Nie Yan looked around. Asskickers United’s best Blacksmiths, Engineers, Tinkerers, and Enchanters were gathered here in the guild headquarters. They all held sublime authority in their respective fields.
“Today I gathered you all together for a special assignment,” Nie Yan said, sweeping his eyes over the crowd.
“What do you need us to do? We’ll do our best to accomplish it!”
“I need a pen of sorts that can hold a Level 200 Variant Lord,” Nie Yan said.
These proud men immediately fell silent.
“That’s going to be incredibly difficult if not impossible, Boss. A Level 200 Variant Lord isn’t just going to willingly let itself be captured.”
“What if it’s knocked unconscious, would that help?” Nie Yan asked. In the previous timeline, someone had pulled a similar thing off. Logically speaking, with so many Sage artisans around, containing a Violet Eye Dragon wasn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility. He briefly explained the situation, also making sure to inform them of the size of the Violet Eye Dragons, what magic they specialized in, and their other characteristics.
“That should be possible. As long as we can get it into the cage, it won’t get back out.”
“It has to be a pretty damn strong cage. We need to use the highest rank metal we have, and each individual bar has to be thick and solid. There can’t be any weak points in the design either. If the Enchanters know of a suitable magic formation to reinforce it further, that’d be of great help.”
“We have plenty of manpower. In terms of resources, Krutinium should work. There is no better alloy out there right now. Plus, producing it is pretty cheap. If we make the bars as thick as an arm, they should be enough to contain the dragon.”
“Let’s have the Engineers draw up a design. It would be best if we can prevent the Violet Eye Dragon from moving at all.”
The different Sages chimed in with their ideas.
“Mix in some Anti-Magic Silversand into the alloy. That’ll give the bars some additional magic resistance.”
“Anti-Magic Silversand is pretty expensive though…”
Everyone turned to Nie Yan.
“How much do you need?” Nie Yan asked.
“If we want the desired magic resistance, about 10 lbs. per cage. If we’re skimping, we can probably get by with five or six.”
“We only have 30 lbs. in the warehouse.”
“Are there any for sale in the marketplace?” Nie Yan asked. If the guild’s stock wasn’t enough, they could only turn to the marketplace.
“There is, but it goes for 60,000 gold per lb. Anti-Magic Silversand is too rare. It’s the most important material we use for adding magic resistance properties to our creations. Normally, it can be used sparingly. There’s only about 100 lbs. circulating in the market every day,” a Blacksmith said. He was fairly knowledgeable about the market.
Nie Yan rubbed his chin for a moment before turning to Guo Huai. “Help me buy up all the Anti-Magic Silversand on the market.”
“Alright.” Guo Huai nodded. He immediately passed down the order to his subordinates stationed in the auction houses across the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire.
The Sages glanced at each other in shock. The Blacksmith in particular was completely dumbstruck. He’d only described the rough situation, which was enough for Nie Yan to quickly decide to buy up all the Anti-Magic Silversand on the market! That was 6,000,000 gold! Yet Nie Yan was acting like he was buying cabbages at the grocery store. Even the executive guild leader didn’t bat an eyelid. It almost seemed like this was a normal day’s business for these two!
About three minutes later, all the Anti-Magic Silversand on the market had been bought up. Not even a single spec was left. Blacksmiths searched on the Super Trade Channel, but no one was selling. They could only turn to the forums and offload their frustration on the artisan boards.「Fuck! What is this bullshit!? Which goatfucker bought up all the Anti-Magic Silversand!?」
A single word from Nie Yan could influence the entire marketplace. Perhaps he was the only one with this much power.
Another five minutes later, the Anti-Magic Silversand was brought over from all across the surface world to the conference hall in Okoron. All 100 lbs. of it was dumped on the table.
“If you need anything else, let me know. As long as money can buy it, I’ll help you get it. Don’t worry about being frugal. This task is of the utmost importance. I need the cages as quickly as possible. The first one has to be finished by next week,” Nie Yan said.
“Don’t worry, Boss! Leave it to us!”
After explaining the finer details, Nie Yan left. The Blacksmiths and Tinkerers quickly went about producing the Krutinium. The Engineers started drafting up the design. As for the Enchanters, they would only come into play a little later. They went to prepare for then, researching a magic formation that would be most suitable for reinforcing the cage.
Over the next week, Nie Yan paid several trips to the battlefield. Whenever he appeared, the players from Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group lost their wits in fear. The number of people who had died at his hands these few days quickly exceeded 10,000. Soaring Angel dispatched Masters to assassinate him, but none of them came even close to succeeding.
Nie Yan was a huge thorn in the sides of the Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group. He was simply invincible. His strength, equipment, skill, it all was far beyond that of most everyone else. If he continued to rampage around so unabashedly, this could have a major influence on the war. They focused even more of their efforts into killing him.
On the seventh day, Nie Yan finally received good news. Bird and the other Alchemists had finished creating the knockout potion. For the sake of developing this potion, they had worked tirelessly without rest. 13 Sage Alchemists had combined their knowledge into making this potion which was Legendary-grade. It had to be administered through the mouth. Apart from knocking the target out, it also had a weakness and paralysis effect.
With a recipe and Nie Yan providing the materials, they could produce three potions every day. Each one cost around 300,000 gold. This could be considered the most expensive potion on the market.
Nie Yan was itching to see its effects.
Apart from this “Dragon KO Potion”, the artisans had almost completed the cage. The Enchanters were working on the last few parts of the magic formation. Every part of the cage had to be reinforced with a runic seal. This was extremely delicate and tedious work. It required three Sage Enchanters working in tandem to complete. Suffice to say, it took quite some time. Though the artisans didn’t manage to finish it within the seven-day time limit he had set, Nie Yan didn’t mind too much.
Nie Yan already had a complete plan in his mind. He contacted Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, and eight other Mages and told them to come over.
After a while, the 10 of them arrived in front of Nie Yan. They were all Mages proficient with spatial magic.
“What do you need, Boss?” Undying Scoundrel asked.
“I have a special task for you guys.” Nie Yan explained his plan.
After hearing Nie Yan wanted to capture a Level 200 Variant Lord, the Mages were dumbstruck. This was simply mad! It required a special kind of crazy for someone to come up with a plan like this. They doubted there was anyone else than Nie Yan who fit this description.
“Boss, are you sure this will work?” Summer Bug couldn’t help but ask, a worried expression on his face.
“I’m at least 80% confident it will work,” Nie Yan replied. All preparations were complete. Turning back midway was not an option, or else all the time, manpower, and resources he invested would go to waste.
“Even if there was only a 10% chance, I’d still say we go for it, to say nothing of 80%!” Undying Scoundrel exclaimed. After all, they were about to attempt something no one in history had done before.
After a while, Bird and the others sent over the potion.
Nie Yan turned to Summer Bug. “How strong is that Summon Arcane Giant spell of yours now?”
“It’s already reached Advanced. I can summon three at once.”
“So they have the Inexhaustible Strength skill now, right?” Nie Yan asked.
The number of Magisters that had the Summon Arcane Giant spell could be counted on one hand. As for those who had raised it to Advanced, perhaps Summer Bug was the only one. This spell was his trump card. He didn’t reveal it easily. Only Nie Yan and a few others knew he had it. The official website had no information about it either. The Inexhaustible Strength skill was only obtained after the spell reached Advanced, something he’d only managed a few days ago. Even he himself didn’t know how useful it would be. How in the world did Nie Yan?
Even though Summer Bug was baffled, he still nodded. “Yeah, they do.”
“That’s good.” Nie Yan smiled in satisfaction. Everything was falling into place. When the Enchanters finished with the cage, they could get started.
Nie Yan and the others headed to the Fate River.
A half hour later, Nie Yan’s group arrived at the spring.
“This is the place?” Undying Scoundrel asked after looking around.
After Nie Yan nodded in confirmation, Summer Bug said, “This place is pretty wide and spacious. That’ll make it easier for us to move around.”
“Let’s get started,” Nie Yan said.
The Mages spread out in a circle around the spring about 30 meters away. They took out special items, runic stones, and other materials and started laying down a teleportation gate. It took them over three hours to get it ready. This transfer gate was up to six times larger than an ordinary one.
After a while, Silvery Night came rushing over. He looked at the Mages busy at work. He wondered what Nie Yan would do to capture the Violet Eye Dragon. He couldn’t help but be filled with anticipation. If Nie Yan were successful, this would be a history-making achievement and would have far-reaching effects. More importantly, he would be a part of it! This was an extremely great honour.
