Chapter 17 A Big Treasure Hunter

Nie Yan became a master chest opener, opening chests mostly level thirty and below. Most were common or silver-grade treasure chests, and he rarely encountered gold treasure chests, let alone dark gold ones. Even so, many of the items he obtained were still good. What excited him the most were several recipes, because in his eyes, each recipe meant a flood of money.

He didn't have much demand for potions himself, but he still used quite a few. Those monster-grinding groups consumed a lot of potions to increase their leveling speed or to deal with stronger monsters. If the average player in Calore consumed one potion a day, and 60% of those potions came from Starry Night Potion Shop, how much trading volume would that generate? No wonder Starry Night Potion Shop couldn't accommodate the growing number of customers even with constant upgrades and expansions. Nie Yan was already planning to open several branch stores.

The high-end potion recipes Nie Yan obtained would be extremely beneficial to the development of Starry Night Potion Shop.

After opening treasure chests all day, Nie Yan's Lockpicking skill proficiency reached 67 points, which was quite fast. Once his skill proficiency reached 100, he could go to advanced maps.

He glanced at the level leaderboard. Tang Yao, who had just rushed to Level 26, was gradually showing signs of decline. The experience bonus from grinding Scale Frogs was already quite small. Po Tian was still fiercely catching up, but it would take at least two more days to surpass Tang Yao.

"Let Tang Yao grind Scale Frogs for two more days," Nie Yan thought as he headed towards the Light Monastery.

The Light Monastery was a remnant from the Era of Shared Governance. During the Dark Era, it was an important force for humanity against the dragons. Over its two thousand-year history, countless dragons were purified by the Light Monastery. Later, for unknown reasons, the Light Monastery was abandoned and became a stronghold for bandits.

As a level thirty map, the humanoid monsters inside were quite difficult to deal with, but for the sake of the Chapter of Justice, Nie Yan had to go take a look.

If he collected all six Chapters of Order and combined them, the first volume of the Chapter of Order would be directly bound to him, and he would no longer have to worry about losing the Chapters of Order in his possession.

Nie Yan passed through a pile of rubble. In the distance, on a hillside illuminated by the sun, a golden gleam flashed by.

Nie Yan's heart skipped a beat. It had to be a gold treasure chest!

So far, he had opened forty or fifty treasure chests, and there were only one or two gold treasure chests. The items inside were very valuable.

This area was a level twenty-five map, so the items in the gold treasure chest should at least be level twenty-five gold items.

Nie Yan dashed towards the hillside. The mountain road was rugged, making it very difficult for ordinary players to traverse, but it was no problem for Nie Yan. His Jump, Balance, Agility, and other attributes were very high. He leaped and bounded across the hillside as if walking on flat ground.

Jumping and climbing through the rubble for dozens of yards, he encountered a steep cliff. Nie Yan used the skill on his Creeper Ring and quickly climbed to the top of the cliff like a gecko.

The gold treasure chest was within reach!

Another gold treasure chest was his for the taking. As Nie Yan walked towards the gold treasure chest, an unusual feeling rose from the bottom of his heart. His heart tightened. There was a Thief!

His keen perception allowed him to quickly determine the other person's direction. His pupils were rapidly filled with blood, turning into blood-red eyes.

Eye of Truth!

He scanned his surroundings with his enhanced vision, but he still couldn't find the other person!

Eye of Truth only had a certain chance of revealing the other person's stealth. It could also fail.

As the Eye of Truth faded, Nie Yan carefully watched for any movement nearby, but he didn't dare to open the gold treasure chest. Opening a gold treasure chest took a certain amount of time. If a Thief ambushed him from behind, he would definitely be finished.

Anyone who could come to a level twenty-five map to collect treasure chests was definitely not an ordinary player. They had to be an expert.

Most ordinary players were concentrated in low-level maps. Only experts dared to enter high-level maps.

Nie Yan entered Stealth, also disappearing from sight.

Fallen Frog was a professional player, although he wasn't ranked very high on the professional player leaderboard, he was still somewhat well-known. The professional player leaderboard wasn't just about who had good PK skills. It also required strong power, such as a guild, financial resources, etc. Loveable Killer and Sleepy Fox were both on the list, but as a free player without a studio, Fallen Frog could only rank in the two hundreds. However, in terms of skill, he could rank in the top ten. This guy was awesome at PK.

In his previous gaming experiences, Fallen Frog had always chosen roles like Thief, and collecting treasure chests was his special hobby. Going to high-level maps to open treasure chests was both exciting and challenging. He would sell the items he obtained from the treasure chests to earn some money to live a simple life. This was Fallen Frog's happy life. Many people were willing to spend real money to buy high-level equipment from Fallen Frog, including some guild leaders. The equipment that came out of Fallen Frog's hands was of quite high quality.

Fallen Frog hadn't really seen anyone who could survive in a level twenty-five map. Usually, people teamed up.

He was about to open the gold treasure chest opposite him when he saw a Thief leap up from the cliff at lightning speed. His eyes widened. "Damn, that works too?" Wasn't that a cliff? How did he get up there?

"It's a treasure chest collector. It's not easy to make a living. I even ran into someone trying to steal my business," Fallen Frog thought gloomily. Moreover, the other person was flying across the walls like they were flat ground. His equipment was so advanced.

He was thinking about whether he should try to snatch the gold treasure chest or retreat.

In the distance, the golden light was shimmering. It was a gold treasure chest! Most of the treasure chests he had opened so far were ordinary or silver-grade. He had encountered a few low-level gold treasure chests, but a level twenty-five gold treasure chest was a naked temptation!

"Should I kill him and take his goods?" Fallen Frog was startled by his own thought. He scratched his head in distress. "I'm just trying to make a living. There's no need to be so bloody."

But watching the gold treasure chest being opened by someone else made him a little unwilling.

As he hesitated and struggled, the opposite Nie Yan's eyes flashed with a divine light, so sharp that it seemed to be able to see through everything.

Fallen Frog's heart tightened. He quickly held his breath and used Stealth, instantly increasing his stealth ability by more than 30 points for about two minutes.

The Thief opposite him didn't seem to see him, but he definitely sensed his general location. Gradually, the Thief opposite him slowly disappeared. That Thief had also gone into Stealth! Fallen Frog stared intently, but still couldn't find the Thief's trail.

An intense sense of crisis made him clearly aware that the other person hadn't gone far.

He couldn't sense the other person's location, but the other person's perception ability terrified him.

"Where did this guy pop out of? He's so awesome." Fallen Frog raised an eyebrow, feeling a slight urge to compete with the other person. So far, he had rarely encountered an opponent. He looked at his own skills. Even if things went badly, he could definitely run away.

"The winner gets to open the gold treasure chest!"

Nie Yan sensed the Thief's direction. He looked at his bag. There were two Dust of Appearance in his bag. If he used the Dust of Appearance, he would definitely be able to detect the other person's location. But he didn't want to waste such a rare item here.

If he didn't use it, it would be really difficult to find the other person's trail!

Just then, Fallen Frog shook out a scroll. A strong light burst forth.

Nie Yan was shocked. It was a Scroll of Radiance.

Radiance had the effect of revealing Thieves in Stealth up to level twenty. It was a beginner scroll worth about one silver coin. Opening treasure chests in low-level maps occasionally yielded one or two.

Under the strong light, Nie Yan's shadow was cast on the ground.

A figure pounced on Nie Yan from behind, the dagger in his hand stabbing towards the back of his head, Muffle!

When Nie Yan realized that the other person was about to attack him, he dodged to the side. The sharp edge of the dagger brushed past his ear. The green dagger flickered with a bewitching color. It was a poisoned dagger!

Fortunately, he wasn't hit!

Nie Yan quickly turned around and circled behind Fallen Frog, using Intimidate followed by Muffle. The dagger was as fast as lightning. In at most one or two seconds, his opponent would die under his dagger.

When Fallen Frog realized that Nie Yan had circled behind him, he originally wanted to use Whirlwind Slash to give Nie Yan a painful blow. But Whirlwind Slash was interrupted halfway. He felt stiff and unable to move. What skill was this! He was startled. He had never heard of a Thief with such a skill. He was about to be stunned by Nie Yan. At the critical moment, he activated the Shadow Cloak skill on his cloak.

Invincible for two seconds!

With a ding, Nie Yan's attack was ineffective.

Taking advantage of this, Fallen Frog thrust his right-hand dagger towards Nie Yan's forehead with a stun attack.

Nie Yan blocked his attack with his dagger, not missing by even a fraction. His dagger was like a nimble snake, stabbing towards his head.

In the blink of an eye, the dagger was close at hand.

"So fast!" Fallen Frog activated Evasion, reflexively dodging Nie Yan's Stun.

Miss!

The Stun attack missed.

Fallen Frog used an Acceleration Scroll and quickly retreated. Cold sweat dripped from his forehead. This guy's movements were so fast. He was always one step ahead of him, forcing him to passively defend. The final Evasion skill only had a certain chance of dodging an opponent's attack. It was fortunate that it missed. If his luck had been a little worse...

Fallen Frog couldn't imagine it.

At his current level, he already had quite a few skills, but he didn't expect Nie Yan to have even more.

In just a brief exchange, Fallen Frog knew that this guy was someone he couldn't deal with, so he quickly retreated. It wasn't worth risking his life for a gold treasure chest.

Seeing that his opponent had retreated dozens of yards away, Nie Yan didn't continue to pursue him. It was just for a gold treasure chest. There was no need to fight to the death.