Chapter 17: Cutting

Opening the textbook, Nie Yan quickly started solving the complex math and physics equations. He noticed that his memory had improved significantly after his rebirth. Although he couldn’t achieve perfect recall, his memory and mental acuity had both improved greatly, making studying much more efficient.

Another surprising discovery was that after prolonged training, he felt no fatigue at all, and his strength had increased slightly.

Nie Yan really liked his current body. With proper nutrition, he could quickly grow taller, just like he did during his senior year of high school. However, nutrient solutions were too expensive for him to afford right now. The cheapest nutrient solution cost 500 credits per dose, while mid-tier ones sold for thousands. His family only had two doses, and one had already been used.

At 5 PM, Nie Yan logged back into the game.

After logging in, Nie Yan noticed water spiders everywhere around him; the nearby water spiders had all respawned.

Fortunately, there was a thirty-second system protection period upon logging in, during which players were in a ghost-like state. They couldn’t attack monsters, and monsters couldn’t attack them either. Nie Yan bypassed the water spiders and swam outward.

As soon as the thirty seconds were up, Nie Yan continued killing water spiders in the nearby waters. By now, he had collected twenty-five Silk Threads and five Rare Silk Threads in his inventory.

At Nie Yan’s monster-killing speed, he should be able to complete the task in about three hours.

He must earn enough money to buy task items next time instead of collecting them manually.

About an hour later, Nie Yan’s voice chat rang. It was Yaoyao.

“Nieyan, where are you?”

“I’m still farming water spiders. What’s up?” Nie Yan asked while continuing his task. His right hand executed a precise stab, flipping over a water spider.

“Me and my friends went to the Treant Forest this morning.”

“Oh.”

“Aren’t you going to ask how it went?” Yaoyao asked.

“No need to ask.” Nie Yan was very familiar with the Treant Forest dungeon. Back then, he and his friends had attempted it five times before succeeding. Without at least 60 defense and 220 HP as a shield warrior, there was no chance of clearing it.

“Fine, just like you said, we wiped. We didn’t even reach the Treant King. One of my friends wants to meet you. We’re going to try the Treant Forest again tomorrow. Can you join us?” Yaoyao asked hopefully.

“Wait until your shield warrior’s defense improves. Let me check my schedule. But tell your friend that if we go to the Treant Forest, I want to be the leader, and all the rogue loot goes to me.” Nie Yan said, as there was a decent rogue cloak in the Treant Forest.

“You want to be the leader? Why?” Yaoyao asked.

“I don’t trust anyone else’s leadership.”

“That, I’ll need to ask. It might be difficult for all the rogue gear to go to you since we have another rogue in our team.” Yaoyao hesitated, as their team had equal distribution rules.

“If your leader doesn’t agree, forget it.” Nie Yan replied. He wasn’t intentionally trying to make it hard for Yaoyao; he just really disliked the rogue in Yaoyao’s team.

“I’ll ask our leader,” said Yaoyao. Nie Yan’s strict demands slightly diminished her favorable impression of him.

Yaoyao’s leader was a beautiful girl named Yulan, a Berserker class. Nie Yan’s most vivid memory of her was the pair of soft mounds on her chest. When she wore her Berserker armor, they were almost spilling out, with the revealing outfit showcasing a deep cleavage. Just the thought of it made him shudder.

However, Nie Yan dared not provoke Yulan. Although she was usually friendly, if someone angered her, her temper was as fiery as her chest. Once, a player had just teased her and was hunted down by Yulan, losing five levels in the process.

Such a beauty was to be admired from afar, not to be trifled with, or one might end up being destroyed.

“Also, besides the rogue loot, I want the gem dropped by the Treant King.” Nie Yan said without hesitation.

“We’re just going to do a dungeon together, how can you be like this!” Yaoyao stamped her foot, her eyes glistening with tears. She had thought Nie Yan was a good person after their smooth cooperation in the previous task, almost considering him a friend. She hadn’t expected Nie Yan to repeatedly shatter her good impression.

Nie Yan smiled faintly. Sometimes, explanations were unnecessary.

Yaoyao angrily hung up the voice chat.

Nie Yan sighed softly. Sometimes, it was better to clarify things before entering a dungeon to avoid disputes later.

At the Trak Town teleportation point, Yulan’s team was gathered nearby, totaling nineteen people. The most eye-catching figures were Yulan in her blue swordswoman armor and Yaoyao in her white robe.

They were like stars surrounding the moon, with several other attractive female members in the team becoming mere background next to them.

Yulan was tall and well-proportioned, with long sexy legs. Her beautiful appearance and mature charm were captivating, despite her young age of around twenty. Her most notable feature was her impressive chest.

Yaoyao had a different style, with her white robe, delicate oval face, and a ponytail, looking pure and charming, cute and attractive.

“Yaoyao, what did he say?” Yulan asked when she saw Yaoyao hang up the voice chat.

“He said if we go together, he wants to be the leader, and all the rogue gear and the gem dropped by the Treant King should go to him.” Yaoyao blushed. She had been excited to introduce Nie Yan to Yulan and others, considering him a good friend, but Nie Yan turned out to be like this.

“Yaoyao, you’re just too trusting. There are too many people like him. He must be a fraud with no real strength, just trying to get gear.” A rogue around twenty years old, handsome, said beside Yaoyao.

Yaoyao wanted to defend Nie Yan, but after thinking, she puffed up angrily and stayed silent. For some reason, she still leaned towards Nie Yan. He was very strong and definitely not someone trying to get gear. He wasn’t as bad as Chen Bo described.

“That’s not necessarily true. He knows the Treant King drops a gem, so he must have cleared the Treant Forest before. Being able to join a team to the end shows his team’s strength isn’t weak, and his experience is richer than ours. Requesting to be the leader and taking all the rogue gear and the gem dropped by the Treant King isn’t unreasonable. Since he can be honest with Yaoyao, it shows he has nothing to hide.” Yulan patted Yaoyao’s shoulder, saying, “Yaoyao, don’t worry about it.”

After hearing Yulan’s words, Yaoyao felt better despite still being a bit angry with Nie Yan, and she smiled brightly.

Seeing Yaoyao’s bright smile, Chen Bo felt uneasy. For some reason, this suddenly appearing Nie Yan made him feel a sense of crisis.

“Tomorrow we’ll rent a bronze-tier shield warrior armor. You tell him we’re inviting him to join our team for the Treant Forest tomorrow,” Yulan said, having already made her plans.

“I don’t even want to talk to him this morning. I’ll tell him in the afternoon.” Yaoyao pouted.

“Okay, you contact him in the afternoon.” Yulan smiled and shook her head.

Nie Yan was still farming water spiders. He had good luck and got three Silk Threads in a row. Checking his backpack, he already had twenty-nine, only one short of completing the collection.

Farming monsters in the morning had its advantages, as various item drop rates were slightly higher.

Nie Yan killed a water spider, grabbed something with his right hand, and looked at it. It was a rogue skill book.

Skill Book: Lacerate.

Skill Description: The rogue can use a dagger to cut the enemy’s skin, causing secondary bleeding damage.

Execution Requirements: Action (requires weapon).

Skill Attributes: +1 bonus to additional attack checks when cutting wounds, causing 5 points of bleeding damage per second for 6 seconds.

Skill Cooldown: Thirty seconds.

User Restriction: Rogues, any faction can use it.

Lacerate was a follow-up basic skill that could be used after skills like Backstab, adding a wound-tearing effect, causing 5 points of bleeding damage per second for 6 seconds.

In terms of damage, combining Lacerate with the bleeding effect made it only slightly less damaging than critical strikes, still quite effective.

What Nie Yan needed most right now was skill books.

Nie Yan learned Lacerate and turned to the next water spider. His voice chat rang again; it was Yaoyao. The little girl had sent another voice chat request.

Nie Yan connected the voice chat with Yaoyao, and they were silent for a while.

“I originally wanted to never talk to you again, but I’m a big person and decided not to hold it against you. Tomorrow our team is going to farm the Treant Forest. Are you coming?” Yaoyao pouted.

Nie Yan could imagine Yaoyao’s cute expression in his mind, which made him smile.

“I tomorrow…”

“Don’t say you have something tomorrow. Just say whether you’re coming or not tomorrow.”

Nie Yan was about to speak when Yaoyao interrupted him.

“Okay, just let me know the time tomorrow, I’ll definitely be there.” Nie Yan gave a helpless smile. He was completely at her mercy.

“That’s better. Tomorrow morning we’ll call you. Okay, you’re busy.” Yaoyao was satisfied with Nie Yan’s answer and hung up the voice chat before Nie Yan could say anything.

Hmph, little guy, still couldn’t handle me, Yaoyao thought smugly. Imagining Nie Yan’s awkward expression made her giggle.

Hearing the busy tone in the voice chat, Nie Yan smiled wryly. Tomorrow he still had to go to the Treant Forest. It seemed he needed to speed up.

With Lacerate, Nie Yan’s monster farming speed significantly increased. A Backstab followed by Lacerate could easily take down a water spider.

Dingdong, a crisp system prompt sounded, and Nie Yan leveled up to level 3.

After a while, he collected the thirtieth Silk Thread.

“Finally done.” Nie Yan thought, swimming towards the island to complete the task.

System: Player Fei Lai Shi Tou deposited a silver coin into your personal warehouse.

“Expert, the strategy you provided really worked. We’ve cleared the Enchanted Wizard Camp, and another silver coin has been mailed to your personal warehouse.” Shi Tou sent a message, excitedly.

“Received. Anything else?” Nie Yan asked. With the two silver coins from Shi Tou and his recent earnings, he was almost up to three silver coins. He had secured his initial capital.

“A friend of mine said we’re going to the Augmar Mud Swamp the day after tomorrow. Are you coming?” Shi Tou asked hopefully.

“I have something the day after tomorrow.” Nie Yan replied. The Augmar Mud Swamp was quite challenging. Shi Tou’s team clearing the Enchanted Wizard Camp showed they were quite strong.

“Then forget it. Do you have a strategy for the Augmar Mud Swamp?”

“Do you think I’m a god? The Augmar Mud Swamp is the hardest level 3 dungeon. Do you think I can get the strategy so quickly?” Nie Yan replied. He couldn’t keep selling dungeon map strategies, or it would raise suspicions. Once Shi Tou’s team failed a few times in Augmar, he would sell the strategy at a good price.

“Sorry, habitual thinking.” Shi Tou chuckled awkwardly.