A few minutes later, the chest popped open with a click.
A dazzling radiance blossomed out. Nie Yan hurriedly shielded his eyes. After a while, the light gradually dimmed down. Looking inside, he spotted a small book laying at the bottom. It looked like an ordinary skill book, except it exuded strong holy power.
Nie Yan picked up the book and slowly opened it. A white light enveloped his body.
"So, it isn't a skill book," Nie Yan muttered. Skimming through the pages, the words were written in Ancient Common. Thankfully, he just so happened to know this language. As he turned back to the cover, he could barely make out the title—Book of Holy Judgement.
You have discovered an ancient book which contains remnants of the past. The words are archaic and difficult to understand. "What the hell is this?" you mutter. Skimming through, you reach the last page and discover a section that catches your eye.
"The Holy Mage Bierze created a powerful magic formation. With five Great Holy Mages working together, they channelled the power of god to move the formation and entrap the Dragon Great Earl Istress Brook. Bierze transformed his holy power into a supreme sword of judgement and pierced Istres Brook's chest, purifying him."
Even after reading through this section of text, Nie Yan still had no idea what this book was for. He glanced down at the complex diagram on the last page. It looked like a magic formation. Below the diagram was a magic chant in text form. This was most likely something only experienced Mages could make sense of.
Could this be a clue to a quest?
Nie Yan knitted his brows. He was just about to toss the Book of Holy Judgement into his bag, when he received another notification.
Bring this book to a well-learned Holy Mage. They will answer your question.
"Looks like I'll need to go ask Xie Yao." Nie Yan put the Book of Holy Judgement away.
"I've trained my skills long enough. It's about time I go back," Nie Yan muttered. He was only three levels away from Level 100. Only after reaching Level 100 could he return to the Temple of Light and take the Luminous Dancer class advancement quest. He looked at the level leaderboards. The highest level player in the Viridian Empire was currently Tang Yao at Level 88. The second highest was Xie Yao at Level 87. Many players were already above Level 80. Nevertheless, he still held a clear level advantage. He estimated doing the Luminous Dancer class advancement quest would take a long time, so he had to maintain a large enough lead.
It would be another two hours before the exit to the dreamworld opened.
Nie Yan trained in the dreamworld for two more hours. As the final seconds ticked away, he gazed toward the center of the map. A huge door of light took shape.
Nie Yan entered the door of light. A notification popped up.
Do you wish to leave Venita's Dreamworld?
Yes! With a flash of light, Nie Yan's vision turned black and he lost consciousness.
After who knew how long, Nie Yan opened his eyes. He could feel the ocean breeze in his hair and smell the salt in the air. He climbed back on his feet and looked around. Venita was nowhere to be found. There was only the vast ocean.
"Let's go back first." Nie Yan crushed a Return Scroll. With a flash of light, he was back in Calore.
Teleporting to the Cripps Stronghold, Nie Yan asked Xie Yao to meet up. He wanted her to examine the Book of Holy Judgement.
Xie Yao dropped what she was doing and hurried back.
Guo Huai and the others were in the guild headquarters discussing the future development of Asskickers United. They were basically the brains of the operation. They would do all the planning, only requiring Nie Yan for final approval. In fact, Asskickers United's management didn't require much of his attention at all. It was just like a company. If the CEO had to do everything themselves, they would probably die from overwork.
Nie Yan only needed to decide on the general direction of Asskickers United.
Seeing Nie Yan, Guo Huai and the others all went to greet him.
"You're finally back. How was it?" Guo Huai asked.
"Not bad." Nie Yan laughed.
Guo Huai had a deep understanding of Nie Yan's personality. He was acting calm and nonchalant now, but he would probably show off something amazing when the time came.
"Here, give this skill book to Smoke Stub. Store the rest in the guild treasury," Nie Yan said. He dumped a large pile of skill books onto Guo Huai. There were more than 500 skill books altogether.
"How did you get your hands on so many skill books? Where the hell did you go?" Guo Huai cried out in shock.
"I was in a special map training my skills. Only skill books dropped there, nothing else." Nie Yan bitterly smiled.
Guo Huai looked through the large pile of skill books. There were quite a few rare ones. Their combined value was hard to estimate.
After a while, Xie Yao arrived.
"How many pieces of the Saintess Christina Set do you have now?" Nie Yan asked. Xie Yao was enveloped in a strong holy light. It was almost as if she were a saintess herself, a transcendental beauty. She had definitely acquired more pieces of the set, or else this wouldn't be the case.
"Five pieces." Xie Yao sweetly smiled. She had made quite a bit of progress during this time.
Xie Yao would soon complete the whole set. Nie Yan took out the Book of Holy Judgement and asked, "Can you tell me what this is?"
Xie Yao was likely more knowledgeable than him regarding holy items given she was a Holy Mage.
"Oh my god! It's actually the Book of Holy Judgement!" Xie Yao gasped.
"You know what it is?"
"The Book of Holy Judgement is from the Era of Darkness. The description in the book says it all, five Great Holy Mages channelled the spell in it and bound the Great Dragon Earl. The chant at the end is for moving the formation," Xie Yao explained.
"How long can it bind a target?" Nie Yan asked. The effects of the of the Book of Holy Judgement surprised him.
"60 seconds. Though if the target attacks the formation, it's hard to say. If the target being bound is too powerful, it'd probably only last 10 seconds at most. It has a cooldown of two days," Xie Yao said.
"That's more than enough," Nie Yan said. In an intense battle, 10 seconds was enough to turn the tide.
"You need five Great Holy Mages for this spell."
"You can go find four others who you think are suitable," Nie Yan said. Leaving the Book of Holy Judgement in Xie Yao's hands was probably the best choice. There wasn't a more suitable candidate.
"Alright." Xie Yao nodded. Aware of how much faith Nie Yan had in her, she immediately felt a great weight put on her shoulders.
After staying in the guild headquarters for a while longer, Xie Yao went to find four other teammates. Firstly, they had to be skilled. Secondly, they had to be girls.
Asskickers United had many powerful female players. Many of the top rankers in the guild were in fact female.
After finishing his responsibilities, Nie Yan restocked on Intermediate and Advanced Magic Bombs. Violet Smoke had made quite a lot of them these past couple of weeks.
Nie Yan estimated it would take him another five days to reach Level 100. After using up all the Magic Bombs, he could only rely on himself for the final stretch. However, his mind was filled with many unique grinding methods, all of which came from the players in his past life. They were all quite bizarre but extremely effective. His levelling speed would never be slow.
Going to school in the day and gaming at night, this kind of life was quite satisfying. With Asskickers United's rapid expansion, more and more guild members started noticing the benefits of being in a powerful guild. No matter where they went to level, players from other guilds would quietly move away. It was good that the guild's discipline was strict. No one behaved tyrannically or grew conceited like Victorious Return and the other four guilds under Cao Xu in the previous timeline.
On the third day, Nie Yan returned from his levelling. Like clockwork, he brought his bag full of equipment and dumped it all in the guild treasury. Everything was well organized, with various items glittering and sparkling. There were a total of 1,600,000 pieces of equipment, and the quality of each one was high, far surpassing that of other guilds. Nie Yan estimated not even Angel Corps' guild treasury could compare to theirs in size or quality.
"How are Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others doing in Griffon Woodlands?" Nie Yan asked.
"Quite well these past few days. Our guild currently has nine flying mounts," Guo Huai said. Angel Corps had suffered who knew how many losses just to explore one small section of the Griffon Woodlands. After spending an entire month there, they only obtained 30 flying mounts. In comparison, Asskickers United's losses were minimal while their harvests were abundant. "Bladelight and the others recently accepted a quest in Griffon Woodlands. They have to head to Poison Valley and kill the Miasma Scorpion King. Apparently the reward is a Griffon Cage which will let them raise a Griffon Chick."
Nie Yan was preparing some Combat Bandages. Hearing Guo Huai's words, he immediately stood up and asked in a grave tone, "What? They went to Poison Valley?"
"Yeah. Why? Is there something wrong?"
"What's their current progress?"
"They're already fighting the boss."
"Quickly prepare some Master Antidotes! I'm heading to Poison Valley. We have to hurry!" Nie Yan said anxiously. Since they had already engaged the boss, there was no turning back.
"Alright. I'll get on it immediately." Guo Huai also understood the severity of the situation. He quickly had his subordinates retrieve the Master Antidotes.