Asskickers United had finally escaped the same fate which befell the War God Tribe of the previous timeline-crushed by the Century Financial Group's immeasurable wealth. However, they would still have to take precautions against getting eroded from within in the future.
Adding up all the casualties, Asskickers United's side had lost over 90,000 players, 6,000 of which were from Asskickers United themselves. Meanwhile, they had killed more than 510,000 enemies with the rest fleeing for their lives.
When the video of the battle for the Edgarton Stronghold was released on the forums, players were at a loss for words. The battle had ended this quickly? Asskickers United was simply too unbelievable! The difference in casualties between both sides was also staggering. With the Edgarton Stronghold in Asskickers United's hands, Alliance of Mages was finished.
Asskickers United immediately became the center of attention. Players were already comparing them with Angel Corps. Angel Corps was the undisputed ruler of the Satreen Empire. Not a single power there could rival them. Meanwhile, Asskickers United was shaping up to become the same in the Viridian Empire. However, there was a distinct difference. Angel Corps already had more than a hundred guilds both large and small under them, creating an invincible alliance in the Satreen Empire. On the other hand, discounting their branch guilds, Asskickers United only had five guilds under them. They still had a long way to go.
Regardless, Asskickers United's unity was still something to be greatly admired.
After Asskickers United settled into the Edgarton Stronghold, their five branch guilds began recruiting new players. Once that process was over, their most elite players promoted to the main guild. Apart from this, Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, and the other guilds also started a new round of recruitment. Given the size of Moonlight City's territory, there was no shortage of people looking to join guilds.
Learning Asskickers United was recruiting new members, all of Moonlight City boiled over with excitement. Countless players flooded the several offices Asskickers United had set up across the city, among which there was no lack of players who formerly belonged to Alliance of Mages. Some players even came rushing over from other cities. They all desired to join Asskickers United. Many of them were top experts.
Many top experts had reached a bottleneck and found it difficult to breakthrough. If they continued to stagnate in place, they would slowly be overtaken by others. These people wanted to enter a place filled with other experts. The top Thieves were especially interested. Asskickers United had Nirvana Flame, King of the World, Sun, and many other powerful Thieves. They could more easily pick up new tricks there.
Asskickers United rapidly expanded as more and more people joined. The Century Financial Group could no longer do anything to them. They had long since started shifting their attention to the Satreen Empire. After losing so many of their investments in the Viridian Empire, they simply lacked the strength to impede Asskickers United any further.
Cao Xu naturally understood the kind of threat Asskickers United would pose in the future given his insight. That was why he tried everything in his power to destroy it.
「We'll rest for a while before taking on Divine Protectors,」Nie Yan said. Asskickers United had still taken heavy losses during this war.「Furthermore, we need to start exploring the Griffon Woodlands, or else we'll start lagging too far behind Angel Corps in terms of aerial might.」
「I'll have Bladelight make the necessary preparations,」Guo Huai said.
「Any news for me lately?」Nie Yan asked. Even though Asskickers United was fairly powerful, it was still necessary to take precautions and not blindly rush into anything.
「Yeah, I have a bit of good news. The War God Tribe has already defeated the several guilds under the Tuoba Family. They've unified Nisode. Battle Crazed Alliance is just about done with things on their side too, only one more guild to deal with. Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, and Radiant Sacred Flame are rapidly growing. Since there's not much room to grow in Calore anymore, I had them expand and establish branches in other cities,」Guo Huai said.
Nie Yan was quite pleased. Apart from their strength rapidly increasing, Asskickers United was also developing in other cities, especially in the Hilton Stronghold. They already owned more than 60% of the prime real estate there. He had Guo Huai and Bird aggregate all the data and discovered they were currently raking in more than 600,000 gold a day, of which 300,000 was divided up among the guild members, 200,000 was used to improve the quality of the guild's equipment, and the remaining was stored in case of an emergency.
Asskickers United was doing quite well financially.
「There's a few things we need to take note of. Around 10 or so guilds in Moonlight City are preparing to form an alliance to deal with us. God Executioner Sword and Penumbra Empire haven't calmed down either and are rapidly expanding. I feel like something big is going to happen soon, but I can't pinpoint any specifics. No powers in the Viridian Empire can pose a threat to us for now. Soon we can set out to deal with Divine Protectors,」Guo Huai said.
Hearing Guo Huai's words, Nie Yan knitted his brows. Asskickers United was currently flourishing. There was probably no need to get paranoid.
Nie Yan went to school during the day and entered the game in the evening, directing Asskickers United's movements while training his skills.
Passing 10 days like this, Nie Yan's skills saw clear improvement.
Nie Yan slowly snuck up behind a Barbarian Warrior, then struck it with Backbreaker.
Rank 11 Backbreaker!
−22,721
His damage was three times higher than before!
Eight second stun!
All Warriors would tremble at this potent crowd control effect. Even a Warrior in godly equipment would fall to Nie Yan's ambush. Perhaps only Master-class Warriors with Divine armour could resist such a powerful stun.
If he exploded forth with all his damage, he could down a Barbarian Warrior in only 20 seconds! This was a Level 100 monster! Before reaching Level 100, even a party of five or more players wouldn't necessarily stand a chance against it.
Right now, Nie Yan could even take on Master-class players despite not being one himself. He was already no weaker than an ordinary Shadow Dancer.
Nie Yan started spamming Steal on the Barbarian Warrior.
Steal successful! You have obtained 2 gold, 23 silver.
Steal successful! You have obtained 3 gold, 12 silver.
...
One notification popped up after another. Soon, a crisp jingle rang out.
Nie Yan quickly checked his skill bar.
Steal has advanced to Rank 10.
"I've finally trained Steal to Rank 10! Whew, it wasn't easy." Nie Yan was ecstatic. He had spent five whole days training Steal from Rank 9 to 10! After reaching Rank 8, its success rate had increased to 50%. At Rank 9 it was 70% Now at Rank 10 it had increased to an astonishing 90%, not to mention the probability of stealing equipment had increased greatly.
Nie Yan gradually understood why Rank 10 Steal was labelled as godly. This kind of skill was absolutely capable of making someone weep tears in sadness. This was a skill that could steal an enemy's equipment!
Checking Steal's skill proficiency, it would take him at least 30 days to train it to Rank 11. He hardly had that much time to spare.
Nie Yan would have to put off training Steal for some other time. He was more than satisfied with it at Rank 10.
Nie Yan's skill list looked quite spectacular: Rank 11 Backbreaker, Rank 10 Reverse Grip Backstab, Rank 10 Counter, Rank 10 Phantom Assassination, Rank 10 Flicker Strike, Rank 7 Backstab, Rank 8 Smothering Strike, Rank 9 Concussive Blow, Rank 15 Kick...
Any one of these skills could make someone faint in shock. For an ordinary player, having a skill at Rank 5 or higher was already extremely impressive. With so many high rank skills, just how much burst damage could Nie Yan deal?
The rank of Nie Yan's skills were all freakishly high, especially Kick. With a fairly short cooldown, it was one of the easiest skills to train. After reaching Rank 15, its effects were extremely powerful. The description said that if he struck a vital area, he could cripple a target. He didn't know what counted as a vital area. Under normal circumstances, kicking the knee would cause a target to feel numb and slow their movements. Kicking the leg would result in a somewhat weaker effect.
Though these skills had all risen in rank, Nie Yan still hadn't completely familiarized himself with all of them. He would have to slowly hone himself.
With these skills as a foundation, Nie Yan would have no issue advancing to a Shadow Dancer. After which he would see a huge boost in strength, allowing him to surpass a recently promoted Shadow Dancer. After all, his starting point was already far higher than theirs.
Nie Yan recalled the Barbarian Berserker he encountered previously. Glancing at his skill bar, it was about time he killed it and opened that Sub Legendary-grade chest!
After killing another Barbarian Warrior, Nie Yan picked up the skill book that dropped on the ground and headed for the Barbarian Berserker.
"I wonder what sort of loot I'll get..." With his Steal reaching Rank 10, Nie Yan was itching to try his hands at a stronger target, and the Barbarian Berserker was the perfect choice!
Six minutes later, Nie Yan finally spotted the Barbarian Berserker. He entered stealth and slowly made his way forward.