Chapter 1 Nilan Arena

The Nilan Arena was a magnificent structure, standing on the mountainside. Built in 921 of the Common Era, it was full of the architectural style of that era. The walls were made of gray-white stones, reaching a height of twenty or thirty yards, forming an oval shape. It had dozens of layers, covered with exquisite carvings. Due to its age, some parts had already collapsed. The interior was complex, connected by rooms and corridors. At its center was a massive arena, flanked by stands capable of holding tens of thousands of people.

This place had always been where the wealthy squandered their money. Real-life battles often took place in the arena, with betting parlors set up around them.

As for the Evil Thieves, they were part of a storyline. The arena was controlled by them, and only by eliminating the Evil Thief Lord could the place be restored. The Evil Thief Lord was a level 70 mutated lord, requiring a super team of level 70 players to defeat him. Until then, the arena would remain under the control of the Evil Thieves.

In the plaza ahead, thieves in black cloaks constantly passed by, their eyes emitting an eerie red glow, scanning the vicinity. Finding nothing, they entered stealth mode, reappearing dozens of yards away.

These thieves seemed difficult to deal with. Creatures that could stealth were troublesome.

Nie Yan activated Eyes of Truth, scanning his surroundings and spotting a faint figure in the wilderness.

For some reason, Nie Yan suddenly felt a strange sensation, a heat flowing from around his eyes towards his pupils. The blood vessels in his pupils became thicker, and his eyes emitted two beams of red light, which then slowly faded.

Looking at Nie Yan now, one would notice that his pupils had turned into blood-red eyes.

Everything in sight became exceptionally clear, even distant objects. Seventeen or eighteen more figures appeared in the clearing, and all the twenty-odd thieves lurking nearby were now visible to him.

It turned out that the thief he had just exposed was only a small part of the whole group. If he had rashly gone up, he might have bumped into these thieves while stealthed. That would have inevitably led to a fierce battle, as these Evil Thieves were level 70 monsters!

Eyes of Truth seemed to have been strengthened!

The strengthening of Eyes of Truth was not based on the number of times it was used, but on the number of times it detected stealthed enemy players in battle. To prevent players from grinding skill proficiency, the main control AI had strict limitations on the targets of Eyes of Truth.

After so long, Nie Yan's Eyes of Truth had finally been upgraded.

Eyes of Truth (Enhanced): After casting this skill, there is a certain probability of seeing through illusions and stealth. The probability depends on the levels of both sides. Instant skill, skill cooldown time of one hundred and twenty seconds.

When fighting a thief of the same level, if Nie Yan used the enhanced Eyes of Truth skill, he had an 80% chance of seeing through their stealth. Moreover, some monsters and players could cast illusionary clones, which were very deceptive. Nie Yan also had a 70% chance of destroying them.

The effectiveness of the enhanced Eyes of Truth had greatly increased, but the probability of seeing through higher-level creatures was still relatively low.

Nie Yan had been troubled by the low effectiveness of Eyes of Truth, but now it had finally improved somewhat.

He guessed that what he saw with the enhanced Eyes of Truth was only a portion of the Evil Thieves in stealth. Perhaps there were other thieves lurking nearby that had not been detected.

After thinking for a moment, he realized that he couldn't rely solely on his eyes; he also needed to rely on perception and judgment!

Nie Yan entered stealth mode and crept towards the arena not far away.

These Evil Thieves were all level 70 creatures. Their combat abilities were strong, but their perception of stealth was weak, so Nie Yan could use stealth to avoid them.

Observing the movement patterns of these Evil Thieves, Nie Yan used his judgment to set a general route, avoiding the crowd of Evil Thieves.

Nie Yan traveled some distance and stopped. Several Evil Thieves passed by nearby, and he seemed to sense a trace of blood.

After bypassing a few Evil Thieves, Nie Yan suddenly felt something approaching him from the left. He used Shadow Waltz, darting forward six or seven yards.

A black figure appeared where he had been standing – an Evil Thief. The Evil Thief looked around, found nothing, and re-entered stealth mode.

Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. He looked ahead, only a hundred yards away from the arena entrance, a dark iron gate. There were no monster guards, and not far from the iron gate, in the corner of a building, was a golden chest.

After advancing another fifty yards, the number of Evil Thieves nearby decreased. He bypassed a few Evil Thieves and stealthed towards the golden treasure chest, bending down to open it.

System: Treasure chest opening in progress, 2%...7%...

With a click, the golden treasure chest opened. Nie Yan bent down, reached inside, and pulled out an object – a blue pearl.

The pearl was about the size of a fist, able to be held in one hand. Like a huge sapphire, it emitted a soft, light-blue glow. It was cool to the touch and perfectly round. At the top of the sphere was a small hole, just large enough for a little finger to pass through. He wondered what it was for.

Nie Yan used Super Appraisal to identify the pearl.

Magic Storage Pearl (Quality 2): Players can store magic power in the pearl. When casting spells, it can be used as a medium, using the magic stored inside. Maximum storage capacity: 5000. Can be stored once per natural day.

It was a Magic Storage Pearl, and of Quality 2! He was quite lucky, Nie Yan thought to himself.

A Magic Storage Pearl was like a permanent magic potion, with a storage capacity of a full five thousand magic points! It was equivalent to a bottle of advanced instant-recovery magic potion, and using the Magic Storage Pearl did not conflict with using recovery potions. At critical moments, the Magic Storage Pearl could save a mage's life.

Generally, in the later stages of the game, the Magic Storage Pearl was a must-have for mages. Slightly wealthier mages would have one. Quality 1 Magic Storage Pearls were more common, while Quality 2 Magic Storage Pearls were rarer. Magic Storage Pearls became popular around level seventy or eighty. There was nothing like them on the market right now, so he could probably sell it for eight or nine thousand gold coins, or even higher.

Nie Yan thought for a moment that the Magic Storage Pearl should be given to a priest – either Big Brother Seven, Shi Li Hua Sha, or anyone from Black Heaven. Anyway, they had all signed agreements. He would give the Magic Storage Pearl to them and let them decide among themselves. These three had already become the top priests of the Niu Ren Tribe, unmatched by anyone. These three were worthy of the title of Divine Priest from his previous life.

Equipping a Magic Storage Pearl would provide more security when grouping up to grind monsters.

Every time he explored new maps, he could find some surprises. Nie Yan put the Magic Storage Pearl into his backpack and walked towards the distance.

He walked to the arena entrance, put his hand on the iron gate, and pushed hard.

The iron gate slowly turned, opening inwards. Nie Yan walked inside. The environment was somewhat dark. A gust of cold wind blew from somewhere, making him feel chilly. Inside was a dark corridor, with rooms lining both sides.

Nie Yan entered stealth mode and walked into the corridor, still using Eyes of Truth to scan, but he didn't find any monsters active nearby.

This place was too dangerous to summon Golden Earth Dragon.

He walked towards the distance, along the corridor. The furnishings in the corridor were luxurious. A golden carpet stretched far into the distance, and oil lamps carved from crystal hung on the walls. The flames flickered in the wind.

The doors to the rooms next to the corridor were tightly closed. Nie Yan walked to one of the doors, hesitated for a moment, and pushed it open.

Suddenly, a cold light flashed before Nie Yan's eyes, and a dagger struck straight at his face.

Seeing that he was about to be unable to dodge, Nie Yan used Gale Step, blocking the attack of the dagger, and quickly retreated a few steps. A black figure appeared in front of him, wearing a black cloak – a thief!

It held a cold, shining dagger in its hand, with a faint green glow on the blade.

Nie Yan was shocked. The dagger was poisoned!

Nie Yan cast Appraisal on it.

Shadow Thief: Level 70 Elite, HP 13000/13000.

Humanoid creatures often had thinner health pools, but they were among the most difficult monsters to deal with. Elite humanoid creatures usually possessed some low-level intelligence, unlike other types of elite monsters that could be easily killed by kiting or positioning.

The Shadow Thief pounced on Nie Yan, its dagger using Stun, striking at Nie Yan's forehead.

Nie Yan sidestepped, his right-hand dagger using Vital Strike, slashing across the Shadow Thief's neck. He brushed past the Shadow Thief, and ran away.

If he continued to fight the Shadow Thief, he might not be able to exhaust it even if he used up all his skills! If he ran out of skills, he might be knocked down by the Shadow Thief.

After being hit by Vital Strike, a damage value of over 300 floated above the Shadow Thief's head. Then, damage values of one or two hundred floated up, all Bleed and Poison damage.

Nie Yan ran in circles in the hall, using Bleed and Poison damage to slowly wear down the Shadow Thief's health. His Bleed and Poison damage was too terrifying.

After a while, the Shadow Thief had lost nearly two thousand health.

Nie Yan paused for a moment. The Shadow Thief immediately swung its dagger and charged up. Nie Yan used Shadow Waltz, passing by the Shadow Thief, and used Slice and then Eviscerate on the Shadow Thief's back, causing blood to spurt out. After attacking, he ran away immediately, not daring to stop at all.