Chapter 1 Curiosity

This dark world aroused some curiosity in Nie Yan. There were definitely a lot of good things here. He glanced at his inventory. The return scroll couldn't be used, which meant they couldn't go back for the time being and could only stay here obediently. Hanging around wasn't cost-effective, after all, one level's worth of experience was a lot for people of their level.

Fortunately, the mages had a lot of mana. If they didn't use those high-consumption spells and just used ordinary magic, they could last for at least several hours. Like Tang Yao, because of the Arcane Sprite, his mana was inexhaustible. Xie Yao's mana consumption was also slower because of the Magic Orb.

The team they formed was as solid as a rock, unbreakable even under the siege of the demon hounds.

After five consecutive hours of grinding, the team members' mana and health points were a bit stretched, and they could only rely on recovery potions to maintain them.

Fortunately, they brought a lot of potions when they came out, so there would be no shortage of potions in a short time.

"Yaozi, use a forbidden spell!" Nie Yan said to Tang Yao. They really couldn't hold on any longer.

"Okay." Tang Yao chugged a bottle of Advanced Instant Recovery Potion to replenish his mana to the maximum, waved his staff, and chanted a series of spells.

His robe danced wildly, and his body slowly floated into the air, about three or four yards above the ground.

The Arcane Sprite also emitted violent magic fluctuations. Seeing the seven-colored halo emanating from the Arcane Sprite, Nie Yan noticed that this little guy was already a Level 7 Arcane Sprite. A Level 7 Arcane Sprite was simply a monster, and its bonus to the strength of an arcane mage reached a terrifying level. They even had a special skill, which was to greatly reduce the cooldown time of one of their master's forbidden spells.

Tang Yao's area forbidden spell, Dark Ice Howl, was able to cool down quickly, which was also largely due to the Arcane Sprite.

After ten sets of syllables, more than a minute quickly passed.

The surrounding temperature suddenly dropped a lot, and the sky was filled with a vast white mist. Immediately afterwards, black ice cones densely fell from the sky, sweeping across and covering an area of about 500 * 500 yards.

Hit by the dense ice cones, damage numbers of hundreds of thousands constantly floated above the demon hounds' heads. It became very difficult for them to move. Their bodies were covered with a thick layer of frost. After a while, several waves of ice cones fell, and the demon hounds fell to the ground one after another, turning into corpses. The ground south of Nie Yan and the others was instantly cleared.

Nie Yan and the others estimated that this wave of forbidden spells had killed at least seven or eight thousand demon hounds.

Ding dong, ding dong, five crisp system prompts lit up from Tang Yao's body. He leveled up five times in a row, and every member of the team leveled up more than two levels. After leveling up, everyone's mana and health points were fully restored.

"Awesome!"

Everyone spoke out one after another. This forbidden spell was really awesome. Since the forbidden spell hit elites and lords, the total amount of experience points accumulated was imaginable.

After their mana and health points were restored, they could last for a long time again.

After Tang Yao finished casting the forbidden spell, his body slowly landed. Leveling up five times in a row made him extremely excited.

Even if they hung up and went back, they would definitely not lose out. Everyone relaxed a lot at once.

"Leveling up here is so awesome, let's practice for a few more days."

"Yeah, Boss Nie Yan, this is a rare opportunity to level up."

"Well, as long as nothing happens to the guild, we won't go back for the time being. Try to save consumables as much as possible," Nie Yan said. He still wanted to find Mephisto. He would always feel uncomfortable if he didn't complete the mission.

For nearly two days, Nie Yan and the others cleared out a wave of demon hounds and traveled for nearly three hours in the empty wasteland. They encountered another wave of demon hounds, and they continued to level up.

The only thing that made Nie Yan and the others a little depressed was that the demon hounds didn't drop anything. The twenty-one of them consumed an average of about three thousand gold coins a day, but they didn't drop anything. The daily consumption added up to sixty to seventy thousand gold coins. Fortunately, the twenty-one of them were very rich and didn't care about such a small consumption. If it were ordinary players, they would probably have retreated long ago.

When passing by a gentle slope, Nie Yan found that there were actually many Dragonblood Grass growing nearby, which was a material for making advanced instant recovery potions. He collected the items. Currently, his alchemist level could already make advanced instant recovery potions, but the advanced instant recovery potions he made could only be used by himself.

"Have you learned any production profession skills?" Nie Yan asked in the team chat.

"I learned pharmacy and alchemy," Xie Yao said in the team chat.

"I learned bandaging and pharmacy," Undying Scoundrel said.

The team members had learned a little bit more or less, and their production profession skill levels were very high. It turned out that when they changed to top-tier professions, they had all learned some production profession skills, especially pharmacy, which was basically a must-have skill for everyone. Since they didn't use it much normally, they hadn't mentioned it.

Nie Yan did a statistic. Since everyone had learned a little bit, if they could find some materials in this dark world, they could still get some potions to replenish them.

Everyone busied themselves in the dark world, and their levels steadily improved.

Nie Yan's level broke through Level 140. After Level 140, leveling up was even more difficult. The required experience points were more than ten times as much as before. Under normal circumstances, it took three or four days, or even five or six days, to level up once. Fortunately, nothing had been happening on the side of the Niu Ren Tribe, and they could stay in this dark world all the time.

Xie Yao, Tang Yao, and other mages leveled up faster, and their levels reached Level 142, but the increase was also very slow. The experience bar climbed like a snail. As for Brilliant Scars and the others, they were all stuck around Level 140 like Nie Yan.

The dark world was very vast. As far as the eye could see, it was all wilderness, and there were large groups of demon hounds wandering everywhere.

Nie Yan used the map to draw out the places they had passed, and the explored area gradually expanded, but they still hadn't found Mephisto's location.

"I just got the Judicator title," Tang Yao looked at his status and said excitedly in the team chat.

"What level of title is it?"

"It seems quite high. It adds 60 to the Human Empire and Orc Empire reputation."

The group found a safe place, sat down, and chatted for a while, preparing to continue grinding after their magic and health were fully restored.

"I wonder if we can reach Level 150 in two months. After Level 140, it's too difficult to level up. Every time you level up, the required experience points increase by 70%. It's going to be scary to reach Level 150," Tang Yao said. He specifically recorded the experience points required for each level up and discovered a pattern.

Hearing Tang Yao's words, everyone gasped. If they reached Level 150, wouldn't the required experience be more than a hundred times the original amount?

Nie Yan smiled and said, "This is just the beginning. You'll know when you reach Level 150 and Level 160." Faith wanted to narrow the gap between the players' levels. When the level was high, leveling up would become very difficult. The experience points required for each level up reached a terrifying level. In the later stages, the players' levels would be closer. Players with a level difference of only two or three levels might have a difference in experience points that was an astronomical figure. Because leveling up was slow, more players focused on collecting top-quality equipment. With top-quality equipment, their leveling up would be faster.

"Boss Nie Yan, why can you still smile?" Undying Scoundrel and the others said with bitter faces.

"It's okay, everyone is slow, it's nothing," Nie Yan said. He had reached Level 180 in his previous life and was already an experienced player, so he was indifferent. At that time, the levels of most players were not much different. Players with average skills were around Level 150 or 160, and those with slightly better skills and more diligent leveling were at Level 170 or 180. Those with even higher levels, reaching Level 190 or 200, were all extremely perverted existences, and only top-tier professions could reach them, and most of them were Archmages.

It took Nie Yan about two years to level up from Level 1 to Level 140, three years to level up from Level 140 to Level 160, and about five years to level up from Level 160 to Level 180. You can imagine how slowly the experience points climbed later.

Nie Yan roughly estimated that his leveling speed was ten times faster than in his previous life, but in this life, he had to spend a lot of time on guild affairs and couldn't stay in one place leveling up for several months or even half a year like in his previous life. Calculated in this way, he should be able to reach around Level 180 within three years. As for above Level 180, the amount of experience required made Nie Yan feel a little dizzy. To rush to Level 200 like those Archmages in his previous life would be a very huge project.

However, with his current leveling speed, it wasn't impossible.

Hearing Tang Yao mention Level 150, Nie Yan immediately thought of the Abak Set. He was only missing two pieces, and he could collect the entire Abak Set, which was a legendary set with powerful set attribute bonuses. He had to reach Level 150 as soon as possible so that he could wear the Abak Set.

Should he stay here and grind his level?

Anyway, no guild could threaten the Niu Ren Tribe now, and the Niu Ren Tribe needed a lot of time to consolidate its position in the Greenland Empire and couldn't fight anymore, otherwise the foundation would be unstable.

Nie Yan thought for a while and made a decision. He would level up a few levels in this dark world first, to around Level 147 or 148, and then continue to look for the Abak Set. He could wear it when he collected the Abak Set.

However, the news that their group was in the dark world must not be revealed, lest Angel Corps come looking for trouble again.