After Yao Yao encountered danger one after another, Nie Yan quickly swam toward her.
Seeing Nie Yan swim over this way, Yao Yao became even more nervous. With three monsters chasing behind her, she might be able to whittle them down with her superb skills, but her chance of survival was less than one in ten. If Nie Yan took advantage of her vulnerability, she would have virtually no chance of staying alive.
Seeing three water spiders pounce on Yao Yao in succession, Nie Yan quickly dived and swam after them, gradually catching up to one. He leaped out of the water and stabbed his dagger into its back.
Yao Yao turned back and unleashed a Divine Judgment, striking the water spider and killing it.
Yao Yao glanced at Nie Yan. Since he was helping her deal with the water spiders, he probably meant no harm.
Nie Yan landed a Vital Strike, driving his dagger into another water spider's eye, dealing 52 damage and flipping the half-health monster over.
In the blink of an eye, only one of the three water spiders remained.
Such a powerful attack！ Yao Yao glanced at Nie Yan in surprise. In her memory, she never had such a powerful friend as Nie Yan. He looked somewhat unfamiliar to her.
After killing the second water spider, Nie Yan immediately charged at the third.
With two people against one water spider, it immediately became much easier.
Yao Yao waved her staff and unleashed a Holy Strike, hitting the remaining water spider.
"Thanks." Seeing all three water spiders dead, Yao Yao thanked Nie Yan, but she still remained vigilant, in case he suddenly attacked.
"You're welcome, it was nothing. Hello, I'm Nie Yan." Nie Yan flashed a bright smile. He recalled his past life; Yao Yao was a very considerate and caring girl, occasionally a little stubborn, but for a girl, that wasn't an unacceptable flaw.
"I'm Yao Yao." Yao Yao seemed very cautious. She had never seen Nie Yan before, so it was hard for her to let her guard down.
Nie Yan really wanted to know how Yao Yao was doing and add her as a friend, but he didn't want to ask outright and seem too abrupt, especially since Yao Yao was a girl. Though he understood she was quite wary of him, he firmly believed that with his knowledge of her, they would still become friends.
In his past life, he had been unlucky in love. After entering the game, he met Yao Yao, who was always there to comfort and encourage him. Although they remained friends, they had unexpectedly crossed that line, their relationship was tangled in ways hard to sort out.
Yao Yao quietly sized up Nie Yan. He looked very young and didn't seem like a bad person.
There wasn't much conversation between them. Yao Yao thought her coldness was making things awkward.
"You saved me today, I should thank you. Let's add each other as friends." Yao Yao broke the awkward silence.
"No need to thank me. Why are you here farming water spiders？" Nie Yan asked. This place was far from towns and villages, so few people came here.
"One of my quests is to farm water spiders and collect water sacs." Yao Yao thought to herself how close she had just come to dying there. If she had died, the last three or four days of effort would have been completely wasted.
"I happened to pick up a quest to farm water spiders for fine silk. How about we team up to farm water spiders? The water sacs go to you, the fine silk goes to me, deal?" Nie Yan suggested.
Yaoyao was silent for a moment, then nodded, "Alright, but we promise, whoever collects enough can leave anytime."
She said upfront that if she found Nie Yan not to her liking while grinding together, she could leave immediately.
"Of course, I'll add you." Nie Yan sent Yaoyao a party invitation.
System： Yaoyao has joined your party.
"I have twelve Essence Silks here, let me give them to you as a thank you." Yaoyao opened the trade window and said.
"Twelve Essence Silks, that's thirty-six copper coins！" Nie Yan shook his head.
"You mean my Level 1 experience isn't worth thirty-six copper coins？ I don't really have any use for these Essence Silks either." Yaoyao looked at Nie Yan; her eyes were big and round, with slightly upturned lashes, looking very lively. She seemed unwilling to owe favors, and she also had another thought: once she repaid the favor, Nie Yan would have no reason to pester her.
"Alright." Nie Yan confirmed the trade. If Yaoyao decided on something, she would become as stubborn as a mule, and Nie Yan didn't want to make the atmosphere too tense.
"That's more like it." Seeing Nie Yan accept, Yaoyao smiled slightly.
With this, Nie Yan was a big step closer to completing his quest.
Nie Yan organized his backpack and took a closer look at Yaoyao. Compared to when they had met in his past life, Yaoyao looked a bit younger; her skin was as white as snow, and the water had soaked up to her chest, with her tight-fitting robe accentuating her curvaceous figure even more.
Nie Yan clearly remembered that day in the secret room of Valter Dungeon, when Yaoyao took off her clothes—her smooth, naked body, her perfect curves, like a goddess's sculpture.
That day was erotic and lascivious; both were driven by primal desires.
Yet both understood it was just a game; neither had the courage to step into the other's life. Later, they gradually returned to being good friends. That one time was a beautiful mistake, becoming an indelible memory in both their lives, settling deep in their hearts.
Nie Yan chatted with Yao Yao for a bit, the topic inevitably revolving around the game, but they were getting along quite well.
“Should we go？” Yao Yao blinked as she looked at Nie Yan.
Nie Yan's appearance was only average—nowhere near comparable to those few in the team—but his personality was decent, far more agreeable than those guys.
Farming mobs together was much faster than doing it alone. Nie Yan tanked in front while Yao Yao used Holy Judgment and Holy Strike from behind. The Chi Master’s attack power was high—much higher than Nie Yan’s—but her attack speed couldn’t match his.
Nie Yan recalled those matters from his past life; his mind went blank for a moment, then he quickly recovered. Those things in his past life were all in the past now. He and Yao Yao would be good friends, but he would never make any mistakes again. Xie Yao was the one etched into Nie Yan's bones. The game was ultimately illusory—the best friend and most compatible fake couple in the game would eventually go their separate ways.
“Have you joined a team？” Yao Yao asked.
“Not yet.”
“How come? With skills like yours, a lot of teams should be fighting over you.” Yao Yao said, quite puzzled.
“I’m used to leveling alone. As for teams, I’ll think about it later. It’s boring joining one at the beginning.”
After speaking, Nie Yan pounced on a water spider, and Yao Yao quickly followed up with a Holy Judgment.
The Water Spider had barely made a move when Nie Yan's dagger plunged into its abdomen, killing it. The two cooperated with extremely seamless coordination.
Yaoyao felt, for the first time, how exhilarating it was to hunt monsters in sync with someone. She couldn't help wondering if she had seen Nie Yan somewhere before.
"Nie Yan… Nie Yan… couldn't be him, could it?" Yaoyao murmured to herself, gazing at Nie Yan's back. In a daze, she felt that Nie Yan resembled someone.
"Our guild only has seventeen people right now, not full yet. Want to join？" Yaoyao extended the invitation. Although Nie Yan was only level two, his skills were excellent, and Sister Yulan would surely welcome him.
"I don't want to join a guild for now," Nie Yan declined.
"Oh." Yaoyao felt a slight twinge of disappointment.
"A Dagger's Assassination skill book dropped," Nie Yan said.
"You take it. It's a rogue item. If a mage item drops, it's mine. We each take what we need."
As their conversation deepened, the two gradually became more familiar, so Yaoyao stopped haggling with Nie Yan over every little thing.
"Then I won't be polite about it." Nie Yan checked the Assassination skill book.
Skill Book： Assassination.
Skill Description： The rogue gains rage points through lunging attacks.
Execution Requirements： Action （Weapon required）
Skill Attributes： +2 bonus to additional attack rolls when hitting vital spots, +5 bonus to rage, 1 combo point.
Skill Cooldown： Thirty seconds.
Class Restrictions： Rogue, Warrior, Paladin. Any alignment can use it.
Unlike the people she had teamed up with before—who would always put up a fake show of declining before finally accepting every time loot dropped—Nie Yan wasn't like that. A faint smile crept onto Yaoyao's lips. Getting along with Nie Yan gave her a bone-deep sense of familiarity. Here, she didn't have to put on as many masks as she did in real life.
Nie Yan learned Assassination, adding another skill to his skill bar.
A thief's attack skills are divided into basic skills, combo skills, and finishing skills. Basic skills can be used at any time, building up rage by attacking opponents. Using combo skills generates combo points. Skills like Vital Strike belong to finishing skills, which require a certain amount of accumulated rage to execute. For each additional combo point, you gain a +20% bonus to attack checks, with a maximum of 10 combo points, which reset to zero after use.
It is because of the combo system that, with the same skill setup, an expert thief can often deal two to three times more damage output than an ordinary thief.
Under normal circumstances, for a thief's skill composition, it is considered normal for basic skills and combo skills to outnumber energy skills by more than two to one.
With Assassination, Nie Yan's rage accumulation rate noticeably increased. One normal attack plus one Assassination could accumulate enough rage to support a Vital Strike.
As their cooperation became more and more skillful, Nie Yan and Yaoyao grew bolder, speeding up the monster farming. At times, Nie Yan would pull two to three monsters at once, while Yaoyao unleashed crazy DPS from behind.
Yaoyao's staff never stopped; Holy Judgment and Holy Strike were cast consecutively. When her mana ran low, she would drink a Slow Mana Recovery potion.
Slow Mana Recovery, as long as not attacked by enemies, would not be interrupted, restoring 60 mana points over thirty seconds. The price was not expensive, making it quite cost-effective.
"How many waterskins have you collected？"
"Fifty-two."
"How many more do you need？"
"Eight."
"Looks like you'll collect enough soon. You probably haven't learned Alchemy yet, right? After turning in the quest, go to Most Town, coordinates 356.329.311. There's an NPC who gives a hidden quest — Rare Herbs. Complete the tasks that NPC assigns, and you can learn Perfect Alchemy," Nie Yan said. Perfect Alchemy is more effective than ordinary Alchemy.
We're almost done with the quest, huh. Yaoyao suddenly felt a bit lost. Grinding with Nie Yan was way more fun than leveling alone—at least there was someone to chat with.