Nie Yan spent several more days in the Dark Demonic Space, bringing the Divine Eclipse Dragon up to Level 156.

Nie Yan gradually realized something. Even though the system had nerfed the use of pets in PvP, they also greatly reduced the amount of experience required to level them up. For example, Lil’ Gold was already Level 172. Generally, unless there was some sort of special circumstance, it was best not to raise a pet more than five levels over that of the player, or else there was a risk of the pet rebelling against its master. However, he didn’t have to worry about this because his Dragon King’s Divine Might demanded absolute loyalty of all dragon pets.

As Lil’ Gold levelled up several times, he became more useful again in the Dark Demonic Space. However, it couldn’t be compared to that of the Divine Eclipse Dragon.

The Level 156 Divine Eclipse Dragon had the ability to challenge the fastest clear time of the Dark Demonic Space.

Holy Nova Ray!

The Divine Eclipse Dragon shot out a ray of light. The dazzling radiance illuminated the entire Dark Demonic Space. All the Dark Demonkin in the next 800 meters of the bridge were wiped out clean.

Nie Yan’s pets steamrolled through everything and anything in their path. Seeing a large horde of Dark Demonkin charging over, Nie Yan had the Divine Eclipse Dragon fire an Abyssal Pierce. Another 600 meters of the bridge were cleared instantly.

Nie Yan continued pressing forward at a monstrous pace. In only six minutes, he’d already advanced several thousand meters. This kind of speed was inconceivable in the eyes of ordinary players.

Lil’ Gold, the Violet Eye Dragon, and the Shadow Demon Wolf charged into the Dark Demonkin, shoving them into each other until some were pushed off the bridge. Nie Yan used this method to press forward for a minute, packing the Dark Demonkin as closely together as possible. When the mob density was high enough, the Divine Eclipse Dragon opened its mouth. A black and white light beam shot out toward the Dark Demonkin before combining together.

BOOOOM! A monochrome light lit up the entire Dark Demonic Space. The bridge quaked violently as if it were about to collapse. Nie Yan’s face paled. “It’s not really going to collapse, right?”

The explosion slowly subsided. Thankfully, the bridge was still intact. All the Dark Demonkin for the next 100 meters were blasted into oblivion.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon had pretty much used all of its powerful magic. Lil’ Gold and the Violet Eye Dragon took the vanguard again and started sweeping through everything in their path. As for the Shadow Demon Wolf, all it had to do was charge forward. Every time it leaped into the horde of Dark Demonkin, many would be forced off the bridge.

About two hours later, Nie Yan saw the tower in the distance.

There was about 1,000 meters left. All he needed was one final push.

Nie Yan had the Shadow Demon Wolf lead the vanguard. He leaped up onto the wolf’s back, then slashed out with an Annihilation Slash. BOOOM! Another 60 meters of the bridge were cleared out.

Barrelling forward for another 30 minutes, Nie Yan leaped 30 meters through the air, then shot out a web line at the tower. As he swung inside, he lunged forward and slammed the crystal with his hand.

A dazzling light shone out. Nie Yan’s time was recorded down.

“2 hours, 15 minutes, and 2 seconds! Not bad.” Nie Yan smirked.

Craftsman God’s Invitation: You may request Craftsman God Bronnik of the Hardrock Mountain Valley to upgrade one piece of equipment into Chaos gear.

Nie Yan was stunned. Craftsman God Bronnik? He had never heard of this NPC before, even in his past life. It seemed like Bronnik had appeared sometime over the past three years, and he could turn ordinary equipment into Chaos gear!

According to the information Nie Yan read online, the equipment in the Atlanta continent was already fully developed, with the highest grade being Sacred Objects like the Death God’s Edge. The next best were Divines like Zennarde’s Sword. Chaos gear was a brand new type of equipment introduced in the past three years. They came from the distant void and were crafted from void metal. Using the grading system of the Atlanta continent, they could be considered Divines, with the best being on par with Sacred Objects.

This was one of the reasons Nie Yan had fallen so far behind!

Nie Yan glanced at his equipment window. “Should I try turning Zennarde’s Sword into a piece of Chaos gear?”

If it were possible, would Zennarde’s Sword become a Sacred Object?

While Nie Yan was deep in thought, a global announcement rang out.

This announcement was made both in the Righteous Faction and Evil Faction. The playerbase instantly went into an uproar.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but bitterly smile. It seemed like he had screwed up. Even though was in appear offline mode—not even his friends knew he was online—when he accomplished this large of a feat, the system would still make an announcement.

Nie Yan didn’t expect beating the record for the Dark Demonic Space would result in a global announcement. He couldn’t help but gloomily shake his head.

What Nie Yan didn’t know was that when the Dark Demonic Space was first released, there were countless players challenging it every day, up to 800,000 at its peak. Every time someone broke the fastest record, the system would always make a global announcement. New and improved methods were thought of every day. It was only until Howling Wind created the five-hour record that it slowly died down, since no one was able to beat it.

The players who challenged the Dark Demonic Space all reached Level 180, then moved on to different places. There were still around 50,000 players coming here every day to level, but no one could break Howling Wind’s record.

The Satreen Empire’s number one Magister was truly powerful.

However, his record was broken, and by none other than Nirvana Flame! The entire server was in a state of upheaval. Nirvana Flame was back!

Asskickers United’s guild chat.

「Guys, look at the global announcement!」a Magister shouted excitedly.

「We know! The boss is back? How come he hasn’t said anything?」

News of Nie Yan’s return was like a tornado, sweeping through all of Asskickers United.

「I knew the boss would come back! I knew he wouldn’t abandon us!」Several veteran guild members were choking up in tears. They thought back to three years ago. Nie Yan had led them in braving through countless storms, defeating all the enemies in their path before finally unifying the entire Righteous faction.

「Why hasn’t the boss said anything?」

「Boss, say something!」

「It doesn’t matter how much time passes. You will always be our boss! We’ve all been waiting for you to come home!」

The guild chat flooded with messages. Reading through them all, countless faces flashed through Nie Yan’s mind, his nose turning sour.

“Should I tell them?” Nie Yan muttered. As the guild leader of Asskickers United, he didn’t want to return like this. He was only Level 161, and his equipment was out of date. It would truly feel a bit depressing. He didn’t know how many voices, especially those from outside, would start making disparaging comments.

More notifications filled his vision. His friends were sending whispers without break.

Bladelight:「Damn! You came back and didn’t even let us know? You owe us three rounds of beer in the next gathering!」

Smoke Stub:「It’s good you’re back. You’ve really made everyone wait.」

Undying Scoundrel:「Boss, you don’t know how much we’ve missed you! Please say something. Your brothers are waiting!」

Young Sparrow Hawk:「Back already from your honeymoon? Wanna go levelling together with us later? Without you here, it’s just not the same.」

...

Nie Yan received several hundred whispers. In offline mode, he couldn’t receive any calls. So, they could only send him text messages. Even so, he could feel the sincere emotions from their words. His eyes started tearing up. It felt really good to be alive.

Nie Yan hadn’t seen any of them in quite some time already. He wondered how they were doing. So, he took his time to reply to their messages and explain why he wouldn’t step out from the shadows for now.

Guo Huai, Bladelight, and the others placated the guild members in the chat, telling them that Nie Yan would return, just not quite yet.

Nie Yan took in a deep breath. Seeing the warm greetings of all the members in the guild, he couldn’t help but get emotional. If he returned to the guild right now, he didn’t know what he would do. He might even burst into tears. Separation made the heart grow fonder, perhaps this was this feeling.

The guild chat was in a celebratory mood. Nie Yan had returned, even if he was only at Level 156. What they didn’t know was that he’d already grinded himself to Level 161. The time of his return to the peak and the guild would soon come!

All guild members were incredibly excited.

「The boss really knows how to make an entrance. As soon as he came back, he broke the record for the Dark Demonic Space. He more than halved Howling Wind’s time!」

「With this kind of speed, it won’t take long for the boss to break past Level 180!」

「Hehe, I bet Plenty is starting to sweat right about now.」

「I can’t wait for the boss to complete the Book of Order and become the Supreme Pontiff. That would be awesome.」

Asskickers United’s players were excitedly chatting with each other. Only a few of the more level headed players knew that a three year gap wasn’t that easy to overcome.