"The drop rate is pretty high here. Clear out all the mechanical puppets nearby, and maybe we can collect a complete Eternal Set," Nie Yan said. The drop rate for the Silver-grade Eternal Set was low, but not ridiculously so. Plus, this was unexplored territory, so the chances of collecting a complete set were pretty good.

If the guild had a super-powerful Shield Warrior, it would raise the gear level of the entire guild! The guild elites would have their equipment sorted out too.

Knowing that Eternal Sets dropped here, the team members worked even harder. Several warriors and Sun advanced further afield, luring groups of mechanical puppets back.

Nie Yan continuously used area-of-effect magic bombs, almost without stopping. As soon as the corpses of the mechanical puppets on the ground were cleared away, new corpses piled up again.

The team members' levels steadily increased.

Looking at the level榜 (bǎng - list), the first, third, fifth, sixth, and seventh spots were all taken by members of the Ni Ren Tribe. Of course, Nie Yan was also on the list. The other members had chosen to hide their rankings. So many members entering the level榜 was already causing enough of a stir. It would be too arrogant to occupy all of the top ten spots.

The players outside were going crazy. The Ni Ren Tribe was too powerful, threatening to completely dominate the level榜.

Countless players flocked to the Ni Ren Tribe like a tide, even more frantically than before. Many players who wanted to join the Ni Ren Tribe were hoping for a lucky break. If they joined the Ni Ren Tribe, maybe they'd run into the boss in a good mood, and he'd directly boost them up, wouldn't that be a shortcut to success? Guo Huai opportunely raised the requirements for joining the guild, to a very strict level. He introduced a series of tests that had to be passed before joining. Only about five or six out of every hundred people had a chance to join.

No guild in the entire server had ever turned away players like this, but the strict membership requirements still attracted a large number of experts.

As for those players who couldn't join the Ni Ren Tribe, they couldn't be wasted. Guo Huai established two branch guilds, called the Mage Tribe and the Warrior Tribe respectively, and began to recruit guild members. The three guilds shared the guild warehouse.

The number of members in the Ni Ren Tribe guild grew extremely slowly, but they were all elite-level players. The density of experts was staggering.

Many Ni Ren Tribe players secretly rejoiced that they had joined early, otherwise they might not have met the requirements now. However, Guo Huai's words dashed their hopes. In one week, all Ni Ren Tribe players would be tested. Those who weren't strong enough would be demoted to the branch guilds, and could only return after passing the test in the branch guild. At the same time, after one week, players who passed the test would enjoy even better treatment. With both rewards and punishments, the Ni Ren Tribe players all worked hard, not daring to slack off.

The donation of silver coins had been successfully implemented. Many Ni Ren Tribe players donated large amounts of silver coins so they could equip themselves after reaching level thirty, some donating a dozen silver coins, and some wealthy players even donating one or two gold coins. Guo Huai then discovered that there were so many wealthy players in the Ni Ren Tribe. Those players who didn't have much money pooled together one or two silver coins to buy a large number of guild contribution points, and then exchanged them for various pieces of equipment in the guild.

The guild suddenly accumulated more than 1,200 gold coins, and that number was still rising crazily.

"You guys are making a big move. I thought something had happened. So many players suddenly poured into the guild headquarters saying they wanted to join the guild. I looked at the level榜 and found that it was all our people. I've only just finished dealing with it now," Guo Huai said excitedly. The level榜 was a spectacular sight!

"How many gold coins has the guild collected?" Nie Yan asked.

"The guild warehouse already has more than 1,200 gold, and it's still increasing. I estimate we can collect two or three thousand gold by tomorrow."

Nie Yan thought for a moment. Even with three thousand gold, he might not be able to secure the central auction house in Calore City, so he needed to prepare more funds. Fortunately, the Starry Night Potion Shop had also accumulated a lot of money.

"There's one more thing I need to tell you. Bright Holy Flame and the Holy Roman Empire have just upgraded to level five guilds, and they've just had a war," Guo Huai said. This was the news he had just received.

Nie Yan said in surprise, "They're pretty fast. They've beaten the Triumphant Empire by a step."

"The Triumphant Empire took a tumble in the Molten Forest. It was a bad fall, and they lost most of the elites in the guild. So they're working hard to reach level five guild."

"How's the battle between Bright Holy Flame and the Holy Roman Empire going?" Nie Yan asked. The Ni Ren Tribe and the Holy Roman Empire were allies, and Bright Holy Flame and the Triumphant Empire were also allies. The success or failure of this war was closely related to the Ni Ren Tribe's interests.

"The Holy Roman Empire suffered a terrible defeat. A legion of 50,000 men was wiped out by more than 30,000. Bright Holy Flame only lost more than 10,000," Guo Huai said somewhat heavily. If the Holy Roman Empire collapsed, then the Ni Ren Tribe would lose a reliable ally.

"How could the Holy Roman Empire suffer such a terrible defeat?" Nie Yan asked in shock.

"I didn't expect Bright Holy Flame to be so strong. They have a Berserker's thousand-man regiment, with frighteningly good equipment, that made it hard for the Holy Roman Empire to breathe. I'll send you the battlefield video," Guo Huai said, sending the video of the confrontation between Bright Holy Flame and the Holy Roman Empire.

The front line between the Holy Roman Empire and Bright Holy Flame had been deadlocked, and the mutual attrition was intense, with countless casualties, but they had maintained a balance. Suddenly, a warrior thousand-man regiment from the Bright Holy Flame front line, like a sharp knife, broke through the Holy Roman Empire's defenses and charged into the Holy Roman Empire's camp. The Holy Roman Empire began to retreat across the board. Although they made many efforts to kill the warrior thousand-man regiment down to only two or three hundred, they still couldn't reverse the overall decline.

The Holy Roman Empire suffered a painful blow, and Bright Holy Flame was also badly damaged, and began to recuperate.

They're so desperate, acting like it's a fight to the death. Nie Yan suddenly understood. Bright Holy Flame and the Holy Roman Empire had simultaneously upgraded to level five guilds. With the birth of two level five guilds, Calore City would open a small fortress, and Bright Holy Flame and the Holy Roman Empire were about to compete for ownership of the fortress. It was normal to fight to the death.

He estimated that in two or three days, the Holy Roman Empire and Bright Holy Flame would send two thousand-player teams to compete for control of the fortress. A major battle would break out in front of the fortress.

The two guilds would definitely hire outside help, Nie Yan guessed. The Holy Roman Empire would definitely invite the Ni Ren Tribe to participate. Not only the Ni Ren Tribe, but the Holy Roman Empire would also go to other major guilds, such as the Temple of Kalan, the Furious Warrior Alliance, and even to various studios to hire outside help. Bright Holy Flame would definitely do the same.

The war between the two major guilds was far from over. Before the fortress opened, the two sides would definitely continue to wear each other down. For the time being, it seemed that the Holy Roman Empire was slightly inferior. In his past life, the Holy Roman Empire in Calore City had been able to maintain its defensive position, but its strength had always been inferior to Bright Holy Flame and the Triumphant Empire.

"Tell all the team members in the guild to get more guild glory and prepare to rush to level four guild," Nie Yan said. After all, the Ni Ren Tribe had been established too late, and it lagged far behind the major guilds such as the Holy Roman Empire and Bright Holy Flame in terms of progress. The Ni Ren Tribe also needed to speed up its progress. The fortress was the foundation of the guild's future.

"I'm organizing it. We're not far from level four guild. You have to quickly free Brilliant Dagger and Big Boss Qizai," Guo Huai said. Brilliant Dagger and Big Boss Qizai were the main force of the guild's elite team.

"They're almost level 30. They'll be back soon," Nie Yan said. Those members who reached level 30 had voluntarily left the team. His area-of-effect magic bombs were rapidly decreasing. Brilliant Dagger and Big Boss Qizai would be back soon.

"Another team wants to join the guild."

"Go and get busy," Nie Yan said. The guild's affairs were still more important.

After killing nearly three thousand mechanical puppets, they had acquired six Eternal Set pieces, including a heavy shield, armor, gauntlets, a cloak, a horned helmet, and leggings, as well as two duplicate pieces, a cloak and a horned helmet. The drop rate was quite considerable. They only needed two more pieces to complete the set.

After grinding mechanical puppets for a while longer, Brilliant Dagger finally reached level thirty. He added five points to his Agility attribute, and managed to equip a set of Eternal equipment. The dark metal suit shimmered with a terrifying luster. It was a solid suit of heavy armor, protecting him to the teeth, with mysterious runes emitting a faint, cold aura.

"Still missing boots and pauldrons," Nie Yan said. As long as they collected the remaining two pieces, the set would be perfect. "What are your stats?"

"1653 defense, 35% defense rate, 43% magic resistance. Also, my health is already 1,200," Brilliant Dagger said. Shield Warriors inherently had high defense and health, exceeding other classes. But for his stats to be so high, Brilliant Dagger was truly a monster.

Nie Yan frowned and asked, "What's your attack?"

"370," Brilliant Dagger said. He also felt it was inappropriate. "The defense is too high, and the attack isn't enough. I can't hold aggro, which can easily lead to aggro transfer. It's a serious problem."

"Increase a few aggro-absorbing skills. Let Guo Huai figure something out. Also, next time we have a guild event, we'll help you get a stronger one-handed sword," Nie Yan said. Looking only at defense, Brilliant Dagger deserved the title of the number one Shield Warrior in the entire server. If he showed off his stats, the other Shield Warriors would probably die of shame.

With such a powerful Shield Warrior, the guild could do a lot of things.

A thought flashed through Nie Yan's mind. After this round of leveling, should he find a super-mutated Lord and let the team members test their skills and get a sub-legendary item to play with?

The last few days, collect monthly tickets...