Chapter 34 He's One of Us

If the Prayer skill hadn’t greatly increased his perception, he might not have even noticed him approaching. Tuoba Shi only felt a chill run down his back.

"Friend, come out!" Tuoba Shi stared in the direction where Nie Yan was. He could only see a blurry figure, and he was surprised. This guy was hiding so well. An ordinary Thief, if he activated Eye of Insight, he could definitely see the other party clearly. But when he looked at Nie Yan, he couldn't see anything clearly, as if he was about to lose his target in the next moment.

Nie Yan saw the divine light blooming in Tuoba Shi’s eyes and knew he had been exposed.

He deactivated Stealth and revealed himself.

"It's you?" Seeing Nie Yan's face clearly, Tuoba Shi's gaze sharpened. He remembered encountering Nie Yan outside the Starry Night Pharmacy last time. He didn't expect to run into him here again.

At that time, the Starry Night Pharmacy had just opened, but now, it had become a behemoth in the potion industry. Counting the time, it had been more than ten days.

If they had met in Calore, Tuoba Shi wouldn't have been surprised, but encountering him in the Monastery of Light made him pay attention to Nie Yan. Daring to break into the Monastery of Light alone, Nie Yan was bold enough, especially since he was only Level 17.

Nie Yan shrugged and said, "I was just passing by."

He didn't want to clash with Tuoba Shi and Shi Fen Hao Shuang. Paladins and Berserkers, these two plate-armored classes countered Thieves. Plus, Tuoba Shi and Shi Fen Hao Shuang had such good equipment and were a much higher level than him. Nie Yan estimated that he could ensure his own safety, but it was basically impossible to kill Tuoba Shi and Shi Fen Hao Shuang.

"Hey, brother, didn't expect to see you here." Shi Fen Hao Shuang was simple-minded and greeted him with a smile. "You seem to be red-named, damn, so red. How many people have you killed?"

Nie Yan was carefully on guard. He was a red name now, and the kind that was dazzlingly red. If there were greedy players coveting the equipment on his body, they might try to take him down.

Tuoba Shi stopped Shi Fen Hao Shuang, who wanted to go up and say hello, and smiled slightly at Nie Yan: "My friend has no hostility, don't take it to heart."

Nie Yan's red name was so severe that if Shi Fen Hao Shuang rashly went up, it would definitely cause a misunderstanding between the two sides.

Shi Fen Hao Shuang realized that he was too abrupt, touched his head, and smiled awkwardly.

"Interested in forming a team?" Tuoba Shi became strongly interested in Nie Yan. He wanted to investigate Nie Yan's background. If he put Nie Yan on the team, Nie Yan should be able to dispel the hostility between them, because the main system stipulates that players within the same team, group, or guild cannot maliciously PK each other. Otherwise, if one or two spies suddenly emerged in a team doing a dungeon, maliciously PK-ing the teammates, causing the team to wipe out, this behavior would be too bad, it would cause teammates to lose trust, and the game would not be able to operate.

Nie Yan thought for a moment and asked, "Are you planning to grind monsters outside, or go inside?"

It was somewhat difficult for Nie Yan to enter the Monastery of Light alone. He could only use the Weaver's Ring and the Crawler's Ring to pass through the ceiling. But if he teamed up with Tuoba Shi and Shi Fen Hao Shuang, they should be able to directly rush to the inner hall of the Monastery of Light. As for the central hall, Tuoba Shi and Shi Fen Hao Shuang couldn't enter; only he could.

"Of course, we're going inside," Tuoba Shi said. He was guessing, what was Nie Yan doing in the Monastery of Light?

"We can go to the inner hall of the Monastery of Light together," Nie Yan said. He was also guessing Tuoba Shi and Shi Fen Hao Shuang's background. With their equipment and levels, they shouldn't be just ordinary free players. Having more friends would help the development of the Niu Ren Tribe in the future.

"I'll team you up," Tuoba Shi said, submitting a team application to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan clicked confirm.

System: You have joined Tuoba Shi's team.

After teaming up, the mutual suspicion between Nie Yan and the others dissipated a lot.

"Let's grind monsters first, and chat as we go," Tuoba Shi said. With a Thief, they didn't have to worry about attracting monsters.

"What's the maximum number of monsters you can deal with at once?" Nie Yan asked. Knowing Tuoba Shi and Shi Fen Hao Shuang's strength clearly, he knew how to attract monsters.

"Twelve or thirteen, probably," Tuoba Shi said.

Nie Yan was slightly surprised. Being able to deal with twelve or thirteen Red-Robed Heretics at their current level could be considered very good. They could easily be among the ranks of first-rate players.

"Okay," Nie Yan nodded, walked to a pillar, and looked ahead. There were more than thirty Red-Robed Heretics gathered there. Usually, when Tuoba Shi and Shi Fen Hao Shuang were grinding monsters, they would attract more than ten at a time, kill them in three batches, and that was about it. But now that there was Nie Yan, they could attract more at once.

Nie Yan raised the Bloodthirsty Crossbow, and swish, swish, swish, three arrows shot towards the Red-Robed Heretics. More than thirty Red-Robed Heretics discovered Nie Yan and chased after him in a mighty manner.

"Oh my god, attracting so many at once, I said brother, do you even know how to attract monsters?" Shi Fen Hao Shuang's face turned green when he saw more than thirty Red-Robed Heretics coming over. Usually, dealing with twelve or thirteen was their limit. Even with Nie Yan, dealing with eighteen or nineteen would probably be about the same. Who knew Nie Yan would attract so many at once.

Anyone would suspect that Nie Yan was planning to borrow a knife to kill people.

"You'll know when you try it," Nie Yan said, running towards them.

"Listen to him," Tuoba Shi pondered for a moment. He felt that Nie Yan might have his own reasons. Even if they couldn't deal with them in the end, he and Hao Shuang had skills to accelerate their escape, so running away shouldn't be a problem.

Shi Fen Hao Shuang trusted Tuoba more. He thought that even if they were surrounded, he could just charge out and run away later. He rushed up, using Taunt to attract the Red-Robed Heretics nearby. Seeing so many Red-Robed Heretics charging up, he tensed up.

These Red-Robed Heretics slashed at him, and he only lost less than 10 health points, which was more than half less than before. He used Whirlwind Slash with the greatsword in his hand.

-310, -305, -312...

Damage values floated up from the Red-Robed Heretics.

Shi Fen Hao Shuang was stunned for a moment. Damn, why was the difference so big? Before, these Red-Robed Heretics' attack damage against him was at least more than ten points, and more than twenty at most. Now, the highest was less than ten points. Before, his attack damage was at most 200 points, but now it had suddenly increased to 300.

Looking at the Red-Robed Heretics' health, they only had less than a thousand left. Three Whirlwind Slashes would probably be enough.

Tuoba Shi was also taken aback. He didn't expect the difference in strength between the Red-Robed Heretics to be so great. He glanced at Nie Yan, who was dealing with the Red-Robed Heretics to the side. The changes in the Red-Robed Heretics must be related to Nie Yan. What skill was so powerful? This was a bit intriguing.

Tuoba Shi activated Holy Strike and slashed down with his sword, dealing a critical hit, -960, instant kill! This was unimaginable before.

Nie Yan took care of a Red-Robed Heretic in two or three hits. Looking at Shi Fen Hao Shuang's side, the corpses of the Red-Robed Heretics had already fallen to the ground. It was so great that Warriors had Whirlwind Slash, such a close-range group attack skill.

"Too cool, these Red-Robed Heretics are much weaker than before. Even if dozens more come, we can still deal with them," Shi Fen Hao Shuang said excitedly, constantly slashing at the Red-Robed Heretics around him.

Shi Fen Hao Shuang killed the most, close to twenty, and Tuoba Shi also took care of five or six.

After a while, the corpses of Red-Robed Heretics were scattered around the three of them.

Nie Yan cleaned up the items that had dropped on the ground, first putting them in a corner, and then distributing them after the team disbanded. The harvest was quite rich.

"What skill is that you're using, so powerful, and with such a long duration? It should be an aura-type skill, right?" Tuoba Shi asked. The effect of Nie Yan's skill was too strong. Even he felt a trace of envy in his heart. With such a skill, leveling up should be much faster. Aura-type skills were the most difficult to obtain among all skills.

"It's an aura-type," Nie Yan nodded, "Reduces the health and defense of evil creatures."

As for what exactly the skill was, it concerned the other party's privacy, so Tuoba Shi didn't continue to ask.

The three of them continued to clear the Red-Robed Heretics, gradually going deeper. More than an hour later, Nie Yan leveled up, reaching level 18. As they became more familiar with each other, the conversation gradually deepened.

"Which guild are you guys from?" Nie Yan finally asked. If they weren't from a guild, it was hard for him to imagine that solo players could get such good equipment unless they were also reborn.

"We're not from any guild," Tuoba Shi smiled and said, "You must be wondering why Shi Fen Hao Shuang and I have such good equipment."

"Yes," Nie Yan nodded.

Shi Fen Hao Shuang laughed heartily and said, "I was just thinking, when would you ask this question? You finally couldn't help it. We're not from any guild. The Tuoba family opened a studio, so it's easy for us to team up."

"What studio?" Nie Yan was stunned. Which studio could farm out the Dark Raider Set in such a short time?

"Fallen Leaf Studio."

When Nie Yan heard this name, he was shocked. Fallen Leaf Studio was a top-five studio, on par with Mad War Studio. Fallen Leaf Studio was a studio created by a family consortium, and that family consortium's surname was Tuoba. It was said that their industries involved more than twenty sectors such as hotels, clothing, and virtual industries. They were one of the few domestic consortiums whose financial resources could be compared with Cao Xu's Century Consortium.

Tuoba paid attention to Nie Yan's expression. Seeing that Nie Yan didn't show much surprise, he smiled slightly. If Nie Yan was surprised by his family's financial resources and was as ingratiating as the people in his group, he would probably look down on Nie Yan.

"Interested in joining our guild?" Nie Yan looked at Tuoba Shi and Shi Fen Hao Shuang, smiling faintly.

"Niu Ren Tribe?" Tuoba Shi looked at the guild logo on Nie Yan's chest. It was a totem logo of a Minotaur tribe, simple and elegant.