Chapter 1 Gloomy Jungle

The dim jungle was silent and desolate. The occasional chirping of insects echoed through the trees. Few dared to venture here, but in his previous life, Nie Yan often grinded monsters in this area. He'd frequently seen small groups of players teaming up to level, some with red names (indicating they had killed other players). When an elite or sub-elite monster appeared, players would fight tooth and nail for it, leading to frequent deaths.

Although leveling in *Faith* was difficult, with constant grinding, one could reach Level 180 in three years, or even above Level 200 for faster players. However, PK (player versus player combat), dungeon raiding, challenging elites, and fortress siege battles often resulted in death, slowing down the leveling process. Yet, these experiences forged them into true experts. Later in the game, with so many skills available, having high level and equipment without matching skills meant you could easily be killed by lower-level players.

After passing through a forest, Nie Yan and the others finally arrived at the Scaled Frog spawn area deep within the jungle.

"What's your mana, and how many mana potions did you bring?" Nie Yan asked Tang Yao. Without the Arcane Sprite, insufficient mana would be a serious problem.

"Including what Sun brought, I have thirty bottles of Slow Mana Recovery Potions and ten bottles of Novice Instant Mana Recovery Potions," Tang Yao replied. Although it seemed like a lot, it wouldn't be enough when fighting elites. Mana recovery potions had a cooldown, preventing constant use. When killing elites, they'd have to pause every now and then to recover mana before continuing their DPS (damage per second), which would slow down their grinding speed.

Suddenly remembering something, Nie Yan turned to Yao Yao and asked, "Did you learn the Holy Word Priest's Mana Transfer?" Mana Transfer was a Holy Word Priest skill that allowed them to transfer their own mana to others, but for every hundred points of mana transferred, the recipient only received fifty or sixty, making it quite inefficient.

"Yes, I did," Yao Yao nodded. As a Holy Word Priest who frequently grouped, Mana Transfer was a must-learn. Sometimes, Holy Word Priests had to sacrifice their mana for the Priests. Holy Word Priests were the strongest DPS class in a team, even surpassing Elemental Mages and Arcane Mages. Without mana, their DPS would halt, but often, sacrificing high magic damage to ensure the team's survival was worth it.

"Having Mana Transfer makes things easier. If Yao Zi runs out of mana later, just transfer some to him," Nie Yan said. Mana Transfer had a two-minute cooldown. Without interruption, it could transfer a maximum of 200 mana. This way, Tang Yao wouldn't have to worry about insufficient mana. As long as he didn't use mana-intensive spells like Meteor Fall, Yao Yao's help, along with mana potions, would definitely sustain his continuous DPS.

"You don't need me to DPS?" Yao Yao asked, surprised.

Nie Yan shook his head. "No, your level isn't high enough. You won't do any damage to the Scaled Frogs."

"How long does it take us to kill an elite Scaled Frog right now?" Tang Yao asked.

"At least an hour. A sub-elite should take about half an hour."

Seeing Tang Yao's dejected expression, Nie Yan patted him on the shoulder. "Cheer up. We need to level up quickly, or else Po Tian will catch up. Triumph is watching us, and our guild members are afraid to wear the guild badge when leveling outside. They have to hide, all because we're not strong enough. If we were stronger, we wouldn't have to fear Triumph."

Nie Yan realized more deeply that Triumph dared to ambush them so brazenly today because they weren't strong enough. If Niu Ren Tribe possessed strength that Triumph Empire feared, would they still dare to ambush Nie Yan and Tang Yao so recklessly?

Hearing Nie Yan's words, a deep unwillingness flashed in Tang Yao's eyes. He would return everything that happened today to Triumph Empire sooner or later!

Tang Yao finally seemed less dejected than before. He gritted his teeth and cursed, "F*ck Triumph!"

If Tang Yao became dispirited, it would be a huge blow to the Niu Ren Tribe. Seeing his fighting spirit rekindled, Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief.

Finally arriving at the spawn point of a sub-elite Scaled Frog, Nie Yan first used a Dust of Mist. After the mist formed, Tang Yao began casting spells to attack the Scaled Frog.

"This works?" Yao Yao and Sun were both stunned. They hadn't expected Nie Yan and Tang Yao to use this method to kill monsters above their level.

For ordinary players, killing monsters above their level was very dangerous. They basically didn't dare to touch monsters of Leader rank or higher because it was too risky. But now, Tang Yao seemed capable of killing a sub-elite without taking any damage. This completely overturned Yao Yao and Sun's understanding.

Sun and Yao Yao were basically there to leech experience. Yao Yao's job was to transfer mana to Tang Yao when he ran out, and Sun's job was to pick up equipment. Nie Yan, on the other hand, could use the time while Tang Yao was grinding to find the next elite, determine its location, and then return to collect experience when the Scaled Frog was about to die. This would save a lot of time.

After a while, the sub-elite Scaled Frog fell. The generous experience allowed Sun to level up twice, reaching Level 9. As for Yao Yao, she also leveled up from Level 10 to Level 11. Although Nie Yan and Tang Yao's levels didn't change, their experience bars had filled quite a bit.

"Leveling is so fast! I actually leveled up twice," Sun said in surprise, a little incredulous. Before, it had taken him at least two days to go from Level 7 to Level 9, but now it had only taken half an hour.

Yao Yao was also shocked by the leveling speed. So this was how Nie Yan and Tang Yao leveled up so quickly, no wonder they were at the top of the level rankings. There was no way anyone else's leveling speed could compare to theirs.

"Nie Yan, how did you think of this leveling method?" Yao Yao asked, looking at Nie Yan, her bright eyes filled with curiosity.

"The library has detailed information on the attributes of various monsters. Just find their weaknesses. Sun, what equipment dropped?" Nie Yan could only find an excuse and change the subject.

"A battle armor and a Paladin's Hammer. Both unidentified."

"Bring them over, I'll identify them."

"Okay." Sun handed the equipment he picked up to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan identified the equipment. The battle armor was Silver-grade, and the Paladin's Hammer was Gold-grade. They were both good pieces of equipment, but they were Level 30, so no one could use them yet. They would be used to enrich the guild warehouse. When players reached Level 30, they would definitely be able to use them.

Players needed at least 1000 guild contribution points to take out a Level 30 Silver-grade equipment from the guild warehouse, and at least 3000 guild contribution points for a Gold-grade one. No one would use them for the time being, but having so many Level 30 equipment on display would be a great incentive for the players.

After killing the sub-elite Scaled Frog, Nie Yan and the others continued toward the spawn point of the next elite Scaled Frog.

"Nie Yan, why hasn't the Maniac Killer Badge dropped yet?" Tang Yao frowned. According to reason, their red name value should have met the requirements, right?

"I'm not sure. The Maniac Killer Badge has a low drop rate. Let's keep trying. If we get it, great, if not, then it's just fate," Nie Yan said. After all, the Maniac Killer Badge's stats were too good. It was the best accessory in the early game. In his previous life, the price of a Maniac Killer Badge was equivalent to a sub-legendary item, reaching the 'god-tier' level in players' eyes. It wasn't that easy to obtain.

"Okay, let's continue."

The storm stirred up by Triumph Empire and Holy Roman Empire subsided, becoming a topic of conversation for players during their leisure time. However, another matter attracted players' attention, that was the videos of the Greenland region that were going viral on the official website. Several videos were pinned at the top, pushing Tang Yao's reputation to a new peak.

Nie Yan, Tang Yao, and the others casually glanced at the comments: 'Awesome!' 'This is a god, confirmed.' 'Spectating the awesome guy!' ......

Seeing the posts, Nie Yan and Tang Yao couldn't help but smile at each other. Fortunately, when Guo Huai released Tang Yao's video, he deliberately hid some videos related to Nie Yan, only vaguely showing Nie Yan's back as he killed several Triumph players in a row. Therefore, after watching the video, many people were asking who the incredibly awesome thief in the corner of the video was, the one who killed people like he was slicing radishes. However, they didn't get an answer. The people from Triumph wouldn't reveal it, the Niu Ren Tribe wouldn't reveal it, and the Holy Roman Empire didn't reveal any information either. Therefore, Nie Yan's identity was still a mystery, which matched Nie Yan's consistent low-profile style. However, the players of the Niu Ren Tribe knew that in addition to their number one, brave and invincible leader Yao Zi, they also had a very awesome leader who was a thief, but had never appeared, mysterious and unpredictable.

Niu Ren Tribe became famous in one battle, becoming a legend spread by word of mouth among players. Some expert-level players came to join the Niu Ren Tribe, causing it to rapidly grow in strength, recruiting a large number of elite players, and its number of members expanded to more than ten thousand. Although it couldn't compare to those large guilds, it was already considered somewhat famous among second-rate guilds. Triumph Empire's attempt to suppress Niu Ren Tribe wouldn't be so simple. Moreover, because of the video, Triumph Empire's reputation suffered a heavy blow, and they were so busy dealing with a large number of affairs that they didn't have time to pay attention to Niu Ren Tribe. At the same time, Triumph Empire's elite team began a frantic leveling spree, Po Tian broke through Level 16, aiming directly at the number one Tang Yao. They also sent out a large number of thieves to search for Nie Yan and the others, preparing to create some trouble for Nie Yan, Tang Yao, and the others' leveling, but their actions were obviously futile. There was no way their thieves could find the Level 30 map.

Fa Biao De Wo Niu