Chapter 10: Doctor Blevins

Nie Yan glanced toward the lakeside; it seemed they had already begun.

The Merfolk Tribe was under attack by the Triumph Guild, causing the Merfolk surrounding Nie Yan to abandon him and return to defend their tribe. Unexpectedly, it was the Triumph Guild who ended up saving his life. What an amazing world indeed.

All the Merfolk had swum away, making the area safe. Nie Yan quickened his pace searching for treasure chests and finally discovered another one nestled among dense aquatic plants. It was a white treasure chest.

The surrounding scenery matched perfectly with what he remembered. This was the place!

Nie Yan opened the chest and reached inside, pulling out a skill book—specifically, a gathering skill book. He crushed the book into white light with his hands, and a new skill, Gathering, appeared in his auxiliary skill bar.

His reward was pretty good. He wondered if there were other chests nearby, but continuing to search like this would be a waste of time. Anyway, he remembered the locations of many other chests. Once he leveled up, he could come back to collect them.

Nie Yan swam forward, weaving through the aquatic plants, carefully avoiding any monsters he encountered. About ten or so minutes later, he spotted an island in the center of the lake and headed toward the surface.

System: You discovered the Island in the Lake.

Nie Yan reached the shore and checked his coordinates. Nearby, he scanned the area with his eyes and noticed a person sitting at the edge of the water, fishing.

It was a peculiar old NPC, who would ask every player who encountered him to find Silk Threads for him. Each Silk Thread could be exchanged for a piece of Silk.

The price of a Silk Thread at NPCs was three copper coins, while a piece of Silk sold for two copper coins, creating a price difference. After the exchange, this old NPC would offer no compensation to the player.

Many players had undertaken this task, but it had always been a loss, with no rewards obtained.

In his previous life, Nie Yan had also completed this task. After handing over five Silk Threads, he stopped continuing with the task. Exchanging Silk Threads for Silk was simply not worth it.

Later, someone refused to believe this and kept handing over threads until they had given thirty Silk Threads, finally receiving a task reward. The NPC would teach a Combat Bandage skill, and it was even an intermediate-level bandaging skill. When the news broke, players were astonished and rushed to take the task. However, by then, the NPC had already disappeared.

There were water spiders nearby that dropped Silk Threads. These were level 3 monsters, and it would take about three days to collect thirty Silk Threads by farming them. Nie Yan could use this time to level up while gathering the task items. Exchanging thirty Silk Threads for thirty pieces of Silk would only result in a loss of thirty copper coins, which was insignificant compared to the value of the intermediate-level Combat Bandage skill.

Nie Yan approached the old man.

“Every year at this time,” the old man murmured to himself, “Hilton Fortress welcomes a wave of monsters from the distant depths of the earth. The brave warriors defending the fortress have paid with countless blood and lives to protect this vibrant land. The wounded always endure each day and night in pain. Yesterday or tomorrow, tomorrow or yesterday—youth, tell me, is it better for me to fish from the shore or upon the water?” He turned his head and asked Nie Yan.

The old man had white hair, looked frail and aged, his skin like the bark of a withered tree, full of wrinkles. He wore an unremarkable gray cloak and held a fishing rod.

In Nie Yan’s memory, this old NPC was a confused and comical character, asking a series of muddled questions. It was enough to just give a vague answer. But now, hearing the phrase “Yesterday or tomorrow, tomorrow or yesterday” again, Nie Yan felt something new.

This old NPC was not senile at all—he was a wise man!

It was enough to answer the question casually, but Nie Yan, almost instinctively, said, “As long as you can catch fish, what difference does it make whether it’s from the shore or on the water?”

Upon hearing Nie Yan’s answer, the old man’s eyes briefly flashed with sharpness.

Looking into the old man’s eyes, Nie Yan became even more convinced that this NPC was not simple at all.

“Time is illusory, days fly by like shuttles, time passes, pain cycles endlessly, and in the end, it’s nothing more than a handful of dry bones. Even if those brave warriors managed to protect this wonderful world, in the end, they couldn’t escape illness and death. What was the meaning of it all?” the old man sighed.

“The meaning of life lies in pursuing and having no regrets,” Nie Yan replied with deep feeling. This was his realization after experiencing both past and present lives. He continued, responding to the old man, “In this wonderful world, they have their brothers and loved ones. They resist enemy attacks and bring joy to their brothers and loved ones. They use their lives to protect their beliefs; that is their glory. The God of Light will bless them.”

Nie Yan guessed that this old NPC might be a character from Hilton Fortress who had come out searching for Silk Threads.

After hearing Nie Yan’s words, the old man’s previously hazy eyes became clear and penetrating.

“Young man, I need many Silk Threads. Can you help me find them?” the old man asked.

“With pleasure,” Nie Yan replied joyfully. This was exactly the sentence he had been waiting for.

System: You have accepted the quest, “Commission from Physician Blavens,” to find Silk Threads.

Nie Yan recalled that in his previous life, he had simply answered the question and received a quest titled “Commission from an Unknown Old Man,” slightly different from the one in this life.

This old man should be a physician from Hilton Fortress who had come out to search for Silk Threads?

Combined with the fact that this old man taught the intermediate-level bandage skill, Nie Yan became even more certain.

Regardless, he should finish this task first.

Nie Yan bid farewell to the old NPC and headed south of the island, where a section of the lake was the habitat of water spiders. Although water spiders were level 3 monsters, their combat power was not impressive. However, because they moved on the water’s surface, they posed some difficulty.

Diving back into the lake, Nie Yan surfaced, scanning the area. There were no monsters active underwater here, so he didn’t have to worry about being attacked from below.

He spotted a water spider. These were giant spiders capable of swiftly crawling on the water’s surface, somewhat different from regular spiders, as they did not use poison attacks and were afraid of humans. They would not attack first unless humans provoked them.

Water Spider: Level 3, HP 80/80.

Nie Yan slowly approached the water spider from behind, suddenly lunged forward, raised his dagger, and stabbed into the spider’s back, delivering several consecutive attacks.

The water spider shrieked and charged at Nie Yan. Nie Yan dodged swiftly, then countered with a stab. After accumulating enough energy, he executed a critical strike, plunging his dagger into the water spider’s eye.

The water spider let out a piercing screech and curled up, floating on the water’s surface.

This water spider dropped one copper coin. Nie Yan caught the coin and swam toward another water spider.

The drop rate of Silk Threads was 1 in 200, meaning Nie Yan would need to kill over 6,000 water spiders to collect thirty Silk Threads, which would take nearly three days.

These three days would be enough for Nie Yan to level up to level 3, learn the bandage skill, and then return to buy some skill books, significantly boosting his strength.

Nie Yan swam toward a water spider that was rapidly crawling across the water’s surface.

A Holy Smite descended from the sky, striking the water spider and causing a damage value of 36 to float above its head.

Holy Smite was a skill used by Holy Word Mages.

Was there someone else here?

Nie Yan became cautious and looked in that direction, noticing three water spiders chasing a person.

The distance was quite far, so Nie Yan could only make out that it was a Holy Word Mage, and a female at that. She wore a white robe and held a blue staff, but her exact appearance was unclear.

It seemed that person was in trouble. Nie Yan hesitated for a moment before diving into the water and swimming toward them. If she was an enemy player, he would eliminate her. If there was no prior conflict, he would help her out.

The Holy Word Mage was fighting off the approaching water spiders while swimming toward Nie Yan’s direction.

Nie Yan surfaced, about five yards away from the Holy Word Mage.

The Holy Word Mage noticed Nie Yan nearby and, visibly tense, immediately turned and swam in the opposite direction.

Being chased by monsters and encountering someone who might take advantage of the situation would certainly lead to her demise.

The distance between them was now very close.

As the Holy Word Mage turned her head, Nie Yan got a clear view of her face. She was a beautiful woman, her hair tied into a ponytail at the back, with a strand of hair hanging down beside her face. Her face was pale, and her eyes were bright and clear like water.

Although Faith adjusted players’ appearances slightly, it did not alter their fundamental beauty or ugliness, keeping them roughly consistent with their real-world appearances, which was one of the reasons Faith was so appealing.

Nie Yan could immediately tell that the Holy Word Mage in front of him was a beauty.

The Holy Word Mage glanced anxiously at Nie Yan, their eyes meeting briefly. She turned her head away and continued to deal with the water spiders. Dodging three of them at once was indeed quite difficult, but she remained calm and used an acceleration scroll, significantly increasing her speed.

Now that he had a clear view of her face, Nie Yan’s mouth opened wide enough to fit an egg. How could he meet her here!

He couldn’t help but marvel at how small the world was.

The beautiful Holy Word Mage was named Yaoyao. Looking back, the two of them had shared a complicated and fateful relationship in his previous life. Meeting her here again was truly a case of fate bringing enemies together.

Perhaps there was something called destiny, a preordained connection.

Nie Yan and his friends had once entered a dungeon together, but they were short a mage. His friend had invited Yaoyao to join, marking their first meeting. Later, as they entered more dungeons together, they gradually became familiar with each other, leading to many stories between them.

Meeting an old friend again, Nie Yan felt a surge of emotions.