Chapter 919 – Strange Quest
At this point in the game, Evolution Crystals were nothing too out of reach for Nie Yan. There were three sitting in the guild treasury, obtained by Bladelight and the others while they were running dungeons. Since they were still extremely rare, members needed to pay a ludicrously high amount of merit points to obtain one. As a result, no one even attempted. However, Nie Yan was the bank. He could take from the treasury as he pleased.

Nie Yan had a subordinate deliver him one of the Evolution Crystals, which he fed to the Divine Eclipse Dragon.

Evolution Crystals increased Growth Rate by a flat five points. So, the Divine Eclipse Dragon’s Growth Rate increased from 25 to 30.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon was the king of all land-bound dragons. Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder how powerful it would grow in the future.

Higher level maps had a better chance of dropping Evolution Crystals. With an increasing number of players becoming strong enough to explore Level 170–180 maps, they were starting to appear more often in the marketplace. As a result, a rumour or two would occasionally go around of someone obtaining a super powerful pet. Even though Lil’ Gold was still unrivalled in the eyes of most players, he was no longer the awe-inspiring creature he once was. Especially since siege weapons became commonplace on the battlefield.

These days, Lil’ Gold was simply too weak and often ended up serving as a meat shield or cannon fodder. On the other hand, the Divine Eclipse Dragon had the potential to become a truly powerful existence. With a Growth Rate of 30, it would surpass Lil’ Gold in strength by Level 100. Not to mention it would learn skills—both of the light and dark attribute—befitting of a dragon king, including powerful Forbidden Magic at the higher levels!

As a Thief, Nie Yan had no way of casting Forbidden Magic like Mages, Priests, and Paladins. So, having a pet that could cast Forbidden Magic was the next best thing!

However, bringing up the Divine Eclipse Dragon’s level was going to be a problem. Nie Yan decided to push this worry off for later. When he obtained his third dragon pet, he could simply power level both of them together. That way, he could save some time.

With the Divine Eclipse Dragon in his pet space, Nie Yan was ready to continue with his plan of capturing the remaining Violet Eye Dragons. However, just as he was about to set out, Guo Huai messaged him.

「Nie Yan, I found a good way to quickly raise your Influence in the Viridian Empire!」Guo Huai exclaimed.

「How?」Nie Yan asked. After all, 300 Influence was no small number.

「This method requires a lot of gold. I don’t know how much we’ll have to spend for 300 Influence.」

「Gold is a trivial matter. How do we do it? Just tell me,」Nie Yan said. Asskickers United had more than enough money in their reserves. For the sake of 300 Influence, he could easily spend several million gold without batting an eye. The Wolf King skill was extremely powerful. It allowed him to turn any wild wolf-type monster into his permanent mount. Apart from functioning as a mount, it could also fight in battle like pets. The skills of the Great Prophet title naturally couldn’t be looked down on.

「Not so fast. Let me finish speaking, and you’ll know it’s not that simple.」Guo Huai shook his head.「What do you know about Elder Katherine of the Elder Council?」

「A little bit. She’s in charge of the empire’s charitable works, right? She hands out food, clothing, and other essentials to the poor. Her prestige is extremely high among NPCs. If I recall correctly, she gives out a repeatable quest that asks you to collect various goods, and the reward is Infl-」Nie Yan’s eyes lit up. How could he forget a quest like this? Influence was exactly what he needed!

「Someone did the calculations. 300 Influence will costs somewhere between 6,000,000 and 10,000,000 gold. That’s because the quest rewards are random. Sometimes you’ll receive gold, but most of the time you’ll only receive a bit of experience. Every 30th time, you’ll receive a random item, but at best it can only recoup some of your losses. I heard one guy refused to believe there were no better rewards, So, he turned in the quest 300 times. He got some experience, a bit of Influence, and a few pieces of equipment, nothing of note. Afterwards, most everyone lost interest in this quest.」

However, Nie Yan wasn’t looking for some grand reward. All he wanted was Influence. Even if he had to spend several million gold, it wouldn’t be a problem. So, this quest was perfect for him.

「I’ll make a trip to Calore to take a look. Send me a few helpers,」Nie Yan said. For things like collection quests, he naturally wouldn’t do any of the work himself. What was the point of being a guild leader if he did? Of course, he rewarded these helpers for their time.

Nie Yan teleported to Calore, planning to make his way to the Elder Council. However, as he stepped out of the transfer point, he sensed something off. The sky was dark and gloomy and an inexplicable, stifling pressure weighed down on him. In the northeast, he saw pitch-black, ominous clouds forming on the horizon, with the occasional rumbling of thunder reaching his ears. This didn’t look anything like an ordinary storm.

Calore was located in the skies above a high plateau, making it sunny pretty much all year around. The city rarely got any rain, let alone thunderstorms.

Nie Yan had a foreboding premonition. When he obtained the title of Great Prophet, his senses became much sharper. It was starting to make him a bit paranoid. Any time he encountered a strange phenomenon, he would think it was the precursor to a disaster. He would have to remind himself time and time again that he couldn’t actually predict the future like NPC Great Prophets.

Apart from the weather being a bit unusual, Calore was the same as always, with large bustling crowds walking up and down the streets.

No longer lingering on this thought, Nie Yan headed toward the Elder Council and entered a side hall.

“Greetings, Great Prophet. Do you have business with me today?” a young woman in her 30s welcomed him. She carried herself with elegance and grace, wearing a long dress which reached down to the floor. This was Elder Katherine of the Elder Council.

“Hello, Elder Katherine. I’d like to do my part in helping the less fortunate of the Viridian Empire,” Nie Yan said.

“That’s wonderful! You really are a benevolent person! The citizens of the Viridian Empire will forever remember your kindness,” Katherine said with a delighted smile. “Due to the unusual torrential downpour in Blaze City, many of the houses there have collapsed into ruin. Many residents have suffered severe injuries. We require a large amount of Dragon Blood Grass. Could you help me collect 10 stalks of grass?”

Quest 1: Are you willing to accept Elder Katherine’s request to find Dragon Blood Grass?

Yes!

Nie Yan accepted the quest.

「Help me get 10 stalks of Dragon Blood Grass,」Nie Yan said in voice chat. Not even half-a-minute later, the Dragon Blood Grass was delivered to his hands. He handed it over to Katherine.

“Thank you for your generosity,” Katherine said as she gave Nie Yan his reward for completing the quest. 5,000 experience points. This amount wasn’t even enough to fill 0.01% of his experience bar!

“The regions to the north have suffered 30 days of extreme cold, Great Prophet, could you help me find 40 Durable Sackcloths?”

Nie Yan accepted the second quest. Less than 30 seconds later, 30 Durable Sackcloths were delivered to him. After turning in the quest, he obtained 1 Influence.

Nie Yan continued to accept and turn in quests. Anything he needed to find would be immediately delivered to him by his helpers. Given Asskickers United’s vast amount of resources, he faced zero obstacles.

After receiving multiple quests from Katherine, Nie Yan gradually became aware of the misfortunes popping up all over the Viridian Empire. Help was needed everywhere. He didn’t know how many items and materials he needed to deliver to earn 300 Influence.

After turning in the quest 30 times, Nie Yan only obtained 5 Influence.

“Great Prophet, thank you for all your help. May the Light be forever with you. This is something I obtained in my travels in the Kruin Plains. Please accept it as a token of my gratitude.” Katherine took out a red gem.

Nie Yan glanced at the gem. It was a Rugosa Gem, worth about 2,000 gold at most. A drop in the ocean compared to the hundreds of thousands of gold’s worth of items he’d turned in!

Sure enough, doing this quest really was the same as flushing money down the toilet. To think someone actually persevered and turned in this quest 300 times. They must have really been rich. Even for a tycoon like Nie Yan, if it weren’t for him needing 300 Influence, he definitely wouldn’t do this quest.

However, he needed 300 Influence. So, he could only continue doing this quest.

If it were a normal player, just gathering all these items would drive them mad. Repeating this monotonous task over and over again, it would probably drive them to the brink of despair! Nie Yan was much better off. All he had to do was stand here and exchange a few words, his subordinates doing most of the work.

After four hours, Nie Yan had turned in the quest about 200 times. He was quickly catching up to that person in the rumours. He had spent about 1,000,000 gold to obtain 35 Influence. He also gained quite a bit of experience, but it was only enough to fill up his experience bar by 2%. As for the random item rewards he received, the only one worth mentioning was an Azure Fantasy Sapphire. If he could even recoup 10% of his losses, it would already be amazing.

As Nie Yan continued the monotonous task of turning in this quest again and again, his mind started to wander. He gradually realized something. For the system to create this kind of quest, the reason definitely couldn’t be as simple as a money sink. There might really be a big reward at the end, or perhaps a clue to a major questline.

Many people before had come to the same conclusion as Nie Yan. That was why someone had completed it 300 times. However, everyone gave up in the end because this quest really was a bottomless money sink. No matter how much money they put in, it was like throwing a grain of salt into the ocean.

Nie Yan was probably the richest person so far to tackle this quest.