Chapter 560 - Wish Necklace
The Century Financial Group had many channels of income. The various gaming organizations, shops, and auction houses flying their banner brought in a large revenue every day. Afterwards, they would use this gold to expand their strength, bringing countless guilds under their rule and reducing them to lackeys.
a.s.skickers United’s appearance had thrwarted the Century Financial Group’s business plan, nearly ruining their carefully crafted operations in the Viridian Empire. Otherwise, they would’ve been even more powerful in Conviction.
Even so, the Century Financial Group was still a behemoth-like existence.
The Century Financial Group had many tricks up their sleeves, employing various financing and reselling schemes to acc.u.mulate vast amounts of wealth. With the support of their almost limitless capital, they claimed success in all of their business ventures, earning a vast amount of profit every day. More recently, however, their business operations had been sniped by a.s.skickers United.
Li Rui bribe two high-level supervisors in the Century Financial Group, obtaining a large amount of information. Armed with this knowledge, Guo Huai maneuvered a.s.skickers United’s 5,000,000 gold to get one step ahead of the Century Financial Group where he could. As a result, this 5,000,000 gold grew to more than 6,000,000.
The Century Financial Group had roughly 8,000,000 gold circulating in the Viridian Empire. It was impossible for an ordinary investor to pose a threat to them. In the entire Viridian Empire, a power that could rival them in moving capital was incredibly difficult to find. Most guilds and financial groups would have a tough time acc.u.mulating such a large amount of gold. a.s.skickers United was the first that dared to go toe-to-toe with the Century Financial Group in this manner. Besides the moving of capital, the Century Financial Group had several business opportunities s.n.a.t.c.hed away. A total of three shops were acquired by a.s.skickers United first.
As a result of a.s.skickers United’s sniping, the Century Financial Group hadn’t made any profit these past few days. In fact, they had lost close to 600,000 gold. They no longer dared to throw around their money without care.
a.s.skickers United covered up their tracks quite well. So, the Century Financial Group had no idea who was behind all this.
Of course, with a mysterious financial group thwarting their plans several times in quick succession, Cao Xu’s interest was piqued. But when he took action to find out who this rivaling power was, it disappeared without a trace.
The financial market calmed down for the time being. However, the undercurrent in the Viridian Empire were still turbulent. Every major power was starting to become restless, fighting over various interests. Meanwhile, a.s.skickers United’s Armoured Ice Catapults were steadily flattening Alliance of Mages’ strongholds, one after the other. Their final target was the Edgarton Stronghold. If the Armoured Ice Catapults reached the Edgarton Stronghold, all of Alliance of Mages would be under threat.
The Century Financial Group was too busy trying to smother the flames lit up by Guo Huai and his team. They couldn’t spare any attention to Alliance of Mages, to the extent of even cutting off fund. This basically gave a.s.skickers United free reign.
With the situation gradually stabilizing, the burden on Nie Yan’s shoulders lessened dramatically. He suddenly found plenty of spare time to himself.
Nie Yan occasionally set off to do some levelling. He spent almost two days grinding non-stop with Death Wave Scrolls and Intermediate and Advanced Magic Bombs, at last reaching Level 97. He was only a few steps away from Level 100!
Like routine, Nie Yan continued levelling inside the Fallen City at Dread Ravine. The density of machine-type monsters was pretty high here, remnants left behind by the goblins who once lived here.
The ancient city was filled with rubble and broken machinery. Mechanical golems roamed the wide open streets. Contrary to their rusty bodies that were practically falling apart, these golems were still Level 100 monsters. All of them looked identical, save for their height. Possessing great strength and powerful stunning skills, they were a lethal threat to Nie Yan. Only with a high-level s.h.i.+eld stood he any chance against them in a direct confrontation. Otherwise, they’d simply stun him to death.
Nie Yan relied on his bread-and-b.u.t.ter method. He used his Cavalry Crossbow to draw the aggro of these golems, then he would bombard them with dark golden Magic Bombs. With loud explosions ringing out in quick succession, scorching tongues of flames flew out everywhere as the resulting shockwave flattened the surroundings.
The might of these explosions was more than 10 times that of the Junior Magic Bombs. The area of effect was also several times larger. It was almost as if someone had set off a large amount of TNT, leaving viewers in absolute awe of its might.
As the shock wave swept through, damage values of over 10,000 rose up from the heads of the golems. After several more Advanced Magic Bombs, the parts that made up their bodies lay scattered on the ground.
The Advanced Magic Bombs were crafted by Violet Smoke specifically for Nie Yan. Each one had a production cost of over 100 gold. There were 1,500 altogether, and all of them went to Nie Yan for levelling. If one were to buy an Advanced Magic Bomb from a Tinkerer shop, the price would be at least 10 times higher, not to mention the stock was limited to 10 a day. Crafting the Advanced Magic Bombs inhouse was much more cost-effective.
Nie Yan had already lost count of how many golems he had killed. The loot he had collected so far could be sold off for close to 300,000 gold.
Levelling up for Nie Yan was incredibly difficult. The amount of experience required was too high. Ordinary players would usually take at least a month to go from Level 96 to 97. However, he had accomplished that in less than a day. This kind of speed was heart-attack inducing. It could be said that Nie Yan paid his way from Level 95 to 97. However, ordinary players had no way of copying him. Even if they had the money, they couldn’t obtain so many Advanced Magic Bombs at this stage of the game.
After taking out this group of 300 golems, Nie Yan began collecting his spoils. Rummaging through the metal piles, nails, and other broken parts, he saw the distinct sparkle of an item drop. If his luck was good, he would find a few rare treasures. Most of the equipment he picked up was White-grade, with some Bronze-grade in between. Silver-grade and up was fairly rare. He also found a few Energy Shards. If he collected enough of them, he could fuse them together into an Energy Crystal. For crafting machines, Energy Crystals had a wide range of applications.
After pus.h.i.+ng aside several sc.r.a.ps of metal, Nie Yan spotted a sparkling gem among the junk. Emitting a dazzling emerald light, it was about the size of a thumb.
“This gem seems to be one of the rarer ones. I bet it’ll go for a lot of gold,” Nie Yan muttered to himself.
Nie Yan collected at least 70 gem drops every day. So, he didn’t care too much about this gem. He casually picked it up and was about to toss it in his bag, when he read its name.
“Life Emerald...?” Nie Yan’s voice trembled with excitement. It really was one!
After spending so much effort looking for it and eventually giving up, it appeared just like that!
Nie Yan quickly rummaged through the corner of his inventory and took out several items.
By combining one Azure Fantasy Sapphire, one Scarlet Blaze Ruby, one Life Emerald, and one Magic Silver Necklace, Nie Yan would have a Wish Necklace. Among these items, the Scarlet Blaze Ruby, Azure Fantasy Sapphire, and Magic Silver Necklace had been sitting in his bag for who knew how long. Now he had finally found the last remaining item.
“It really wasn’t easy gathering all these materials…” Nie Yan couldn’t help but sigh. For the sake of collecting these few gems, he had utlilized the entire strength of a.s.skickers United. The only thing he couldn’t find was the Life Emerald.
Now knowing this place dropped Life Emeralds, Nie Yan decided to have those in the guild who were strong enough come level here. Perhaps a few more would drop. In any case, for items like the Wish Necklace, the more, the better.
Three different coloured gems sparkled brightly in Nie Yan’s palm, reflecting each other’s light.
Nie Yan had no idea what kind of necklace would come out of this. The Wish Necklace that was created out of these items would have random properties, allowing the corresponding artisan to raise their respective skill by one rank!
Nie Yan took out Pandora’s Box, then placed the Magic Silver Necklace and three gems inside. He couldn’t help but get excited. He could finally obtain the Wish Necklace he so badly desired!
If the crafting of the Wish Necklace succeeded, regardless of which artisan skill it increased, it would be a great boon to a.s.skickers United. It was best if it increased Alchemy, Tinkering, or Engineering, these were the three most thriving artisan skills in the guild. They already had numerous Advanced artisans. If he had any one of them put on the Wish Necklace, they would instantly rise to Master-rank. By obtaining a Wish Necklace, a.s.skickers United could start producing Master-rank goods.
For every crafting profession, Master-rank was a major barrier. By stepping into this rank, their value and efficiency as an artisan would increase dramatically. A single Master-rank artisan was the equivalent of at least five Advanced-rank ones. The items they created were also much better than the ones crafted by Advanced artisans. At the same time, they could also craft the highest quality of item. Take Alchemy for example, in the previous timeline, every Master-rank potion would sell for several hundred or even thousands of gold. Master-rank potion ingredients were incredibly rare, and their effects were also powerful while the demand was high. Countless people broke out into fights just to s.n.a.t.c.h a single Master-rank potion. Besides this, Master-rank Alchemists could take on up to five Alchemist disciples, allowing them to directly ascend to Intermediate-rank. There was more even, they could also pa.s.s on some of their concocting methods!
If used well, the Wish Necklace would become a priceless treasure!
Nie Yan checked Pandora’s Box. Everything was in order.
Are you sure you want to craft this item?
Nie Yan took a deep breath and hit confirm. Immediately, Pandora’s Box erupted with a dazzling radiance, almost as if it had become a miniature sun. All he could see in front of him was a blinding white light.
Even though the failure rate for crafting was extremely low, Nie Yan couldn’t stop himself from becoming nervous. He continued praying to himself. Please succeed!
The Wish Necklace was really too important. Furthermore, the materials required for crafting it were too rare. It wasn’t easy for him to gather enough for one necklace. If the crafting really failed, Nie Yan would probably be filled with the urge to smash his head into a wall.