Chapter 1 When He Opened His Eyes Again

When Nie Yan opened his eyes again, he was already in a human city. He glanced at the surrounding buildings. It should be the City of Light. He didn't know why he had come to this city. He looked at his wrist, which was imprinted with an activation rune for a magic teleportation array. A strange power was contained within, and he could open the teleportation gate at any time to return to the barbarian Kroyetz. However, this teleportation array could only be used once.

Nie Yan suddenly noticed that many players around him were looking over, their faces full of shock.

Following their gazes, Nie Yan looked down and saw the Zennarde's Sword in his hand. The Zennarde's Sword shimmered with a captivating light, and black flames blazed fiercely. It was a flame sword! Even if Nie Yan concealed its light, it was still the same. The sword body was made of crystal, with sharp barbs on the sides.

They had never seen a short sword with such a shocking appearance.

"Damn, what kind of sword is that?"

"I don't know, I've never seen it before!" the players whispered.

"Isn't that Nie Yan, the president of Niu Ren Tribe? Why is he here in the City of Light?"

"I don't know, I heard that Niu Ren Tribe and Zhan Dao Shi Xue are not on good terms."

Hearing the players' whispers, Nie Yan made no comment. This was his first time in the City of Light, but he would be back. He tucked the short sword into his waist and walked towards the teleportation array.

"You're finally out," Guo Huai sent a message to Nie Yan, because he saw that Nie Yan's displayed coordinates were the City of Light. Nie Yan had set up location sharing with Guo Huai, so Guo Huai could see his coordinates.

Nie Yan smiled and said, "How's the guild development lately? Are the major guilds making any moves?"

"We've cleared out three fortresses, but we don't know how to arrange them yet. We're waiting for you to come up with ideas. Also, there's some news. The Holy Roman Empire already has two fortresses, and Triumph Empire, Holy Light Flame, and Garan Temple each have one. Zhan Dao Shi Xue already has five fortresses. The Mages Alliance and Holy Guardians each have three. Kuang Zhan Alliance already has two fortresses," Guo Huai said. Niu Ren Tribe had barely caught up with the progress, but the three fortresses they had just cleared out were still blank slates, with no development, lagging behind Zhan Dao Shi Xue, the Mages Alliance, and the Holy Guardians.

"Did you watch the video I sent you?" Guo Huai asked.

"I watched it," Nie Yan said. In the video, Zhan Dao Shi Xue's fortress was already taking shape, with many merchants moving in, and commerce began to develop, and the operation was quite successful.

"We need to speed up too," Guo Huai said. Zhan Dao Shi Xue was in the adjacent City of Light, giving him a strong sense of urgency. If Zhan Dao Shi Xue developed, the first step would definitely be to unite Holy Light Flame and Triumph Empire, pointing their spearhead directly at Niu Ren Tribe!

After acquiring a fortress, the guild headquarters had to be moved into the fortress. From then on, the guild's advances and retreats were closely related to the fortress. If the fortress fell, the guild headquarters might be destroyed, and the guild level would drop by two levels.

Niu Ren Tribe first had to defend its own fortress, especially the fortress where the guild headquarters was located, before gradually expanding. If Long Yao Financial Group gained enough benefits in Niu Ren Tribe's fortress, they would continue to inject capital into Niu Ren Tribe, which would form a virtuous cycle and create common interests. As long as Niu Ren Tribe defended the fortress, the stores established by Long Yao Financial Group in the fortress would generate continuous revenue. If Niu Ren Tribe's fortress fell, Long Yao Financial Group's source of income in the virtual game would be cut off by other financial groups.

A situation of warlords vying for territory was slowly taking shape.

"I'll go to the fortress in a while," Nie Yan said. Now that the major guilds had just fought for fortresses and were fortifying their own fortresses, there would be no wars for the time being.

Nie Yan teleported to Caroll City and then walked out of Caroll City.

Niu Ren Tribe's first fortress was on the edge of the Scarlet Dream Forest, located on a hillside, commanding a high ground, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Guo Huai had set up the guild headquarters here after Nie Yan's approval.

This fortress was named Undying City by Nie Yan, which was a homophone for the last two characters of Niu Ren Tribe.

Nie Yan rode his horse across the wilderness, looking towards Undying City. On the high slope stood a fortress, covering an area of about 2000*2000 yards, with walls more than thirty yards high on the outside. There were not many buildings inside yet, but it could be foreseen that a magnificent fortress city would rise here in the future.

In his previous life, this was the first fortress of Holy Light Flame. The terrain, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack, had caused the Holy Roman Empire to suffer several defeats under the city.

But in this life, this fortress had changed hands, and Nie Yan wanted to build it into a truly Undying City!

Nie Yan rode his Faulkner warhorse into the fortress. At first glance, there were only a few buildings on the empty ground, and they were only dilapidated buildings left behind after the dark creatures had lived here. After the fortress was rebuilt, these would be demolished.

Several thousand guild members were guarding here. Seeing Nie Yan return, they greeted him one after another.

"Boss, good day."

"Leader Nie Yan, good day."

Nie Yan looked into the distance, and several people walked towards him, including Guo Huai, Brilliant Knife Light, and Shui Se Yan Tou.

"You're here. We drew a construction blueprint and were just about to show it to you," Guo Huai said.

Nie Yan and the team members present smiled at each other. He looked at Shui Se Yan Tou, who was wearing a Level 45 War God's Praise set, his armor all silver-white, looking energetic.

"Did you get your equipment back?" Nie Yan asked with a smile. Shui Se Yan Tou seemed to be doing well recently.

"It's okay. With the help of Brilliant Knife Light, Shi Li Hua Sha, and others, I got it back quickly," Shui Se Yan Tou revealed a smile. During this period, the strength of the brothers and sisters of the Fallen Leaf Studio had slowly improved. Although the Fallen Leaf Studio was gone, they occasionally took on tasks in the Assassin Alliance and could earn a lot of income.

"How's the studio's financial situation? If there's a problem, let us know," Nie Yan said. Shui Se Yan Tou was now a member of Niu Ren Tribe, and if he had difficulties, Niu Ren Tribe would not stand idly by.

"It's okay now. After upgrading our equipment, we can take on many high-income tasks. We give the money we earn to Mu En to invest, and he's earned a lot. Now our finances have improved. I estimate that in five or six days, we'll be able to pay off our debts and start making a profit," Shui Se Yan Tou said. After they were kicked out of their homes, they didn't have many debts, but they had lost all their savings over the years and could only start from scratch. But they were doing okay.

"That's good," Nie Yan nodded. He took the blueprint from Guo Huai's hand. The blueprint showed the fortress's construction plan, including the location of the guild headquarters, the location of the commercial area, and so on.

Nie Yan studied the blueprint, combined with some successful fortresses from his previous life, and made some modifications to the blueprint.

"Since this fortress is related to the life and death of the guild, one layer of walls in the front is not enough. There must be three layers. The three layers should be placed side by side, with a gap in the middle. The doors of the three walls cannot be placed together, so that the enemies cannot rush in," Nie Yan proposed his first modification.

If the people outside rushed through the first gate, they would find a wall in front of them. They would have to go a long way through the gap between the two walls to find the second gate. After finding the second gate, there was another wall, and they would have to continue to go a long way to find the third gate. In this way, the time to rush into the fortress would be greatly extended. If giant crossbows were placed on the walls and mages stood on both sides of the walls, and warriors stood on the passage between the two walls, if the other side did not have heavy siege machinery such as catapults, they would not be able to rush into the fortress at all.

Guo Huai's eyes lit up and said, "Good idea, this will greatly improve the defense capability."

"This idea is indeed very creative," Shui Se Yan Tou nodded.

Brilliant Knife Light and others also greatly agreed.

"In addition, the teleportation point should be changed. The back should be built into a commercial area. After all, Long Yao Financial Group is our investor, and we must ensure their interests in the game. Also, I have an energy core here, which can be used to create a protective barrier for the fortress," Nie Yan said. In this way, this fortress could be called an iron wall.

Everyone agreed on the fortress's plan and began to build it.

After Long Yao Financial Group injected a large amount of capital, Niu Ren Tribe had enough construction funds. Nie Yan began to arrange the fortress. Three consecutive walls rose from the ground, each higher than the last. In this way, the players on the three walls could output firepower to the open space outside the fortress.

Building a fourth or fifth wall would not have much effect. Instead, it would reduce the land area inside the fortress.

The towering building in the center of the fortress was the guild headquarters. A teleportation array was set up to connect with the teleportation array in the Caroll City guild office. Then, streets radiated out to the walls. Wherever there was a problem, the teleported members could immediately support it. The commercial area was placed in a safer place in the back. In the front were level 1 siege machine manufacturing points, level 1 mage towers, level 1 war god statues, and other buildings. The siege machine manufacturing point could manufacture various siege and defense equipment, such as crossbows. In the later stage, it could manufacture some catapults and other items. The mage tower could provide magic power to the mages. The war god statue could increase the attack of the defending warriors, such as a 3% increase at level 1. In the later stage, there would be more useful buildings. In addition, civil houses had to be built. One civil house could provide a certain population. In the defensive battle, the number of civil houses determined the number of players participating in the defensive battle.

Under Nie Yan's guidance, buildings rose from the ground, densely packed and scattered like stars. At a glance, there were hundreds of buildings, which were quite impressive. Now, all that was lacking was popularity.