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

Chapter 162 - Shrine

Some time after disconnecting from the game, Nie Yan contacted Guo Huai, Hao Cheng, and Zhao Li. He learned from them that the matter regarding Resplendent Bladelight joining the guild had already been settled. Furthermore, Asskickers United had grown to a staggering 16,000 members before the number of players applying slowed to a trickle. Even so, a guild of that size was rarely seen in the present day. No longer completely preoccupied with adding new players, Guo Huai and the others began dividing up the task of investigating the backgrounds of each individual who had already joined. Anyone they found suspicious would be booted from the guild. Although they wouldn't be completely mole-free, it would at least ensure their ranks were a little purer.

After tallying up the guild members, the proportion of players above Level 9 reached just under 20%. It was a little on the low side, but it still wasn't bad.

When Bladelight, Leader Young Seven, and the others formed the elite team, according to standard convention, they were all required to sign a contract. It stated that if they wanted to leave the team, they would have to return everything given to them as well as pay a huge penalty fee. An elite team wasn't something you could just join or withdraw from as you pleased. Every guild would invest heavily into them, so each member was quintessential. If any of them were to suddenly resign, it would be an immense loss for the guild, so that was why it was necessary that they were all bound by contracts.

Naturally, there were benefits as well. Joining the elite team meant that the player would receive much more resources from the guild, letting them grow considerably faster than ordinary players. So given the opportunity, many would still sign the contract.

After the elite team was established, the guild's sole Revive skill book[1. Nie Yan obtained it from killing the Serpentine Lizard in Chapter 76.] was given to Young Seven.

At this point in time, a Revive skill book was almost priceless. Even if someone offered several dozen gold, they still wouldn't necessarily be able to obtain one because it was just so rare. Right now, nearly none of the major guilds had it, as it was only starting to become more prevalent when the player base neared Level 20.

Revive could only resurrect a fallen teammate outside of combat. When running a dungeon, sometimes, before even clearing half of it, a team would suffer too many casualties to proceed forward. But with Revive, they could be brought back to life. Furthermore, when facing the final boss, it would be very difficult for a team to get through unscathed. Often times, many team members would be sacrificed before it could finally be killed. With revive, however, these losses could be averted.

As such, for Bladelight, Young Seven, and the other members of the elite team, Revive would significantly reduce the stress of doing dungeon runs.

So far, everything was going according to plan. Even though there might be a few snags along the way, Nie Yan was convinced that with their skills, when everyone got more familiar with one another, they would definitely display incredible ability.

Finished chatting with Guo Huai and the others, Nie Yan proceeded to go through his usual routine of working out, practicing martial arts, and studying. Recently, he felt his body was brimming with strength. His reflexes had also become even sharper than before. Moreover, he had grown about three centimeters taller while his physique also turned more muscular.

As the day when his parents would return home drew near, he grew increasingly eager as an intense sense of yearning welled up inside him.

Around noon, his aunts and uncles had come for another visit. After discovering his parents still weren't back, they could only leave in disappointment. Ever since becoming aware of him being a very good candidate of passing the entrance exam for the top-ranked military school in the country, even if they were rather reluctant to treat him with courtesy, even to the point of smiling and fawning over him, they had no choice but to do so. But in their minds, they were still resentfully mulling over the money his parents owed them.