Chapter 1 The Beginning

"Once you're offline, drive over," Nie Yan said after a moment's thought. He could start preparing for the workshop's establishment right away.

"Okay," Guo Huai nodded.

As they spoke, Nie Yan passed through a series of narrow alleys and entered a dilapidated house. This was likely the orc capital's slum. The environment was terrible, and the houses looked like they could collapse at any moment.

Nie Yan entered the room. In the dim light, three people were already waiting.

"Good to see you, Nielian, boss."

"Good to see you, Nielian, boss."

The three players immediately greeted Nie Yan respectfully. They seemed quite uneasy and nervous. To them, Nie Yan was a legendary figure. It was hard to imagine that one day they would actually meet him face to face. They were excited and thrilled, but also a little nervous, afraid of saying the wrong thing.

"Relax," Nie Yan said, noticing their nervousness. He waved his hand and sized up the three people before him.

Two of them were human players, both around twenty-five or twenty-six years old, wearing alchemist robes. They had unremarkable appearances, the kind that would disappear in a crowd. Although they looked like alchemists, Nie Yan knew that wasn't their actual profession. They were only wearing the robes for convenience.

As for the other one, he was the one Guo Huai had mentioned.

He was an elf rogue, a good class for espionage because of their innate stealth abilities. Elven rogues were particularly skilled at stealth, even more so than human rogues.

His appearance was altered, with pointed ears and handsome features, fair skin. However, even among elves, he wasn't particularly outstanding. The resolute and steadfast expression between his brows set him apart from some of the more flamboyant male elves, making him more likable.

"Guo Huai has already told me about you. Your name is Yan Hong, right?" Nie Yan asked, looking at the elf rogue. The elf rogue's ID was Jifeng.

"Yes," Yan Hong nodded.

"In the game, I'll still call you by your ID. From now on, you'll be responsible for collecting all information on Angel Corps and sending it to me. Notify me immediately of any unusual activity."

Yan Hong seemed quite steady and reliable. Plus, he and his family had settled down with Guo Huai, so he was definitely trustworthy. It was said that Yan Hong was a filial son, extremely devoted to his parents. He only played the game to earn some money. The reason he couldn't stay in Angel Corps was rather complicated.

"Yes, I will do my best."

"Regarding your salary, I'll have Guo Huai increase it appropriately. Nirvana Flame will not mistreat any member. Have you completed the map of Angel Corps' power distribution that Guo Huai asked you to collect?"

"Thank you, Nielian, boss. This is the power distribution map I just finished." Jifeng sent a map to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan confirmed receipt and looked at it. It was a map of the Saturn Empire, with the Angel Corps' territory, fortress locations, and other details clearly marked.

"Well done," Nie Yan said, looking at the map, slightly surprised. Angel Corps was deeply rooted in the Saturn Empire. There was a reason why they could sit firmly in the top spot.

Angel Corps' territory, although not as large as Nirvana Flame's current territory, had a large number of personnel, far exceeding Nirvana Flame. In addition to the Angel Corps headquarters, they had six branch guilds and fifty-six allied guilds. The number of people was temporarily uncounted, but more than twenty of these fifty-six allied guilds belonged to the Century Financial Group. Their infiltration of the Saturn Empire was astonishing.

From such a distance, it wouldn't be easy for Nirvana Flame to shake the dominant position of Angel Corps and Century Financial Group in the Saturn Empire. However, since they had Okoron City, it was much more convenient.

Looking at this map of Angel Corps' power distribution, Nie Yan was silent for a moment. Launching an attack on Angel Corps from Okoron City was a massive undertaking. If something went wrong, they might lose everything.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. Now that Tiangxia Financial Group had money, they could completely do what Monet Financial Group did and acquire some of the guilds in the Saturn Empire that were hostile to Angel Corps. Of course, someone would need to make contact.

There were many guilds in the Saturn Empire that were unhappy with Angel Corps, including the Elven Ballad, Heavenly Marks, and others. The Elven Ballad was a relatively well-known guild in the Saturn Empire, with a small number of people, about one hundred seventy to eighty thousand, occupying only five fortresses. They were famous for having withstood two waves of attacks from Angel Corps and still standing tall, with the guild actually developing further. As for Heavenly Marks, because it was relatively far from Angel Corps' territory, although it only had over two hundred thousand people, it occupied more than twenty fortresses, making it a regional power. In addition, there were many other guilds that, although small, would be a considerable force if united.

Nie Yan needed to discuss the matter of acquiring these guilds with his father. Whether his father was willing to take out such a sum of money was still a question.

Seeing that Nie Yan was deep in thought, Jifeng and the other two didn't dare to disturb him.

"You can go back for now. If I need anything, I'll contact you at any time, especially you, Jifeng," Nie Yan said to Jifeng and the other two. He already had some plans in mind.

"Yes, we understand," Jifeng and the other two immediately nodded.

They left one after another. Nie Yan looked at the map in his hand. Angel Corps controlled the vast majority of the Saturn Empire's territory, but he could come and go as he pleased, and no one could stop him.

Nie Yan walked outside, looking at the various information on the Saturn Empire. When he saw the results of Starlight Pharmacy, he smiled with satisfaction.

After Starlight Pharmacy achieved a monopoly, it began to deliberately block Angel Corps.

For a large guild like Angel Corps, providing low-priced potions to its members was a necessary benefit. If this benefit was canceled, it would definitely cause dissatisfaction among the guild members. However, the potions produced by the guild's alchemists were far from meeting the guild's needs, so they could only purchase potions from Starlight Pharmacy.

Buying potions piecemeal from various Starlight Pharmacy branches was very expensive, often unbearable for a large consumer like a guild. However, the era when large guilds could simply issue a purchase list and have countless pharmacies deliver cheap potions to their door was long gone.

Apart from Angel Corps and other guilds hostile to Nirvana Flame, ordinary guilds could place orders with Starlight Pharmacy and purchase potions for guild consumption at a 40% or 50% discount, or even lower, by supplying raw materials to Starlight Pharmacy. But for Angel Corps, wanting to buy discounted potions was simply wishful thinking.

Large-scale purchases of potions from Starlight Pharmacy had to be registered with Starlight Pharmacy. Except for a few guild leaders, ordinary players could not purchase in bulk at Starlight Pharmacy. If any guild leader purchased potions in bulk and then resold them to Angel Corps, they would be blacklisted and their purchase qualifications would be revoked.

With all these methods, the ways for Angel Corps to buy discounted potions were basically blocked, and they could only buy expensive potions at various Starlight Pharmacy branches. The daily expenditure on potions was as high as millions of gold coins, and sometimes even several millions, which was a huge burden. Recently, Angel Corps' financial situation was obviously not as good as before.

According to the information provided by Jifeng, Angel Corps occupied so many fortresses that its daily income was about 8.5 million gold coins, of which about 6 million gold coins had to be distributed to the members. That is to say, the daily profit was about 2.5 million gold coins. Of course, in addition to the fortresses, Angel Corps also had other industries, including auction houses, shops, gold farming teams, and so on, with an income of about 1 million gold coins. Adding it all up, it was 3.5 million gold coins, but now the expenditure on potions alone was as high as millions of gold coins. Whereas before, 300,000 to 400,000 gold coins would have been enough. This additional large expense was naturally frustrating for Angel Corps. Because they had accumulated a lot of wealth before, the expenditure on potions, although it made them feel the pinch, was not enough to hurt them badly.

Looking at this income statement of Angel Corps provided by Jifeng, Nie Yan couldn't help but feel a sense of superiority. After unifying the Greenroser Empire, after all the fortresses were fully restored, the fortresses occupied by Nirvana Flame could create a daily income of 18 million gold coins, of which 13 million was used to pay the members. Thus, the profit was about 5 million gold coins. Starlight Pharmacy's income was stable at 6 to 7 million gold coins. Plus Nie Yan's auction house and other industrial income, it was about 2 million gold coins. The total was more than 10 million gold coins, three to four times more than Angel Corps.

Nie Yan would give about 6 million gold coins to War God Tribe every day to help War God Tribe's development, and the remaining 7 to 8 million gold coins would be accumulated as various expenses.

Because Nirvana Flame and its branch guilds had strict recruitment requirements and a small number of people, and Nirvana Flame issued more gold coins than Angel Corps, Nirvana Flame's benefits were more than twice as high as Angel Corps. Not only was Nirvana Flame richer than Angel Corps, but even the members were wealthier than the players of Angel Corps. Therefore, truly powerful elites aspired to Nirvana Flame, not Angel Corps. Since Nirvana Flame unified the Greenroser Empire, gradually, more and more players from the Saturn Empire began to join Nirvana Flame.

Looking at Angel Corps' vast territory, Nie Yan smiled coldly. Since he had come to the Saturn Empire, he naturally couldn't go back empty-handed. He would give Angwing Angel and Cao Xu a good headache.

Putting the information into his bag, Nie Yan hadn't walked far from the slums when he received a message from Jifeng: Angel Corps' elite team had already set off and was heading to Branston Town in the Nightmare Wilderness, preparing to enter the Beastmen Basin dungeon.