Chapter 13: Golden Electric Eel

In Carol City’s teleportation point, a group of more than twenty players gathered chatting together.

“I think that guy is definitely a fraud. How could he possibly know how to beat the Sunken Wizard’s Camp?”

“That person probably isn’t a fraud. Otherwise, how could he guess where we wiped? He must know this instance extremely well to know where we would fail.”

Opinions varied greatly, making it difficult to reach a consensus.

“Stone, how about it? Did he say anything?” a warrior beside asked. He was the team leader, named Ban Xing De Hu Li (Half-Awake Fox).

Stone recounted what Nie Yan had said.

The Holy Word Priest pondered for a while, looking at the team members and asked, “What do you think? Is it credible?”

“It’s hard to say,” replied a nearby player. The Sunken Wizard’s several stages were too difficult, and they had wiped before even seeing the Sunken Sacrificer.

“Perhaps that Nie Yan has run the Sunken Wizard’s Camp with a team before.”

“He’s indeed a high-level player. The monster spawn point outside the Sunken Wizard’s Camp was told to me by him. He said he previously played a Warrior, but deleted that character and started anew as a Rogue. I think his Warrior character was at least level four; otherwise, how could he know so much?” Fei Lai Shi Tou (Flying Stone) defended Nie Yan, firmly believing in him.

“Shall we try his method?”

“Everyone, prepare yourselves. We’ll depart in ten minutes,” the Holy Word Priest decided.

“Boss Fox, are we really going?” another mage asked.

“I think his words have some credibility. Otherwise, he wouldn’t know so much about the Sunken Wizard’s instance. Let’s give it a try. If that person turns out to be a fraud, I’ll make sure he pays the price,” Ban Xing De Hu Li said confidently. He could distinguish truth from lies. If they hadn’t wiped in the Sunken Wizard’s Camp before, he wouldn’t have asked Stone to seek help from Nie Yan.

Nie Yan was still farming water spiders, collecting silk. The process was extremely tedious.

He was fighting a water spider, nearly defeating it when it let out a sharp screech.

The sound attracted six other water spiders in the distance, who began surrounding him.

Fighting two water spiders was already his limit. If he faced more than two, he had no chance of winning at all.

Nie Yan lunged forward, landing a critical strike that killed the nearly dead spider. He grabbed the copper coin it dropped, but by then the six other spiders had already reached him.

Nie Yan quickly dove into the water, swimming downward.

The six spiders scuttled on the water’s surface, searching for him.

Nie Yan swam away, and after more than a minute, began to feel suffocated. He looked upward and saw even more water spiders on the surface. Surfacing now would mean certain death.

To avoid drowning, Nie Yan activated the underwater breathing ability from his Water-Repelling Pearl, planning to swim back up where there were fewer water spiders.

A beam of light projected from the lake’s surface down into the dark depths below. Nie Yan vaguely saw a flash of golden light at the lake’s bottom, his heart leapt. Could it be some treasure?

Since the Water-Repelling Pearl’s underwater breathing ability still had a long duration, Nie Yan dove deeper into the lake.

It was bottomless and the deeper he swam, the greater the pressure he felt in his abdomen.

The lake bed was filled with strange rocks, narrow and dark between them, with visibility limited to about two yards.

Nie Yan could see that the rocks were covered with ores like black iron crystals, but unfortunately, he had no mining skill and had to give up.

Cold currents surged from between the rocks, hitting Nie Yan, making him feel chilly.

Suddenly, a giant golden eel swam out from between the rocks, passing by Nie Yan.

Nie Yan was startled, but upon seeing clearly, realized it was a Golden Electric Eel!

The golden light he had seen earlier was indeed this Golden Electric Eel!

Golden Electric Eels are a rare type of monster, ranging from level 0 to 20. They are generally peaceful, never attacking players first. However, when attacked, they retaliate by releasing strong electric currents from their tails, making them deadly in water.

Defeating a Golden Electric Eel usually yields decent equipment, at least of Bronze quality.

Golden Electric Eel: Level 0, HP 80.

Fortunately, it was only a level 0 Golden Electric Eel. If it were a bit higher level, Nie Yan wouldn’t have been able to fight it at all.

Nie Yan followed the Golden Electric Eel, observing its body, searching for its weakness. This eel was three meters long.

The Golden Electric Eel was completely indifferent to Nie Yan’s presence, even circling around him a few times.

It was said that the Golden Electric Eel’s weak spot was on its neck. Nie Yan looked and noticed a red scale on its neck.

That was the Golden Electric Eel’s weak point!

Nie Yan followed the Golden Electric Eel into a narrow crevice between rocks. He raised his dagger and stabbed the eel’s neck. A critical strike pierced its neck, and a stream of dark red blood gushed out.

-11.

The Golden Electric Eel hadn’t expected the player beside it to attack, and it struggled violently, trying to break free from Nie Yan.

Nie Yan tightly gripped the eel’s body, but its skin was covered in slippery mucus, making it hard to hold onto.

The eel swung its tail, releasing a powerful electric current toward Nie Yan.

-32.

The electric current hit Nie Yan, his body feeling as if bitten by countless ants, numb and weak.

The Golden Electric Eel’s electric attack had a paralysis effect!

Dazed, Nie Yan felt the eel trying to escape. His dagger had pierced deep into the eel’s body, stuck near its spine.

Nie Yan held the dagger tightly.

The Golden Electric Eel dragged Nie Yan forward, releasing another electric current that struck him. A -23 damage number floated above Nie Yan’s head.

Golden Electric Eels are special monsters, stronger than elite monsters. If it were a bit higher level, Nie Yan would have been dead long ago.

Nie Yan’s consciousness was a bit blurred, but he forced himself to stay alert.

The eel swam quickly through the narrow crevices between the rocks, spurting blood from its body, dyeing the surrounding water red.

After a while, the Golden Electric Eel released another electric shock, hitting Nie Yan and causing -16 damage.

The Golden Electric Eel’s electric attacks had a limited amount of electricity. The more it used, the weaker the attacks became.

The Golden Electric Eel dragged Nie Yan for five or six minutes, continuously attacking him. Nie Yan’s HP kept decreasing, down to only 23 points. He painfully used a low-tier instant HP potion.

The electric current paralyzed his entire body, making even the slightest movement extremely difficult.

The Golden Electric Eel finally tired and stopped. Nie Yan seized the opportunity, using his dagger for a critical strike targeting the eel’s neck.

The Golden Electric Eel struggled violently, wrapping its body tightly around Nie Yan, completely entangling him. A powerful suffocating sensation came from his abdomen.

-5, -5, -5. Damage numbers floated above Nie Yan’s head as his HP dropped to only 15%.

Seeing his HP rapidly depleting, Nie Yan accelerated his attacks, continuously stabbing the eel’s neck with his dagger.

-8, -8, -8. The Golden Electric Eel’s HP finally reached zero. It slowly loosened its grip, flipping over with its belly up.

Nie Yan finally escaped the Golden Electric Eel’s grasp. He reached out with his right hand, picking up the dropped equipment—a pair of gloves.

Soft Leather Gloves: Bronze quality, attributes unappraised.

This equipment dropped by a level 0 Golden Electric Eel was likely level 0. The attributes needed to be appraised back in the city. Since it was leather armor, a Rogue could definitely use it.

Putting the Soft Leather Gloves into his backpack, the paralysis effect gradually faded. Nie Yan didn’t know where the Golden Electric Eel had dragged him to, so he swam upward.

While weaving through the dark rocks, Nie Yan noticed a small plant swaying with the current on a distant rock.

It was a small plant about half an inch long, with three silky green, spindle-shaped leaves.

Judging by its appearance, it was Shui Lin Cao (Water Scale Grass)!

Nie Yan’s eyes widened. There were six recipes for low-tier instant mana potions, and Water Scale Grass was one of the main ingredients for one of the recipes. A low-tier instant mana potion was worth thirty copper coins, so the price of Water Scale Grass was around twenty copper coins.

Two vivid red water snakes swam past the Water Scale Grass.

Hua Lin Shui She (Flower Scale Water Snake): Level 3, HP 100/100.

Nie Yan waited a bit beside them until the Flower Scale Water Snakes swam away. Then he swam toward the Water Scale Grass, sticking like a gecko to the rock, and harvested the plant, placing it into his backpack.

This was likely the Water Scale Grass’s growth area. Nie Yan searched around and found two more Water Scale Grass plants nearby. His harvest was quite good.

Nie Yan floated upward, breaking the water’s surface. After staying underwater in the dark environment for so long, it was truly oppressive. Finally, he could take a breath of fresh air.

This area was still a water spider spawn zone. Nie Yan continued farming water spiders. As the game was about to close, he obtained a Holy Knight’s Holy Slash. Holy Slash was a basic skill for Paladins, currently worth around thirty copper coins.

He was quite lucky. In the water spider farming area, the drop rate of Holy Slash was definitely less than one in ten thousand. Some players could farm water spiders for days without ever obtaining a Holy Slash.

System: The game will close in three minutes. Please prepare to log off.

Nie Yan found a relatively safe place to hide. Three minutes later, his vision darkened as he logged out of the game.

At nine in the morning, a new day began. People went to work. With the implementation of a three-hour workday—working one hour in the morning and two in the afternoon—their schedules were quite relaxed. Students began their summer entertainment.

After breakfast, Nie Yan started his morning exercise. His father had a military background and was very strict with him. Nie Yan was in good shape. Previously, to assassinate Cao Xu, he had persisted with two years of training, following special forces training methods found online. These training methods were extremely harsh. Since he started training at a relatively older age, missing the optimal training period, the results weren’t very strong, but he could still easily take down two or three adults.

These two or three adults referred to those who had some training. With the development of productivity, people were liberated from heavy labor. Modern society increasingly emphasized elite education. Besides basic courses, free combat, Taekwondo, boxing, and other disciplines were listed as elective subjects, learned from an early age. This ensured that everyone had decent physical fitness, at least knowing some basic fighting techniques. Various major combat sports remained popular. Accurately speaking, this was a martial society.

There were no training equipment at home, so he could only do simple exercises. Once he had economic strength, buying equipment and some biopharmaceuticals would yield more noticeable results.

After an hour of exercise and twenty minutes of combat training, Nie Yan began reviewing his lessons. In this era, the importance of knowledge was immense. The textbooks covered everything from basic physics and chemistry to the production of various polymers, aircraft, small nuclear batteries, and more. If one truly mastered the textbook knowledge, building spacecraft or mechs wouldn’t be a problem.

In this era, with the stimulation of drugs and bioelectricity, the average IQ could reach 160 or higher, with some reaching as high as 260. However, in their lifetimes, people still couldn’t fully integrate all the knowledge accumulated by previous generations.

In high school, a hundred-point exam scoring fifty or sixty was already quite good. There was no concept of passing or failing exams, but each exam score was recorded in personal comprehensive evaluations.

Nie Yan ranked in the top three during his first and second years of high school. After transferring to a noble school in the city, his grades dropped to the bottom. In this world, money might solve many problems, but knowledge determined one’s status. Nie Yan’s father might be able to use money to pave a smooth path for Nie Yan, but whether he could walk it depended entirely on Nie Yan himself.