"Wait, what did you say the coordinates were？ Does that place really drop a lot of Stealth skill books？" the Silence Paladin asked. After hearing what Nie Yan said, he was somewhat convinced.
"22385.21338.23329. It's close to the Fallen Wizard Camp, but still a good distance away—completely safe. After grinding for twenty minutes, one Fallen Wizard spawns every five seconds. A Silenced Paladin can grind there all the way to level five. Kid, you're still green. Just a few game tips from yours truly can teach you a thing or two." Nie Yan brazenly patted the Silenced Paladin on the shoulder, "So, how about knocking off a bit more of the price？"
"Four copper coins. Can't go lower." The Silenced Paladin was half-convinced, half-doubtful of Nie Yan's words. But in reality, grinding Fallen Wizards outside their camp, he could indeed get about six skill books in a day. He had been to that camp once and nearly died there. The coordinates Nie Yan gave were likely just outside the camp.
Nie Yan's words matched up perfectly; they probably weren't a bluff. The Silenced Paladin hesitated, thinking about whether to go check that spot.
"Three copper coins. If you don't agree, I'm leaving. But if you give me one for free, I'll throw in some extra secrets about the Fallen Wizard Camp." Nie Yan said, and seeing the Silenced Paladin still hesitating, he turned as if to leave.
Nie Yan was tight on cash and didn't have enough to buy the Stealth skill book. But a Stealth skill book was essential for every starting Thief. If worst came to worst, he'd just go earn some money at the level-one monster spawn points first.
"Wait." Seeing Nie Yan about to leave, the Silenced Paladin quickly called him back, picking up a Stealth skill book from his stall, "It's just a Stealth skill book—I can get six in one day. It's yours for free. Just tell me what the deal is with the Fallen Wizard Camp." He was planning to hit that camp with his teammates soon and really wanted to know the situation. Nie Yan definitely seemed to know his stuff.
This Silence Paladin seems like an honest soul. Nie Yan was in high spirits after getting a Stealth skill book without spending a single coin.
“You seem pretty decent after all. Forget about those coordinates I told you earlier—don’t go there. If you try to grind at that spot, three Fallen Shaman Chieftains will show up in under five minutes and blast you with a fireball.” Nie Yan said it as if offhandedly.
The Silence Paladin broke out in a cold sweat, his heart sinking. Just moments ago, he had been thinking of trying his luck at those coordinates after hearing they had fast respawns. He never expected it to be a fake spot—and such a dangerous one at that. If he hadn’t stopped Nie Yan, the consequences were unthinkable. Dying like that would have been a truly raw deal.
This Nie Yan guy was so cunning, screwing people over without lifting a finger.
The Silence Paladin had originally regretted giving away that Stealth skill book, but now he was filled with relief. A single skill book was nothing compared to a life. The death penalty would cost a level and a piece of gear. Turns out there are benefits to being a good person.
Seeing the Silence Paladin look at him with that resentful gaze, Nie Yan gave an awkward grin and said, “The real coordinates are 22325.21383.23359. That spot really does drop ten Stealth skill books a day, and the mobs respawn fast—great for leveling. This time I’m not lying to you. Consider this your reward for gifting me a beginner skill book. As for the Fallen Shaman camp, that’s a twenty-player dungeon. The tank needs 72 defense, the paladin and priest requirements are higher—the paladin needs 8 Will, and the priest must know Cure Light Wounds with a heal amount of thirty. And you have to bring plenty of health and mana potions.”
“The requirements are crazy high. My Willpower is only 7, can I still get in？ Light Injury Healing skill books are way too expensive, hyped up to sky-high prices, and there's no supply on the market. Only one guy in our team has it. The reason we're going to the Fallen Wizard Camp is to get that skill book. If we don't meet the requirements, we really can't enter the Fallen Wizard Camp？” Silence Paladin asked.
“You can still enter, but you need a special strategy...”
“What kind of special strategy？” Silence Paladin asked.
Nie Yan smiled but said nothing. He might need to go to the Fallen Wizard Camp himself someday; there's no way he'd just hand over the strategy to someone else unless they paid a hefty price.
“All instances are divided into five difficulties: Easy, Normal, Hard, Expert, and Master. If you're not sure, you can pick Easy mode. Honestly, it's not that tough. If you don't meet the requirements, just level up some more.” Nie Yan deflected the question. He wasn't about to spill the strategy for the Fallen Wizard Camp just because he got a Stealth skill book.
Even though Nie Yan was only level one, he came across as very professional. After weighing his options, Silence Paladin decided to trust Nie Yan's words.
“Thanks.” Silence Paladin said sincerely.
Nie Yan couldn't help but laugh. This guy gave him a Stealth skill book and still had to thank him—how adorable. In his past life, he'd been just as honest, but after going through so much, he'd slowly become slick. Even though he thought Silence Paladin was a bit gullible, Nie Yan had a good impression of him. He waved the skill book in his hand and said, “Let's just say we each got what we needed.”
Just as Nie Yan turned to leave, Silence Paladin called out to him, “Master, what's your name? Let's add each other as friends. If I run into something I don't understand later, I can ask you.”
“I'll be charging a service fee, you know.” Nie Yan said, not wanting to become a free customer service agent.
“No problem.” Silence Paladin agreed readily.
"Fine, call me Nie Yan." If he could offer a decent price, giving away some info wouldn't hurt—just casual extra income.
"I'm Flying Stone; my friends call me Stone." Silent Paladin Stone said, adding Nie Yan to his friend list.
"Alright, I've got things to do, gotta bounce, catch you later." Nie Yan said goodbye to Stone and walked toward the teleport point to learn Stealth. Rogues couldn't match other melee classes in armor and HP; early on, they could only grind weak monsters at their level, and only one-on-one. Encountering tougher foes or two or more monsters meant running for their lives—unlike warriors, who could tank two monsters of the same level from the start, or even three with better gear. So early on, unless in a party, rogues were always slower at leveling than classes like warriors or mages.
Currently, the highest player level was five, with rogues topping out at just over four.
Rogues had to keep grinding for gold early on to buy skill books; only after enriching their skills could their true power start to show, and their leveling speed gradually pick up.
Now Nie Yan's skill bar had its first skill: Stealth.
Stealth—the most basic yet most powerful skill for a rogue.
He teleported to Trak Town, an unremarkable little town on the Carol Plains. With NPC settlements and houses built from dirt, it had a quaint prairie-town charm. Many players grinded here, so it felt especially lively.
The monsters respawning around the town ranged from levels 0 to 10.
The town was packed with players at levels two or three, either trading items or looking for parties to farm monsters. The streets were bustling, almost crowded.
If his memory served him right, there was a Silver Treasure Chest in Trak Town's wildcat monster zone—one he'd discovered while grinding in his previous life. It dropped a top-tier rogue skill book. That zone was level five, and no one should have made it there yet.
Most players teaming up to level are in groups of three to five; teaming up with more than ten people spreads the experience too thinly, making it very inefficient. Generally, it's rare to see parties of three to five leveling in a level 5 monster area.
Chests are graded from white chests, silver chests, gold chests, to dark gold chests and legendary chests; the higher the chest's tier, the better the loot inside. The contents of a chest are fixed, and once taken, the chest disappears.
Even though he was only level zero, with the Stealth skill, Nie Yan set his sights on that chest.