Chapter 240 - Volume I: Glimpse of Darkness

A blinding radiance blossomed outwards in a flash. The six chapters merged into a whole, transforming into an unassuming black book. The cover was exquisitely manufactured, with a single line of Ancient Common characters written on top. The words, inscribed with tadpole-like strokes, gave off an aura of elegance and wisdom.

The book in his hands seemed rather thick, almost as though it was composed of more than the original six pages. A mysterious yet powerful force emanated from it. Nie Yan traced his fingers over the cover, and as he did, he felt the odd energy become stronger, giving him a feeling of calmness in his soul.

Looking closely at the words on the cover, Nie Yan read, “Book of Order, Volume I: Glimpse of Darkness.”

Do you wish to bind this item?

Yes!

Nie Yan didn’t hesitate before immediately pressing confirm. He would bind it before thinking about anything else, so it wouldn’t drop if he died. So long as it was bound, he wouldn’t have to worry about losing it ever again.

Item has been successfully bound.

Once the book was bound to him, Nie Yan felt an immediate increase to his stats, as if they’d increased by over 50! At the same time, a smaller line of characters wriggled into being in the air before imprinting themselves onto the lower right corner of the book’s cover: “Owner: Nirvana Flame.”

This legendary item was now truly and completely Nie Yan’s. It was even marked with his name! No one else would ever possess Volume I of the Book of Order.

However, he was still being hunted by the half-elves, and the light from fusing Volume I had given away his position. He had no time to look closely at this new item of his; he first needed to find a way out of this realm.

Nie Yan activated Shadow Waltz, bursting forwards with incredible speed. However, this quest map was just too vast. No matter how far he ran, it seemed like there was no end in sight. Making matters worse, Nie Yan could sense that the five Mages following him were quickly closing in on him.

The five figures behind him were somehow even faster than he was. Slowly but steadily, they closed the distance toward Nie Yan.

Another figure soared high into the sky, and time seemed to stop. Nie Yan could see even from far away that it was the Demonified Lord Sonia. A pair of fleshy wings sprouted from her back, holding her aloft with an occasional mighty flap. She hung from the sky with the moon behind her back.

She scanned through the darkness and instantly locked onto the fleeing Nie Yan.

Nie Yan, feeling a piercing pain in his heart, slowed to a stop. He was caught by surprise when he saw the Demonified Lord Sonia flying through the sky. Facing a creature with the ability to fly at his current level was a disaster waiting to unfold. Only Mages could contend with such creatures at this stage of the game, and even they would be at a disadvantage. However, that was still many times better than engaging a flying monster in a melee. The outcome of such a fight held no suspense.

That girl has Demonic sight. Ugh... I guess I can’t hide anymore.

Nie Yan thought things over, then put all of his unbound equipment into his bag and sprinted off.

Sonia waved her staff and chanted in a demonic language until her spell was complete. A looming darkness enshrouded Nie Yan, sending out tentacles of darkness to bind him in place. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t break free from the prison of shadowy tentacles.

Sonia steadily flapped her wings as she floated toward Nie Yan. Her slow flight speed betrayed her unfamiliarity with her wings.

“It was that Thief! He’s over there, caught in the Queen’s Shadow Bind!”

The five white elves quickly moved to surround Nie Yan. As they faced him, balls of magic began to shine from their hands.

Nie Yan looked around him, in every direction, but there was no path of escape left. Realization of his impending doom dawned on him.

The glowing orbs arced through the night, leaving behind streaks of light as they blasted into Nie Yan, bursting apart with successive loud bangs. Each spell did over 300 damage to Nie Yan, who collapsed under the elves’ barrage.

Sonia spread her wings as she landed, a puzzled expression on her face. She had no idea why Nie Yan’s corpse didn’t have the Chapter of Virtue on it.

A long time passed before Nie Yan opened his eyes. When he finally did, he found that his soul was in a cemetery.

Despite having struggled against it for so long, he still couldn’t avoid the fate of death.

Do you wish to revive?

There were three ways for a player to revive. The first was to run back to the place you were killed and search for your corpse. Upon resurrection the player would lose 50% of their experience bar. They would also be in a weakened state for five minutes, during which all stats would be lowered by 80%. If the player died with a red name, these penalties would scale with the redness of their name. Choosing this option in PvP made it too easy for an enemy to spawn camp you.

The second way was to wait for a Priest to revive you. This method came with the smallest penalty. The player would lose between 0-50% of their experience bar, and they would be in a weakened state for one minute. If the player had a red name, those penalties would be doubled.

The third and final method was to directly revive at the cemetery. This came with the biggest penalty. The player would drop a full level and be in a weakened state for half an hour. Like with the first method, dying with a red name would result in a penalty increase proportional to how red the name was. Although this option came with the heaviest penalties, it was clearly the safest of the three.

Nie Yan chose to directly revive. He looked sadly at his current level: Level 23. After working so hard for so long, he now had to climb back up from rock bottom. Fortunately, he could still head to Everlasting City and throw Basic Magic Bombs to grind back up.

Since he was in a weakened state right now, Nie Yan knew that it was not a good time to go level. Instead, he returned to Calore while itching to take a closer look at what Volume I of the Book of Order had in store for him. After all, he’d lost over 10 Levels and almost even lost all his equipment for this!

Nie Yan had to find a quiet, secure place to do this. He made his way to the Starry Night Potion Shop, walked in, and found an empty workshop.

He took out Volume I: Glimpse of Darkness, placed it on the desk, and examined its properties.

Volume I: Glimpse of Darkness (Legendary)

Rank (1): Can be upgraded by slaying evil creatures.

Description: The owner of this item will receive the inheritance of the God of Light. Your mission is to spread the glory of light!

Properties: Receive 5 stat points and 3 mastery points every 5 levels. Strength +100, Dexterity +200, All Stats +30, All Stats +50%. Gain 500 phantom stat points. Unlock the Glimpse of Darkness Skill Tree.

Restrictions: Permanently bound to Nirvana Flame.

Note: Item effects are applied immediately upon entering the player’s bag.

The item gave outstanding bonuses. He received a ton of extra stat points, and he even got the Glimpse of Darkness skill tree; although he did not yet know what this was. But the thing that really made him raise his eyebrows, were the 500 phantom stat points he was given.

The book actually gives 500 phantom stats!

Phantom stats were different from his real stats. They wouldn’t actually affect you, hence the name. Otherwise, it would be far too overpowered if he could just add 500 Strength on a whim. However, phantom stat points did count for equipment restrictions. Even if his real stats didn’t meet the requirements to wear a piece of equipment, his phantom stats would be able to make that up for him, allowing him to wield a wide variety of equipment.

Nie Yan immediately thought of his Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow. If he used a portion of his phantom stats on Strength, he would be able to meet the requirements for that item. The ability to use such a powerful crossbow at this point in the game was sure to bring him countless benefits.

Flipping to the second page, Nie Yan found a skill tree consisting of over 20 skills. All of them appeared to be extremely powerful. Several skill icons at the base of the tree were lit up. They included Disappear and Sacrificial Gambit from the Chapter of Freedom, and Adjudicator of God and Transcendent Insight from the Chapter of Courage. Surprisingly, such skills were placed at the very bottom, and they were all already unlocked!

Higher up on the skill tree were a bunch of greyed-out skill icons including skills such as Hurricane Ambush and Umbra Slaughter. The grey icons each had a requirement attached to it. Some of them required him to kill a hundred thousand undead monsters, while others needed him to kill a thousand demon Elites at or above his level.

Each of the skills left Nie Yan dazed. They were all on par with skills such as Adjudicator of God and Sacrificial Gambit. However, the requirements to unlock them were equally ridiculous.

If he wanted to have such powerful skills, he naturally had to pay an equally heavy price.

Nie Yan finally understood what the Book of Order meant when it said, “The owner of this item will receive the inheritance of the God of Light. Your mission is to spread the glory of light!” It seemed that he would have to kill dark creatures en masse. Perhaps after he got strong enough, he could find some time to go on an adventure through Underworld City.

There was no need to doubt the might of Volume I: Glimpse of Darkness, which gave him access to a myriad of powerful skills.

Flipping to the third page, Nie Yan saw the illustrations of an eight piece equipment set which consisted of a leather chest armour, cloak, gloves, pants, boots, shoulderguards, and two different daggers. The design was quite unusual—a deep shade of violet, with a different rune marking each set piece. Just the picture seemed to radiate an aura of ancientness. He was instantly enamoured by this set, especially the pair of daggers whose edges curved in an unusual way. They radiated a stifling murderous aura that would shake the minds of anyone who set their eyes on them.

Ancient Order: Tyrant Abak Set

Abak was a human tyrant from the Era of Shared Governance. He had brutally slain Monarch Agnes to seize the throne, dispelling the parliament. Under his bloody rule, the kingdom fell into a period of darkness. After he was defeated by General Brook later on, his equipment set disappeared into the sands of time.

The Glimpse of Darkness has several clues about this set. Brave adventurer, set forth on your journey to reclaim the long-lost Tyrant Abak Set!

It was a Legendary set left behind by a legendary tyrant!

The Tyrant Abak Set!

This was what you called a godly equipment set!

Nie Yan looked at the clues below the illustrations.

The Tyrant Abak Set has been lost for many years. One of the set items, Abak’s Bloody Dagger, was last seen near Kunlan Town over ten years ago. The old Mage Ligen probably knows some clues about its whereabouts.

The leather chest piece of the Tyrant Abak Set has long since been broken beyond repair. According to rumours, a random wanderer put the chest piece up for auction in the main auction house at the heart of Calore for 2 silver, where it was purchased by Earl Kelfield.

....

The list of clues would lead Nie Yan to finding this set. Of course, there would be difficulties along the way.

Because it was a Legendary set, Nie Yan knew he was not yet strong enough to go after it, no matter how simple the clues made it out to be. However, this set was definitely powerful beyond all of his expectations. Back when he was a Level 180 Great Thief, just a Sub Legendary set was good enough to be called godly equipment. Legendary sets were just a myth. After all, even the best players would only have one or two pieces of Legendary equipment. No one dared to even dream of gathering a complete set of Legendary items!