Chapter 1 What Gains Have You Had Recently?

"What gains have you had recently from grinding monsters and doing quests?" Nie Yan asked Tang Yao, who was beside him. It had been a long time since he had chatted with Tang Yao like this.

"Not bad. I got a ghost wolf and a Book of Rune Imprints. I don't know what it's for. The main system gave me a quest clue. Besides the Book of Rune Imprints, I also found two sub-legendary items," Tang Yao said. His gains were pretty good.

"Book of Rune Imprints? Malkinson's Book of Rune Imprints?" Nie Yan asked in surprise, suddenly remembering something.

"Yes. What, you know about this thing? I searched the official website but couldn't find any information. The official website is so annoying. They don't publish information about some of the more difficult quests."

Nie Yan did have some understanding of the Book of Rune Imprints. It was rumored to be something belonging to the legendary mage god Malkinson. In his past life, the vice equipment of the Magister Hun Shi Lao Yao was Malkinson's Book of Rune Imprints. With this equipment, he rose to the ranks of the three great magisters. In his past life, he could be considered a person who laughed at the world. But he never thought that in this life, Malkinson's Book of Rune Imprints would fall into Tang Yao's hands, and Hun Shi Lao Yao, he didn't know where he went.

History had changed its trajectory under Nie Yan's intervention.

"You should continue with this quest. There should be some gains. Malkinson is a legendary mage god of the Greenland Empire, an enlightened one of the mysteries," Nie Yan said. His words should make Tang Yao take this matter seriously.

"So that's how it is." Only then did Tang Yao begin to seriously treat this Book of Rune Imprints.

Nie Yan had only heard the name of the Book of Rune Imprints. He didn't understand it, so he couldn't give Tang Yao any advice.

"Besides the flying mount, what other gains have you had recently?" Tang Yao asked.

Hearing Tang Yao's question, Nie Yan suddenly remembered the *Song of the Thorn Birds* he had obtained earlier. Since obtaining the book, he hadn't had time to look at the contents, but he remembered a sentence: the *Song of the Thorn Birds* was sung by many bards. Wasn't Byleimer a bard? Perhaps he could get some clues from him.

"I got a *Song of the Thorn Birds* that can trigger quests. Let's find a bar to look at the contents of this book first," Nie Yan said. The two walked into a bar and sat down in a corner.

Nie Yan took the *Song of the Thorn Birds* out of his backpack and began to read it.

When Nie Yan opened the first page, he suddenly felt a strange sensation. Under the guidance of some mysterious power, he stroked the large characters on the first page, and a system prompt sounded.

'System: In the dark ages, seek the relics of history. The most beautiful things can only be exchanged for deep, painful wounds. Find the Heart of the Assassin and let the flames bloom in your hands.'

Nie Yan looked at his quest log.

Quest progress: Find the Heart of the Assassin.

It was a quest to find the Heart of the Assassin. Looking at the level of this quest, it was a Legendary Quest!

Nie Yan knew almost nothing about what the Heart of the Assassin was. It might be a quest related to those eight thieves. He opened the *Song of the Thorn Birds* and looked at it. Paragraphs of text written in Ancient Common Tongue came into his eyes.

"Gascoyne's Flame Dagger, waving, it blooms with flames, devouring life. Suffering people under the lash, painfully seeking survival… Slaves praying in the darkness, they are praying for light… Even though they know that destruction lies ahead, they are still like moths flying towards the flame. In order to pursue that moment of light and heat, they resolutely make a decision, chasing freedom with their lives..."

Nie Yan flipped through it. Inside were the biographies of eight thieves. They came from different backgrounds. Some were once blacksmiths, some were once thieves, and some were once slaves of nobles. After experiencing all kinds of hardships, they came together and became well-known assassins. In the end, they generously went to their deaths, achieving an epic legend.

The book repeatedly mentioned a place name, the City of Paternoster, this mysterious city, vanished like dust in the long river of history.

Nie Yan muttered the term, City of Paternoster. He seemed to have heard this term somewhere before, but he couldn't remember it at the moment. He searched the official website but couldn't find any relevant information. For this kind of legendary quest, the official website was unwilling to reveal too much information. His eyes lost focus, and he pondered blankly.

"What are you thinking about?" Tang Yao asked, seeing Nie Yan's contemplative expression.

"City of Paternoster, have you seen it anywhere?" Nie Yan asked. If he could get some clues, he could associate some information, because this name was familiar.

"Paternoster? Paternoster Warhammer?" Tang Yao asked doubtfully.

Nie Yan was stunned, suddenly understood, and said in surprise, "It's the Paternoster Warhammer, that's right!"

The Paternoster Warhammer was the name of a God-tier weapon. It was very famous because the Orc King Isolt had used it to summon lightning, killing a powerful Dragon Clan legendary figure, the Slayer Kilfeaser. The name of this warhammer was therefore recorded in history.

From this came the association. If he wanted to solve the riddle of the *Song of the Thorn Birds* and find the Heart of the Assassin, he might have to go to the Orc Royal City to trigger new clues.

Thinking of the Orc Royal City, Nie Yan thought of Angel Corps. It seemed that he was destined to take a trip to Angel Corps's base. With his current level, he might not be able to do this legendary quest. He would wait until he reached level 100 and changed to Shadow Dancer. After changing to Shadow Dancer, he could just give Angel Corps a headache.

Nie Yan put away the *Song of the Thorn Birds* and said to Tang Yao beside him, "Let's go, let's go find the bard Byleimer."

The two walked through street after street, into winding alleys, and arrived in front of a white building. They looked at the house number, which read: Home of the Bard Byleimer.

Nie Yan stepped in, and Tang Yao followed behind.

Arriving in the garden, Nie Yan saw Byleimer himself. The bard Byleimer looked to be in his forties, slightly old, wearing a white robe. His attire had an elegant air, but between his eyebrows, there was a strong, unyielding melancholy.

This was the classic image of a bard. Nie Yan knew the settings of faith NPCs like the back of his hand.

Byleimer's gaze was cast towards Nie Yan, and he asked, "Respected Mr. Nie Yan, may I ask, what brings you to me?"

"Respected Mr. Byleimer, I found some things in the Dorun Mountains. May I ask, did you lose these?" Nie Yan took out a piece of sheet music and asked.

Byleimer's gaze focused on the piece of sheet music in Nie Yan's hand, revealing an excited expression, and said, "Yes, this is what I lost. It is very important to me. Thank you, respected Mr. Nie Yan."

Nie Yan used normal procedural language to talk to Byleimer, triggering the quest, and handed the piece of sheet music to Byleimer.

"May the gods bless you." Byleimer accepted the piece of sheet music and said piously. He gave the first reward to Nie Yan, which was more than 50,000 experience and more than a dozen gold coins. For an ordinary quest, such a quest reward could be considered relatively generous.

But Nie Yan's ambition was not here.

Nie Yan looked at his experience points, which had only increased by 1%. As for the more than a dozen gold coins, they were just a drop in the bucket to him.

"Respected Mr. Nie Yan, would you be willing to help me find the remaining fragments? I will give you more rewards." Byleimer pleaded. According to the design of the quest, a player might be lucky and happen to find a piece of sheet music. It would be a little difficult to find the second piece of sheet music. Each player could collect up to five or six pieces, unless they were like Po Tian, spending a lot of money to buy them.

Nie Yan took out the second piece of sheet music and handed it to Byleimer. After a while, he received the second reward, more than 100,000 experience and sixteen gold coins. Continuing to hand over the pieces of sheet music one by one, the rewards became more and more generous. After handing over six fragments, Byleimer waved his right hand, and a golden light flashed in front of Nie Yan. The surrounding time suddenly stood still, leaving only Nie Yan able to move. In the sky in front of him, a huge wheel of fate appeared.

As expected, the wheel of fate appeared.

Nie Yan had encountered similar scenes before. The difference between the wheel of fate and the fate dice was that the fate dice had a 50% chance of misfortune, while the wheel of fate would not produce misfortune.

Nie Yan looked at the markings on it. When rotating the wheel of fate, there was a 1% chance of obtaining a flying mount, a 1% chance of a legendary equipment appearing, a 5% chance of a sub-legendary equipment appearing, a 5% chance of a special item appearing, a 20% chance of a money reward, and a 20% chance of an experience reward. If none of them were hit, there would be no reward. Among them, there was a 1% chance of obtaining a super generous reward for money and experience rewards, a 3% chance of obtaining a medium reward, and a 16% chance of obtaining an ordinary reward.

Nie Yan took a deep breath and touched the wheel of fate. The wheel of fate rotated rapidly, spinning faster and faster, until nothing could be seen.

Whether the reward was good or bad was completely a matter of luck. It was quite a test of character, but fortunately, unlike the fate dice, there would be no misfortune. Coincidentally, at an even time, Nie Yan suddenly reached out and touched the wheel of fate. The wheel of fate came to an abrupt stop. His finger was pointing at the experience reward, rewarding 200,000 experience points. Experience points were dispensable for Nie Yan, regrettably wasting an opportunity.

There were still five chances. Nie Yan calmed down. What he wanted most was a flying mount or legendary equipment. It would also be good to get a sub-legendary or special item.

"Did you get anything good?" Tang Yao, who was next to him, didn't know what was going on and asked eagerly.

"No." Nie Yan shook his head and continued to hand over the fragments of sheet music to Byleimer one by one.

"Oh." Tang Yao was a little disappointed.

Nie Yan looked at his experience points. The experience reward alone had allowed him to level up by about 30%, not far from the next level.