Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed the World

It would normally take a large expedition team to take down a Lord-class monster like the Wendigo. Even so, the experience obtained after being divided up between several hundred players was still fairly ample. At this moment, Nie Yan received all this experience himself.

Nie Yan walked up to the Wendigo’s corpse and picked up the loot off the ground. It had dropped two pieces of Level 110 equipment and several gems. This kind of harvest might be a windfall for ordinary players, but it was run-of-the-mill for him.

Nie Yan threw the two pieces of equipment into his bag, then summoned his Darkwing Dragon.

The Darkwing Dragon crouched down and nuzzled up against him.

Nie Yan rubbed the Darkwing Dragon’s head, then fed it a slab of meat. He planned to set off to find more Level 100+ Lords. There wasn’t another Lord within at least a several kilometer radius of here.

Nie Yan was just about to get on his Darkwing Dragon, when he sensed something off. He gazed toward some trees in the distance. After scanning around, he failed to discover anything. He shook his head. There was no way he would find other players here. He leaped up and climbed onto the Darkwing Dragon’s back.

The Darkwing Dragon spread its wings and took to the air, flying into the distance.

Seeing the Darkwing Dragon disappearing into the horizon, Mistaken Smile walked out of the trees, breathing a sigh of relief. He thought he had been discovered just now. So, he quickly hid. In that kind of awkward situation, there was no way to explain himself, even if he had 10 mouths.

Scanning the surroundings, he roughly gauged the distance between him and Nie Yan. His heart trembled. He was at least 10 meters away, but he was still nearly discovered. What powerful Awareness! He once again realized the gap between them.

Mistaken Smile heard Asskickers United was recruiting new members in Moonlight City. If he could become one of their elites, his pay would be even higher than that of professional players. After pondering for a moment, he took out a Return Scroll.

Nie Yan searched around with the Darkwing Dragon, killing every suitable Lord he found, By the afternoon, he had reached Level 99. Level 100 was right in front of him. He probably didn’t have enough time left to reach it today, but he had a whole day ahead of him tomorrow.

During this time, Nie Yan had obtained another Life Emerald. His luck was pretty good. This likely had to do with the increased drop rate from challenging Lords above his level. He had obtained all sorts of great items, many of which were fairly rare drops.

With two Life Emeralds, Nie Yan could craft another two Wish Necklaces when he returned to Calore.

After thinking for a bit, Nie Yan decided to craft the Wish Necklaces first. That way, the artisans of Asskickers United could get to work on making Master-rank items right away.

Nie Yan teleported back to Calore with a Return Scroll. Once there, he went to his personal storage and withdrew a few crafting materials.

At this moment, Nie Yan suddenly received a call from Guo Huai.

「A Thief wants to join Asskickers United, but he requested to enter as an elite. I told him if he could beat Paladin of the Elegy, Lofty Shadow, and Summer Bug, I would agree...」Guo Huai explained in a gloomy tone.

「And...?」Nie Yan asked curiously. This fellow wanted to directly join the elites of Asskickers United. He was either grossly overestimating his abilities or actually had a bit of skill.

「Paladin of the Elegy already lost. That guy is currently fighting Lofty Shadow, and it looks like Lofty Shadow is at a disadvantage. I’ll admit, he has the skill to back up his words. However, I have huge misgivings about him joining the guild. It’s best not to accept such a shady character. I can’t find anything about his background,」Guo Huai said.

Nie Yan chuckled.「It’s not that I don’t understand your concerns. But let’s say you were a guild leader. How would you sneak your people into a rival guild?」

「Hmm...」Guo Huai sank into deep thought.

「Well for me, I’d just have them join as an ordinary member and try not to attract too much attention. I’ll have them gradually reveal more of their strength and slowly climb up the ranks. The longer they stay, the more trust they’ll earn. I for sure won’t have them barging in asking to be accepted as an elite. Besides, you’d want to be in the administrative layer if your goal was information. Once you’re an elite, that’s it. You’re bound to the terms of your contract, and there’s no chance of rising higher,」Nie Yan said. No guild leader would use such a foolish method to sneak a spy into a rival guild.

「So, you’re saying we can trust him? If that’s the case, he’s definitely qualified to join our elites. I think he’s on the same level as King of the World and Sun. Lofty Shadow just lost,」Guo Huai said. Asskickers United’s elites were famous for their strength and skill. Those who could beat them were few and far between.

「What’s this player’s name?」Nie Yan asked. He was quite interested in this newcomer.

「Mistaken Smile,」Guo Huai replied.

“It’s actually him!” Nie Yan muttered under his breath. In terms of skill, Mistaken Smile definitely ranked at the top even among Shadow Dancers in the previous timeline. It was just that he kept a fairly low profile. It was almost impossible to find any information on him. Nie Yan had tried to personally recruit him before, only to discover that fellow had blocked all communication. He couldn’t be found or contacted, leaving Nie Yan feeling quite helpless. Who could’ve expected that he would deliver himself to their doorsteps today?

「Give him a contract. If he has any conditions, agree to them as long as they aren’t too excessive,」Nie Yan instructed. Still not feeling reassured, he continued,「Whatever happens, don’t let him get away!」

「Understood.」Guo Huai nodded. It appeared Nie Yan thought highly of Mistaken Smile.

Nie Yan was elated that Mistaken Smile had taken the initiative to join. As Asskickers United expanded their influence, all of the Viridian Empire’s elites would gradually gather in one place. A vision formed in his mind, the guild rapidly developing, every day becoming stronger than the last. Until one day, under his leadership, they would become an everlasting legend.

Nie Yan had withdrawn the materials necessary for crafting two Wish Necklaces from his personal storage.

Putting the first portion into Pandora’s Box, Nie Yan hit confirm.

Nie Yan wasn’t nearly as tense as last time. With a bright flash of light, a necklace appeared in Pandora’s Box.

Nie Yan examined the Wish Necklace—Enchanting +1. The rest of the properties were the same as the previous necklace.

The crafting of the second Wish Necklace was successful as well. It had Tinkering +1.

These two necklaces were even more precious than some Sub Legendary-grade equipment. In the future, Asskickers United would definitely be the guild that produced the most Master-rank artisan goods.

Nie Yan left these two Wish Necklaces for Bird to handle.

After finishing up all his business, Nie Yan planned to head to the library. He still had the Record of Seals in his bag. He needed to find out what it was.

The Viridian Empire Royal Library.

It was the largest as well as the longest standing library in the Viridian Empire, with the most complete and comprehensive collection of books.

Normally, few players would frequent this place. No one had the leisure to browse through books. Levelling already took up enough time. Besides, when the option was between the thrill of battle or the dullness of reading a book, who wouldn’t opt for the former?

However, Nie Yan knew that looking through books here was quite beneficial. It was just a pity he rarely had the time to come.

Climbing up the stairs, Nie Yan passed by many NPCs. They were either rushing in or quickly leaving with a few books under their arms. Dressed in luxurious clothing, they all belonged to Calore’s nobility.

Nie Yan entered the library. He passed through a narrow corridor before arriving in an enormous hall. As he looked around, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh of admiration.

Such a grand library!

The hall had several dozen floors, each lined with long rows of bookshelves. They were stocked with thick and heavy books. It was certainly a feast for the eyes. The amount of books here was overwhelming. They were all extremely beautiful, crafted from the most expensive materials.

Everything was organized in a highly ordered manner. Nie Yan walked around. After searching for a few minutes, he found the language section.

Row after row of shelves, all of them on different languages. Nie Yan felt a bit dazed. Finding the language the Record of Seals was written in would be tough. There were tens of thousands of books related to languages and more than 300 dedicated to specific ones.

Nie Yan recalled there was an NPC that hung around in the language section. If he wanted to learn a language, he would have to chat with him.

In the previous timeline, Nie Yan had visited that NPC but left quickly after. Learning even the most basic languages would cost several gold. Some of the rarer or more ancient ones would cost up to tens of thousands of gold.

Nie Yan searched around and found an old man sitting in the corner of the room. This NPC wore ragged patched up clothes. He looked filthy, almost as if he hadn’t taken a bath in weeks or months.

This old man was precisely the NPC Nie Yan was looking for. He was Language Master Edminson, someone who had learned over 200 different languages. He was also a legendary figure in the Viridian Empire.

However, Edminson was also known for his unsightly appearance. Players that approached him would frequently smell a foul stench.

Generally, learning a language from Edminson only entailed paying some gold and a short exchange of dialogue. On top of this, he also didn’t issue any quests. So, he didn’t hold much favour among players, resulting in him being largely ignored or even treated with outright contempt.

Edminson was dozing off. He looked quite exhausted, making his old age all the more apparent.

Having one foot in the grave described Edminson perfectly.

In the previous timeline, Edminson would always be sitting in a corner absorbed in a book, only occasionally raising his head when a player passed close by.

“Should I wake him up?” Nie Yan hesitated. He was worried that waking Edminson up would incur his displeasure. After all, he had a few things he wanted Edminson’s help on.

After considering it, Nie Yan decided to wait for Edminson to wake up. After all, he wasn’t that short on time. He patiently waited next to Edminson.