Chapter 142 The Dark World

This dark world aroused some curiosity in Nie Yan. There definitely had to be plenty of good things here. He glanced at his inventory. Return scrolls couldn't be used, meaning they were temporarily trapped here. They could only obediently stay put. It wasn't worth it to hang out and do nothing, especially since a single level was worth a lot of experience to people of their level.

Fortunately, the magic value of the mages was quite high. If they didn't use those high-consumption spells, but only used ordinary magic, they could last for at least several hours. Tang Yao, because of the Arcane Sprite, never ran out of magic value. Xie Yao's magic consumption was also slow due to the Magic Orb.

The team they had formed was as solid as a rock, unbreakable under the siege of the Demon Hounds.

After continuously grinding for five hours, the magic value and health of the team members were somewhat stretched, and they could only rely on recovery potions to maintain themselves.

Fortunately, they brought a lot of potions with them when they left, so there wouldn't be a shortage of potions in the short term.

"Yaozi, use a Forbidden Spell!" Nie Yan looked at Tang Yao and said. They really couldn't hold on any longer.

"Okay." Tang Yao gulped down a bottle of Advanced Instant Recovery Potion, replenishing his magic value to the maximum, waving his staff, and chanting a series of incantations.

His mage robe fluttered, and his body slowly floated into the air, about three or four yards above the ground.

The Arcane Sprite also emitted intense magical fluctuations. Seeing the seven-colored halo emanating from the Arcane Sprite, Nie Yan noticed that this little guy was already a Level 7 Arcane Sprite. A Level 7 Arcane Sprite was simply a monster. Its boost to the strength of an Arcane Mage was terrifying. They even had a special skill that greatly reduced the cooldown time of one of their master's Forbidden Spells.

The reason why Tang Yao's area-of-effect Forbidden Spell, Dark Ice Howl, could cool down so quickly was also largely related to the Arcane Sprite.

Ten sets of syllables were completed, and more than a minute quickly passed.

The surrounding temperature suddenly dropped a lot, and the sky was filled with a vast white mist. Then, black ice cones densely fell from the sky, sweeping across and enveloping the surrounding area of about 500x500 yards.

Hit by the dense ice cones, damage values of hundreds of thousands floated above the Demon Hounds' heads. It became very difficult for them to move. Their bodies were covered with a thick layer of frost. After only a moment, after a few waves of ice cones, the Demon Hounds fell to the ground, turning into corpses. The ground south of Nie Yan and the others was instantly cleared.

Nie Yan and the others estimated that this wave of Forbidden Spells had killed at least seven or eight thousand Demon Hounds.

Ding dong, ding dong. Five crisp system prompts lit up on Tang Yao's body. He leveled up five times in a row. Every member of the team leveled up more than twice. After leveling up, everyone's magic value and health were fully restored.

"Awesome!"

Everyone said. This Forbidden Spell was really too good. Since the Forbidden Spell hit elites and lords, the total amount of experience piled up was imaginable.

After their magic value and health were restored, they could last for a long time again.

After Tang Yao finished casting the Forbidden Spell, his body slowly descended. Leveling up five times in a row made him extremely excited.

Even if they died and had to respawn, they definitely wouldn't lose out. Everyone relaxed a lot at once.

"Leveling up here is so great. Let's level up for a few more days."

"Yeah, Boss Nie Yan, this is a rare opportunity to level up."

"Well, as long as nothing happens to the guild, we won't go back for the time being. We'll try to save consumables as much as possible," Nie Yan said. He still wanted to find Mephisto. He wouldn't feel good until he completed the quest.

For nearly two days, Nie Yan and the others cleared out a wave of Demon Hounds and traveled for nearly three hours in the empty wilderness. They encountered another wave of Demon Hounds, and they continued to level up.

The only thing that made Nie Yan and the others a little depressed was that the Demon Hounds didn't drop anything. Their twenty-one people spent an average of about 3,000 gold coins per day, but they didn't get anything. The daily consumption added up to 60,000 to 70,000 gold coins. Fortunately, all twenty-one of them were very rich and didn't care about such a small amount of consumption. Ordinary players would probably have retreated long ago.

When passing by a gentle slope, Nie Yan discovered that there were actually many Dragonblood Grasses growing nearby, which were materials for making Advanced Instant Recovery Potions. He collected them. His alchemist level could already make Advanced Instant Recovery Potions, but the Advanced Instant Recovery Potions he made could only be used by himself.

"Have you learned any production skills?" Nie Yan asked in the team chat.

"I learned Pharmacy and Alchemy," Xie Yao said in the team chat.

"I learned Bandaging and Pharmacy," Unkillable Scoundrel said.

Most of the team members had learned a little bit, and their production skill levels were very high. It turned out that when they changed to top-tier classes, they had all learned some production skills, especially Pharmacy, which was basically a must-have skill for everyone. Since they usually didn't use it much, they hadn't mentioned it.

Nie Yan did a little counting. Since everyone had learned a little bit, if they could find some materials in this dark world, they could still get some potions to replenish themselves.

Everyone busied themselves in the dark world, and their levels steadily increased.

Nie Yan's level broke through Level 140. After Level 140, leveling up became even more difficult. The required experience was more than ten times that of before. Under normal circumstances, it took three or four days, or even five or six days, to level up once. Fortunately, nothing had happened to the Ni Ren Guild, so they could stay in this dark world all the time.

Xie Yao, Tang Yao, and other mages leveled up faster. Their levels reached Level 142, and their progress was also very slow. The experience bar was crawling like a snail. As for Brilliant Blade Light and the others, they were all stuck around Level 140 like Nie Yan.

The dark world was very vast. As far as the eye could see, it was all wilderness, and there were large groups of Demon Hounds wandering everywhere.

Nie Yan drew a map of the places they had passed, and the scope of exploration gradually expanded, but he still hadn't found Mephisto's location.

"I just got the Judicator title," Tang Yao looked at his own status and said excitedly in the team chat.

"What level is the title?"

"It seems quite high. Respect for the Human Empire and the Orc Empire increased by 60."

The team found a safe place, sat down to chat for a while, and prepared to continue grinding after their magic and health were fully restored.

"I wonder if we can reach Level 150 after grinding for two months. It's too difficult to level up after Level 140. Every time you level up, the required experience increases by 70%. It's going to be scary to reach Level 150," Tang Yao said. He had specifically recorded the experience required for each level and discovered a pattern.

Hearing Tang Yao's words, everyone gasped. If they reached Level 150, wouldn't the required experience be more than a hundred times the original?

Nie Yan smiled and said, "This is just the beginning. You'll know when you reach Level 150 and Level 160." *Conviction* wanted to narrow the gap between players' levels, so leveling up became very difficult at high levels. The amount of experience required for each level increased to a terrifying degree. In the later stages, the levels of players approached each other. The amount of experience difference between players who were only two or three levels apart could be an astronomical figure. Because leveling up was slow, more players focused on collecting superb equipment. With superb equipment, their levels would increase faster.

"Boss Nie Yan, why can you still smile?" Unkillable Scoundrel and the others said with bitter faces.

"It's okay. Everyone is slow," Nie Yan said. He had reached Level 180 in his previous life and was already an experienced player, so he was calm. At that time, most players' levels were not very different. Players with average skills were around Level 150 or 160. Those with slightly better skills and who worked harder at leveling were around Level 170 or 180. Those who were even higher, reaching Level 190 or 200, were extremely perverted existences. Only top-tier classes could reach them, and most of them were Archmages.

It took Nie Yan about two years to level up from Level 1 to Level 140 in his previous life, three years to level up from Level 140 to Level 160, and about five years to level up from Level 160 to Level 180. One could imagine how slowly the experience bar crawled later.

Nie Yan roughly estimated that his leveling speed was ten times faster than in his previous life, but in this life he would spend a lot of time on guild affairs and would not be able to stay in one place for several months or even half a year like in his previous life. Considering this, he should be able to reach around Level 180 within three years. As for above Level 180, the amount of experience required made Nie Yan a little dizzy. If he wanted to rush to Level 200 like those Archmages in his previous life, it would be a very huge project.

However, with his current leveling speed, it was not impossible.

Hearing Tang Yao mention Level 150, Nie Yan immediately thought of the Abak Set. With only two pieces missing, he would be able to complete the entire Abak Set, which was a Legendary set with powerful set attribute bonuses. He had to reach Level 150 as soon as possible so that he could wear the Abak Set.

Should he stay here and focus on leveling up?

Anyway, no guild could threaten the Ni Ren Guild now. The Ni Ren Guild also needed a lot of time to consolidate its position in the Greenland Empire and could not fight anymore, otherwise it would be easy for the foundation to become unstable.

Nie Yan thought for a while and made a decision. He would level up a few levels in this dark world first, to around Level 147 or 148, and then continue to look for the Abak Set. Once he found all the Abak Set pieces, he could wear it.

However, the news of their group in the dark world must not be leaked out, lest Angel Corps come looking for trouble again.