Xu Yan looked to Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe, who nodded back at him with looks of approval. They were all going to be part of the same team anyway. There was no point in hiding his stats.

“I recently got some better equipment. I have more than 7,000 defense right now, I think.”

“What!? 7,000?” Chu Chenghao shot up to his feet in surprise. “You’re not lying, right? Y-you really have over 7,000 defense?”

The other students were also dumbstruck. For Xu Yan to have more than 7,000 defense at his current level was unimaginable.

Chu Chenghao sucked in a breath of air. “7,000 defense... with you, we can easily run Arachnid Abyss. Even Darknight Gill is possible!”

“With 7,000 defense, you can even be the main tank in some of the larger guilds!”

“Asskickers United really is full of freaks. Even 7,000 defense isn’t good enough to serve as a main tank in their second-rate teams!”

Everyone automatically assumed Xu Yan’s defense was so high simply because he received good equipment as a member of Asskickers United. With a main tank like him, the whole team could improve their equipment within five days.

“With your defense, Fu Guangtao can’t even hold a candle to you.” Chu Chenghao sighed in admiration. “If I were you, I would’ve whooped his ass a long time ago.”

Next up were Xia Tianyu and Fei Zhe. When they shared their stats, Chu Chenghao was equally shocked, as were the others.

Chu Chenghao could understand Xu Yan’s defense being so high. However, Fei Zhe and Xia Tianyu weren’t members of Asskickers United. Why were their stats so high too? There was no one in the entire command faculty who could compare to them.

Xia Tianyu and Fei Zhe glanced at Nie Yan sitting by himself further away. They simply smiled, not revealing anything.

“We’ll be relying on you three from now on. You know, all of us are pretty skilled. It’s just that we’ve never found a good team until now. I think we’ll definitely surpass Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao, and their lot. Anyway, we’ll need a leader if we’re going to be a team. I think it should be between one of you three,” Chu Chenghao said. After finding out how strong Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe were, he completely gave in and didn’t bother fussing about who should be team captain.

“Let’s have Xu Yan be the captain, and Chu Chenghao you should be the vice-captain,” Xia Tianyu suggested.

“Sounds good to me,” Xu Yan said.

“I think so too.” Fei Zhe nodded.

Chu Chenghao didn’t expect to be nominated. “H-huh, me? No, no, no. I’m far from qualified!”

“Ah, don’t bother Chu Chenghao. It’s already decided!” Xu Yan said.

“We believe in you,” Xia Tianyu added.

At the urging of everyone, Chu Chenghao finally relented and agreed to become the vice-captain.

Like this, the basic structure of the team was decided.

Seeing Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe pulling Chu Chenghao and the others to their side, Nie Yan faintly smiled. These students from the command faculty would definitely mature in elites of society, each holding influence over their own sphere. Bringing them together and befriending them now would definitely be helpful to him in the future.

Through life, death, and rebirth, Nie Yan had a wealth of life experiences. He understood a network of connections was quintessential. Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe had helped him with something important. What he had to do next was to build his relations with these students and consolidate his position in the class. His ultimate goal was to eventually become their leader and if possible have them work for him.

Nie Yan joined his three friends and their newly formed team, chatting about various topics with these classmates. He was the top student in the class in every respect. This was a barrier that made him difficult to approach. Seeing him talking to everyone so amicably, they naturally took the opportunity to mingle with him.

Nie Yan spent the rest of the day fraternizing with his fellow classmates in the command faculty.

When evening came, Nie Yan entered Conviction.

Nie Yan opened his eyes to the familiar scenery of the Ancient World. He stood in the middle of a dense forest. Looking up, he saw the early morning sun breaking through the foliage, leaving mottled shadows on the ground.

Nie Yan organized all the loot he collected over the last few days from grinding mobs. He had already accumulated 180 non-combat profession skill books, including some especially rare ones. He hadn’t gotten a chance to look over them yet. Apart from the skill books, he also found several more 120-slot bags. He switched his old bags out for these new ones and now had a total of 720 slots of inventory space, which was more than enough for ordinary situations.

Nie Yan’s stock of medicinal plants was starting to run low. He had used them all to concoct various potions in an effort to train his Alchemy Master skill. Eventually, he no longer had enough low rank medicinal plants to use. He could only go back to the previous spot to harvest more Gold Orchids. After collecting several stacks, he started crafting potions again. Even though he only started concocting in the Ancient World, he quickly familiarized himself with the process. He created one Mana Potion after another, then tossed them away.

These Mana Potions could only be used by him. However, Nie Yan played a Thief, a class which didn’t require mana. So, these Mana Potions were basically useless. He was better off throwing them away to save bag space.

Like this, Nie Yan could do everything from collecting the materials to actually crafting the item. Someone like this was quite rare. He gradually realized how powerful the combination of a combat class and crafting professions were. With these kinds of specialized crafting skills, a player could be almost completely self-sufficient. Ordinary players would have to return to town every five days or so because they were running low on consumables. However, after learning the Gathering and Alchemy skills, as long as he encountered some medicinal plants in the wilderness, he could simply harvest them and make potions. If he was in a place that was full of medicinal plants, he would never have to return to town and could stay there indefinitely.

Nie Yan glanced inside his bag. There were several other extremely useful skill books that caught his eye, such as Scroll Crafting Master, Engineering Master, and so on. These skill books all shared one common restriction. All the items crafted by the player could only be used by themselves.

A strange idea took shape in Nie Yan’s head. If he learned all these skills, the items he could create would definitely be immensely beneficial to him.

The Ancient World was rich with all sorts of different crafting materials. If he harvested them all, raising the ranks of his crafting skills would be blazingly fast. Before long, he could train them to Master or even Grandmaster rank. A Thief with infinite outdoor sustainability, it sounded like a cheat. But to Nie Yan the possibility was very real, and it would greatly help his chances of clearing his class advancement quest.

Nie Yan analyzed the various crafting and harvesting skills. Gathering and Alchemy were part of the same branch. He could use medicinal plants found in the wilderness to craft his own potions. Scroll Crafting and Spell Scribing were also part of the same branch. After killing a monster, players obtained rolls of leather or other similar materials that could be used to craft blank scrolls. Spell Scribing could then turn them into different kinds of magic scrolls. Furthermore, Mining, Metallurgy, Forging, and Engineering were also part of the same branch. The ores players mined could be crafted into various weapons or different metal components, which could then be assembled by an Engineer into all sorts of machines.

Apart from these, there were also other skills like Deconstructing, Enchanting, and Tinkering.

If Nie Yan could train all these crafting profession skills to a high rank, he would truly become a master of all trades! This boost in utility would significantly raise his combat prowess.

As Nie Yan roamed around the forest harvesting Gold Orchids, he arrived at the rocky shore of a stream. On the other side was a lush meadow with a different type of medicinal plant growing in it. They looked like delicate jade sculptures under the sunlight, semi translucent and glistening brilliantly.

“Jade Gold Orchids!” Nie Yan’s eyes lit up. They were a medicinal plant one rank above regular Gold Orchids and could be used to concoct Advanced or Master Health and Mana Potions. They were also an ingredient for multiple Advanced Potions. If he could gather a large amount of Jade Gold Orchids, he could raise his Alchemy Master skill to Advanced rank before the end of the day!

Jade Gold Orchids were growing everywhere in this meadow!

However, a wraith of some sort was roaming in the meadow. It was floating in the air and moving around aimlessly, occasionally letting out pulses of ice-cold energy, covering the plants in the immediate vicinity in a layer of frost.

Nie yan had no idea what rank this wraith was. He slowly approached it in stealth until he was only 30 meters away.

Transcendent Insight!

Health: 520,000/520,000

Nie Yan knitted his brows. He didn’t know if he could deal with a Rank 3 monster. Up until now, the strongest monster he met was the Gold-Maned Lion King, a Rank 2 Elite, which albeit strong was not on the same level as this Ice Wraith.

Nie Yan hesitated for a moment before steeling his resolve. He would have to deal with Rank 3 monsters sooner or later anyway. There was no harm in giving it a try now.

This Ice Wraith was an ice-type monster. Players probably needed a lot of Ice Resistance to deal with it.

Luckily, Nie Yan had several Ice Resistance boosting skills. He also had the Heart of Winter in his possession. With high Ice Resistance, dealing with ice-type monsters became much easier. Apart from this, he also had a few Master Ice Resistance Potions in his bag. His preparations were basically flawless.

Nie Yan approached the Ice Wraith, trailing it from behind while waiting for an opportunity to attack.

The Ice Wraith’s lifeless eyes were looking around.

Nie Yan, who was still pretty far away, felt the surrounding temperature plummet by more than 10 degrees celsius. He started shivering as his movement speed was slightly reduced. This was the most annoying aspect of dealing with ice-type monsters.