“Yao Yao, what’s wrong? You look worried,” Yu Lan asked, a concerned expression clearly visible on her face.

Yao Yao shook her head. “It’s nothing, I’m fine.” Her voice chat lit up as she replied. It was Xia Ling!

“Sorry, Big Sis. I have to take this call.” Yao Yao gave Yu Lan an apologetic look before answering the voice chat.

Seeing Yao Yao being so tight-lipped, Yu Lan’s curiosity was piqued. Just what was going on?

「Xia Ling, how did it go?」Yao Yao asked in a pressing tone. Her heart was filled with a mixture of anticipation and restlessness. This kind of complicated emotion was hard to describe.

Xia Ling initially wanted to tease Xie Yao a little before telling her the news. But after hearing the anxiety in her best friend’s voice, she discarded the thought.「You were right: he’s Nirvana Flame. He probably doesn’t know your in-game name though.」

Xie Yao felt like a huge weight was lifted off her chest, but her mind turned into even more of a chaotic mess as she struggled to resolve the conflict in her heart. She was at a loss for quite a while after finding out Nie Yan was precisely that Nirvana Flame who she so deeply admired.

「Xia Ling, what do you think I should do?」

「Since he’s right there for the taking, why don’t you just snatch him up yourself? I think he’s a good catch. He’s talented, and his personality is much better than Liu Rui’s. I’m telling you now, Nie Yan is being eyed by almost every girl in our class. If you’re slow now, don’t regret it after he gets taken by another girl,」Xia Ling teased.

Xie Yao’s cheeks started to burn up. She still held some reservations. What if Nie Yan didn’t like her back? As she got to this point in her train of thoughts, a faint ripple surfaced in her heart, though she didn’t know what it signified.

「He said he wants to be your man,

」Xia Ling said with a laugh, accurately guessing what was going through her best friend’s mind right now.

「Really? Me?」

「Yes, you! Xie Yao! Are you willing? Do you want me to tell him that you’re Yao Yao?」Xia Ling asked. She was in favour of seeing Nie Yan and Xie Yao becoming a couple.

Xie Yao considered for a moment before shaking her head.「No, it’s better he doesn’t know. Don’t tell him for now.」

Xia Ling didn’t attempt to force Xie Yao in any direction. She felt that too much outside interference would make things worse.

「I’ll let you deal with this by yourself. Luckily for you, none of our classmates know you play Conviction; otherwise, your secret would’ve already been revealed,」Xia Ling said, sympathizing with her friend. On the one hand, Xie Yao could spend time with Nie Yan both in game and reality. On the other hand, Xie Yao would probably worry things would become awkward between them if he found out her identity.

「If I can, I’ll keep it a secret for a while longer. Hopefully, I’ll get to reveal it to him one day under the right circumstances,」Xie Yao said. She felt a little happy that Nie Yan wanted to woo her in real life. But when she recalled how distant he seemed in-game, she couldn’t help but feel at a bit of a loss.

Xie Yao had discovered some time ago that Nie Yan was purposefully keeping his distance from her, which was a source of sadness for her.

Nie Yan had no idea that Yao Yao and Xie Yao were the same person. In his eyes, Yao Yao was an intoxicating poison. He would never forget that night they spent together in that secret chamber. The memory crossed his mind from time to time. Her pure-white body laid completely bare before him—bewitching, like a goddess who had fallen down to earth. He was worried he would fall to this temptation again. He had a favourable impression of her, to the extent you could say he liked her very much. After all, they had been friends for so long. However, his love for Xie Yao was carved into his very being, so deeply that it would forever remain!

If Nie Yan was given a choice, he would always choose Xie Yao over Yao Yao, to say nothing of the fact that nothing had occurred between the two of them yet. As a result, he subconsciously distanced himself from Yao Yao, so as to maintain their friendship and avoid hurting her.

Xie Yao had no way of knowing all this.

「He probably won’t be tempted by other girls in our class. With a beauty like our Xie Yao by his side, all other girls will pale in comparison,」Xia Ling comforted.

「Hah, you’re still in the mood to tease me,」Xie Yao softly scolded, but it did lift her mood up.

「I’m only speaking the truth. Anyway, Nie Yan is bringing us somewhere to grind. We’re setting out now. It’ll only take two hours, so I’ll contact you then,」Xia Ling said. She was looking forward to see where a legendary existence like Nie Yan would take them to level.

「Mhm, let’s talk later.」Xie Yao hung up the call. She couldn’t help but worry about what the future had in store.

In Link Town, Nie Yan put on a large black cloak which hid his appearance.

“Do any of you guys have AoE magic?” Nie Yan asked. If he was going to power-level them, he would require a player who could wipe out large groups of mobs.

“Nope.”

“No.” All five Mages shook their heads.

As ordinary players, they had already done well for themselves by obtaining a few pieces of Silver-grade equipment, apart from their mostly Bronze-grade gear. At best, they had a few high-damage single target spells between them. The current market price for an area of effect skill book was at least 50 silver. So how could they afford it?

Nie Yan thought for a moment. “Hold on, I’ll call someone over.”

「Tang Yao, come help me power-level a few classmates.」

「Sure, tell me the coordinates. I’ll be there in a jiffy.」Tang Yao was just about to go off to level with some guild members. But when he received Nie Yan’s call, he immediately backed out and hurried over.

Just as Zhai Hao, Li Rui, and the others were chatting in high spirits about how they were looking forward to levelling with Nie Yan, a player with a chubby blue fairy floating behind him walked toward them. His slightly rotund appearance was greatly overshadowed by the amazing equipment on his body.

The group was shocked after recognizing his identity.

They had just been wondering who Nie Yan called over to level with them. None of them expected they would meet another amazing figure, Young Sparrow Hawk!

Before the events that transpired in Kiln Fire Woods, the most famous player from Asskickers United was Young Sparrow Hawk. He was someone who had firmly held the top spot on the level leaderboards ever since snatching it away from Heaven Breaker. His popularity among the player base was also extremely high.

Young Sparrow Hawk was also a legend!

“These guys are your classmates?” Tang Yao asked. After receiving a nod of confirmation from Nie Yan, he extended his hand and said, “It’s nice to meet you all. I’m Young Sparrow Hawk.”

Zhai Hao and the others were dumbfounded and flustered. The thought of someone as famous as Young Sparrow Hawk going out of his way just to greet them was so unexpected and flattering that they were rendered speechless. When they finally overcame the initial shock, they gathered themselves and returned the greeting.

“The pleasure is all ours!”

The group conversed while making their way to the Rocky Plains, a Level 30 map filled with Stone Giants.

This was the first time Zhai Hao and the others faced such high-level monsters, so they were a little nervous. However, what happened next left them completely stupefied.

They were stunned on the spot as they saw Nie Yan disappear into the forest. Before long, he returned with a long train of Stone Giants pursuing him like a massive tide.

Tang Yao started casting his magic, finishing the chant in an incredibly short period of time. The skies were blanketed with red clouds, and the skies were immediately filled with streaks of red as fireballs hurtled down.

Zhai Hao and the others felt cold sweat drip down their foreheads. Nie Yan was right in the middle of the spell’s range! As soon as it landed, he would definitely be annihilated. How could Tang Yao do this? How was this not team killing?

However, the group saw Nie Yan suddenly disappear, vanishing without a trace.

「Boom! Boom! Boom!」One after another, fireballs crashed down on the mobs, causing a sheet of damage values to rise up into the sky. A few seconds later, a pile of corpses littered the ground.

These Stone Giants stood no chance against the unrivalled destructive might of Tang Yao’s magic damage.

Zhai Hao and the others were still looking for traces of Nie Yan, worried that he had been caught in the blast. At this moment, Nie Yan suddenly appeared in the distance, leading another wave of Stone Giants towards them.

Just as the group started picking up all the loot from the first wave, Tang Yao unleashed another destructive AoE spell and wiped out the second wave, then moved on to an area with more Stone Giants.

Levelling became much easier after the release of the expansion. Add this to the fact that Stone Giants gave a generous amount of experience, and Zhai Hao and the others heard level up jingles almost non-stop. A person in the group would level up one moment, and the moment after, another person would level up. This sort of speed was terrifying.

This method of leveling up was ridiculously effective. So it was no longer a mystery how Young Sparrow Hawk was consistently able to maintain first place in the standings.

Zhai Hao and the others were happy beyond belief. Previously, they would have to spend at least two or three days grinding just to level up once. But now, all of them had levelled up twice in just half an hour. This was partially due to the experience required to level up being reduced, but Tang Yao’s terrifying mobbing speed definitely contributed greatly as well.

The entire area was piled high with the corpses of Stone Giants.

Seeing Tang Yao’s terrifying cast rate that never seemed to end, Zhai Hao and the others were astonished. Did Tang Yao’s spells not cost mana? The sight of him shooting out spells like a machine gun was simply too shocking.

The player who firmly held his position at the top of the level leaderboards, so this was how his legend was born!

With such a terrifying casting speed, Tang Yao would easily be able to maintain first place on the rankings if he trained like this normally.

Two hours later, Zhai Hao and the others had enjoyed the feeling of power-levelling like a rocket. Zhai Hao had reached Level 30, while the rest were around Level 28 and 29.

Nie Yan got back to Level 27. He allocated all of his free stat points to Dexterity. As for Strength, he had already used his 500 phantom stat points to get his strength up to 800. He could now equip the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow, so for the time being, not allocating any stat points into Strength was no problem.

“We still have a lot of things to do, so we’ll be leaving first. We’ll bring you guys levelling again some other time,” Nie Yan said to Zhai Hao and the others. He had already set aside two hours out of his incredibly busy schedule. After this, he and Tang Yao would have to lead a guild expedition.

“Alright, you guys go ahead.” Zhai Hao and the others clearly understood that people like Nie Yan and Tang Yao were extremely busy. They were extremely lucky to have gained these two hours due to the benevolence of Nie Yan, and they had no right to ask for more given the the fact they had already gained a lot of levels.

“Some of you guys have already entered Warriors United. If you want to join Asskickers United, you’ll have to get in like everyone else; otherwise, it wouldn’t be fair to others. I have to be impartial; friends are no exceptions. However, I can still gift you guys some merit points,” Nie Yan said. As the guild leader, he definitely had to uphold the rules of the guild, so he could only do this much for these old brothers of his.

Nie Yan rewarded each of them with 500 merit points. Afterwards, he and Tang Yao bid farewell to Zhai Hao, Li Rui, and the others. He had just received a notification from Guo Hai. The 600 elites of the guild had all been gathered!