Chapter 1

In the dim jungle, this was where level 90 Spiked Lizards roamed. Groups of them passed by from time to time. Their bodies were covered in thick, hard armor, and they were full of spikes. Their defense was very high, and they had a talent for reflecting melee damage, making them difficult to deal with. However, their health was relatively low compared to other level 90 monsters.

Nie Yan climbed a large tree and looked into the distance. Spiked Lizards passed through the jungle. He raised the Headless Horseman Doro's Riding Crossbow in his hand, aimed into the distance, and after confirming his target, pulled the trigger. Five arrows shot out, passing through the gaps in the trees. *Tok, tok, tok,* five arrows accurately hit a Spiked Lizard.

Damage numbers floated up above the Spiked Lizard.

After being attacked, the Spiked Lizard looked up, its gaze locked onto Nie Yan, and it let out a sharp hiss. Immediately, dozens of Spiked Lizards tracked towards Nie Yan's location in a group.

Nie Yan jumped down from the tree and ran into the distance, occasionally shooting at nearby Spiked Lizards with the Headless Horseman Doro's Riding Crossbow in his hand.

More and more Spiked Lizards surrounded Nie Yan.

Nie Yan shook out a Death Ripple Scroll. Waves of Death Ripple spread outwards, engulfing all the Spiked Lizards. Above their heads, damage numbers of over a thousand floated up.

After using a Death Ripple Scroll, Nie Yan flew through the jungle. After a while, when the Death Ripple Scroll had cooled down, he used another one. Waves of Death Ripple spread and expanded.

A few minutes later, Nie Yan used another Death Ripple Scroll. He heard booming sounds from behind, as the ground shook. One Spiked Lizard after another fell to the ground. After several Death Ripple Scrolls, most of the Spiked Lizards had fallen.

Nie Yan went into stealth and snuck to the back, killing all the remaining Spiked Lizards with low health, then picked up the equipment and items on the ground.

The process of leveling up was dull and tedious. Nie Yan’s leveling speed was already very fast. In his previous life, he often camped in one place, grinding monsters for two or three months to level up once or twice. He only returned to the city every two or three weeks to sell the things he had collected.

To become an expert, one had to be able to endure loneliness.

Nie Yan went deeper into the jungle, respawning monsters in the Spiked Lizard territory over and over again.

The City of Elements, Kavodien, was a city on the mountainside. Buildings stood tall on the mountainside, and colorful magic halos surrounded the sky, full of magical colors. The City of Elements was currently extremely chaotic. There were more than twenty guilds above level four, and their strengths were quite similar, making it difficult to determine a winner. Since there was no strong leader to clear out all the forces, the Mage Alliance, Holy Guardians, Sword of Divine Punishment, and other guilds had all set up branches here, wanting to lay the groundwork for taking the City of Elements in the future. Nirvana Guild also established an office here.

Few Nirvana Guild players had entered the City of Elements, but their economic penetration was quite good. Nirvana Guild had more than a dozen shops in the City of Elements, including five branches of the Starry Sky Pharmacy, accounting for 70% of the market share. In addition, they had recruited a large number of professional players.

A five-person player team appeared in the teleportation array of the City of Elements, Kavodien, and then teleported to a small town in the southwest of the City of Elements, Kavodien, called Keynes. Their team consisted of an arcane mage, a warrior, a thief, a paladin, and a priest, a fairly standard five-person team.

"Fat Cat, the executive officer asked us to go to the southeast of this town to find a wandering scroll merchant. I don't think this is very reliable. The executive officer said that it is a hidden NPC, and the time of appearance is uncertain. He asked us to level up nearby and said we might run into him. Don't you think it's strange?" An arcane mage named Po Xiao looked at the warrior next to him and asked.

"Maybe the executive officer got some news from somewhere. Let's look for it first," said a warrior named Pang Xiong Mao.

"Should we take off our guild badges?" Po Xiao asked.

"Major guilds are gathered in the City of Elements. Wearing our guild badges might cause some trouble. Let's take them off. The executive officer told us that this matter must be kept secret," Pang Xiong Mao pondered for a moment and said.

The five of them successively removed the guild badges from their bodies.

These five people were all players from Nirvana Guild. Pang Xiong Mao was the highest level, level sixty-three. The others were around level sixty. They could only be considered second-tier players in Nirvana Guild, but they were considered top-tier experts among all players.

The group passed through a plain. After arriving, they searched for the hidden NPC that Guo Huai had told them to find while leveling up.

The task that Guo Huai had assigned them had to be completed, so the thief in the team searched the map non-stop.

For two consecutive days, they searched nearby, but the hidden NPC was never found.

"What should we do? There's no hidden NPC anywhere," Po Xiao said with some frustration.

"I don't know either," Pang Xiong Mao said helplessly. Whether this hidden NPC existed at all was a mystery. It was really depressing to be blindly searching like this. "I asked the executive officer. The executive officer confirmed that the NPC is nearby. Let's look again."

Just then, the thief in the distance sent a message that he had found the NPC.

Pang Xiong Mao and Po Xiao looked delighted and quickly rushed towards the thief's location.

System: Eternal Guild is clearing the area. All nearby players please leave, or you will be responsible for the consequences.

Pang Xiong Mao was stunned after seeing this system prompt. He said, "This Eternal Guild is so arrogant." Nirvana Guild could be considered one of the best in Carol City, but they never cleared the area so arrogantly. They usually chose a very gentle way to persuade other players to leave, and would not use such a blunt and overbearing tone. They would only resort to force in unavoidable situations.

"This Eternal Guild is the number one guild in the City of Elements, with about fifty to sixty thousand people, and has three allied guilds. Their strength seems to be quite strong," Po Xiao said. He had browsed the City of Elements forum before coming to the City of Elements.

Pang Xiong Mao dismissed Eternal Guild. No matter how strong they were, could they be stronger than Nirvana Guild? However, he didn't dare to cause trouble when he was away from home. He would complete the task assigned by the executive officer first.

"Let's go find that NPC and then leave," Pang Xiong Mao said, glancing into the distance. A group of more than ten players were talking about something and walking towards them. They looked a little unfriendly.

More and more Eternal Guild players were gathering nearby. Within a radius of thousands of yards, there were probably two to three thousand people clearing the area, and batches of miners were coming here.

"I'm encountering enemies here. There are so many of them, they won't let me approach the NPC!" the thief said anxiously in the team chat.

Hearing his words, Pang Xiong Mao frowned and said, "What's going on?"

"Those damned bastards, son of a bitches, they triggered that NPC first."

System: Teammate San Dao has died.

After a while, San Dao resurrected in the graveyard.

"What happened?" Pang Xiong Mao asked. San Dao had died too suddenly.

"It's Eternal Guild. I found that NPC first. They thought it was an NPC that issued hidden quests and wouldn't let me approach. A few mages wanted to kill me with magic, but I dodged it. I didn't expect there to be at least five or six thieves nearby who surrounded and killed me," San Dao said, clenching his fists. These things like killing and clearing the area in the wild were not uncommon, but experiencing it personally was still infuriating.

Po Xiao looked at Pang Xiong Mao next to him and asked, "What should we do? The NPC was snatched."

"Let's go. Let's report this to the guild leader first," Pang Xiong Mao said after a moment of silence. He was also indignant. If it were normal, he would definitely kill a few Eternal Guild bastards, but since he still had a task to do, he had to endure it for now.

Po Xiao nodded. When they were about to use the return scrolls, a group of people walked towards them, and they had to interrupt it. Being interrupted while using the return scroll meant losing the opportunity and being easily beaten passively.

There were more than ten people on the other side, led by a warrior wearing level 65 Dark Gold equipment.

Eternal Guild’s number one warrior, Huo Tian Zhi Yi! (Wings of Fire Heaven)

In the City of Elements, Huo Tian Zhi Yi could be considered a big shot. His strength was needless to say. Among all the warriors in the City of Elements, he was at least in the top three.

Pang Xiong Mao and Po Xiao and others showed vigilance when they saw Huo Tian Zhi Yi's equipment. The group on the other side was very strong and difficult to deal with.

"Which guild are you from?" Huo Tian Zhi Yi glanced at Pang Xiong Mao and the others. These people had good equipment. He had done a lot of things like killing people and stealing goods. Eternal Guild people were everywhere nearby. It was impossible for them to run away. He secretly decided that as long as the people on the other side were not from the allied guild, he would eat them.

Seeing the Eternal Guild people surrounding them, Pang Xiong Mao and Po Xiao looked at each other. It seemed that today's matter would not be resolved easily. They were all ready to defend.

"They don't have guild badges. They shouldn't be from any guild."

"Boss Huo Tian, their equipment is good," a few team members said with a grin.

"Kill them," Huo Tian Zhi Yi said indifferently. In the City of Elements, he was not afraid of anyone. Even if they were from a guild, he would kill them without hesitation, let alone casual players without a guild!

"There are too many of them. I'll cover you, you guys run quickly!" Pang Xiong Mao shouted in the team chat, swinging the greatsword in his hand to meet the Eternal Guild players who rushed up.