Chapter 11: The Assassination Skill Book

Yao Yao encountered consecutive dangers, and Nie Yan quickly swam toward her.

Seeing Nie Yan approaching, Yao Yao became even more nervous. There were three monsters chasing her. With her superb skills, she might be able to defeat them, but her chances of survival wouldn’t exceed ten percent. If Nie Yan took advantage of her vulnerable situation, she would almost certainly be doomed.

Seeing three water spiders consecutively attacking Yao Yao, Nie Yan quickly dove and followed, gradually catching up with one of the water spiders. He leapt from the water surface, and with a dagger in hand, stabbed it into the back of one water spider.

Yao Yao turned around and cast a Holy Judgment, striking the water spider and killing it.

Yao Yao glanced at Nie Yan. Since Nie Yan had helped her fight the water spiders, he probably had no ill intentions.

Nie Yan performed a critical strike, stabbing another water spider in the eye, dealing 52 points of damage and flipping the already half-health water spider.

In an instant, only one of the three water spiders remained.

What incredible attack power! Yao Yao looked at Nie Yan in surprise. In her memory, she’d never known Nie Yan to be such a skilled friend; Nie Yan seemed somewhat unfamiliar.

After killing the second water spider, Nie Yan immediately rushed toward the third.

With two people fighting one water spider, things became much easier.

Waving her right hand’s staff, Yao Yao cast a Holy Strike against the remaining water spider.

“Thank you,” Yao Yao said to Nie Yan after all three water spiders were dead, but she remained vigilant, in case Nie Yan suddenly attacked.

“You’re welcome, it was just a small favor. Hello, I’m Nie Yan.” Nie Yan smiled brightly. He recalled his previous life, where Yao Yao was a very understanding and caring girl, occasionally a bit willful, but for a girl, these weren’t hard to accept flaws.

“I’m Yao Yao.” Yao Yao appeared very cautious. She had never met Nie Yan before and found it hard to let her guard down immediately.

Nie Yan was very curious about Yao Yao’s circumstances and wanted to add her as a friend, but he didn’t want to make such a request immediately, lest it seem too abrupt, especially since Yao Yao was a girl. Although he understood Yao Yao’s deep wariness of him, he was confident that, based on his knowledge of her, they could still become friends.

In his previous life, he had been very unlucky in love. After entering the game, he met Yao Yao, who had always been there to comfort and encourage him. Although they had always been friends, they unexpectedly had an intimate relationship, creating a complex and tangled bond between them.

Yao Yao secretly observed Nie Yan. He looked very young and didn’t seem like a bad person.

There wasn’t much conversation between them, and Yao Yao thought her coldness might have caused some awkward silence.

“Today you saved me, so I want to thank you. Let’s add each other as friends.” Yao Yao broke the silence.

“You don’t need to thank me. Why are you here grinding water spiders?” Nie Yan asked. This place was far from any town or village, so few people came here.

“One of my tasks is to grind water spiders and collect their water sacs.” Yao Yao replied, thinking how close she had been to dying just now. If she had died, all her efforts over the past three or four days would have been wasted.

“Coincidentally, I have a task to grind water spiders and collect their silk threads. Let’s team up to grind water spiders. The water sacs go to you, and the silk threads go to me. How does that sound?” Nie Yan suggested.

Yao Yao was silent for a moment before nodding. “Okay, but we should agree that whenever one of us has gathered enough, they can leave anytime.”

She had made herself clear. If, while grinding monsters together, she decided Nie Yan wasn’t a good person, she could leave immediately.

“Of course, I’ll invite you to my party.” Nie Yan sent a party invitation to Yao Yao.

System: Yao Yao has joined your party.

“I have twelve silk threads here. I’ll give them to you as a reward.” Yao Yao opened the trade window.

“Twelve silk threads are worth thirty-six copper coins!” Nie Yan shook his head.

“Do you mean my level-one experience isn’t worth thirty-six copper coins? I don’t have much use for these silk threads anyway.” Yao Yao looked at Nie Yan. Her eyes were big and round, with slightly upturned lashes, giving her a very lively appearance. She didn’t like owing people favors, and she had another thought: if she repaid the favor, Nie Yan wouldn’t have any reason to keep bothering her.

“Alright then.” Nie Yan clicked to confirm the trade. If Yao Yao was determined about something, she would become stubborn, and Nie Yan didn’t want to make the atmosphere too awkward.

“That’s better.” Seeing Nie Yan accept, Yao Yao smiled slightly.

This way, Nie Yan was much closer to completing his task.

Nie Yan organized his backpack and took a good look at Yao Yao. Compared to when they had met in his previous life, she looked a bit younger, with snow-white skin. The water reached her chest, and her tight robe further accentuated her curves.

Nie Yan clearly remembered that day in the secret room of the Falter Dungeon when Yao Yao took off her clothes, revealing her flawless body and perfect curves, like a goddess sculpture.

That day had been both sensual and lustful, with both of them overwhelmed by primal desires.

But both understood it was just a game, and neither had the courage to get closer in real life. Later, they gradually returned to being good friends. That incident had been a beautiful mistake, becoming an indelible memory in both their hearts.

Nie Yan chatted with Yao Yao for a while, mostly about the game, and they found they got along quite well.

“Shall we go?” Yao Yao blinked her eyes and looked at Nie Yan.

Nie Yan’s appearance was only average, and compared to several members of her team, he was indeed not as good-looking. However, he was a decent person and much more pleasant to be around than the others on her team.

Two people grinding monsters was much faster than one. Nie Yan tanked the monsters in front, while Yao Yao used Holy Judgments and Holy Strikes from behind. The attack power of a Holy Word Mage was very high, surpassing Nie Yan’s by a large margin, although her attack speed couldn’t match his.

Nie Yan recalled those events from his previous life, his mind briefly wandering before returning to the present. Those things from his past were gone now. He and Yao Yao would be good friends, but he would never make the same mistake again. Xie Yao was the one person etched deeply in Nie Yan’s heart. In the end, games were just virtual, and even the best friends and most compatible pretend couples in the game would eventually go their separate ways.

“Are you in a team?” Yao Yao asked.

“Not yet.”

“How come? Your skills are so good, there should be many teams wanting you.” Yao Yao said, puzzled.

“I’m used to leveling alone. As for teams, maybe later. It’s not much fun joining a team at the early stages anyway.”

After Nie Yan finished speaking, he rushed toward a water spider, and Yao Yao quickly followed up with a Holy Judgment.

Before the water spider could make any move, Nie Yan’s dagger had already pierced its abdomen, killing it. Their coordination was extremely smooth.

For the first time, Yao Yao felt that cooperating with someone to kill monsters was so enjoyable. She couldn’t help but wonder if she had met Nie Yan somewhere before.

“Nie Yan, Nie Yan… Could it really be him?” Yao Yao murmured to herself, looking at Nie Yan’s back. For a moment, she felt that Nie Yan looked somewhat familiar.

“Our team currently has seventeen members, not yet full. Do you want to join?” Yao Yao invited him. Although Nie Yan was only level two, his skills were very good, and Senior Sister Yulan would probably welcome him.

“I don’t want to join a team for now.” Nie Yan declined.

“Oh.” Yao Yao felt slightly disappointed.

“There’s a dagger skill book drop from this rogue.” Nie Yan said.

“You take it. It’s for rogues. If there’s something for mages, it’s mine. We each get what we need.”

As their conversation deepened, the two gradually became more familiar with each other, so Yao Yao no longer quibbled with Nie Yan over every little thing.

“Then I won’t be polite.” Nie Yan looked at the dagger skill book.

Skill Book: Stab.

Skill Description: Rogues gain rage points through forward thrust attacks.

Execution Elements: Action (requires weapon).

Skill Attributes: +2 bonus to attack rolls on critical hits, +5 rage points, 1 combo point.

Skill Cooldown Time: 30 seconds.

User Restriction: Rogues, warriors, paladins, usable by any faction.

Unlike the people she had grouped with before, who would always pretend to refuse the loot before finally accepting it, Yao Yao’s lips curled into a slight smile. Being with Nie Yan felt surprisingly familiar, as if she didn’t need to wear many masks here like she did in real life.

Nie Yan learned the Stab skill, adding another skill to his skill bar.

Rogue attack skills were divided into basic skills, combo skills, and finishing moves. Basic skills could be used at any time, and rage points were accumulated by attacking opponents. Combo skills could generate combo points, while critical strike skills required accumulating a certain amount of rage to use. Each combo point added a +20% bonus to attack rolls. The maximum number of combo points was ten, and they reset after release.

Because of combos, expert-level rogues could often deal two to three times more damage than average rogues with the same skill combinations.

Under normal circumstances, a rogue’s skill composition should have basic and combo skills more than twice as many as energy skills to be considered normal.

After obtaining Stab, Nie Yan’s rage accumulation speed noticeably increased. With one normal attack and one Stab, he could accumulate enough rage to use a critical strike.

As their coordination became more proficient, Nie Yan and Yao Yao grew bolder, speeding up their monster grinding. At times, Nie Yan even pulled two to three monsters at once, while Yao Yao kept attacking fiercely from behind.

Yao Yao’s staff never stopped. Holy Judgments and Holy Strikes were continuously cast. When she ran out of mana, she drank potions for slow mana regeneration.

Slow mana regeneration wouldn’t be interrupted unless attacked by enemies. It restored 60 mana over 30 seconds and was affordable, making it a very cost-effective option.

“How many water sacs have you collected?”

“Fifty-two.”

“How many more do you need?”

“Eight.”

“It looks like you’ll gather enough soon. You haven’t learned alchemy yet, right? After completing the task, go to NPC coordinates 356.329.311 in Most Town. There’s an NPC there who offers a hidden task—Rare Herbs. Completing the NPC’s task will allow you to learn Perfect Alchemy.” Nie Yan said. Perfect Alchemy was more effective than regular alchemy.

Yao Yao was about to complete her task soon, and she suddenly felt a sense of loss. Grinding monsters with Nie Yan was much more enjoyable than leveling alone, at least she had someone to chat with.