Blade of Tyranny

Chapter 29: God’s Sock Puppet

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Nie Fan did not know much about the world of professional gamers before joining Blade of Tyranny. As such, he was too embarrassed to keep asking after what Warsong had told him, and simply searched ‘Dancing Phoenix’ on the web to find her information.

She was the head of Phoenix Down Studios and a famous person in the professional scene, her individual achievements granting her place amongst the top ten pro gamers of China, and she was also the female on that leaderboard. The Phoenix Down Studios which she had founded was all-female and was a famed realm of beauty, although their overall ability was second-rate and ranked much lower than Tempest Wings. Be that as it may, Phoenix Down was much more famous than Tempest Wings since they had more babes—especially Dancing Phoenix herself, who countless players saw as their goddess.

Nie Fan certainly felt newfound respect after learning that she was the only female gamer in China’s top ten… and that was about it. He was busy, and was quite reluctant to get too involved with the studios.

“Don’t the Warriors in your party need this weapon?” Dancing Phoenix asked probingly then, keeping a close eye on Nie Fan’s expression.

“I’m not obligated to answer that.” He replied calmly.

“Just curious. Are you also quite close to Warsong, from Bloodbath Studios?” Dancing Phoenix was troubled to find that Nie Fan was as responsive as a block of wood, with his face not reacting at all.

Even her good looks which never failed against any man was useless against him.

“Not really. I’ve only traded with him once, like you.”

“I see. I’ll take the other level twenty-five White-grade items as well.” Dancing Phoenix replied, since her other ordinary studio members could use those items too.

“Couldn’t have put it better.” Nie Fan felt a breezy joy, and sold every equipment at once to Dancing Phoenix, earning more than thirty-eight hundred bronze coins.

And everything else could wait after he bound the Ring of Fate to himself. He would also have to farm some coins later or he wouldn’t even be able to afford potions.

“Good trade. Well, I’m off—I’ll reach out when I have another item.” Nie Fan bid her farewell then, before turning to leave.

Dancing Phoenix frowned slightly as she watched him go.

She had tried to loosen his lips about his background in their conversation, but she had clearly failed—Nie Fan revealed nothing, and even acted as if he did not know her at all! Reasonably speaking, most VR game players would have heard of her name even if they did not know who she was specifically, but Nie Fan looked as if he knew nothing at all which made it all the more puzzling. After all, he couldn’t be a newbie given the way he was selling high-level Copper items.

Dancing Phoenix had so many questions. Nie Fan’s identity was so utterly mysterious… could it be some godly character’s sock puppet account?

“Snow Butterfly. Run this ID for me: Dark Night—I want every detail available about him, and check the list of members of major game studios to see if he’s in there.” Dancing Phoenix spoke into her group chat, even if it was like finding a needle in a haystack and they might get nothing at all.

“Okay, I’ll go check right away.” The girl called Snow Butterfly replied immediately.

Meanwhile, the players in Tajit were getting excited with her presence in Tajit, with some bored players even getting ideas such as ‘if Dancing Phoenix is here, is Phoenix Down Studios going to set up base here in Tajit?’ That would certainly be great news, since the female gamers of Phoenix Down were an excellent resource they sorely needed.

Most of the male players were having unrestrained lustful fantasies as they watched Dancing Phoenix leave—her gait and her devilish figure were setting their hearts aflame… what kind of man would it take to assert dominance over that spicy body? Indeed, there was even some who were thinking that it would be worth shortening their lifespans by decades just to spend a night with her.

On the other hand, meeting Dancing Phoenix was no more than a minor interlude for Nie Fan. His only gain from it was that he had one more buyer for any items he wanted to sell in his friend list, and she must be quite rich given that she was a player in the top ten.

Later, Warsong sent Nie Fan a message. “I’ve just found a level twenty Miniboss and I’m going to form a raid party of thirty. Interested, gamer?”

“Sorry, but I won’t be joining you. You should find someone else.” Nie Fan replied. It would be wasting time for him to do so since he knew a lot more Miniboss spawn points than Warsong did. Moreover, going a group meant that he would only have only a tiny fraction of the spoils even if everyone would get item drops.

“Okay, then,” Warsong said regrettably. Nie Fan had considerable ability, and he would have been great support if he would join them.

“Wait. How about we make a deal?” Nie Fan suddenly asked, having come up with a new way to earn money which he needed very much at the moment.

“What deal?” Warsong was immediately attentive. Could Nie Fan have more fine equipment in his possession?

“I have the location of some Elite monsters and Minibosses.”

“And you’re selling it to men?” Warsong’s eyes brightened. Selling coordinates was a perfectly ordinary trade in VR games—when a player stumbles upon a Boss in the wild but was not strong enough to take it down, they could sell those coordinates to professional raid parties. That way, the player would earn some money while the raid party would have a Boss to fight, making it a win-win trade. Moreover, Nie Fan had a lot of Bosses he could challenge, and therefore selling one or two locations would not affect himself too much.

“What level of monster can your party handle at the moment?”

After some thought, Warsong answered, “We are a party of twelve, so we could handle any Elite up to level twenty-five and Miniboss up to level sixteen.”

“I have a level fifteen Miniboss for you. Goblin Mutant, twelve hundred bronze coins, the deposit is half. I’ll return the six hundred coins in full if your party can’t find it.” Nie Fan said, making himself very clear that the choice was up to Warsong himself.

On the other end, Warsong’s heart skipped a beat. His present plan to make a thirty-person raid party challenge a Level 20 Miniboss was actually quite risky, and it would take a long time to find the right party members. But if it was just a Level 15 Miniboss, his party twelve could move out immediately, and it would probably be at most two hours when they returned with handfuls of loot.

That being said, the key was the coordinates! Boss monsters were often found in secluded locations, and finding them was extremely difficult in the vastness of the Blood Shade Plains.

Even so, Warsong could tell that Nie Fan was not someone who would try to con him out of six hundred bronze coins solely from their previous two encounters. After all, it would not have been an issue if Nie Fan decided to sell the previous item they traded for six hundred bronze coins more.

After weighing the idea for a bit, Warsong decided that he could go for it. “I’ll credit your account,” he said.

Even if Nie Fan needed money, he wouldn’t be too concerned about one or two thousand bronze coins since he had more ways to earn that amount in a short period of time. What he valued was a partnership, because if this first deal could be made with Warsong, the second and third deal would come naturally.

“By the way, no one must know about our deal,” he told Warsong.

“I understand. You could definitely be rest assured about that.” Warsong replied, being not one foolish enough to tell everyone about something like that.

In the end, Nie Fan did not want to catch too much attention. Even if being a little famous in a remote location like Tajit Village would not necessarily gather reputation, it would not be well for him if his name spread to other places.

Meanwhile, after Nie Fan had given Warsong the coordinates, Warsong’s party departed after making preparations in the village.