Chapter 187 – Paladin Kavana
Nie Yan really didn’t want to form an irreconcilable enmity with Black Hell. He wanted to talk with the other player first, to avoid the use of force if possible. Regardless of how the talks went, however, he would definitely try to get the Chapter of Harmony by fair means or foul. After being merged into a single item, the six chapters in Volume I would be on par with a piece of Legendary-grade equipment. The importance of such an item to his future plans was absolutely critical. Better yet, the completed Volume I was bindable and would no longer drop if he died.
I’ll wait and see, I guess. It’s not like Black Hell can hide when I get hourly reports on his location. Nie Yan continued picking off the Corrupted Silver Paladins one by one. Finally, the area around the first dark gold chest was clear of monsters.
After killing so many Corrupted Silver Paladins from afar, Nie Yan recognized the need for a good ranged weapon. He still had his eye on the Sub Legendary Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow. Although it had a massive Strength requirement, he could meet it with the use of equipment and skills that boosted his Strength by the time he was around Level 70. Even if he could only equip it by the time he reached Level 80, it wouldn’t be too late. He absolutely had to craft this crossbow!
Nie Yan broke off his reverie, looking at the Level 30 dark gold chest in front of him. Its level was a bit too high for him, but he was able to just barely unlock it because his Lockpicking Specialist gave a +1 level boost to unlocking chests.
System: Opening treasure chest… Estimated Completion: 3%… 7%… 5%… 9%…
It took over three minutes of unstable progress for Nie Yan to finally succeed in unlocking the chest.
System: You’ve unlocked a Dark Gold Chest! Lockpicking Specialist has gained 5 points of proficiency!
Five points of proficiency in Lockpicking Specialist? So many! Pleasantly surprised, Nie Yan opened the chest and took out a thick book and a piece of dark gold leather armour. He quickly appraised them to view their properties.
The book was jet-black with a bronze gilt around the edges. Ornate designs decorated the cover, along with some large text written in Ancient Common.
Skill Book: Hellfire (Hell Magic)
Description: Allows the user to manipulate fire from the depths of Hell to attack the opponent.
Requirements: 2 Sets of Gestures, 2 Sets of Syllables, Intermediate Arcane Sigil (Must be Inscribed)
150 Intelligence, 5 Focus, 5 Willpower (Forcefully casting this spell without meeting the necessary stat requirements will result in the player being put in a weakened state, reducing all stats by 80% for 2 days.)
Properties: Area-of-effect spell. Cast range of 3030 meters. Increase Burn Damage. Residual Burn (Scales with Focus and Willpower above 5).
Cooldown: 2 Days.
Restrictions: Arcane Mage, Elementalist.
Hell Magic was just like Elemental Hall Magic, a high-ranking type of magic. A spell from one of these magics had far higher attack power than a normally accessible spell.
The high power of these spells corresponded to their high usage requirements and cooldowns. Casting Hellfire required a significant amount of preparation. The player would have to find a seller and purchase an Intermediate Arcane Sigil. They’d need to spend an hour and two thousand mana inscribing Hellfire into the sigil. Furthermore, they’d often have to drink a potion to make sure didn’t run out of mana midway. Finally, two sets of syllables and gestures had to be performed before the spell could be cast. After which it would go on cooldown for two days, and the process would have to be repeated once more.
All of these prerequisites were naturally rewarded with an alarmingly powerful spell. An area-of-effect spell with a range over three kilometers was incredible. On top of the damage, the spell even had residual burn effect that scaled with the caster’s Focus and Willpower.
For a high-level Mage, Focus and Willpower were extremely important stats. They would allow the player to regenerate mana faster, summon more magical energy during a set casting time, and naturally deal more damage. For example, if a Mage put ten points each in Focus and Willpower, they could deal a hundred more damage compared to having zero points in each stat. So even though a Mage would focus primarily on raising their Intelligence, they still needed to pay attention to their Focus and Willpower, especially when picking equipment.
As Nie Yan looked at the Hellfire skill book in his hands, joy lit up his face. Asskickers United finally had a spell from the high-ranking magics! To any guild, the significance of having such a spell was extremely high.
But who should he give the skill book to? Nie Yan first thought of Tang Yao, but with Tang Yao’s lazy personality he would most likely not want to deal with such a complicated spell. Just to make sure, Nie Yan messaged Tang Yao with Hellfire’s properties and asked,「Do you want to learn this spell?」
「What a powerful spell! This Hellfire spell of yours is so much stronger than my Meteor!」 Tang Yao exclaimed.「But… I’d need to spend an hour every few days to inscribe the sigil… I don’t want it. Also, I recently learned Firestorm, so you should find someone else in the guild to learn Hellfire. Ugh… spending an hour inscribing the spell means that I’m not levelling up during that time. I’m actually better off with just Meteor and Firestorm.」
「Alright then. Since you have Firestorm, I’ll be giving Hellfire to someone else in the guild.」When handing out a benefit like the Hellfire skill book, Nie Yan would obviously prioritize the members of the guild who had signed a contract over those who didn’t. Of those, there were several Arcane Mages and Elementalists. The most skilled player from this group would receive the Hellfire skill book.
Although Tang Yao had the highest level, his experience was mainly from grinding and Nie Yan’s advice. In terms of technical skill, the Arcane Mages and Elementalists who had signed the guild contract were probably better than him. He decided to delegate the task of choosing an owner for the skill book to Guo Huai.
Nie Yan put away the skill book and looked at the other piece of loot he had received.
Skywalker Leather Armour (Dark Gold)
Requirements: Level 30
Set Items: Skywalker Leather Armour, Skywalker Bracers, Skywalker Boots
Properties: Defense 102–108, Dexterity +19, Defense Level +1, Damage Reduction (Rank 3), Defense Against Magic Attacks +20%.
Weight: 7lb
Restrictions: Thief; can be equipped by any faction.
Nie Yan looked at this dark gold Skywalker Leather Armour. The Skywalker Set was the best set of armour for level 30 thieves. In his past life, someone had relied on this very equipment set to kill a Mage who had a five-level advantage over them thanks to the boost in survivability.
After all, as a set of Dark Gold equipment, the properties were bound to be good.
Even though the Skywalker Leather Armour wasn’t particularly suited for his fighting style, its boost to his survivability was unquestionable. If he could really get himself the complete Level 30 Skywalker Set, he could prioritize on improving his own damage without worry later on, for example, by socketing the set with Strength Gems and so on.
Since he had found one piece of the Skywalker Set here, the other two pieces of the set were bound to be here as well, considering this entire section of the map was explored by no one else but him.
I can’t wear this for now… Nie Yan put away the Skywalker Leather Armour in his bag. He proceeded to hunt the rest of the Corrupted Silver Paladins in the map, drawing them out one by one.
With everything in order, Nie Yan cleared out the crowd of Corrupted Silver Paladins surrounding the other dark chest. After which he walked over and opened it.
Just like Nie Yan predicted earlier, he found the two remaining pieces of the Skywalker Set in the other chest.
Skywalker Bracers: (Dark Gold)
Requirements: Level 30
Set Items: Skywalker Leather Armour, Skywalker Bracers, Skywalker Boots
Properties: Defense 82–88, Dexterity +12, Strength +15, Damage Reduction (Rank 3), Defense Against Magic Attacks +20%.
Weight: 1 lb
Restrictions: Thief; can be equipped by any faction.
Skywalker Boots: (Dark Gold)
Requirements: Level 30
Set Items: Skywalker Leather Armour, Skywalker Bracers, Skywalker Boots
Properties: Defense 72–85, Dexterity +10, Balance +5, Swift Run (Rank 3), Defense Against Magic Attacks +20%.
Weight: 3 lb
Restrictions: Thief; can be equipped by any faction.
Nie Yan needed to equip all three pieces to see the true effects of the set. He wasn’t knowledgeable of what the set effects of the Skywalker Set were. In the previous timeline, he was still wearing a mix of Silver and Gold equipment at Level 30, while his hope of ever obtaining a set of Dark Gold equipment such as the Skywalker Set was merely a fleeting fantasy. Let alone dark gold chests, back then, he hadn’t opened more than a few gold chests. At that time, he had never been the first to explore any map, nor did he have the ability to search for traces of dark gold chests.
In this life, however, his circumstances were completely different.
Finding the two dark gold chests made Nie Yan very happy. A Hellfire skill book and the full Skywalker Set, not a bad haul! In addition, he also had twenty-six fragments of Splitting Edge in his bag. When he returned to the city, he could find an Intermediate Blacksmith to forge the complete weapon. As for the leftover fragments, he could throw them in the guild treasury. There were definitely going to be others who would want them in the future.
Nie Yan scanned the central hall. The floor was littered with corpses.
The crystal coffin up ahead was the only thing left to attend to.
Although his goal was exceedingly close, Nie Yan was still on high alert. He couldn’t discount the possibility of a boss emerging in this area.
Nie Yan ascended the flight of stairs. The crystal coffin was right before his eyes, reaching up to his waist as he stood beside it. Sculpted from pure and transparent crystal of the highest quality, sparkling and limpid, it reflected a splendid radiance under the lights of the central hall.
A silver-armoured NPC lay unmoving inside the crystal coffin. Through the transparent crystal, his features could be clearly seen—fair complexion, blonde hair, and a handsome face befitting a hero. His entire body emitted a faint, gentle glow. He appeared divine—dignified, with both arms crossed around his chest. A Paladin’s sword rested right beside his coffin.
Both his eyes were closed. His serene appearance made it seem like he was still alive, as though he could awaken at a moment’s notice.
He was probably the Paladin who had died, Kavana.
According to the history of the Atlanta continent, he was a figure from the end of the Dark Era. In other words, his corpse had been resting here for almost a millennium. Yet there wasn’t any signs of rotting.
Nie Yan looked over at Kavana’s legs. A thin piece of paper floated just above his body, emitting a bright resplendence that dazzled the eyes.
This was the item that Nie Yan had been searching for, the Chapter of Justice!