Chapter 248 – Shocked (1/2)
Chapter 248 – Shocked
Logging back into Conviction, Nie Yan checked the changelog for the Buried History expansion. Just like in the previous timeline, the experience required to level up had been significantly reduced. If the top players had been over Level 100 when this expansion was implemented, those at the bottom of the ladder could slowly close the gap but would never be able to truly catch up. However, the game was still in the early stages and everyone’s levels were still low. With the newly lowered experience requirements, the level leaderboards were sure to see drastic reshuffling.
In addition to easier levelling, a change in the game mechanics was implemented. Previously, the player’s damage would be extremely limited with most hits being registered as misses by the system when fighting enemies over six levels above them. This was the level suppression effect. But with the new expansion, this same effect would now only occur if there was more than a ten-level difference between the combatants.
The main classes also saw adjustments to their skills. The most notable change was a buff to the Warrior’s Guard Stance skill. With a big boost to its defensive capabilities, players could now tank higher levelled bosses. At the same time, a portion of the named Lord-class bosses received buffs to compensate for the power creep.
Furthermore, quite a few dungeons received a bit of balancing with their Expert and Specialist difficulties retuned to be more challenging. The drop rates for certain equipment sets were also lowered, while the properties of some equipment received buffs by varying degrees.
Nie Yan headed to the Asskickers United headquarters to rearrange their short-term strategies. The most pressing thing at hand was to assemble a batch of players somewhere ideal for a mass levelling session. Later in the afternoon, they would be helping Sleepy Fox seize the small stronghold. As he ruminated over this matter, he realized that Asskickers United was at the point where they would have to start capturing strongholds as well!
The difficulty of capturing strongholds in the wilderness was extremely high, so the first thing Nie Yan wanted to do was bolster the strength of his guild members.
After finishing all his preparations related to guild, Nie Yan contacted Zhai Hao by adding Mad Warframe to his friends list.
“Say, Zhai Hao, do you think Nie Yan stood us up? How come he still hasn’t shown up?” asked a female classmate.
“No, I don’t think he’s that sort of person. He seems like someone who keeps his promises,” Zhai Hao said, though he wasn’t too sure himself. They had been waiting for quite a while now, and still no word from Nie Yan. Worst of all, there was no way of making contact because he didn’t know Nie Yan’s character name!
“Why else would he keep his IGN secret?”
The nine of them were already gathered, including Xia Ling, so Zhai Hao began to feel somewhat irritated. Did Nie Yan really bail on them?
“How about we just go off by ourselves if we still don’t hear from him after 5 minutes? We have 5 Mages, 2 Warriors, a Paladin, a Priest, and a Thief, so levelling should be pretty fast,” Xia Ling proposed, rescuing Zhai Hao from his predicament.
“I suppose that’s all we can do.” Zhai Hao nodded. He couldn’t help but feel grateful towards Xia Ling for being considerate.
Just as everyone agreed to this, Zhai Hao received a new notification. He was given a big shock when glanced at it.
Nirvana Flame has sent you a friend request.
“Holy shit!” Zhai Hao cried out in alarm. Who wasn’t familiar with the name Nirvana Flame? Back in Kiln Fire Woods, this person had single-handedly wiped out over 20,000 players from Victorious Return. The guild leader of Asskickers United, a legendary existence in Conviction!
Just how many players steeled their will in an attempt to worm their way into the ranks of Asskickers United, all for the sake of a few words of advice from Nirvana Flame? Thousands? Hundreds of thousands? He and his friends were among the many who applied for membership but were flat-out rejected. They could only join one of the branch guilds, Warriors United, becoming the most ordinary of members.
Who was Nirvana Flame? He was the boss of their boss! The Big Kahuna!
If any of them saw Nirvana Flame on the street, they could only gaze at him from afar while sighing in admiration. He was a deity in the eyes of the player base!
And such a godly figure sent him a friend request! How could he not be astonished?
Zhai Hao rubbed his eyes before looking again. No doubt, the friend request really did read Nirvana Flame! It was unmistakable! A mythical-like existence really was adding him as a friend. He looked at the notification again and again, but it still felt like a dream.
“Nie Yan, Nie Yan (Nirvana Flame), Nie Yan….” Zhai Hao muttered repeatedly. His body trembled. Oh, fuck! It really is him!
“Hey, Zhai Hao, did you lose your head? Why do you keep repeating Nie Yan’s name?” asked a female classmate
“Do you guys know who Nie Yan is?” Zhao Hao asked, sounding clearly flustered.
“What do you mean? Isn’t he just the new transfer student in our class?” that female classmate replied in a puzzled tone.
Xia Ling also gave Zhai Hao an odd look. She was very bewildered.
“You’ll find out in just a moment,” Zhai Hao said, trying to hold back his excitement, before checking the name on his friends list again for the umpteenth time.
「Where are you guys right now?」Nie Yan asked.
「We’re at Link Town,」Zhai Hao replied. They had just arrived there, and were about to set off.「Nie Yan, you’ve really kept us waiting…」
「I’m sorry. I had to take care of a few things first,」Nie Yan said apologetically but didn’t offer up any further explanation. He arrived at the Calore transfer area and teleported to Link Town.
Nie Yan checked the coordinates Zhai Hao provided him, then headed over to meet up with them.
“Nie Yan’s here!” Zhai Hao exclaimed. He felt somewhat nervous at the prospect of meeting one of his heroes. Who wouldn’t be excited?
“Where?”