When a Mage completed their class advancement, they were eligible to learn at least one Advanced Magic from a Magic Tower. They could also study different types of magic here.

The vast majority of Great Mages would choose to discard many of their old spells after entering the Magic Tower and elect to learn new ones based on their needs.

Magic Towers generally contained thousands of spells, so most Great Mages would come out completely different from before.

It was rumoured there were a total of 10 Magic Towers in the Viridian Empire. Three were located in the Remote Tundra, Sea of Endless Perils, and Wild Marsh, and were home to countless powerful spells. Two were fairly close to each other in Calore and Nisode. But they only held around 600 spells, and the most common ones at that.

The locations of the remaining five Magic Towers had remained a mystery for quite a while in the previous timeline. It wasn’t until later on that the one in the Cripps Stronghold was discovered. But it was controlled by Victorious Return, and only their guild members were permitted access. If outsiders wanted to enter, not only would they have to be on friendly terms with Victorious Return, they would also have to pay an entry fee of 6,000 gold.

The Magic Towers in Calore and Nisode were too lacking. When players heard the Cripps Stronghold had a Magic Tower, they rushed over one after another. Even if they had to spend a bit of gold, the spells inside were well worth the cost of admission!

Magic Towers generally didn’t collapse due to the passing of time because they were protected by a powerful magic formation. Even if the Cripps Stronghold was destroyed, this Magic Tower would still be standing tall.

So long as Asskickers United maintained ownership of the Cripps Stronghold, this Magic Tower would become a strategic resource of theirs!

This Magic Tower was a reward for capturing the Cripps Stronghold. The Intermediate Strongholds near Nisode, Moonlight City, and the other cities also had similar buildings as a reward, such as a Warrior Arena, Priest Prayer Hall, Paladin Holy Shrine, or Thief Hideout.

“Our Mages are really lucky,” Nie Yan said. A Magic Tower would serve as a great boon to the Mages of Asskickers United.

Intermediate was the highest rank stronghold Victorious Return had captured in the previous timeline. At Level 100 they had once attempted to capture an Advanced Stronghold but were annihilated. After that, they never tried again. The Buried History expansion was released much earlier in this timeline, so there were bound to be some changes.

Needless to say the Cripps Stronghold was crucial to the growth of Asskickers United. Its geographical location also contributed to its importance, since it was surrounded by four allied strongholds. Travel between any of them would only take 20 minutes. It would become the anchor that held everything together and facilitate the quick mobilization of troops.

If they succeeded, Nie Yan would definitely relocate the main guild headquarters to the Cripps Stronghold and make it Asskickers United’s new homebase.

Of the four strongholds, one belonged to Asskickers United, two to Holy Empire, and one to Sapphire Shrine. With the Cripps Stronghold guarded at the center, the region would be impenetrable.

The Magic Tower’s importance was unquestioned. Asskickers United would naturally exploit it to its full potential.

Nie Yan approached the Magic Tower, only to be stopped by a faint screen of light. When he tried touching it, he felt a strong repelling force.

A bluestone path led straight to the entrance. The magic energy in the air was dead still, making the ash-gray tower look deep and tranquil.

Only Great Mages are allowed to enter.

Nie Yan turned his head and said, “Those of you who’ve succeeded your class advancement, feel free to check out this Magic Tower.”

Lustboy, Summer Bug, and Sunny South had all successfully advanced to Great Mages, so they were allowed to enter the tower.

“Boss, we’re going in to take a look.”

The three walked up to the barrier. They reached out and felt their hands easily pass through the screen of light. Stepping onto the bluestone path, they started walking towards the entrance of the Magic Tower. If they could successfully study the spells inside, they would come out much stronger than before.

After the three of them entered the Magic Tower, everyone else continued clearing away the mobs in the stronghold.

Nie Yan was quite relaxed. Bladelight and the others didn’t even need him to give orders to do their jobs.

At this moment, Guo Huai reported to Nie Yan that the people he had assigned to watch over the five players from Angel Corps had lost sight of the Elven Thief.

Thieves had various skills allowing them to enter stealth, so a skilled one could easily throw off any trackers.

Guo Huai had been extremely diligent in tracking the five visitors. Only the slippery Thief managed to escape his clutches.

What did Angel Corps intend to do with just one Thief?

“Does he want to rush over to interfere with your attack on the Cripps Stronghold?”

“Even if he is, it doesn’t matter. It’s just an Elven Thief,” Nie Yan replied. With so many of Asskickers United’s elites present, a single Thief couldn’t make many waves.

“Hopefully it’s nothing.” Despite his optimistic words, Guo Huai felt a twinge of unease.

Nie Yan smirked. He was confident in his abilities and had the skill to back it up. He obviously wouldn’t fret over something so small.

The team methodically advanced until they reached an open plaza. There, they saw several thousand Phantom Swordsmen patrolling around. In the center stood a gigantic bear that resembled a walking fortress.

Everyone sucked in a sharp breath. It was the Level 70 Variant Lord, Blackett Grizzly!

Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame had wiped countless times trying to take down Blackett Grizzly and accumulated unimaginable casualties. It was only later on when they figured out a trick to deal with it that they finally took this big lug of a bear down.

The Blackett Grizzly had a special ability that allowed it to absorb health from any corpse nearby. Before it could use its Corpse Eater ability, it was vital the corpses were cleared from the plaza, even at the cost of levels. The fallen would have to revive at the cemetery and rush back to rejoin the fight.

The Blackett Grizzly also had a skill called Dark Roar that dealt damage to all nearby enemies. Warriors with their high health and defense could survive the attack, but any Mage standing within a 100 meter radius would be instantly killed! Priests were a bit better off since they could cast Radiant Barrier on themselves to mitigate some of the damage.

Its last skill was called Dark Burgeoning, which dealt continuous damage to all enemies within a 30 meter radius. During this time, it was important the main tanks were protected by the Paladin’s Repel Evil or else their deaths were guaranteed. As for the other Warriors, they would have to be sacrificed and replaced by a new batch of frontliners; otherwise, the main tanks couldn’t possibly hold off the Blackett Grizzly. A large amount of cannon fodder was required for them to survive.

In the previous timeline, in order to show off their achievement, Victorious Return released the video of their almost 7,000 players taking down the Blackett Grizzly. Nie Yan had seen the video and memorized how the battle went.

Back then, the Blackett Grizzly had dropped three pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment after being defeated. Their properties were shared online, causing players to gasp in awe and envy, Nie Yan included. But in this life they were merely interesting trinkets. After all, his current set of gear was even better, and was already viewed as godly equipment by the players.

Nie Yan looked around. The public square was surrounded by rows of buildings. Most of them were short, with only five or six being relatively tall.

It was important they cleared away all the Phantom Swordsmen in the vicinity of the Blackett Grizzly first!

“Mages, get on the roofs of the buildings!” Nie Yan ordered.

The Mages made their way to the top of the buildings by using the stairs where possible or by relying on special items. Those who didn’t possess such items would be helped up by their peers. Mages had a skill called Rescue which allowed them to teleport an ally in danger to their side. But it could also be used in other ways like right now.

All the Mages were spread out across the rooftops of the surrounding buildings.

“Sun, One Strike Vow, follow me to aggro the mobs. Everyone else, wait here,” Nie Yan said, then proceeded to explain his plan to them. With their help, aggroing the Phantom Swordsmen would be easy.

The three Thieves dashed out in different directions.

Nie Yan arrived in the middle of an open area. Taking out his Cavalry Crossbow, he fired out bolts at all the nearby Phantom Swordsmen, aggroing almost 300 of them onto him.

Nie Yan quickly turned tail and fled with the Phantom Swordsmen in hot pursuit. All of them activated Charge, brandishing their swords as they chased after him.

Phantom Swordsmen were difficult to deal with. If they were allowed to get too close, they would use all sorts of crowd control skills. Thankfully, Nie Yan was quite fast.

Before long, the first group of Phantom Swordsmen was brought to the designated location, whereupon a barrage of spells rained down from the sky, wreaking havoc and destruction. Nie Yan used Gale Step to avoid taking damage. He quickly retreated out of the combat zone and hopped over a short wall.

Under the dense shower of magic, the Phantom Swordsmen let out mournful cries before collapsing on the ground one after another.

The heavy deluge of area-of-effect magic completely shrouded their vision. About half a minute later when the smoke and dust settled, a scene of destruction with corpses strewn everywhere, along with the sparkle of loot entered their eyes. There were only a few Phantom Swordsmen at the edge of the bombardment that managed to survive.