Chapter 113 The Soaring Price

Nie Yan was relatively calm. Guo Huai had been restless these past few days, seeing all the market changes. It was as if he could already see the glittering gold coins within reach.

The Mage Alliance's investment of over two million gold coins in a large-scale acquisition of gems became the last straw that broke the camel's back. Players could see that something was wrong with the gem market. The Mage Alliance dared to invest so much money in gem acquisitions, which definitely meant something was up. More and more people were buying gems, and the price of gems quickly began to rise, soaring all the way up.

The more it soared, the more people bought. That's just how the market works.

"Nie Yan, the price of gems is skyrocketing!" Guo Huai said to Nie Yan in the voice chat, his voice trembling with excitement. After waiting five days, his heart was extremely anxious. The price of gems finally started to soar. How could he not be excited?

"Relax, wait a few more days," Nie Yan said with a smile. The price of gems would only rise and not fall in the coming days. They could just sit back and wait to collect the money.

To get the maximum profit, they had to wait until the price of gems reached its peak before selling. Nie Yan and the others were like hunters patiently waiting for their prey.

"I understand, the price of gems will definitely continue to rise, but I can't help but be excited," Guo Huai said with a chuckle. He also had a good business sense, but that was twenty million gold coins! Few people could remain calm in the face of such a huge sum of money.

Nie Yan was indifferent. Money was just a means to an end, not the ultimate goal. He had experienced life and death, so what was there to be uneasy about? This twenty million gold coins was just the beginning.

Players in various cities of the Satreen Empire and the Greenroco Empire were all watching the gem market. This chaotic and changing market was like being shrouded in a fog. Many people couldn't understand what was happening. Some still firmly believed that the hidden shops existed, and that everything they were seeing was just a trick played by the gem dealers to lure them into buying gems. They still wanted to wait, waiting for the price of gems to drop to their expected range before buying. Some discerning players began to buy gems, and their frenzied acquisitions pushed up the price of gems. The vast majority of players chose to stand by and watch, and they could only watch the price of gems rise steadily.

In the current situation, no one dared to say that their judgment was correct.

"The price of poison resistance gems has dropped from 1,200 gold coins to 300 gold coins. How long has it been? Now it's back to 1,000 gold coins and still soaring. How are we supposed to live?" a warrior said dejectedly.

"That's right, the prices of other types of gems have also risen. Fire resistance gems, for example, are already twice the price of ordinary gems."

"Fortunately, I bought five or six when the price of gems was at its lowest. It cost me more than 600 gold coins at the time. If I sell them now, I estimate they're worth 3,000 gold coins."

This world really had those who were happy and those who were sad.

Nie Yan casually glanced at the auction house. The quantity of various gems in the auction house was much less than before. It was estimated that in a short time, the gems on the market would be sold out. When passing through the central square of Calore, Nie Yan found that there were a lot of people forming groups to hunt gems. Many people didn't dare to buy gems. The current gem market was too unpredictable. Many people could only rely on themselves to farm gems, but the effect was obviously very limited. A team could farm monsters in a specific map for five or six days, and at most they would only get three or four gems, and the attributes couldn't be determined. Divided among everyone, it wasn't worth much at all.

"How many sets of magic rune stones have you collected?" Nie Yan remembered and asked Guo Huai.

"During this period, I bought a total of more than 10,000 magic rune stones, of which about 500 sets were made up of seven different magic rune stones," Guo Huai said. Players' eyes were focused on gems, and there were fewer people buying magic rune stones, and the price of magic rune stones was low, so he bought so many.

"More than 500 sets?" Nie Yan was taken aback. He didn't expect Guo Huai to buy so many. In his past life, a set of magic rune stones was sold for a sky-high price, and he actually had more than 500 sets! How much experience could so many sets of magic rune stones be exchanged for?

Nie Yan couldn't estimate it for the time being. He planned to take advantage of his low level to kill the Giant Troll Dylenz again and level up a few more times. When he couldn't level up anymore by killing the Giant Troll Dylenz, he would turn in the magic rune stones and level up a few more times.

Nie Yan went to get his javelins and continued to grind monsters, rushing to level up as quickly as possible.

During this period, the Asskickers United was relatively calm. Cauldron Wine, Water Color Smoker, and others took the lead and began to organize large teams of thousands of people to clear some of the more famous high-level monsters on the map, such as the Level 80 Lord Flame Lizard, and the Level 85 Lord Manny Anaconda. The players below organized small teams to refresh some elites and lords.

In the level 60-70 and 80-90 maps of Calore, there were Asskickers United players everywhere. When exploring the maps, there would occasionally be some extra rewards, such as jars of gunpowder, sulfur, and so on, and these supplies were transported to the headquarters of the Asskickers United.

Guo Huai coordinated the overall situation of the entire Calore. After Calore was stabilized, Nie Yan and others began to slowly expand. The Asskickers United opened a branch in the City of Elements. The Sapphire Shrine, the Holy Roman Empire, and Radiant Sacred Flame also opened branches in other cities. They generally chose cities that had not been unified by guild forces, and opened branches there to recruit people, preparing to seize control of the cities after they grew stronger.

Just when Nie Yan was frantically leveling up, Guo Huai sent some bad news.

"Recently, some thieves have been assassinating our people everywhere," Guo Huai said, looking at the news from various places, his brow furrowed.

"Has anyone been hit?" Nie Yan asked. The trick of thieves ambushing was not new. Nie Yan had also hired thieves to assassinate people from the Mage Alliance, Holy Empire, and Angel Corps. The players of the Asskickers United should be prepared.

"There are about fifty or sixty of them, usually in teams of seven or eight. They rarely miss when they attack. Their target is the elite members of our Asskickers United. These guys have very accurate information. Someone on our side must be leaking information to them. Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug Talks of Ice, and Black and White have all been hit, suffering heavy losses. Cauldron Wine was also attacked, killing two thieves, and was almost taken down by the other party. Fortunately, reinforcements arrived in time," Guo Huai said. The reported information showed that about twenty important members had been assassinated, which was shocking.

Hearing the names that Guo Huai reported, Nie Yan raised his eyebrows and asked in a deep voice, "Do you know who did it?" These members were the mainstay of the Asskickers United in the future. Their deaths were a huge loss to the Asskickers United.

"The people below said it seems to be Bloodlust, but the identities of those people cannot be confirmed for the time being," Guo Huai said. "I think it should be people from the Mage Alliance, Holy Empire, and Angel Corps. Only they would be willing to spend so much effort to deal with us."

Bloodlust? Nie Yan remembered such an organization. In his previous life, this organization was well-known in the Satreen Empire and the Greenroco Empire. They were a group of thieves, with a total of about a hundred people. They were a group of professional players with no moral standards. As long as it was a business that made money, they would do it, assassination, murder, and theft. There were many experts among them. Five of them successfully advanced to Shadow Dancer in their previous life, and the others were also amazingly strong. Players generally did not dare to provoke them. Bloodlust was very mysterious. Each of their members had their own unique code name and password for contact. The whereabouts of each member were kept secret from the outside world. The organization was very strict, and they never recruited new members. There were only a fixed number of more than a hundred members, so other players could not infiltrate them.

It was such an organization of more than a hundred people that had slaughtered three ten-thousand-member guilds in their previous life, and countless people had died at their hands. But because their people were secretive and their assassination actions were swift, players could not catch them at all and could do nothing about them.

Such an organization, one could see how terrifying it was!

"It's actually Bloodlust, this is a bit troublesome." Nie Yan frowned. He estimated that his old opponents had hired people from Bloodlust.

"The Mage Alliance, Holy Empire, and Angel Corps are really determined to destroy us. Being targeted by Bloodlust like this is not a pleasant thing," Guo Huai said. Seven or eight top thieves attacking a player together, unless their awareness and skills were particularly good, few players could escape.

"The most urgent task is to find out the traitors first. Investigate them one by one. I don't believe they can escape. Also, tell the players below to be careful when they go out. It's best to go together and not be alone, so as not to give them a chance," Nie Yan said. The news of Bloodlust's assassination of Asskickers United players had not been leaked at all, and no guild had admitted that they did it. Since that was the case, let the news be completely blocked.

Without confirming who did it, Nie Yan would not take any revenge for the time being, but that didn't mean he wouldn't in the future.

"I'm looking for the traitors. There should be more than one," Guo Huai said, sighing deeply. No guild could avoid the existence of traitors, including the Asskickers United. However, the Mage Alliance, Holy Empire, and Angel Alliance also had traitors in the Asskickers United. The salary of a traitor was dozens of times higher than the salary of an ordinary guild member. Under heavy rewards, there would always be people who would take the risk.

"If you find the traitors, don't expose them, and don't let them notice. I'll have use for them next time," Nie Yan specially instructed Guo Huai. He already had some plans in his mind.

Guo Huai was stunned for a moment, then understood and smiled slightly: "Understood, don't worry, I will definitely not let them find out."

If they could successfully find the traitors, these traitors would become free loudspeakers for the Asskickers United. With such guys around, they could definitely receive miraculous effects at critical moments.

~~Thank you Jiangnan for becoming the 35th leader of Thief Reborn! Snail is ashamed, I have been recuperating recently, and the update is not strong.