Chapter 126 – Battle Crazed Alliance

The true worth of the property would only manifest itself in the future. So long as it was left there, its value would rise astronomically with each passing day.

Going off whatever funds were remaining, the number of things Nie Yan could purchase became severely restricted. Now, even buying one or two plots would place him in dire straits. As such, his goal now was not to buy up whatever he could but rather to attempt to gather as much money as possible. After all, a single person was limited in what they were capable of. He could accomplish only so much by relying solely on himself.

“Hilderlocke is a beautiful city, and its residents are kind and friendly. On behalf of the city, I’d like to extend my warmest greetings. Feel free to come here if you wish to purchase more properties, and I sincerely hope you have a pleasant time during your stay,” Administrator Kallan said. He smiled in a heartfelt manner and appeared rather affable.

Nie Yan’s eyebrows raised as Kallan’s words suddenly reminded him of a certain piece of information. According to rumours, the administrator of Hilderlocke was the most good-natured out of all the administrators in the empire. What he loved the most was to hear players praise his city.

“I love Hilderlocke. It truly is the most beautiful city I’ve been to. I would even go as far as to say that it’s the most brilliant jewel of the empire…” Nie Yan was by no means stingy with his praise as he glorified the city to no end, so much so that he was inwardly cringing at the words coming out of his mouth.

Nonetheless, Administrator Kallan seemed very enthused. As his eyes curved into crescents, his gaze became all the more friendly.

「System: You have received a favourable impression from Administrator Kallan. Your Influence in Hilderlocke has increased by 7.」

Nie Yan never expected a few lines of flattery to produce such a result. He had actually obtained seven points of Influence!

“Hilderlocke is indeed a beautiful place. This fact is undisputed. Let me tell you the story of how it came to be known as the City of Jadeite…” Administrator Kallan grabbed a hold of Nie Yan’s hand and took advantage of the opportunity to tell him a few entertaining anecdotes. In the beginning, Nie Yan was only playing along, but then, as he listened more and more to the content of these stories, he became increasingly shocked.

Kallan told him about a golden city located south of Hilderlocke. Although its fame spread far and wide across the continent, what very few people knew was that in the sea to the east of Hilderlocke, there was a golden island. This zone was restricted to players above Level 60, and it produced all sorts of precious gems in abundance. Reportedly, it was also the last known location of where the Legendary-grade weapon, Staff of the Adjudicator, was spotted.

Kallan also spoke of a mysterious Master Blacksmith named Krusch, who took up residence in the northern district of the city. On Mondays and Wednesdays, he would put a selection of magical equipment up for sale. With Administrator Kallan’s introduction, he would be able to go over and take a look. Naturally, Kallan also informed him of the coordinates to this place. If he was lucky, then he might even be able to snag one or two pieces of top-quality equipment!

Apart from this, Kallan also informed him of several locations he could visit to purchase uncommon low and intermediate level items. Nie Yan felt he had scored big time as he soaked in all of this valuable information.

Suddenly, in the middle of their conversation, he picked up the sound of someone entering the building. He raised his head and saw a Berserker heading toward them.

He was wearing a full set of dark golden plate armour etched with pitch-black grooves and studded with metal sawtooth spikes. With a massive two-handed sword strapped to his back, he made his way across the crystal floor. Every step he took made his armour shake with a rhythmic beat. For all intents and purposes, this man was armed to the teeth, and with his tall stature and heavy armour, he radiated a powerful and domineering aura.

The Berserker revealed a hint of shock when he spotted Nie Yan. After pausing momentarily, he walked straight over to them.

The Metal Storm Set, presently the best set for Berserkers! Nie Yan’s eyes narrowed as he activated Transcendent Insight to examine the other party.

Kill Love: Level 11

Profession: Berserker

With such good equipment, there was no way he would believe the other party was some sort of no-name, run-of-the-mill player, but never in his wildest dreams did he expect it to actually be him!

Kill Love was the leader of Hilderlocke’s number one guild, Battle Crazed Alliance. During the peak of their power, they reportedly occupied five of the six strongholds in Hilderlocke. He was fully deserving of his title as one of Hilderlocke’s overlords, because in the entire Viridian Empire, his strength was ranked in the top five. It was only after a certain incident occurred that he withdrew himself from the power struggle. Apart from his resounding title in the game, as the owner of the Battle Crazed gaming organization, he was a famous figure in reality as well. At present, he was ranked fifth on the leaderboards for Berserkers, and it seemed he was only going to keep rising.

In the previous timeline, Kill Love was an influential figure that Nie Yan had no hopes of interacting with. If he were to sign up for the leaderboards, he would probably be ranked in the top two hundred at best. He had only been a step away from advancing to a Shadow Dancer, but who knows how many valiant adventurers before him had failed while taking that final step? In contrast, Kill Love was ranked as one of the top three Berserkers. Never once had he fallen lower, and in his prime, he had held the number one position for over an entire year.

It was his influence that had helped Hilderlocke become so incomparably splendid.

The gaming organization known as Battle Crazed was always very powerful with six players in the top thirty of their respective class. With unshakable dominance and a reputation for battle, they used their guild to sweep across all of Hilderlocke. Later on, they were even able to secure two strongholds in Moonlight City.

When Victorious Return began their quest to take over the continent, Battle Crazed Alliance had single-handedly resisted a combined assault from Victorious Return and Bloodlust Blades, causing them to suffer disastrous losses. With less than a hundred thousand members, they had beaten back the combined forces of Victorious Return and Bloodlust Blades which totaled six hundred thousand players. For a short time, they were completely unrivaled, but under the influence of Cao Xu’s meddling, they slowly began collapsing from within. Very quickly, close to twenty key figures left the gaming organization, leaving Kill Love and his Battle Crazed Alliance to face their eventual defeat. After that, many players began leaving the guild until only a little over half of the members remained.

However, Kill Love and these sixty thousand remaining members firmly held onto their last stronghold in Hilderlocke. Even while being besieged by over three hundred thousand enemies, they remained unyielding and endured the assault, beating back the forces of Victorious Return and Bloodlust Blades countless times over. In the end, after being unable to make any progress, the two guilds ceased their assault and withdrew.

With his unshakable willpower and determination, he succeeded in creating a legend out of his name.

Although Battle Crazed Alliance only had sixty thousand players remaining, those members were unified and held a deep, unwavering loyalty toward the guild akin to a kind of firm and deep-rooted belief. As for those deserters, whenever the guild was mentioned, they would all feel deeply ashamed. When they should have been fighting with their comrades on the stronghold walls, they had instead abandoned them and ran way. Compared to those members who had stuck with the guild to the very end, they were seen as nothing more than despicable traitors and cowardly trash.

Fighting together against a powerful enemy, living and dying together, this was true camaraderie!

Nie Yan deeply admired this type of sentiment, so toward Kill Love, he felt nothing but respect.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Kill Love,” the man smiled and said in a forthright manner, pulling Nie Yan out of his reminiscing. His bearing and manner of speech made it very difficult for others to associate him with the violence loving guild leader of Battle Crazed Alliance.

“Hi, I’m Nirvana Flame.” Nie Yan nodded his head in acknowledgment. An enemy of his enemy was a friend. In his past life, Kill Love definitely wouldn’t have had a battle to the death with Victorious Return and Bloodlust Blades for no reason. There was probably some previous conflict that carried over from another game.

“We haven’t met before, have we?” Kill Love asked. He would recognize any player in Hiderlocke so long as they held even a little fame. Even if he hadn’t met them yet, he would have at least heard of their name. Hence, Nie Yan’s unfamiliar appearance and name filled him with curiosity.

“That’s correct. I came here all the way from Calore,” Nie Yan responded. He didn’t feel the need to conceal this information. Besides, with a little digging, Kill Love would have eventually found out anyway.

“Oh, Calore? Quite a few big guilds are based there, right?” Kill Love said. Although Hilderlocke was one of the six major cities, compared to Calore, it could only be considered a small city or big town. “You don’t seem to be part of any guild.”

“I’m a solo player. So… no, I’m not part of a guild.”

“You bought that plot of land over there…?” Kill Love asked in a surprised tone. He pointed at the southern part of the model. While walking over, he had happened to spot the model of the city through the office door.

“Yes.”

“I’ve actually had my eye on that property for quite some time now. It was really hard for me to scrape together all the funds to afford it. Who knew that by the time I arrived, it would have already been bought by someone else. You have pretty good foresight,” Kill Love said with a wry smile. One must know, he had spent three entire days scrounging for enough money to buy that property.

“Ah, what are the chances…”

“Haha, it’s nothing. I’ll just buy a different plot of land,” Kill Love said while waving his hand, choosing to drop the matter entirely. In that respect, he could be considered quite magnanimous.

“Excuse me, may I ask which property you would like to purchase?” Administrator Kallan smiled at Kill Love and asked.

“This one should be fine.” Kill Love walked up to the model and pointed at a plot of land after which he and Administrator Kallan completed the transaction. Even though the property he selected was a bit lacking compared to Nie Yan’s, it was still in a prime location that would tremendously appreciate in value over time. Evidently, Kill Love had a very good eye for real-estate. His high rank signified that he was quite proficient in the game. His strategic foresight probably didn’t lose out to Nie Yan’s by much.

Encountering Kill Love this time around gave Nie Yan a wake-up call of sorts. Amazing players were everywhere in the game. If he had been a little bit later, the property he was eyeing would have been bought up by Kill Love instead. Moreover, since Kill Love was making a move, this meant the other guild leaders were probably beginning to purchase land as well. As these notable figures made their moves, the properties would be eaten up at a frightening pace. If he didn’t hurry and secure a few more properties for himself, then he would very likely lose the chance in the near future.

“How about we add each other as friends? Another ally means another path. Also, are you interested in joining my guild? Considering your financial resources, it would be very beneficial if the both of us were to join forces. At least in Hilderlocke, there won’t be any guild that will be able to oppose us,” Kill Love said. This was his true objective. Although Nie Yan’s background was a mystery, he was a lone player who was able to afford a sum unimaginable to the vast majority of the playerbase. This in itself was worthy of paying attention to.

“Adding each other as friends is fine, but I’m a player who enjoys freedom. I’m not used to being tied down by a guild.” Nie Yan tactfully declined his invitation.

“No problem, I understand,” Kill Love replied. He didn’t have high hopes in the first place. However, making a new contact wasn’t too bad either. Since Nie Yan purchased a property in Hilderlocke, they were almost certain to interact quite frequently with each other in the future. Whether they ended up as friends or enemies, it was better to know a little more about the other party first. After all, know thyself, know thy enemy. That was the only way to emerge victorious in any battle.

「System: Kill Love has sent you a friend request. Do you wish to accept?」

Yes!

「System: You have added Kill Love as a friend.」

Nie Yan only had one thought in his mind when he added Kill Love. Although the two parties weren’t in conflict with each other for the time being, if there ever came a day when Battle Crazed Alliance decided to take up arms against Victorious Return, then Kill Love would become a potential ally Nie Yan would try to win over.