Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed the World

Following Bennett’s Soul, Nie Yan soon encountered a second Leshen. There really were other Leshens on this island!

Armed with the experience of killing the first Leshen, Nie Yan took down one Leshen after another. He failed to find the two other fragments of Nagado’s Staff of Curses. However, he did gradually collect all the blueprint fragments for the Flamespitter Crossbow. After killing the sixth Leshen, he gathered the fifth and final fragment.

These types of blueprints would definitely become more common in the future. This meant the guild would soon require a lot more Engineers. Although Asskickers United was rapidly expanding and originally showed some good results, their growth had stagnated due to recent financial strains. Without any money, even a clever housewife would find it difficult to get the rice to cook food.

Nie Yan’s purpose for coming to the Underworld was also for the sake of resolving Asskickers United’s lack of funds. With money, they could recruit talented Engineers to help build these siege crossbows.

After spending an entire day fighting Leshens, Nie Yan finally found all the fragments of the Detoxifying Marble. When the three fragments were brought together, they released a dazzling light before slowly fusing together and becoming a perfectly round, egg-sized marble which flickered with a faint green lustre.

Nie Yan once more looked at the properties of the detoxifying marble.

Detoxification Marble (Special Item)

Properties: Poison Resistance + 30, Poison Immunity (Intermediate)

Detoxify (Advanced): Remove any poison Advanced-rank or lower inflicted on a target.

Restrictions: None

Both the Kiln Fire Heart and Detoxification Marble could be used in clever ways. They would definitely come in handy whenever he encountered danger.

Over the course of the day, Nie Yan had levelled up from Level 58 to Level 63, surpassing Tang Yao who was at the top of the level leaderboards at Level 60. The second highest level player was only Level 58.

After seeing Nie Yan’s level soar, Tang Yao was left speechless. No matter what he did, he could never compete with Nie Yan’s levelling speed.

Nie Yan had already resolved to leave the rest of the players behind and directly charge to Level 100 so he could become a Shadow Dancer! After getting the Tyrant Abak Set, he would then rush to Level 180!

With a full set of godly equipment, Nie Yan would wipe out any enemy in his path!

As a reincarnator, he had to overwhelmly crush his enemies beneath his feet, to the extent they would lose all hope of ever standing up to him again!

Of course, this goal would lead him down a long and arduous path. It was precisely because he reincarnated that he knew how difficult it was to reach Level 180!

Nie Yan’s level advantage would never grow too large. If a single player was pulling too far ahead of the rest of the playerbase, the system would make adjustments to experience values to make levelling easier for the lower level players.

But even if the system made adjustments, so what!?

As humanity’s most powerful advanced intelligence, the federation could restrict its activity but had no way of directly accessing and modifying its data.

As long as Nie Yan’s actions remained within the system’s laws, there would be no problem.

Nie Yan took off the game helmet and made a run to his father’s company. Under Ah Chen’s guidance, the War God Tribe began its campaign. Asskickers United dispatched a large number of elites to assist the War God Tribe. With their allies, the War God Tribe captured three strongholds in Nisode. Asskickers United’s top ranked players were strong beyond reason. They took control of the battlefield, giving the enemy no hope for victory. The Tuoba Family was beaten back step by step. Tuoba Hongye was at the end of his wits. However, no one would come to his aid. The Tuoba Family recently had a falling out with the Century Financial Group, so asking for the help of Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors was out of the question. There were basically no other guilds in the entire Viridian Empire that could contend against the combined might of Asskickers United and the War God Tribe. Meanwhile, Tuoba Hongye was even more helpless outside the game since he was being dragged down by the two other powers in the Tuoba Family. It appeared his position as the head of the family would soon be no more.

The sudden rise of the War God Tribe was too shocking, catching many people off guard. After taking over the three real world business districts, Father Nie sought the help of several clients to help develop them. He would do it himself, but he lacked the funds. So, for now he would have to settle with signing lease agreements and collecting the money from them.

Aside from this, Father Nie had formed a partnership with Tuoba Time. When this business deal was over, the Nie Family’s capital would grow by several fold!

In the previous timeline, if Cao Xu hadn’t interfered, the Nie Family would have definitely grown into a large financial group. It was a pity the Nie Family’s development at that time was too fast. They lost more than half their business the moment the Century Financial Group took action. Ultimately, they were just too weak.

The development of the Nie Family was different in this timeline. This was at least true in the virtual reality aspect, where with the protection of Asskickers United, the War God Tribe could expand without worry.

When the War God Tribe grew big enough to start providing support back to Asskickers United, Nie Yan’s mind would be at ease.

After the dark portal came back off cooldown, Nie Yan planned to deal the finishing blow to Bloodlust Blades!

Bloodlust Blades was already on its last breath. They had lost more than half their players. The only ones remaining were their core members which accounted for roughly 60,000 players. However, their combat strength was not to be underestimated. If they put all their effort into one last ditch counterattack, they could still deal heavy damage to Asskickers United.

Previously during the war of attrition with Bloodlust Blades, Asskickers United had also suffered heavy damages. They were forced to look at all of their allies for support. But with Nie Yan’s recent investment from his first trip to the Underworld, they had regained their strength. They still needed more time to fully recuperate. But in any case, now that they had money, they could destroy Bloodlust Blades first and worry about other matters later!

After having helped at his father’s company, Nie Yan took Xie Yao for a stroll in the mall to enjoy themselves. Father Nie had also tacitly accepted their relationship.

Nie Yan learned from Xie Yao that her parents would be leaving for Europe in the next few days.

Nie Yan brought Xie Yao home. As he watched her walk up the driveway, he couldn’t help but feel his heart itch at her cute and lovable appearance. But he forced himself to hold back.

Nie Yan had waited so many years in the previous timeline for Xie Yao. What harm was there in waiting a few more? When he was finally worthy of Xie Yao, he would make his move. Rather than waiting for the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups to take pity on him, he would rather make the Nie Family so powerful that no one could say anything about them!

When Nie Yan returned home in the evening, he discovered there was a large game capsule sitting in his room. It was two and half meters tall and was made out of special materials. There were all sorts of complicated apparatuses and computer chips on both sides. It looked quite advanced. By stepping inside and closing the door of the game capsule, one could perfectly transport their mind to the virtual reality world.

There was also a concoction of nutrient liquid inside the game capsule which would supply the player with energy and improve their physique.

Seeing the symbol of a black sword near the bottom of the game capsule, Nie Yan’s mind trembled. It was a Darkblade Game Capsule!

In the previous timeline as a fanatical addict of Conviction, Nie Yan had naturally spent many long nights researching every type of game capsule. Among them, the ones from Darkblade had the best and most stable performances. Even the cheapest model cost over 5,000,000!

There was a slip of paper lying on the desk by his bedside with his father’s handwriting.

「Your mom suggested we buy you this game capsule for getting into the Top Military Academy.」

Father Nie wasn’t a person to wear his emotions on his sleeve. Instead, he would push all credit to Mother Nie. But Nie Yan could still tell how much he cared from this gesture, so he gave his parents a call.

Nie Yan had always been considering buying a better game helmet. The thought of getting a game capsule never once crossed his mind. After all, it was too expensive, and he felt it a bit wasteful. He never expected his parents would buy him one, and a top of the line model at that! His actions inside the game would become a lot smoother and more fluid, especially when using Freedom Skills. The type of hardware the player was using could greatly influence the execution of a Freedom Skill. When a player became a Great Thief, they would generally try to upgrade to a more expensive model of game helmet. In Nie Yan’s case, it was even better since he now had a game capsule.

From henceforth, Nie Yan could bid his game helmet farewell!

Nie Yan put on a skin-tight body suit that came with the game capsule and entered inside. He felt an electrical current flow through his body. It felt comfortable. With a flash of white light, he entered Conviction.

As soon as Nie Yan reentered the game, he could feel the difference. His surroundings were more clear and real, and he could feel the small differences in texture on surfaces with his hand. His movements were a lot smoother as well. All of this made Nie Yan endlessly excited. Having a game capsule really did make a world of difference!

Nie Yan executed the movement for a Reverse Grip Backstab and discovered it was a lot easier than before.

After familiarizing himself with the game capsule, Nie Yan continued on with his quest. As he followed Bennett’s Soul, he gradually neared the base of the volcano. A river of lava was flowing down from the side of the volcano as noxious sulfuric gases filled the air.

Nie Yan equipped the Leaper Ring and jumped over the river of lava. When he reached halfway up the volcano, he encountered a mysterious cave.

Because this was a high level region, Nie Yan was worried what sort of dangers lurked inside. But at this moment, Bennett’s Soul trembled in excitement and directly flew inside.

Nie Yan hesitated for a moment but still followed behind. Since he had already made it this far, it would be a waste to turn back now.

Scorching hot gusts of wind blew through this cave. If it wasn’t for the Kiln Fire Heart, this boiling temperature would definitely cause him to continuously lose health.

As Nie Yan explored deeper into the cave, he saw all sorts of yellow crystals in the walls. These were Sulfur Crystals and could be used to make Gunpowder. It was a pity he needed a Miner to excavate them.