Rebirth of the thief who roamed around the world (BOOK 1)

Chapter 173 - Chapter of Wisdom

Waves of hot air rushed out from the depths of the Hellfire Cavern, the heat baking the surrounding rock a dull red. A player needed fire resistance of 7 or more to explore this map without taking constant fire damage. Without the Fire Resistance Potion, Nie Yan would have been roasted by the heat in a matter of minutes.

The Infyrnal, the zone boss that inhabited the Hellfire Cavern, was a monstrous Rock Golem. Just to survive its Infernal Prison ability, a player had to be level 25 with a fire resistance of 30. The sheer level of difficulty didn't just come from the strength of the Infyrnal. Players would have to fight it in the narrow confines of the cavern, limiting the total number of people that could engage it at the same time. In the previous timeline, a guild finally managed to extract the Chapter of Wisdom from this map after players reached Level 30.

Hellfire Cavern was also a popular farming zone in the previous timeline. The Infyrnal would re-spawn two days after it was killed, so many guilds and players would camp around the area waiting for it. They would call for reinforcements as soon as it appeared, and countless players died in the struggle to secure the drop from the high-class monster.

Nie Yan cautiously entered the cavern, going over what he knew about Hellfire Cavern from the previous timeline in his mind. He was crouched down low and slowly made his way through the narrow and winding tunnels of the cavern. Nie Yan melded into the shadows of the cavern, using the dim red light from the many red crystals jutting out from the walls to find his path. Despite the tense situation, he couldn't help but think about what a great mining site Hellfire Cavern could be. This place had the potential to produce an enormous number of Fire Crystals.

Once he made his way out of the tunnels, he found himself looking at the blazing silhouette of the monster stomping around in a giant cave within the Cavern. Nie Yan could barely make out the Infynal's figure in the hazy red glare. He knew the monster had extremely keen senses while it was awake, and that it could easily detect any player in a 30 meter radius. There was simply no advantage to being rash here. With his current level, there was no possibility of making it out of the cavern alive if the Infyrnal found him. He threw himself behind a boulder, disappearing into the shadows once more. He was going to rest here, observing the Infyrnal and patiently waiting for an opportunity.

Five minutes went by in the blink of an eye and the effects of the Fire Resistance Potion wore off. His health dropped by 8 points every second. He drank a Health Recovery Potion, restoring 5 points of health every second for 120 minutes. The effect of the potion and his base regen negated the damage from the Hellfire Cavern, keeping his health level.

Two hours later, Nie Yan was still behind the boulder. The Infyrnal would fall asleep any minute now. The Health Recovery Potion wore off without him batting an eye. The scorching air burned away at his health. He finally realized that he was almost crispy, quickly drinking an Intermediate Fire Resistance Potion. He only had 20 Health left, so he ate some Barley Bread to recover it. He was literally five seconds away from death.

Nie Yan continued to wait patiently behind the boulder. He should have brought some equipment with fire resistance along. That would have dealt with a lot of the trouble from the Hellfire Cavern. The problem was that Thief equipment with fire resistance wasn't available to purchase. The equipment was of such little value, even to most Thieves, that players would receive more from breaking it down into raw materials than from putting it up on the marketplace. Even with high fire resistance, it was difficult to sell.

Thief equipment with fire resistance had no long term potential either. That's why Nie Yan never paid attention to it. Most of the equipment he bought was for Warriors, which had the potential to spike in value with the release of the new dungeon, Blazing Ravine. The equipment didn't really matter, in any case. He owned the Starry Night Potion Shop, and didn't mind frivolously using potions. The only cost was the price of the ingredients required to concoct these potions.