Spirit Howl and Spirit Possession, the two skills of his Spectre Dragon, were extremely useful. Nie Yan wondered what new skills it would learn next. He had no doubt they would be just as good, if not better. Even though its defense and attack power were fairly weak, those two skills made it far more valuable than the Darkwing Dragon at the same rank.
Nie Yan carefully observed the surroundings, constantly keeping one eye on the Violet Eye Dragons. He did this for three days straight, after which he had a fairly good understanding of their daily routines. Though briefly, he had come in direct contact with one. These dragons were ridiculously powerful. They were proficient in lightning, earth, and spirit magic. Their battle prowess was astonis.h.i.+ng.
If Nie Yan wanted to sneak into the den, he would have to risk life and limb. He had no idea how that mystery person in his past life did it.
Silvery Night, Su Yue, and the others served supporting roles to Nie Yan. They would level in the vicinity, never straying too far, ready to see to his every need.
Level 200 Variant Lords! Nie Yan knitted his brows. Just one of these existences was far beyond him, to say nothing of seven!
After Su Yue helped Silvery Night and the other take down a Level 160 Elite-cla.s.s War Wolf, he gazed into the distance. Nie Yan stood below a tree pondering something. Only his back was visible.
“Chief, it’s been three days. Do you think the boss will come up with a plan? He will find a way, right?”
“I’m not sure, but it’s not like we haven’t gotten anything out of these three days,” Silvery Night said. He wondered how Nie Yan was planning to enter the den. After all, those were Level 200 Variant Lords, and there were seven in total! Did Nie Yan have some kind of trick up his sleeve, simply waiting for the right moment to act, or was he coming up empty?
They couldn’t stay here forever!
Silvery Night and his team, every individual member, racked their brains. They were eager to show their worth to Nie Yan by helping him find a way inside the den.
A large Violet Eye Dragon exited the den and flapped its wings, flying off towards the east of the Fate River.
「Su Yue, tail that dragon!」Nie Yan ordered. No matter which Violet Eye Dragon left the den, he would have a Thief follow it and record its whereabouts, time spent away, and so on.
Over these three days, Nie Yan discovered there was a two-hour window when most of the Violet Eye Dragos would be away from the den, with only three remaining to stand guard. Though still an incredibly steep task, this was the best opportunity to act he’d found.
Worst comes to worst, Nie Yan could only try his luck.
Nie Yan was lost in thought, when he received a report back from Su Yue. The Violet Eye Dragon had flown to a spring in the east of the Fate River. After it finished drinking, it would fly back.
“Silvery Night, how many times a day do they go to the spring to drink on average?” Nie Yan asked.
“Reporting to the boss, at least once a day for around 20 minutes. Though, according to my a.n.a.lysis, over these past few days, it’s been the same Violet Eye Dragon every time,” Silvery Night replied.
“The same one?” Nie Yan knitted his brows. He suddenly thought of something. “Do all the Violet Eye Dragons go to the same spring to drink?”
“To our knowledge, yes they do.” Silvery Night nodded. He couldn’t help but wonder if Nie Yan was planning to ambush and kill one of the Violet Eye Dragons at the spring. However, he immediately discarded the thought. These Violet Eye Dragons were Level 200 Variant Lords! Even the guild’s elite team wasn’t a match for one!
“Bring me over there!” Nie Yan said.
“I’ll bring the boss over to the spring, you guys stay here,” Silvery Night instructed his team.
“Understood!”
Two silhouettes flitted through the forest. Nie Yan and Silvery Night headed toward the east of the Fate River.
About 10 minutes later, after pa.s.sing through a dense patch of forest, Nie Yan and Silvery Night entered a wide open plain. Continuing forward, in the middle of a prairie was a small spring roughly five meters in diameter. Fresh water bubbled up from the underground source as hot steam rose up in the air, and the distinct smell of sulfur permeated the air. The water continuously seeped into the parched earth in the surroundings.
“This is it?” Nie Yan asked, his eyes scanning the surroundings.
“Yeah.” Silvery Night nodded.
“Anywhere else they go to drink?”
“Not that we know of. At least, they haven’t for the past week since we’ve started monitoring their movements,” Silvery Night said. Before Nie Yan had arrived, they’d already been observing these Violet Eye Dragons for quite a few days.
Seeing this small pond, an idea popped up in Nie Yan’s head. He discarded his previous thought of trying to sneak into the den. He had a new plan!
Nie Yan quickly called up Bird.
「Boss, need something?」Bird asked.
「Help me ask Old Liu if his Psychedelic l.u.s.t Potion will have any effect on a Level 200 Variant Lord,」Nie Yan said. If he could incapacitate these Violet Eye Dragons, they would be much easier to deal with.
「A Level 200 Variant Lord!?」Bird blurted out in shock.「No matter how great the potion, I’m afraid none are yet strong enough to have an effect on a Level 200 Variant Lord.」
After hearing Bird’s words, Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel disappointed. It looked like his plan wouldn’t come to fruition.
Bird sunk into deep thought for a moment before continuing,「But it’s not like it’s impossible. Our guild has so many Sage Alchemists. Especially Quiet Nannan, that guy’s alchemy skills can no longer be judged with common sense. Maybe we can come up with something.」
「I need a powerful potion that can disorientate, knock out, or incapacitate a Level 200 Variant Lord. Doesn’t matter how,」Nie Yan said. No matter what kind of effect the potion had, as long as it made the Violet Eye Dragon vulnerable, that was good enough.
「Boss, hold on a moment. I’ll go talk with the others and see if this kind of potion is feasible. I’ll have an answer in five minutes,」Bird said.
「No hurry.」The Starry Night Potion had the best Alchemists in the entire game. Perhaps they could really produce a potion even more potent than the Psychedelic l.u.s.t Potion.
After hanging up, Nie Yan patiently waited, praying Bird and the others would come up with a way. If it really proved impossible, he could only go back to square one.
...
The Starry Night Potion Shop main branch. Up on the 16th floor, the Sage Alchemists dropped what they were doing and gathered together for a meeting.
“Old Liu, would your Psychedelic l.u.s.t Potion have any effect on Level 200 Variant Lords?” Bird asked. He stared at the Alchemist across from him, the old pervert who’d created the Psychedelic l.u.s.t Potion.
Old Liu shook his head with a bitter smile. “How could that be possible? That’s a Level 200 Variant Lord you’re asking about!”
“Does anyone have any ideas? Anything that will be effective on a Level 200 Variant Lord? Doesn’t matter if it’s hallucogenic, paralyzing, or whatever.”
The Sage Alchemists knitted their eyebrows. They had yet to produce a potion at that level. Level 200 Variant Lords bordered on legendary existences. None of them had come in contact with that realm.
Old Liu thought for a moment, then said, “When I was developing the Psychedelic l.u.s.t Potion, the first prototype I created had an extremely weak effect and a short duration. However, since the manufacturing cost was so low, I created over 100 bottles and boiled them down to their essence to create the Psychedelic l.u.s.t Potion. If we increase that concentration by 50 times, I think it might be enough to disorientate a Level 200 Variant Lord for 20 seconds.”
“One without resistances maybe. A purely hypothetical situation. We first need to know the stats of this Variant Lord. If it has a strong resistance against hallucinogenic effects, then even if we increased the concentration by 50 times, it still won’t have any effect,” Quiet Nannan interjected.
“Hallucinogens have relatively weak effects. Among all the poisons, ones that can directly knock out the target are the strongest. If we use the concentration method, do you think we can make an effective potion?” Bird asked. He turned to Quiet Nannan, looking for his opinion.
“Theoretically speaking, it’s possible. However, we have to consider what kind of resistances that monster has and how resistant it is against knock-out poisons,” Quiet Nannan said, rubbing his chin. “It’s best if we combine that with the poison synergies hypothesis I came up with before. If we use different kinds of knock-out poisons that are compatible with each other, concentrate them together, we might just produce another Legendary poison.”
Quiet Nannan thought for a moment, then continued. “It’s best if we can get a sample of that Variant Lord’s blood, even if only a little bit. That way we can discover what kind of resistances and weaknesses it has and make an appropriate poison.”
“I’ll talk to him right now,” Bird said.
...
Nie Yan received Bird’s request. Even though it was a bit troublesome, he was glad there was a chance his new plane might work. Compared to killing the Violet Eye Dragon, it was far easier to get a sample of its blood. It wouldn’t take him much time at all.
「How long will it take to create this potion?」Nie Yan asked.
「If it were just one person working on it alone, it would take at least two months. However, with all our Sage Alchemists working together, we’ll get it done in a week at most. But you have to get us the blood sample first before we can even get started,」Bird said.
This was much faster than Nie Yan expected!
「I’ll get you that blood sample right away. I’ll have someone deliver it in half-an-hour,」Nie Yan said. He just received word that a Violet Eye Dragon was flying towards the south of the Fate River!