Chapter 17 Tang Yao

Tang Yao looked at Nie Yan with an incredulous expression and laughed, "Are you kidding? Why would we start a guild?"

"To dominate the world, of course," Nie Yan replied matter-of-factly.

"Isn't that a pain in the ass? Wouldn't it be better to level up, kill monsters, and chase girls every day?" Tang Yao asked, puzzled.

Nie Yan considered Tang Yao's words and laughed. What others saw as grand ambitions, Tang Yao saw as nothing at all. After thinking about it, the time to establish a guild wasn't right. Nie Yan had too few trustworthy people around him. He couldn't possibly manage a guild all by himself.

Although Nie Yan's father was currently stationed at the border, he had likely already planned out the blueprint for the future company. The company, ostensibly involved in metal smelting and mechanical manufacturing, was actually engaged in secret trade with several countries along the northern and western borders. Consequently, the company's profits were considerable, but the risks were immense. If this trade route were to be severed, the company would be finished. Moreover, Nie Yan's father's control of this trade route aroused intense envy. To mitigate these risks, Nie Yan's father invested capital in Faith, the so-called second world, poaching personnel from various studios to create the once-powerful guild, War God Tribe.

With the massive financial backing of Nie Yan's father, War God Tribe's strength once rivaled that of Triumph, boasting countless elite troops and powerful generals. Triumph, threatened by War God Tribe's challenge to its dominance, launched a fierce counterattack, aggressively assaulting War God Tribe's fortresses. They successively captured two fortresses, destroying a portion of War God Tribe's economy. Furthermore, War God Tribe was established relatively late and lacked a solid foundation. The only industry with any influence was the auction house run by one of Nie Yan's cousins. Therefore, War God Tribe was on the verge of collapse under the relentless assault.

In fact, under War God Tribe's ferocious counterattacks, Triumph had already shown signs of weakness in certain areas. Had they been able to persevere and organize several strong counterattacks, Triumph might have been the one destroyed. At this point, other guilds, such as Holy Light Flame and Warblade Bloodlust, joined the fray, and War God Tribe finally disintegrated. The capital invested by Nie Yan's father vanished into thin air.

The world was that cruel. If War God Tribe could have held its ground or even defeated Triumph, it would have controlled thirteen fortresses. The daily income from each fortress was astonishing, and coupled with the profits from shops, auction houses, and so on, Nie Yan could have lived the life of a carefree second-generation heir forever.

Nie Yan's father had invested so much effort, only to end in miserable failure. It could only be said that the timing was bad and the foundation was too shallow. However, the situation was vastly different in this life. The pile of shops and land that Nie Yan had bought alone would be enough for War God Tribe to gain a foothold in Calore City, providing a massive source of income for even more aggressive expansion. With a stable foundation, War God Tribe could grow into a towering tree.

Nie Yan had always intended to wait until his father's War God Tribe was up and running before delving into the guild aspect. He planned to wait until his father had recruited all of his old comrades and classmates and hired a large number of management talents, so that he wouldn't have to worry about guild management. Now, he wondered if waiting until then would be too late.

Nie Yan's power was limited. Even though he was a reborn, he could only drift along with the tide, slowly building his own forces. Taking steps too quickly could lead to a fall.

Nie Yan looked at Tang Yao, shook his head with a smile, and said, "You don't understand. Many times, if you're alone, you can't protect yourself or the people around you. In the face of a guild, even the strongest individual is nothing but trash."

"I don't get it. I don't have any conflicts with those guilds. Why should I care about them?"

"Sometimes, even if you don't go looking for trouble, trouble will come looking for you," Nie Yan said, shaking his head with a smile. "Building a guild is a very difficult thing. For now, let's just honestly level up."

"Yeah, let's level up first." Tang Yao was puzzled as to why Nie Yan would talk about building a guild when they were leveling up so well.

Nie Yan understood that the Triumph Guild had already set its sights on him. However, as long as he was careful, Triumph shouldn't be able to do anything to him. It was very difficult to ambush a Thief in the wilderness, especially since he usually didn't hang out in low-level maps.

Gradually, Nie Yan and Tang Yao entered a tranquil forest, slightly gloomy, with very damp ground. A giant Scale Frog appeared before them. This Scale Frog was covered in warts, with black scales patterned with striped white markings. It moved slowly, its bulging eyes darting around, then it took a few steps forward before stopping again, remaining still for a long time.

Although Scale Frogs appeared clumsy, they were very fast once they spotted an enemy. Of course, this was after they had identified their target. If they hadn't identified their target, they wouldn't react even if they were attacked for a long time.

Scale Frog: ?? Level Elite.

Nie Yan couldn't yet determine its level, but he knew from his previous life that this thing was a Level 30 Elite.

"Are you ready?" Nie Yan asked Tang Yao.

"Ready," Tang Yao replied, slightly nervous.

"Don't worry. As long as you keep your distance from it at more than twenty-five yards, it's just a stationary target. Just keep casting magic at it," Nie Yan said, patting Tang Yao and smiling.

"I'll be careful. Let's start," Tang Yao said, picking up his staff. The Darkwind equipment Nie Yan had given him had greatly increased his attack power, but he was still not very confident when facing a Level 30 monster.

Nie Yan took out a handful of Mist Dust and slowly sneaked closer to the Scale Frog, stopping about ten yards away. The Scale Frog twitched, as if sensing something. With a soft pop, the Mist Dust exploded in Nie Yan's palm, and a thick fog spread out, covering an area of about 30 by 30 yards, lingering for a long time.

Nie Yan quickly retreated. The Scale Frog clearly didn't know what was happening and continued to move slowly.

"You can start now. Be careful not to get too close."

Hearing Nie Yan's words, Tang Yao gradually approached the Scale Frog, stopping at a distance of about thirty yards, which was within his attack range.

Arcane Fire Blast!

Tang Yao chanted a spell, and a black fireball shot straight towards the Scale Frog. With a bang, the fireball exploded on the Scale Frog, dealing 10 points of damage.

The Scale Frog revealed a wary expression, its round eyes darting around. Not finding Tang Yao, it slowly took another step forward, then stopped.

Seeing the Scale Frog move, Tang Yao's nerves tightened. Realizing that it had only moved a little and then stopped, not noticing him at all, he grew bolder and released several more spells. He found that even though it had been hit by several arcane spells, the Scale Frog still didn't seem to notice him.

Everything was going smoothly. Nie Yan had put so much effort into creating the conditions for killing the Scale Frog for a reason.

Tang Yao finally felt relieved. As long as he didn't get within twenty-five yards of the Scale Frog, he was safe!

That meant they could kill a Level 30 Elite Scale Frog using this method! That was awesome. Tang Yao couldn't help but get excited. What good stuff would such a high-level elite drop?

Tang Yao began to circle the Scale Frog while continuously unleashing spells at it. A large amount of arcane energy gathered around his Arcane Sprite, which continued to blow bubbles. The arcane energy swirled and danced.

Arcane Fireball! Arcane Missile! Arcane Fire Blast...

Tang Yao's mana was inexhaustible. Currently, these spells didn't consume much mana.

"My Arcane Fire Blast leveled up!" Tang Yao said, glancing at the system notification. He recalled the time he encountered the people from Holy Light Flame, when that guy Dian Cang had killed one of their teammates with a single Elemental Fire Blast, scaring him half to death. But now, his Fire Blast could also one-shot people.

Seeing Tang Yao spraying fire like a machine gun, Nie Yan recalled that guy with the Level 5 Arcane Sprite. Tang Yao was starting to resemble that person.

-10, -11, -10, -132...

Damage numbers floated above the Scale Frog's head. Most of the damage numbers were very small, but occasionally, one or two damage numbers that ignored level differences would appear, scarily high.

Next, there was nothing for Nie Yan to do but wait to collect experience and equipment.

Tang Yao chanted a spell and shouted coldly, Meteor Fall!

Fireballs rained down from the sky like a storm, all striking the Scale Frog. The surrounding ground was scorched black under the intense flames.

After casting Meteor Fall, Tang Yao's mana dropped by about one-fifth, but it quickly recovered chunk by chunk. Originally, Tang Yao's mana would have dropped by at least half with one Meteor Fall, but the Level 3 Arcane Sprite had increased his mana by about 300%, so the cost of Meteor Fall was no longer a big deal.

Tang Yao's damage output was too ferocious. Nie Yan couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement.

In his previous life, Arcane Sprites had a low drop rate, and more than 90% of them didn't survive. Therefore, even among tens of thousands of Arcane Mages, few managed to obtain one. Tang Yao was really lucky.

"Did you get your Arcane Sprite when you were leveling with Yu Lan and the others?"

"Yeah," Tang Yao replied while throwing out a few arcane spells.

"The Arcane Mages in their team didn't want it?" Nie Yan asked. There was no reason why no one would want such a good thing.

"They were too embarrassed to compete with me for it, but I still have to thank them for letting me have the Arcane Sprite. I gave each member of their team two silver coins, otherwise I wouldn't have had money to teleport to Black Hems."

Under the storm of magical attacks, the Scale Frog finally kicked its legs, turned its white belly up, and fell to the ground after nearly thirty minutes.

System: Your team has killed an Elite Scale Frog. Experience bonus for killing a monster above your level increased by 2800%. You have gained 98290 experience.

Nie Yan glanced at his experience points, which had skyrocketed by 83%, reaching 92% of Level 11.

On the other side, a beam of white light landed on Tang Yao's head. Having just leveled up to Level 10, he had actually leveled up again, reaching Level 11. He stood there in a daze.