Chapter 11 – Assassinate Skill Book

Yao Yao was continuously placed in dangerous situations. Seeing this, Nie Yan quickly swam over in her direction.

Yao Yao became even more nervous when she saw Nie Yan swim over. There were three monsters chasing her from behind. Perhaps if she relied on her excellent skills, then she would be able to slowly whittle away their health until they died. Even then, her hopes of survival wouldn’t surpass ten percent. However, if Nie Yan were to take advantage of her situation, she would essentially have no chance of living.

Noticing the three Water Spiders repeatedly launching themselves at Yao Yao, Nie Yan increased his pace and closed in from behind. Gradually, he overtook one of the Water Spiders. With his dagger in hand, he leaped out of the water’s surface and stabbed at the center of its back.

Yao Yao turned around and followed Nie Yan’s attack by casting Holy Smite. The spell connected and blasted the Water Spider’s body, killing it in the process.

She gazed over and stared at her savior. Since Nie Yan had helped her deal with the Water Spider, Yao Yao presumed he didn’t have any malicious intents.

Nie Yan directed his attention to another Water Spider—one that had only half of its health remaining. Using Vital Strike, he stabbed the spider in the eye and dealt fifty-two damage.

In the blink of an eye, only one of the three original spiders remained standing.

What a powerful attack! Yao Yao stared in astonishment at Nie Yan. In her mind, out of all her friends, she had never met anyone as strong as him. Looking again, he seemed somewhat unfamiliar.

After Nie Yan finished killing the second Water Spider, he immediately swam over to the third.

With two people against only a single spider, the situation immediately appeared to be much more relaxed.

Yao Yao brandished the staff in her right hand and cast Holy Strike. The attack landed on the remaining Water Spider’s body.

“Thank you.” Seeing that the three Water Spiders were completely wiped out, Yao Yao faced Nie Yan and expressed her gratitude. However, she still remained on alert, just in case Nie Yan decided to suddenly attack.

“No need to be polite, it was only a slight effort. Hi, I’m called Nirvana Flame.” Nie Yan smiled brightly and began to recall how Yao Yao had been a very gentle and understanding girl. She was a very considerate person. Though she was a little headstrong as well—for a girl, it wasn’t too hard of a shortcoming to accept.

“My name is Yao Yao.” Evidently, she still remained quite cautious. She had never met Nie Yan before, so it wasn’t very easy for her to let her guard down.

Nie Yan wanted to add Yao Yao as a friend and find out what she was doing here. However, so as not to make it appear too sudden, he wouldn’t ask these inappropriate questions immediately. After all, Yao Yao was still a girl. Despite understanding that she remained cautious when facing him, Nie Yan still firmly believed that from his understanding of Yao Yao, the two of them could still become friends like before.

Back then, after he became acquainted with her in the game, it was always her who would stay by his side comforting and encouraging him whenever he felt really depressed or frustrated. The two of them still remained friends. However, a certain relationship had unwittingly occurred between the two of them. From thenceforth, the complications between the two could not be broken nor tidied up.

Yao Yao quietly observed Nie Yan. Looking at him, he gave the impression of being very young and he didn’t seem like a bad person.

The two people didn’t exchange any words afterward. Due to Yao Yao’s cold nature, it caused the two parties to become somewhat silent.

“Today you saved me, so I want to thank you. How about we add each other as friends?” Yao Yao broke the ice by speaking.

“You’re welcome. So, why are you here farming Water Spiders?” Nie Yan asked. This place was quite a far distance from any towns. Hence, few players would frequent this area.

“One of my quests is to kill Water Spiders and collect their Water Sacks,” Yao Yao replied. As she began to recall the prior events, she thought, That was quite a close call. Just a moment ago, I nearly died to the monsters here. If I died, then these past three to four days of painstaking efforts would’ve gone down the drain.

“That’s great; I also happened to accept a quest that requires me to kill Water Spiders, but to gather their Fine Silk instead. We should party up and kill these spiders together. The Water Sacks will go to you, and Fine Silk to me. How about it?” Nie Yan suggested.

Yao Yao remained silent for a moment. Then she nodded her head and said, “Alright, however, we both have to agree to one condition. If a person finishes collecting the materials they need, then they can leave at any time.”

She chose to put forth these conditions so if she felt Nie Yan were being useless when they were killing monsters together, she could leave immediately.

“That’s only natural. I’ll start the party.” Nie Yan sent Yao Yao a party request.

System: Yao Yao has become a member of your party.

“I have twelve Fine Silks on me right now. I’ll give them to you. Just consider it a thank you gift.” Yao Yao opened her trade window while she spoke.

“Twelve Fine Silks is the equivalent of thirty-six coppers!” Nie Yan shook his head in refusal.

“Are you meaning to say that my level’s worth of experience isn’t even worth thirty-six coppers? Besides, I don’t have any use for Fine Silk anyways.” Yao Yao stared at Nie Yan. Her eyes were quite large and round, while her eyelashes were slightly raised. She appeared to be quite smart and quick-witted. Yao Yao clearly showed that she didn’t want to owe him a debt. Furthermore, she also came up with an idea to pay him back. Since it was also favourable for him, Nie Yan didn’t have any reasons to pester her more about it.

“Fine.” Nie Yan confirmed the trade. Once Yao Yao was set on a matter, she would become very stubborn. Hence, Nie Yan didn’t want to argue further and cause the atmosphere to become too stiff.

“That’s more like it.” Yao Yao let out a faint smile once she saw Nie Yan accept the trade.

In this way, Nie Yan had taken a large step towards completing his quest.

Nie Yan began organizing his inventory as he quietly observed Yao Yao. Compared to the time when the two had first met in his past life, she seemed slightly more immature. Her skin appeared white as snow, while the lake waters that had soaked into her clothes caused her tight-fitting robe to accentuate her curvaceous figure even more.

Nie Yan distinctly remembered the day when they were in the dungeons under Fenarte city. When Yao Yao had taken off her clothes, her bare and perfectly curved body resembled the carving of a goddess.

On that erotic and lascivious day, both of them became completely dominated by the most primal of urges.

However, they clearly understood… this was only a game. Neither of the two had the courage to approach the other in real life. After that event, they gradually returned to the roles of just being good friends. Only, that one instance had ended up turning into a magnificent mistake. It became a lifelong memory that could never be erased, submerging itself deeply within their hearts.

Nie Yan and Yao Yao chatted for a while, talking about topics related to nothing but the game. However, the two still chatted rather amicably.

“How about we start going?” Yao Yao blinked while staring at Nie Yan.

Nie Yan’s appearance could only be regarded as ordinary. Indeed, he was unable to compare to the several people on her team. However, the way he treated people wasn’t bad. So in that sense, he was much more pleasing to the eye than her other companions.

Two people hunting monsters was much faster than a single person alone. Nie Yan tanked, dealing with the monsters in the front while Yao Yao attacked from the back with Holy Smite and Holy Strike. A Holy Mage’s damage output was really powerful. Compared to Nie Yan’s damage, it was much higher. Though naturally, when it came to comparing attack speed, she wasn’t able to reach Nie Yan at all.

Nie Yan’s mind went blank for a moment as he began to recall those matters in his previous life. Immediately, he regained his focus. Those matters in the past were already over. He’ll become good friends with Yao Yao again, however, he absolutely wouldn’t make that mistake again. Xie Yao was the only person who was engraved in Nie Yan’s heart. After all, everything in a game is only an illusion. In the end, even the most harmonious of virtual lovers would also eventually part ways.

“Have you joined a team yet?” Yao Yao asked.

“At present, I still haven’t.”

“How come? With your skills being so good, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a lot of teams competing to recruit you.” Yao Yao felt rather puzzled.

“I’m used to training alone. As for joining a team, I’ll think about it in the future. There’s no meaning in joining a team in the early levels after all.”

Nie Yan finished speaking and lunged towards a nearby Water Spider. Very quickly, Yao Yao followed up with a Holy Smite.

Just as the Water Spider was about to make a move, Nie Yan’s dagger had already stabbed into the spider’s abdomen, killing it in the process. The pair coordinated extremely well and had a tacit understanding.

This was the first time Yao Yao had felt so relaxed while farming monsters with another person. She couldn’t help but have some doubts in her heart and wonder, could she have met Nie Yan somewhere before?

“Nirvana Flame (Nie Yan), Nirvana Flame (Nie Yan)…¹ it couldn’t possibly be him, right?” Muttering to herself, Yao Yao stared at the figure of Nie Yan’s back. Dazedly, she began to feel he somewhat resembled a person she knew.

“Our team currently has only seventeen people, so it’s still not full. Do you want to join us?” Yao Yao suggested. Although Nie Yan is only Level 2, his skills are quite good. Big Sis Blue Feather (Yu Lan) would most likely welcome him gladly.

“I don’t want to join any teams for now,” Nie Yan said, declining her offer.

“Oh.” Yao Yao felt a slight sense of disappointment.

“An Assassinate skill book for Thieves dropped,” Nie Yan said.

“It’s a Thief skill book, so you should take it then. If a Mage item drops, just give it to me. We’ll each take what we need.”

After having chatted for quite a while, the two gradually became more familiar. Thus, Yao Yao also wouldn’t haggle over any drops with Nie Yan.

“Then, I’ll be helping myself.” Nie Yan gazed at the Assassinate skill book.

Skill Book: Assassinate
Description: Thieves gain Rage after a successful strike.
Requirements: Action (requires weapon)
Properties: Hitting a target’s vitals adds an additional Attack +2, Rage +1, Combo Count +1.
Cooldown: 30 seconds
Restrictions: Thief, Warrior, Paladin; can be learned by any faction.

Nie Yan wasn’t like those whom she had partied up with before. They would put on an act of sincerity and decline, only to accept it right afterward. Yao Yao’s expression changed into a slight smile. While interacting with Nie Yan, she had unexpectedly developed a sort of familiarity that penetrated deeply into her bone marrow. Right here, she didn’t need to act in the sort of manner she did in real life—always putting on many facades.

Nie Yan finished learning the Assassinate skill. Thus, his skill bar had another skill added to it.

A Thief’s attack skills were divided into Basic Skills, Combo Skills, and Finishing Skills. Basic skills could be used at any time. Combo Skills were used to obtain a combo count, and to build up Rage when attacking an enemy. Vital Strike and skills similar to it were classified as Finishing Skills. They were only able to be used after building up a sufficient amount of Rage. Every additional point added to the combo count would give an additional +20% in attack. The upper limit for this combo count was ten stacks. Once they were used, the combo counter would reset to zero.

As such, this was the beauty of the existence known as the combo system. If two Thieves possessing the same skills were to match up, the damage an expert level Thief would deal was often two to three times higher than the average thief—sometimes even more.

Under ordinary circumstances, it was considered quite normal for a Thief to have twice as many Basic Skills and Combo Skills than Finishing Skills in their skillset.

After obtaining Assassinate, Nie Yan’s Rage was now able to build up at a much faster rate. One normal attack followed by Assassinate would build up enough Rage to use Vital Strike.

Nie Yan and Yao Yao became increasingly skillful in their coordination. Thus, the two of them acted more daringly as they accelerated the rate at which they hunted monsters. During the times when there were many opponents, Nie Yan would be dealing with three monsters at a time while Yao Yao frantically cast spells from behind.

Her staff never stopped moving, continuously firing off Holy Smites and Holy Strikes. When she was out of mana, she would drink a mana recovery potion.

As long as one wasn’t interrupted by an attack from the enemy, a Basic Mana Recovery Potion would restore sixty mana in thirty seconds. The price was also inexpensive, so it was extremely cost-effective.

“How many Water Sacks have you collected?”

“Fifty-two.”

“How much more do you need?”

“Eight more.”

“It seems you’ll be finished collecting them very soon. You probably haven’t learned Alchemy Crafting yet, right? After you’ve handed in your quest, go to Moste Town (356.329.31). That place should have a Hidden NPC who issues the quest called ‘Rare Herbs.’ After you’ve completed the quest from the NPC, you’ll be able to learn Perfect Alchemy Crafting,” Nie Yan said. Perfect Alchemy Crafting’s effectiveness was a lot more powerful when compared to common Alchemy Crafting.

Ahhhh… I’m going to complete my quest so soon. Yao Yao suddenly felt a sense of loss in her heart. Hunting monsters together with Nie Yan was far more enjoyable than leveling alone; at the very least, she had a companion to chat with.