Chapter 179 – Light Monastery
As Nie Yan traversed the dense forest region, he spotted a Kamirun building up ahead beyond the shade of the trees.
Kamirun meant purity and light in the Ancient Common Language. It was a style of architecture widely seen on the holy shrines spread across the various regions of the empire. Its most notable characteristic was the expensive Kamirun white stone, the primary material used in the construction of buildings of this style. It was far more dazzling than ordinary white stone, reflecting bright halos under the sun’s rays, giving off a feeling of incorruptible sanctity. Apart from this, Kamirun buildings generally had round rooftops that were deep crimson.
The Light Monastery had fallen into disrepair after centuries of neglect, its white stone walls covered in mud and grime, failing to reflect even the faintest glimmer. It had once been a sacred place of pilgrimage, but now it was in ruins, its years of splendor having long since passed. In front of the monastery was an open square where at the center stood the statue of an angel. It had a pious expression on its face, though it was now barely discernible under the corrosion and wear.
Nie Yan trod lightly as he made his way toward the entrance of the monastery. The gates were wide open, allowing for him to peer inside. He could make out humanoid figures cloaked in red skulking around the courtyard. They had crooked backs, carrying a dagger in each hand; they were bandits.
Red Cloaked Heretic: Level 30
Health: 1,200/1,200
Generally, Thief-type creatures had small health pools, but their attacks were quite fierce. They were even capable of stunning players with a Concussive Blow every so often. On another note, as human monsters, money and items could be pilfered from their pockets. So Level 30 Thieves that had learned Steal would find training here to be quite profitable.
Red Cloaked Heretics were classified as evil creatures. So Nie Yan’s Intermediate Demon Hunter title could weaken their stats by twenty percent, making them easier to handle. He’d be able to deal around three hundred damage with every attack.
Nie Yan was still only Level 17, so fighting these Red Cloak Heretics would take up a lot of his time . He decided to simply sneak around them.
Nie Yan stepped through the gate, where he discovered a tablet of stone protruding from the ground. It was inscribed with characters from the Ancient Common Language. As it was badly damaged by corrosion, he could only make out a few words.
「Ten Holy Paladins
As the Dark Era is about to pass, we await the descend of light.」
The Legend of the Ten Holy Paladins was an old folks’ tale passed down from generation to generation in the Glennin province. Its origins stretched back to the Dark Era. It told of a group of unyielding heroes who fought against the tyranny of the ruthless dragons while spreading faith in the Light. They founded the Light Monastery, Glennin’s most important stronghold of resistance that lasted all the way until the eve of the Dark Era, when the reign of the dragons was overthrown. The monastery was suddenly abandoned, and the Ten Holy Paladins vanished without a trace. Some say that after serving out their purpose, they left for the kingdom of heaven to accept God’s blessings. Others claimed they brought their beloveds with them to live out their lives in peace and solitude, free from worldly affairs in the northern prairies of the province.
The Light Monastery was later occupied by Red Cloaked Heretics who drove out the nearby residents, and transformed this place into a bandit den.
Just what kind of untold mysteries were hidden within the Legend of the Ten Holy Paladins? The history of Conviction was always so intriguing that people couldn’t help but want to seek out the truth.
After entering the Light Monastery, Nie Yan heard the sound of battle.
“Tuoba, we were doing perfectly fine before. Why the heck do you want to monkey around in a hellhole like this? There’s way too many mobs here, and all of them are Level 30. If we meet an Elite, we’re toast!”
A crass voice entered Nie Yan’s ear. It sounded somewhat familiar.
“If we don’t do this now, we probably won’t get a chance in the future. The Legend of the Ten Holy Paladins is such a famous story! I’m certain this place is related to it. Maybe we’ll receive a Paladin related quest!” The other voice sounded a bit listless.
Nie Yan furrowed his brows. It seemed there were people who had arrived here before him. After entering the monastery’s courtyard, there was only one path forward. It would be very difficult to go around them.
Activating stealth, he slowly made his way forward. As he looked up ahead, the scene that entered his eyes left him baffled.
Since people only dared to explore high-level maps in groups, Nie Yan thought he was going to find at least five or six players in front of him. Never did he expect that he was only going to encounter two.
One of them was a Berserker who resembled a metallic titan that could rend the earth apart. Six foot three and brimming with muscles, he wore a full set of armour that sparkled with dark golden lustre and carried a pitch-black greatsword, socketed at the hilt with three blue gems.
Nie Yan’s heart leaped at the sight of this person. He really was too perverse. He actually got himself a Dark Battle Armour Set! It was a set that only dropped from Undead Blacksmith Kalu, a Level 25 Elite, in Darkwind Canyon. Kalu took a day to respawn after being killed while the Dark Battle Armour Set consisted of five parts—Sword, Chestplate, Helmet, Gauntlets, and Greaves—which meant it would take at least a five days to grind out the full set, and that was only if you were very lucky.
Nie Yan shifted his focus to the other, a Paladin in azure armour. He wore the Aqua Holy Light Set, another Level 25 set. The difficulty of obtaining this set wasn’t far off from the Dark Battle Armour Set. It would require the player to expend quite a bit of effort, at least seven to eight days of work.
The backs of these players looked a little familiar. He inspected the both of them with Transcendent Insight.
Tuoba Time: Level 25
Class: Paladin
Dauntless: Level 25
Class: Berserker
Nie Yan was shocked. Both these players were Level 25, yet their names didn’t show on the leaderboards. They were just like him, players who wished to stay anonymous. He now recalled why he found them a bit familiar. He had met them before, outside the entrance of the Starry Night Potion Shop right after establishing it!1 Back then, they didn’t make much of an impression. Who could’ve imagined they’d appear so high-spec the next time he encountered them! Taking into account their levels and gear quality, they surely had astonishing backgrounds!
No wonder they dared to explore the Light Monastery with only two people.
Although Nie Yan had never heard of these two players before in his past life, there were many experts he wasn’t aware existed. These kinds of players generally weren’t professional gamers. They simply played for pleasure, not caring for fame or profit. However, most of these players were just as skilled as professional players. They usually came from wealthy backgrounds, so gains and losses in the game were of no importance.
Nie Yan could also obtain a full set of equipment like theirs if he spent six or seven days farming. But for him, putting in all that effort for some gear that he’d switch out after five or ten levels anyway wasn’t a cost-effective use of his time. On the other hand, collecting the six chapters from the first volume of the Book of Order would benefit him far into the future. Even seeking out the last fragment needed to fully repair Sulgata’s Shadow was a more efficient course of action.
Dauntless and Tuoba Time had just finished their battle. Beside their feet was the corpse of a Red Cloaked Heretic.
After picking up the drops, the two didn’t pause for rest. Dauntless charged forward and taunted over a dozen Red Cloaked Heretics in the vicinity, forcing them to pounce at him.
Whirlwind Slash!
Dauntless’s greatsword swept through all the Red Cloaked Heretics, causing damage values of over two hundred to float up above their heads. Inversely, they only dealt thirty to forty damage to him each.
Although the Dark Battle Armour Set was an offensively focused set, its defensive capabilities couldn’t be overlooked.
Warriors also gained a damage bonus when attacking leather-armoured opponents, so Dauntless’s damage was truly impressive.
Tuoba Time cast Junior Heal on Dauntless, then slashed a nearby Red Cloaked Heretic with a Divine Strike.
−430
The holy light of Paladins was quite potent against evil creatures. After landing the Divine Strike, Tuoba Time activated Divine Decree. The holy aura around him radiated outward. Resembling tiny needles, they stabbed into the bodies of the Red Cloaked Heretics who lost twenty health every second under the brilliant radiance.
Dauntless activated Whirlwind Slash once more. As his greatsword swept in a full circle, he caused a blanket of damage values to rise into the air. It wasn’t long before the group of Red Cloaked Heretics collapsed to the ground as the courtyard became littered with corpses.
Tuoba Time picked up all the items that dropped on the floor and sorted them out. Afterwards, he and Dauntless found a corner where they could sit down. They ate Barley Bread to recover their health, all the while chatting.
“That Legend of the Ten Holy Paladins or whatever, it’s just background lore to pad the game! For all we know, there might be nothing here! Is it really worth risking our lives!?” Although it was only the two of them, Dauntless’s voice was still as loud as a bullhorn.
“Who knows? We’re just here to take a look. If we don’t find anything, then so be it. Besides, even if we meet an Elite, I’m pretty sure we can handle it. If we encounter more than one, we can just run for it,” Tuoba Time answered lackadaisically.
Dauntless knew no matter what he did, he wouldn’t be able to convince Tuoba to leave. This rascal seemed like a lazy fool who’d give up after encountering the slightest bit of resistance, but in actuality, he was impossibly stubborn; once his mind was set on something, even ten oxen couldn’t hold him back. Originally, there were six members in their party. They were supposed to go off somewhere to level together, but Tuoba kept insisting on going to the Light Monastery even though the others didn’t want to. In the end, the only people left were him and Dauntless.
“How did I ever end up befriending a guy like you? Hah… what choice do I have. We were in this together the moment I decided to follow you,” said Dauntless with a wry smile.
Tuoba Time faintly smiled. Dauntless was a brash individual, but his personality wasn’t bad.
As for Tuoba, although he was usually lost in his own world, he was also very loyal. This was why these two seemingly entirely different people got along so well.
The two stood up after their health bars were restored to full, ready to take on the next group of monsters.
Dauntless took up a battle stance.
Tuoba Time gave himself and Dauntless multiple blessings. Their Strength, Dexterity, Awareness, and other stats received a significant boost. With these blessings active, Tuoba felt a slight tremor in his mind.
“Watch out, there’s a Thief!” Tuoba Time cried out, activating Eyes of the Divine. His pupils shone with a golden light as he scanned the surroundings. He discovered Nie Yan lurking in the shadows around ten metres away from them. Not too far away, but it didn’t seem like he had any intention of attacking them.
Dauntless stared blankly. As a Warrior, his Awareness was much lower than a Paladin’s. It didn’t help that he had a restless nature either. He was fine blindly charging into battle and beating up foes, but when it came to a task that required a sharp mind, like detecting an enemy in stealth, his performance was rather poor. Then again, he was a Warrior with great equipment. Even if he didn’t pay attention to his surroundings when levelling outside, no Thief would be stupid enough to attack him. Although he could be immobilized for a few seconds with a Concussive Blow, he was too tanky to be bursted down from full health. As soon as he recovered and struck out with a Tendon Break, any ordinary Thief would drop like a wet rag.
1. Nie Yan encounters them in Chapter 115.