Chapter 49: Fierce Leveling Speed

With his ten years of experience, Nian Yan could make Bai Kaisui feel extremely grateful with just a few words.

A series of magical attacks bombarded the treants. After the third round, the first treant fell, and more than ten seconds later, another treant fell.

Nian Yan approached the treant corpse, searched it, and found several copper coins and a pair of +2 Focusing Bronze Bracers for Mages.

“Gear dropped, it’s for Mages. You can distribute it among yourselves,” Nian Yan said, tossing the bracers to Yulan.

Tang Yao and Huanghun naturally ignored the bracers. Although the Bronze Bracers were decent, they were far inferior to the gear they already wore.

Ultimately, the Mage Pirate took the bracers for twelve copper coins. Acquiring gear within the team was naturally much cheaper than buying on the open market.

“Nian Yan, that move you used earlier was amazing. How did you do it? Teach me next time,” Yaoya said. The techniques of using crossbows and casting magic were similar. Among many players, Yaoya was considered skilled, but compared to Nian Yan, she was still far behind.

Nian Yan smiled slightly. “Sure, actually it’s not difficult. Let’s talk about it after we finish this instance.” He then walked forward to draw aggro from the treants. The treants gradually approached him, sometimes one at a time, sometimes two or three, but never more than three. Since it was an Expert-level instance, the gear drop rate was over 500% higher than normal instances, and the quality of the gear was far superior. After defeating those eighteen treants, the group obtained three decent Bronze items and one Silver item.

In the Simple-level Treant Grove instance, Yulan and others usually only obtained five Bronze items in total, none of which had particularly good attributes. Now, the value of these three Bronze items and one Silver item far exceeded those five. It was a promising start, and the team members were greatly encouraged.

“This Expert-level instance really has amazing rewards,” Huanghun remarked. Such gear drop rates were unimaginable to him.

“This is just the beginning,” Nian Yan said. In his previous life, the rewards he obtained from the Expert-level Treant Grove instance were far more than this.

“There’s a fork ahead,” Huanghun said. Everyone looked forward and saw two paths leading in different directions through the dark jungle.

“Go west,” Nian Yan said.

“Shouldn’t we go east?” Huanghun asked in surprise. When he and Ban Xing De Hu Li entered the instance, they took the eastern path. The western path was a dead end. Regardless of the difficulty level, the content of the Treant Grove instance was the same.

“Just follow my instructions. Going west is a dead end, but don’t you think it’s strange that such a dead end exists in the Treant Grove? There must be something valuable on that dead-end path! However, you need to be careful because there are many treants along the way, and it’s very dangerous,” Nian Yan said. This branching storyline was well hidden, and few people discovered it. Without a guide, one might miss it entirely.

Everyone followed Nian Yan toward the western path. There were frequently treants along the way, and they often charged into the group. Fortunately, with Nian Yan’s warnings, they were prepared.

“Stun!” Nian Yan used a stun ability to knock out a treant, then turned to attack another.

Bai Kaisui and others quickly charged forward, followed by magical attacks raining down like hail, pounding the treants.

Two treants successively fell dead.

After searching the treant corpses, they found three copper coins and a skill book.

Skill Book: Spirit Sense Evasion (Enhanced Intuition Evasion)

Skill Description: The rogue enhances their intuition to evade attacks, a passive skill.

Skill Attributes: Grants an additional +2 bonus to intuitive evasion checks and a +1 bonus to perception checks.

User Restrictions: Can be used by rogues, warriors, and paladins of any alignment.

“It’s something for rogues; I’ll take it,” Nian Yan said in the team chat. This skill book was a rare and uncommon skill. Even in the Expert-level Treant Grove instance, its drop rate was very low.

The skill “Enhanced Intuition Evasion” can be utilized by rogues, warriors, and paladins. If sold on the market, it would fetch at least two silver coins and is considered a rare item in high demand. In an average team, if such premium gear were to drop, everyone would scramble for it, potentially leading to conflicts and even betrayal among teammates.

But here, Nian Yan simply took it. Although many team members coveted it, no one dared to say anything. Nian Yan had made it clear beforehand that all gear he could use would go to him. Moreover, in this Expert-level instance, without Nian Yan, they could hardly move forward and certainly wouldn’t have obtained such good gear.

Each class had a total of fifty skill slots. For an ordinary rogue, filling half of them was already very good. Usually, having ten or so active skills was sufficient, and reaching twenty was already impressive. Therefore, most skill slots were still filled with passive skills.

A few skills could be upgraded, but the majority could not. As levels increased, some low-level skills could be forgotten to free up slots for higher-level skills.

Enhanced Intuition Evasion was one of the skills that could not be upgraded.

Nian Yan learned Enhanced Intuition Evasion and checked its attributes. His intuitive evasion and perception had both increased. A passive skill that enhanced permanent attributes was worth far more than a piece of equipment.

As the group advanced halfway, nearing the forest’s edge, a melodious flute sound arose, slowly drifting through the trees, clear and enchanting.

“At the end of the woods, there’s an old man who says some strange things. However, no matter how we asked him, he never offered a quest. Since we didn’t interact with the old man and still defeated the Treant King, we thought he might be irrelevant. Could that have been a quest branch?” Huanghun said, looking at Nian Yan, wondering what he thought about his words.

“In instances, NPCs never appear without purpose. Every NPC has a 90% chance of being related to the main quest,” Nian Yan said, walking toward the end of the woods.

Huanghun felt puzzled. Could Nian Yan really find any clues from that old man? Probably just in vain.

Nian Yan had seen detailed guides for almost all instances and had personally experienced 99% of them. Solving such issues was naturally not difficult for him.

“Nian Yan, have you been to this instance before?” Yaoya asked, curious how he seemed to know everything.

“I’ve been here with a group,” Nian Yan nodded.

“Expert-level too?”

“Normal difficulty.”

“Then how dare you enter the Expert-level instance?”

“Actually, Expert-level instances aren’t that hard to clear. As long as you uncover every hidden spot in the instance and your skills aren’t too poor, clearing Expert-level instances isn’t difficult,” Nian Yan replied.

Nian Yan answered confidently, as if everything was easily resolved in his hands. Yaoya glanced at Nian Yan’s profile. His well-defined features still had a hint of youthfulness, with some stubble on his chin. He wasn’t particularly handsome, but he had a unique aura that made people instinctively trust and rely on him.

Yaoya couldn’t help but look a few more times, then seemed to realize something, blushed, and quickly averted her gaze.

“Yaoya, how did you meet him?” Yulan asked Yaoya beside her. She had also become slightly curious about Nian Yan. Such a skilled player was rare, considering the game had only launched over a week ago.

“It was that day when I went to collect water sacs… he saved me. If it weren’t for him, I probably would have died and lost a level,” Yaoya said, still feeling the lingering fear. That day, she had been attacked by six water spiders. She had consumed a healing potion and two scrolls to kill three of them, and the remaining three almost cost her life.

Yulan had to admit that Yaoya was indeed lucky to meet Nian Yan. A thief this strong was hard to find even if you dug three feet into the ground.

The group defeated another treant, and a “ding” sound rang out as a white light shone from Nian Yan.

“I’ve leveled up,” Nian Yan said, checking his personal attribute panel. He was now level four.

“Congratulations.”

“Congratulations.” The team members offered their congratulations one after another.

“Nian Yan, how did you level up so fast?” Tang Yao asked in surprise. Previously, his experience was far ahead of Nian Yan’s, but how could Nian Yan surpass him in just a day?