Chapter 1 The Beginning

Nie Yan continued searching and found a lot of semi-finished potions, but nothing else. He jumped down from the top of the cabinet, landing silently. He stealthily made his way to the tent entrance, lifted the flap, and peeked outside. The two teams of Bloodshadow Warriors were already far away. Only then did he feel safe enough to come out and continue sneaking towards the center of the Bloodshadow Legion's camp. In the distance, a round, gold-domed building came into view.

In front of the building was a wide plaza where Bloodshadow Warriors practiced from time to time. He needed to get inside this round, gold-domed building to get the design for the Frost Ironclad Trebuchet. The security around here was very tight. This mission was a huge challenge for Nie Yan.

After bypassing a few Bloodshadow Warriors, he gradually approached the plaza. At the entrance of the round, gold-domed building, a burly, bear-like Bloodshadow Warrior in dark red armor caught Nie Yan's eye. It was him!

This guy was the leader of the Bloodshadow Legion, Bloodshadow Warrior Philbrazer, a Level 90 Lord!

It was very difficult for Nie Yan to avoid his gaze and enter the round, gold-domed building. Moreover, the open space in front was filled with hundreds of ordinary Bloodshadow Warriors, guarding the plaza, making it hard for Nie Yan to avoid them.

However, before coming here, Nie Yan had already thought of a plan.

He went around to the back of the round, gold-domed building.

This building was entirely made of stone, painted with gold dye on the outside, making it extremely smooth. He touched it. The wall was very solid, and it was impossible to break through. Only the front door was the only entrance, and it was surrounded by Bloodshadow Warriors, making it difficult to even approach.

Nie Yan opened the Sacred Summons page and summoned a Level 10 Paladin mercenary, Krough. He looked at Krough’s stats. Krough had about 12,000 health, which was quite substantial.

The paladin could also bless himself with divine spells, greatly increasing his strength.

Nie Yan used the skill on the Creeper Ring, pressed his body against the round, gold-domed building, and slowly climbed upwards, avoiding the patrolling soldiers’ line of sight. He went around the top of the round, gold-domed building and lay on the eaves above the entrance like a spider, motionless. No one noticed Nie Yan's arrival.

Nie Yan looked down. The leader of the Bloodshadow Legion, Philbrazer, was about seven or eight yards away from him. Philbrazer was standing on the steps of the building, and Nie Yan could clearly see the back of his head.

He controlled the paladin Krough to go around from behind the building, slowly approaching them.

His aura was like a rainbow!

The paladin Krough blessed himself with several acceleration buffs and suddenly started charging towards the plaza in front of him. No matter what Nie Yan instructed him to do, he would obey Nie Yan's orders, brave and fearless.

The Bloodshadow Warriors on the plaza were wandering aimlessly, and caught off guard, the paladin mercenary Krough rushed in and charged across the plaza.

He didn't stop to attack anyone, and soon a large group of Bloodshadow Warriors followed behind him.

Philbrazer's attention was drawn to the paladin Krough. He accelerated and charged towards Krough, and he would be able to kill Krough in a moment.

Philbrazer would not allow Krough to be so arrogant in front of him!

Seeing Philbrazer's attention diverted, Nie Yan smiled slightly. He saw his figure flash, darting past the corner of the upper left side of the door, and slipped into the building.

The space inside this round, gold-domed building was not spacious. The front was a living room, about 8x8 yards, and behind it were a number of dense rooms, about a dozen in total. Since Nie Yan was here to explore, it was hard to say what was inside, but he knew the location of those few items.

Several stone pillars stood in the hall, and a large number of tables and chairs were placed there.

Nie Yan familiar drove towards the corner of the hall, where a metal treasure chest was quietly placed, it was Dark Gold-grade. He had to open this treasure chest first to get the key to the cabinet where the Frost Ironclad Trebuchet design was placed. In his previous life, he came here with a group, just to earn gold coins. Those people spent money to hire two hundred players, and after only a few dozen of them were left alive, they cleared this map. When he went to this map in his previous life, he was a Level 110+ Great Thief, and his strength was not bad, barely surviving. At that time, he was not qualified to open this Dark Gold treasure chest.

In this life, Nie Yan had done many things that people didn't even dare to think about.

Nie Yan bent down and began to open the treasure chest.

Time passed little by little, and he looked at the opening status of the treasure chest.

System: Treasure chest opening, completion 5%...8%...

The treasure chest was still opening, when Nie Yan suddenly received a system message that the paladin Krough had been killed. Nie Yan didn't expect the paladin Krough to survive. Krough was meant to be sacrificed. Being able to lure away the Bloodshadow Legion leader Philbrazer, Krough had completed his mission.

When the Dark Gold treasure chest was nearly 89% open, a strong figure appeared in Nie Yan's vision at the entrance. It was Philbrazer. He had come in!

Nie Yan's heart couldn't help but jump. If Philbrazer found him, he would immediately rush over and interrupt Nie Yan from opening the treasure chest.

Nie Yan's nerves were tense, because he found that Philbrazer was walking towards him little by little, and the sound of footsteps was getting closer and closer.

The few pillars in the hall blocked Nie Yan's figure. Nie Yan crouched down and carefully unlocked the treasure chest. Just as Philbrazer was about to look over, he heard a click, and the treasure chest was opened.

Nie Yan reached into the treasure chest and pulled out a key. There was nothing else.

At the moment he got the key, Nie Yan used Shadow Dance, quickly swept away, and disappeared at the end of the corridor.

The Dark Gold treasure chest slowly disappeared, and Philbrazer looked at the location of the Dark Gold treasure chest, but when he found that the Dark Gold treasure chest had disappeared, he roared.

"Which despicable thief stole my key! I will tear him to pieces!"

Philbrazer cursed angrily, while running towards the distant room.

Nie Yan ran to Philbrazer's room at the fastest speed, kicked open the half-closed wooden door, and his eyes quickly locked onto a metal cabinet in the room. He didn't have much time. Philbrazer would be over in a moment!

He ran over without hesitation and began to use the key he had just obtained to open the cabinet.

With the matching key, unlocking was very simple. After only a few seconds, he heard a click, the cabinet door was opened, and a stack of drawings was quietly placed inside the cabinet. These Frost Ironclad Trebuchet design drawings were divided into twenty copies and placed together. Each one was indispensable.

Nie Yan threw these drawings into his backpack, checked the cabinet, and saw a square red box placed in the corner of the cabinet.

Nie Yan took it out, opened the box lid, and saw a fist-sized black bead placed inside. It was purely black, like a black pearl, flashing with a dark luster, and a strong evil aura came over him.

Nie Yan glanced at the Evil Orb's attributes.

Evil Orb: Special item, quest item.

Item Description: This Evil Orb contains extremely strong evil power, only the power of light can purify it.

Cannot use teleport scrolls while holding this item. This item will definitely drop after the player dies.

This Evil Orb is unique and can only be obtained by those who explore the map.

To take it away smoothly, he must avoid Philbrazer. Unable to use teleport items, this quest will be very difficult.

Nie Yan threw the Evil Orb into his backpack.

He saw a figure flash past the doorway. Philbrazer had already rushed in.

After seeing Nie Yan, he roared ferociously, "Despicable thief, this is the territory of the Bloodshadow Legion. Intruders die! Hand over what you took!"

Philbrazer charged towards Nie Yan, and the greatsword in his hand slashed down.

Thunder Strike!

Philbrazer, with his body full of strong muscles, was like a raging bear. The greatsword in his hand carried a fierce sword force and slashed towards Nie Yan.

Unable to use teleport items, Nie Yan could only take a chance. If the situation was really desperate, he could only discard the Evil Orb, but he was really unwilling to hand over what he had obtained.

Just as his greatsword was about to hit Nie Yan, Nie Yan used Gale Step to dodge Philbrazer's attack and slipped past Philbrazer's armpit.

Compared to Philbrazer's size, Nie Yan, who had transformed into a gnome, was really too small. Nie Yan's movements were very agile. The size difference between the two sides was too great, and it was difficult for Philbrazer to catch Nie Yan.

Philbrazer missed with his attack, turned his head to search for Nie Yan's trail, and a red, demon-like divine light bloomed in his eyes, quickly locking onto Nie Yan, who was fleeing with Gale Step, and accelerated to charge over.

His speed was obviously much faster than Nie Yan, and he caught up behind Nie Yan in just a moment. The greatsword in his hand slashed down towards Nie Yan's neck.

Feeling the fierce sword force slashing from behind, Nie Yan was shocked. This guy was so fast!

Nie Yan's body had shrunk to only one-third of its original size, and his movement speed had also decreased proportionally. In this way, it was naturally very easy for Philbrazer to catch up with Nie Yan.

Nie Yan understood his disadvantage. The only thing he could rely on now was that his body was much smaller than Philbrazer's, so he was more flexible. At the moment Philbrazer's greatsword slashed down, he rolled on the spot, and with a bang, the place where Nie Yan was originally standing was hit by Philbrazer's greatsword, and the stone slab on the ground burst into pieces, leaving a sword mark more than two yards long.

Nie Yan gasped. What terrifying power!