a talented Tinkerer. Bird nodded in satisfaction after seeing her completing Nie Yan's task in earnest.
With news of the conflict between Asskickers United and Bloodlust Blades spreading to the four corners of the Viridian Empire, more and more players started participating in the bounty notices, the majority of whom were powerful experts. The ordinary players were lucky if they didn't throw their lives away in vain attempts to take down a player from Asskickers United or Bloodlust Blades.
Since battles often occurred in Level 40 maps or higher, it was difficult for ordinary players to participate.
On the other end of the spectrum, some individuals even achieved kill counts of over 100, leaving the major guilds scrambling over each other to recruit them. However, they were extremely rare exceptions.
This kind of hectic situation probably wouldn't end anytime soon.
...
Seven players were gathered together in a small house in the west district of Calore. They wore shabby equipment, except for the leader who appeared somewhat decent with a full set of Silver-grade equipment.
"Boss, Are you sure you want to go to Glory City? Why don't we just hunt the Asskickers United players in Calore?" asked one of the players.
The leader was a short-haired man in his 30s with a slim build. He wore ash-gray leather armour and carried two dinky-looking daggers. He was a Thief called King of the World.
"I agree. You have to pay 1 gold to teleport to Glory City. It's too expensive."
"We also don't have much gold. After selling all the equipment in our storages, we've only managed to pool together 2 gold. That's just enough for a round trip," said a player with the appearance of a 20-year-old youth.
"A round trip costs 2 gold. If you fail to kill a player from Bloodlust Blades, won't we go broke?"
"Yeah! We'll be rewarded 3 gold for a killing a player from Asskickers United, and we won't have to take any financial risks," persuaded another player.
King of the World turned to the Priest beside him and asked, "Ol' Three, do you know why I insist on going after Bloodlust Blades?"
"Why?"
"It's because of Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame!" King of the World replied. "I studied his videos religiously to get to where I am today, so I consider him half my master. One other thing, the players from Asskickers United are far stronger than those from Bloodlust Blades. The safer bet is for me to go to Glory City. Even if we have to spend 2 gold, I think it'll be worth the investment."
With King of the World saying his piece, the others stopped trying to persuade him.
"Since you've made up your mind, I guess it can't be helped."
"We can't accompany you there, so be careful."
King of the World confidently smiled. "Even though it's impossible for me to make a big splash, I should have no problem taking out the lower-ranking players from Bloodlust Blades. As long I can kill more than one, we'll have made a profit, and this trip won't be in vain."
King of the World gazed at the players in the room. They had sold all their old equipment to outfit him with a set of decent gear. For the sake of helping out these poor brothers, he would definitely give it his all. He accepted the bounty notice mission in the Union of Assassins. His goal was to assassinate two or more players from Bloodlust Blades!
Their group walked toward the transfer area.
King of the World was the strongest among them at Level 37. Everyone else was around Level 25. It was too big of a contrast. When they walked through the streets, players gazed at them with expressions of disdain.
With such poor equipment, they still had the face to show themselves in public?
"I'll be going." King of the World heartily laughed before stepping into the transfer point.
"Take care, Boss."
"Stay safe. We believe in you!"
Before they finished speaking, King of the World's silhouette disappeared into the transfer point. They felt a sinking feeling in their hearts, not knowing what the future had in store for them. Only a single ray of hope laid ahead. They prayed for his success.
...
The space around Nie Yan warped and twisted as he was transported to a completely new region.
It was a world without sunlight. Nie Yan found himself in a rocky wasteland with small patches of black vegetation scattered about. He gazed upwards. But instead of the sky, all he saw was an endless patch of darkness which gave off an oppressive feeling.
Thanks to the Night Vision +12 property of Empress Finas' Fate Pearl, Nie Yan's range of vision was roughly 10 meters. Everything past this distance was pitch black.
The monsters in the Underworld had an extremely high chance of dropping Night Vision enhancing equipment. It was to the extent that every item here was almost guaranteed to raise the player's Night Vision by a minimum of 1 or 2 points. Such items were as prevalent as those that increased Strength, Dexterity, or Intelligence on the surface.
Night Vision enhancing equipment was extremely common in the Underworld. But on the surface, they were highly-valued and precious.
Generally, wealthy players in the Viridian Empire would keep one or two pieces of equipment that increased Night Vision in their bags just in case. However, due to the scarcity of such equipment on the surface, there was no set market rate.
Nie Yan could hardly imagine how much equipment with Night Vision +7, +8, or higher would sell for on the surface! It was bound to net him a massive profit. At the same time, equipment with other stat bonuses which were rare on the surface like Focus was also common in the Underworld.
Nie Yan wondered if there was a city nearby. He explored around and found spike-covered porcupines roaming around. Their bodies were silverish-gray, and they looked like giant hedgehogs.
Nie Yan snuck behind one of the porcupines and inspected it with Transcendent Insight.
Bloodthirsty Porcupine: Level 45
Health: 2,000/2,000
It was only a Level 45 monster which meant this area was a Level 45 map. The destination of the Dark Portal was random. Nie Yan didn't want to imagine the consequences if he was teleported to a Level 300 map again.
There were herds of Bloodthirsty Porcupines roaming everywhere.
Nie Yan pondered for a moment before summoning Lil' Gold.
Lil' Gold appeared before Nie Yan and greeted him with a puff of hot breath.
Nie Yan took out his Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow and fired at one of the Bloodthirsty Porcupines in the distance, immediately attracting the aggro of the entire herd.
The ground shook as dozens of Bloodthirsty Porcupines charged at Nie Yan.
At this moment, Lil' Gold sprayed out a mouthful of Dragon Breath, blasting the herd of charging Bloodthirsty Porcupines for over 700 damage.
Lil' Gold's Dragon Breath almost completely shrouded the Bloodthirsty Porcupines.
Nie Yan circled behind a Bloodthirsty Porcupine and stunned it with Smothering Strike. After which he followed up with Assassinate and Lacerate, shaving away almost all its remaining health.
Nie Yan no longer paid attention to the Bloodthirsty Porcupine and moved on to his next target.
The Bloodthirst Porcupine awoke from the stun and charged toward Nie Yan. But before it could even take several steps, it collapsed to the ground with a heavy crash, dying to residual burn and bleed damage.
The Bloodthirsty Porcupine's corpse dissolved into motes of light before completely disappearing.
Nie Yan had a chance of purifying an evil creature's corpse.
Purified: 1
In the blink of an eye, Nie Yan took down another Bloodthirsty Porcupine.
At the same time, Lil' Gold breathed out another mouthful of Dragon Breath, bringing down the nearby Bloodthirsty Porcupines to low health. They rammed into him and knocked him back several steps. He immediately retaliated with a swipe of his claws, killing another one of them.