Seeing the Kong King was about to charge out, Nie Yan had Lil’ Gold go up.

BOOOOM! The two enormous beasts collided.

The Kong King lashed out with a flurry of violent blows. Refusing to show weakness, Lil’ Gold retaliated by swiping out with its claws.

Explosive Counter!

Explosive Counter!

Violent tempests erupted out from Lil’ Gold. With the Kong King attacking at such a high frequency, it was much more likely for Explosive Counter to be triggered. The damage from this skill couldn’t be ignored, especially since it got upgraded.

Lil’ Gold’s health was fairly high. With Paladin Lafus supporting him from the rear, tanking the Kong King for a short time wouldn’t be an issue.

Lil’ Gold had given Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Lei Su a moment to catch their breath. The three immediately rushed back in and surrounded the Kong King.

Execution!

Execution!

The trio didn’t let up. Even though the success rate of Execution was pitifully low, it was bound to succeed eventually!

Hell Execution!

Hell Execution!

Nie Yan repeatedly slashed the Kong King with Zennarde’s Sword, until finally the black flames shrouding the blade blazed brightly.

?5,352,098!

“GROOAaaaoh...!” The Kong King staggered unsteadily before crashing into the ground.

「We did it! Who got the last hit?」Undying Scoundrel excitedly asked.

「It was the boss.」

A crisp notification jingle rang out. Nie Yan glanced down at his character information. He had reached Level 109. Lately, he had been busy dealing with guild affairs. Apart from gaining a few levels from killing some skeletons, he’d basically stagnated in that area. It was about time he started levelling again.

The fallen Kong King’s corpse was like a small hill.

Nie Yan collected three items off the ground. Two were pieces of Warrior equipment, the Mountain Guardian Chestplate and Mountain Guardian Gauntlets. Both were Level 180 Sub Legendary-grade. The third item was a green crystal.

“It’s a Diffusion Crystal!” Nie Yan exclaimed in surprise.

Diffusion Crystals were extremely precious. They only dropped from Level 180+ Lord-class monsters with a 1 in 3,000 chance.

Diffusion Crystals were priceless treasures in the marketplace in the previous timeline. As for its applications, Nie Yan wasn’t too knowledgeable. However, he did know it was one of the key catalysts for Grandmaster Tinkerers to craft Inferno Bombs.

With the guild offering an endless supply of materials and the help of the Wish Necklace, Violet Mist had already become a Grandmaster Tinkerer, the one and only in both the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire.

Nie Yan planned to have Violet Mist start crafting Inferno Bombs.

With the Inferno Bombs in mind, a plan to powerlevel formed in Nie Yan’s mind. Unlike most magic bombs, Inferno Bombs were especially terrifying in the single-target damage they dealt. So, it was an extremely useful supplementary tool for taking on powerful monsters.

The production cost of Inferno Bombs was quite high. At least 1,000 gold worth of materials went into crafting each bomb. Not to mention the Diffusion Crystal that had to be obtained first. Luckily for Nie Yan, the latter was already taken care of.

Inferno Bombs were definitely worth their cost.

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan’s heart stirred with excitement. He quickly sent Guo Huai a list of materials he wanted collected.

“Mount Guardian Chestplate, Mountain Guardian Gauntlets, do you think this is a set?”

“Yeah, probably. I think if we kill a few more Kong Kings, we’ll get a full Mountain Guardian Set.

Nie Yan decided to leave the chestplate and gauntlets in the guild treasury. Even if each piece was socketed with three level requirement reduction gems, they could only be equipped at Level 150 at the earliest. They were still a far ways off from that point.

A distance away, the players of Dark Recital looked at Nie Yan’s group with unwilling eyes. That loot should’ve been theirs! However, there was nothing they could. They scattered in low spirits.

“Netherluna, let’s go.” Canon sighed. Looking up ahead, those 13 figures were god-like existences in the eyes of countless players. Meanwhile, they were mere droplets in an ocean of mediocrity. The two sides likely wouldn’t cross paths again in the future.

“At the end of the day, we were saved by them. I still need to go up and thank them,” Netherluna said. She had her principles. Even though she was in an extremely low mood, she made a clear distinction between gratitude and grudges.

Netherluna walked over to Nie Yan and company.

「That girl is coming,」Undying Scoundrel said in voice chat. He turned his gaze to Netherluna’s figure in the distance.

「She’s pretty cute. You interested, huh?」Lustboy joked.

「She probably already has a boyfriend. Didn’t you see how lovey-dovey she was talking to that guy just now? My name may be scoundrel, but I’m not that kind of scoundrel,」Undying Scoundrel said, waving his hand.

Seeing Netherluna coming over, they no longer continued on this topic.

“Do you need something?” Nie Yan asked. He looked Netherluna up and down. Clad in silver white armour, she had this capable air about her, like Jeanne d’Arc. He had a good impression of her, but this was nothing more than appreciation.

“Thank you. If you didn’t go out of your way to help, we would’ve lost even more people,” Netherluna said.

Nie Yan chuckled. “It was nothing.”

Netherluna wanted to apologize for the way she acted earlier. However, before she could say anything, Nie Yan turned around and waved his hand. “Come on, guys, let’s go!”

Nie Yan never took the matter from before to heart, nor did the thought of getting payback ever cross his mind.

“Alright!” Everyone got on their flying mounts and took to the air.

The powerful gusts caused Netherluna to stagger back. Looking up at the sky, she saw the Darkwing Dragon, Phoenix, and other flying mounts flapping their wings. These mighty existences formed an awe-inspiring line up. She couldn’t help but stare until long after they disappeared over the horizon.

Netherluna stood in place for a long time, a mess of emotions stirring in her heart. She turned back to Canon and the others. “Let’s go too.”

The system erased the Kong King and the players had all left. Tranquility returned over these grasslands, with birds chirping and the occasional beast striding past.

Nie Yan’s group returned to Okoron. Nie Yan deposited the Mountain Guardian Chestplate and Gauntlets into the guild treasury, then had someone deliver the Diffusion Crystal to Violet Mist.

Prior to setting off to hunt the Kong King, Yallop had asked permission to leave for a while. Nie Yan didn’t try to stop him. NPCs had their own thoughts, and getting in the way of that would cause their loyalty to drop.

Yallop still hadn’t come back. Nie Yan was worried. “Don’t tell me he went back to the Kavannas to get revenge...”

Thinking for a bit, Yallop probably wasn’t that stupid. Going back to the Kavannas alone was simply throwing his life away. After fleeing the place with his life only hours before, he wouldn’t likely return so soon.

Nie Yan decided to continue waiting. If Yallop still hadn’t returned after a couple of days, he would send people out to look for him.

While Nie Yan was away, more and more NPCs had arrived in Okoron. Some were refugees escaping from war. Others came from the neighbouring tribes. A portion of them would settle down, while the rest was only passing through.

Regardless, Okoron was growing more and more lively.

After finding out about Okoron, the players operating in the Abernathy Great Grasslands came flocking over for a visit. They contributed to the economy in the city, purchasing various supplies from the NPCs. Since Nie Yan still hadn’t started collecting taxes yet, trading here was extremely cheap.

Okoron’s population quickly grew. The streets were filled with more and more people.

Nie Yan was extremely pleased. Everything was progressing smoothly. After making an announcement in the mercenary association that he was recruiting guards, he attracted quite a few NPCs. Most were vagabonds and wanderers. They were Level 130–140 Elites, not that strong considering the levels of the surrounding maps. But they could easily overpower any ordinary player. For the time being, they could serve as guards. Even though he wasn’t too satisfied with the quality of these wanderers, the cost of hiring them was almost negligible to him at only 10 gold a day.

With such a low hiring fee, Nie Yan could recruit as many as he wanted. He didn’t need to worry about the numbers. If he could recruit a thousand, two thousand, or even more NPCs, this kind of force couldn’t be looked down on.

For the sake of attracting more NPCs to Okoron, Nie Yan put up the announcement in the mercenary associations across both the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire.

News of Nie Yan mass recruiting NPCs quickly attracted the attention of Angel Corps, the Century Financial Group, and the Monet Financial Group. If Nie Yan built an NPC army, the first to be targeted would be one of them. Dealing with players was fairly simple, but facing an army of fully armed NPCs was completely different. They paid close attention to the movements in Okoron.

The salary Nie Yan offered was extremely generous. Some NPCs who were dissatisfied with their posts started considering moving to Okoron. Many packed up their bags and set off from various cities.

As a large number of NPCs started flocking to Okoron, many players also started paying attention to the city’s growth. Especially some big businesses who were showing interest in the city’s commerce.

The 13 Masters parted ways and went off with their own business. Nie Yan was thinking about where he would go to level. After preparing some supplies, he was about to set off.

“Boss! Yallop is back!” Tyrannical rushed into the room, panting for breath.

“Where is he?” Nie Yan asked. There was no need for Tyrannical to get so excited just because Yallop had come back, right?

“He’s at the mercenary association!” Tyrannical exclaimed, unable to contain his excitement.

“What’s he doing there?” Nie Yan asked in doubt.

“He brought back a huge group of NPCs with him! Over several dozen of them, big and burly just like him, and they’re all Warriors!” Tyrannical stumbled over his words.