Chapter 1 The Cave Lord's Demise

The Cave Lord's health reached zero and it collapsed. With a thud, its heavy body crashed to the ground, shaking the entire cavern.

Nie Yan dodged aside. Seeing the Cave Lord fall, he breathed a sigh of relief. He thought the Cave Lord would self-destruct, so he had saved Shili Huasha's resurrection spell in advance. It seemed he had overthought it. The Cave Lord hadn't self-destructed.

The Cave Lord's corpse lay sprawled on the ground, like a giant whale.

Rays of white light shone on Nie Yan, and his level soared to 35. The other team members also leveled up by at least one or two levels.

"Boss, did it drop anything?" Xiachong Yubing asked from behind.

Nie Yan was about to look down and search for the equipment dropped by the Cave Lord when he saw the Cave Lord's corpse gradually swelling up, like a balloon. Its body was covered with a network of blood vessels, blood surging within, and a restless power bursting forth.

"Everyone, get out of here!" Nie Yan shouted, his expression changing.

This was corpse explosion!

Monsters that could explode were extremely rare.

The team members reacted and retreated, running outside.

The Cave Lord exploded with a deafening boom, and a powerful shockwave swept outwards.

They didn't have time to dodge and were engulfed by the shockwave, falling to the ground.

None of the players present were spared.

Nie Yan couldn't escape either. The Cave Lord's shockwave was too powerful, making it impossible to evade. He didn't immediately release his soul to revive at the graveyard. Instead, he saw the surroundings transforming into a boundless wilderness, filled with dazzling white light, as if he were in the Kingdom of Heaven. Nie Yan couldn't help but feel curious. What exactly was going on?

He looked ahead and saw a hunched, lonely figure. He couldn't make out its face. It was entirely formed from a mass of white light.

It wandered in this empty space, occasionally stopping and looking blankly ahead, its thin back desolate and distant.

It looked at Nie Yan in confusion. A strange emotion surged from the depths of Nie Yan's heart, and images flashed through his mind. They were pictures of the Spider Queen, Fina. Nie Yan seemed to feel the endless sorrow in the Cave Lord's heart.

A thought struck Nie Yan. These images of the Spider Queen, Fina, should be one of the clues he was looking for.

Then it transformed into a ray of white light and flew towards Nie Yan, entering his backpack and circling around Bennett's Diary inside. Finally, it disappeared into the diary.

Nie Yan looked at the diary's stats, which had changed.

Bennett's Diary: Immortal Spirit, Humble Love.

Item Properties: The holder of this item can open a Dark Teleportation Gate, traversing between the surface and the underground world. The location of the Teleportation Gate is random. The Dark Teleportation Gate can be opened once every five days, lasting for twenty minutes.

This item is bound, cannot be traded, and cannot be dropped.

The Dark Teleportation Gate was a highly random skill. It could be opened once every five days, for twenty minutes. If the Dark Teleportation Gate wasn't opened within those twenty minutes, he would have to wait another five days. Moreover, the location of the teleport exit was also uncertain.

He wondered when he would have the chance to visit the underground city, gather some good equipment to sell, and see if he could complete this quest.

After an unknown amount of time, a system message appeared.

System: Player Shili Huasha is casting Resurrection on you. Do you agree?

Yes!

A dazzling white light flashed, and Nie Yan was resurrected.

Nie Yan looked around and saw Shili Huasha and Daitou Dage Qi Zai resurrecting the team members one by one. They had been completely wiped out. When Shili Huasha arrived, she was stunned by the tragic scene. She first resurrected Daitou Dage Qi Zai, and the two of them resurrected the rest of the team.

Nie Yan searched the ground and picked up three pieces of equipment: a magic robe, a gauntlet, and a gem, all level 50 Dark Gold items.

The robe and gauntlet were both for Arcane Mages, part of the level 50 Dark Follower set. This was a high magic damage set. The robe added 220 magic damage, and the gauntlet added 120 magic damage.

The stats of these two pieces of equipment were excellent. Among all the level 50 sets, the Dark Follower set had an astonishing magic damage bonus.

If he could collect a complete set of Dark Follower equipment, the magic damage bonus would likely exceed 1,000!

Nie Yan posted the stats of these two items in the team chat.

Shuise Yantou asked in the team chat, "The Cave Lord respawns once a day. Should we collect the whole set before we leave?" He clearly understood the value of a complete set.

"We'll probably be here for a few days. Let's collect the Dark Follower set," Nie Yan said after a moment's thought. They would need at least a few days to clear all their red names.

Since the Cave Lord was dead, they could only go outside and grind ordinary monsters until the Cave Lord respawned tomorrow.

There were too many Arcane Mages in the guild. One Dark Follower set definitely wouldn't be enough. There were more monks than rice. They could only satisfy one or two people first. As for how to coordinate, it would depend on how Nie Yan and the others handled it. These kinds of situations happened frequently, and if they weren't handled well and weren't fair enough, it would easily create resentment among the guild members.

In addition to the two Dark Follower pieces, there was also a gem. It was a relatively rare seventh-grade gem that increased agility by 35, making it an excellent gem. Nie Yan planned to use it to socket his equipment.

The team members rested, restored their health, and then continued to grind monsters outside.

Nie Yan followed behind the team, soaking up some experience while managing the affairs of Calore City.

At this moment, Yaoyao sent a message to Nie Yan, and he connected to the voice chat.

"Nie Yan, I've completed my quest and obtained a Holy Magic. Thank you," Yaoyao said. If it weren't for Nie Yan's guidance, she wouldn't have been able to complete this quest at all.

"You're welcome. You're also a member of Asskickers United. It's only right," Nie Yan said with a smile.

Hearing Nie Yan's words, Yaoyao felt a little disappointed. Was there no other reason besides that? She had been with Nie Yan in the game for so long, from their first encounter at Lake Rando to all the encounters since. She hoped that Nie Yan would like her in the game.

Xie Yao had only met Nie Yan a few times in reality, and she still felt a bit of distance. But she was very familiar with Nirvana Flame in the game. They grinded monsters together, ran dungeons together, and so on. Could that really not compare to meeting a few times in reality? Yet Nie Yan always maintained a certain distance from her.

"What Holy Magic did you get?"

"Holy Purification."

Nie Yan raised his eyebrows. Holy Purification was one of the better high-level spells.

"Not bad."

"It's almost time. I'm going offline," Yaoyao said, her nose twitching. All Nie Yan cared about was this. Asskickers United was everything to him!

"Alright," Nie Yan said, hearing the unhappiness in Yaoyao's voice. He didn't say anything more. He looked at the time, it was almost time to log off.

Seeing Yaoyao log off, Nie Yan sorted out the information he had collected from various sources. Today, the Assassin's Union earned more than 1,000 gold coins, Starry Night Potion Shop earned about 5,000 gold, rent was more than 2,000 gold coins, and the auction house and the super transaction channel earned about 5,000 gold coins. In total, they had already earned 13,000 to 14,000 gold coins. The Long Yao Financial Group was buying gold coins outside, and the daily amount was only about 30,000 gold coins. These projects were still developing rapidly, and future daily income would be even greater!

In addition to these revenues, Nie Yan sold several credit point trading areas to the Long Yao Financial Group. Part of this money was paid to the Holy Roman Empire and the Temple of Galan, and there was still a lot left.

Asskickers United no longer needed Nie Yan to invest funds. The funds invested by the Long Yao Financial Group were already enough. Nie Yan turned his attention to other guilds, with the main target being the Mad Warrior Alliance of Emerald City!

The Mad Warrior Alliance received investment from the Jersey Financial Group in his past life, the sixth-ranked financial group in Asia, but it later withdrew its investment. The reason was none other than the fact that Cao Xu spent a lot of money to poach a large number of professional players from the Mad Warrior Studio, greatly weakening their strength. In addition, they were besieged by large guilds such as the Victorious Return Empire and the Radiant Sacred Flame. The Mad Warrior Alliance was in imminent danger. Under such circumstances, it was normal for that financial group to withdraw its investment.

At this time, the Mad Warrior Alliance should not have been invested in by other guilds, so Nie Yan had an opportunity.

Nie Yan sent a message to Guo Huai, asking him to talk to Aiqing Sha Shang about the investment. It was not convenient for him to come forward. If Aiqing Sha Shang agreed, he would invest in the Mad Warrior Alliance in his personal name. The specific cooperation conditions would be discussed later.

Nie Yan assigned the task. At this moment, Tuoba Shi suddenly sent a message to Nie Yan.

"Do you have any gold coins? I need some funds," Tuoba Shi asked in a private chat.

"How much do you need?" Nie Yan asked. Tuoba was a wealthy guy. He estimated that tens of thousands of gold coins wouldn't be a problem for him. His request to borrow gold coins must be something significant.

"Help me raise 600,000 gold coins within a month," Tuoba Shi said.

Nie Yan gasped when he heard the number Tuoba Shi quoted and asked, "What do you need so many gold coins for?" With so many gold coins, investing in a guild wouldn't be a problem! Nie Yan thought for a moment, drawing such a large amount of money from his income would be a bit difficult, but not impossible.

"If you can help me raise this money, I am willing to exchange it for 30% of the Tuoba family's total assets in the game, including eleven stores, twenty-one pieces of land, and three auction houses!" Tuoba Shi continued to drop a bombshell.

So many assets were worth at least 200,000 gold coins now, and at least 700,000 to 800,000 gold coins in a month, and the future appreciation potential was immeasurable! Tuoba Shi was throwing these assets to Nie Yan just to get cash, 600,000 gold coins!