Chapter 1 Entering the Building

Nie Yan and Tang Yao entered the building, its earthen walls riddled with cracks, looking as if it would collapse at any moment. Inside stood several NPCs, dressed in various desert-dweller garbs, their faces covered by cloaks. They sold various items and materials, all desert specialties.

Nie Yan led Tang Yao past these NPCs, heading deeper inside, until they reached a secluded corner. He pushed open a dilapidated wooden door, revealing a narrow, elongated tunnel leading underground. Nie Yan stepped down, one step at a time.

"What are we doing here?" Tang Yao asked, puzzled. The tunnel was rather dark, and he couldn't see the path ahead, only following Nie Yan by instinct.

The dark, narrow passage seemed to lead to nowhere.

"There's an NPC inside who sells scrolls. We're going there to buy a few," Nie Yan said. His dark vision ability was high; his eyes narrowed into slits in the darkness, emitting a faint blue glow, illuminating everything clearly.

So they were just here to buy scrolls. Tang Yao was relieved, but this place selling scrolls was awfully hidden. It would be impossible to find if you were deliberately looking for it. Unless a player or two stumbled upon it by chance.

Within the building complexes of the various cities and towns in Faith, there were quite a few secrets to be discovered. Like the House of Sosomi Luo that Nie Yan had found before, or the scroll master Davina now. These NPCs usually sold things you couldn't buy outside.

Scroll Master Davina was an eccentric woman. There were many legends about her in this desert village, but no one knew she was hiding beneath it. She had a peculiar temperament, and no one wanted to associate with her. Players who came here were limited to buying ten items each day. If you bought ten items and still wanted to buy more, she would drive you away with a nasty attitude. The things she sold were very rare, and occasionally some rare items would appear. Players could often find a lot of good stuff here.

The two walked through the narrow tunnel. After a few minutes, a faint yellow light appeared ahead.

"We're here," Nie Yan said, walking towards the distant light. His pupils dilated, and he looked around. It was a small, cramped space, about 3x5 yards. On the sides were rows of bookshelves, filled with all kinds of scrolls, stacks upon stacks, many of them unfinished. In the middle of the open space was a desk. The remaining space could only accommodate two or three people. The floor was covered with scattered scrolls, making it look extremely messy.

Sitting at the desk was a person wearing a long black robe. The black robe concealed her appearance, only vaguely revealing that she was a woman. Her somewhat pale hand held a light gray thin brush, carefully drawing on a scroll, bizarre patterns emerging from her brush.

She was huddled among a pile of scrolls, her figure so lonely, isolated from the world.

"Is that the scroll master?" Tang Yao asked, stepping forward to approach Davina.

Nie Yan reached out and stopped him, saying, "Wait! Don't move!"

Stopped by Nie Yan, Tang Yao's foot hovered in mid-air, not touching the ground.

Nie Yan bent down and picked up the scrolls scattered on the ground, holding them in his arms. Then he walked towards the bookshelf next to him, and placed the scrolls into the bookshelf, arranging them neatly, one by one, with a very serious attitude.

The scroll master Davina by the table was still working on her scroll, ignoring what Nie Yan was doing, completely indifferent.

In his previous life, some players had stepped on the scrolls on the ground and walked past. Not only did they not buy any scrolls, but they were also driven out by the scroll master Davina. This was a hidden condition; players had to show enough respect to the scroll master Davina in order to buy scrolls from her.

Picking up the scattered scrolls on the ground was the scroll master Davina's test for Nie Yan and Tang Yao.

Nie Yan was tidying up the scrolls on the ground. Tang Yao immediately understood and helped Nie Yan organize them.

Soon, the scrolls on the ground were cleaned up, and the place was finally a little tidier.

Nie Yan and Tang Yao walked towards Davina.

"What do you need?" Davina's somewhat hoarse voice rang out.

Nie Yan scanned the dazzling array of goods. There were a total of fifty or sixty kinds of scrolls, single-target magic scrolls, group attack magic scrolls, and various rare magic scrolls.

Many of the scrolls were quite good, some scrolls that were selling for hundreds of gold coins on the market were only selling for a few dozen gold here.

Since he could only buy ten scrolls here each day, his eyes quickly locked onto one of them.

Advanced Entangling Vines Scroll: Summons vines to bind enemies, weakening them. Range 30x30 yards, duration 30 seconds, scroll reading time one set of syllables. Price: 20 gold coins.

Nie Yan bought ten of them directly, paying 200 gold coins.

Spending so much money at this crucial moment was a bit extravagant, but the reward for the task Nie Yan was going to do was not just 200 gold coins.

"What kind of scrolls did you buy?" Tang Yao asked, looking at the dazzling array of scrolls, each one a good item, but the prices were a bit expensive, ranging from dozens of gold to hundreds of gold for some scrolls.

"Ten Advanced Entangling Vines Scrolls," Nie Yan said. The main reason he came here to buy these scrolls was to do a task.

"Ten Advanced Entangling Vines, nothing else?" Tang Yao asked, surprised. There were so many scrolls here, each one very useful and valuable, why only buy Entangling Vines?

"Let's go, we'll buy other scrolls next time," Nie Yan said, leading Tang Yao out of Davina's place.

In his previous life, not many people knew about this scroll master Davina. He knew about her from a friend. Since Davina only sold ten scrolls each day, people often came here to snatch up the scrolls. Demand exceeded supply, so not many people could get their hands on them.

In his previous life, Nie Yan didn't manage to snatch many scrolls, so he didn't have a deep impression of Davina. It was only when he was about to do the task that he remembered to buy a few scrolls from here.

Nie Yan thought about whether he should have Guo Huai send people here every day to buy some scrolls, even if they were sold on the market, they could still make a lot of money. For example, an Advanced Entangling Vines Scroll could easily sell for fifty or sixty gold. The only frustrating thing was that if these things were leaked to the market, it would cause a lot of trouble. If rival players bought them and used them on their own people, it would be too depressing.

He could first store the purchased scrolls in the guild warehouse. If the financial situation of the Nirvana Flame became unbearable, then he could sell them.

Nie Yan told Guo Huai to come here to buy some Advanced Entangling Vines Scrolls. After leaving the town, the two summoned their horses and galloped away, heading into the distance.

"Where are we going?"

"The center of the desert, the Kaling Badlands," Nie Yan said.

The Kaling Badlands were a dead zone in the center of the desert. Nie Yan had heard some background information about the Kaling Badlands in his previous life. It was said that the Kaling Badlands were originally a desolate Gobi Desert. A giant Kaling airship manufactured by goblins was shot down by the Griffin Knights of Greenland while flying in the sky. The Kaling airship fell from the sky and crashed into this Gobi Desert. The scattered wreckage caused some unique 'buildings' to appear in this Gobi Desert. Various broken steel frames could be seen everywhere.

There was a relatively famous Boss here, the Ghost Princess Ai Na, a level 60 Lord-class creature. She herself would not cast any attacks, but would summon powerful evil mages, summoning twenty or thirty at a time. The Ghost Princess Ai Na respawned once a day. In his previous life, many people came here to snatch the Boss, and it was often crowded with people.

Looking into the distance, the wreckage of the Kaling airship was scattered everywhere in the desert. Some of these wrecks were dozens of yards high, and some were only a few parts, covering the entire Gobi Desert. It was conceivable how magnificent the Kaling airship was back then!

System: You have discovered the Kaling Badlands.

"It's around here. Let's get off our horses," Nie Yan said, looking at Tang Yao: "I remember you have a speed-boosting skill, how is it now?"

"Art of Swiftwind, speed bonus 80%, lasts 120 seconds, can only be cast on myself," Tang Yao said. This was the only speed-boosting skill he could use.

The speed boost from a mage's acceleration magic would be higher, but their movement speed bonus of 80% might not even be as good as a thief's speed bonus of 30%, but one Art of Swiftwind was enough.

"Art of Swiftwind? Not bad, come with me, drink an Invisibility Potion," Nie Yan said, entering Stealth.

Tang Yao drank an Invisibility Potion and followed, cloaked in invisibility.

One by one, wandering ghosts floated past in the distance. They were shadowy figures with indistinct faces. Nie Yan kept a distance of about twenty yards from them, not daring to use Super Appraisal to check on these ghosts. The level difference was too great, and Nie Yan was afraid that these ghosts would discover their presence.

Passing through a barren area, seven burly phantoms appeared in the open space ahead, three yards tall, wielding huge iron hammers, looking fierce and savage.

The well-known Ghost Berserkers in his previous life, monsters that ignored physical attacks, level 60 Elites.

Ghost Berserker: Level 60 Elite, HP 8000/8000.

They had very low health, but were immune to physical attacks. Warriors were unable to attract their aggro. At the start of combat, they would often charge towards magic users and hack them down, killing all magic users. The remaining melee units were finished because their attacks were ineffective against the Ghost Berserkers.

Countless teams had been wiped out by these seven Ghost Berserkers in his previous life.

Fa Biao De Wo Niu