Chapter 4 – Flying Stone

“W-wait a minute! What did you say those coordinate numbers were? Does that place truly drop many Stealth skill books?” the Paladin hurriedly asked. After hearing the manner in which Nie Yan had spoken in, he somewhat began to believe this passing Thief.

“22385.21338.23329, the location is near the Fallen Shaman Camp, but it’s still a fair distance away. The area should be absolutely safe. After farming for around twenty minutes, a Fallen Shaman should spawn once every five seconds. A Silencing Paladin like you can train there up until they hit Level 5. Brat, you’re still too inexperienced. If this great master were to casually hand out even a little bit of game advice, you’d be able to receive endless benefits!” Nie Yan shamelessly boasted while patting the Paladin’s shoulder. “How about it? Give me another discount?”

“Four coppers, I won’t go any lower.” The Paladin was still skeptical about Nie Yan’s words. However, he was indeed able to obtain around six skill books a day by farming the Fallen Shamans outside of the Fallen Shaman Camp, just as Nie Yan had said. Though this Fallen Shaman Camp… he had gone there once before and nearly lost his life. The location in the coordinates Nie Yan provided should definitely lead him right outside of that same camp.

Nie Yan’s words completely matched this information, so it probably shouldn’t be false. The Paladin muttered to himself and began pondering…. Should I head over to those coordinates and take a look myself?

“Three coppers, if you’re not willing then I’ll be taking my leave. However, if you’re willing to give me this book as a gift, I’ll give you some more valuable information regarding the Fallen Shaman Camp.” Nie Yan gave an incentive. After seeing the Paladin still appearing hesitant, he turned his body and prepared to depart.

Nie Yan was embarrassingly short on funds. He didn’t have a lot of money to spend on the Stealth skill book. However, it was still essential for every Thief during the early stages of the game. This truly won’t do. I’ll have to put it off for later. At least until I can manage to get a bit of money grinding off Level 1 mobs in the beginning area….

“W-wait, hold up!” Seeing Nie Yan about to leave, the Paladin hurriedly called out to him. He hastily picked up a Stealth skill book from the little shop he had set up and said, “Isn’t it merely a single Stealth skill book…? I can easily farm out six of them in a day! Here! I’ll give this to you as a present. Now tell me, what’s information you have on this Fallen Shaman Camp?” It just so happened that he and his companions would be setting off to train in that area shortly. Thus, he really wanted to be as informed as possible about the area. In the Paladin’s eyes, Nie Yan certainly did appear to be a very knowledgeable person.

Nie Yan glanced back at him. This Paladin does seem to be an honest person. I was able to secure a Stealth skill book, and I didn’t even need to spend a single penny. Recalling this, Nie Yan was in a great mood.

“Seeing as you’re being sincere. Don’t head over to the coordinates I just gave you. If you really did head over there looking to train, then not even within five minutes passing, three Fallen Shaman Leaders would appear. A single cast of their Fireball would cause an explosion that would kill you instantly,” Nie Yan casually informed.

Upon hearing these words, the Paladin instantly broke out in a cold sweat as he felt a great chill run through his heart. When Nie Yan informed him that those coordinates were a good place to farm, he truly intended to head over there and try his luck. He never expected that not only were these coordinates false, they were also dangerous as well. If he hadn’t hurriedly called Nie Yan back… one could only imagine the consequences. It would have truly been an injustice if he had been killed in such a way.

Nie Yan was simply too cunning—not even raising a single finger, and he entrapped someone.

Originally, the Paladin still felt a bit regretful giving away the Stealth skill book. However, at present, he became incredibly overjoyed. There was basically no comparison between his life and a single Stealth skill book. Dying in the game would result in losing a level along with losing a random piece of equipment. It turns out being a kind and sincere really does have its own benefits.

Noticing the Paladin gazing at him with such an aggrieved expression, Nie Yan flashed a slight smile and said, “The real coordinates are 22325.21383.23359. You can farm out ten Stealth skill books from there. The spawn rate is pretty good too, so it’s definitely a good place to train. I’m not lying to you this time around. This is my way of expressing gratitude for gifting me this beginner skill book. Then, I guess this could be considered your payment? As for the Fallen Shaman Camp… naturally, it’s a twenty-person instance. There’s a requisite of seventy-two defense for Warriors. Regarding Paladins and Priests, the requisites are also similarly high. Paladins must have a willpower of eight and Priests are required to learn the Heal skill. The strength of their Heal must also reach thirty points. Not only this… but when entering the camp, you must bring an ample supply of health and mana potions.”

“The requirements are too high. Would I still be able to enter if my willpower is only seven points? The Heal skill books are also too expensive as well. The influx of new players has caused the skill book to skyrocket to an extremely expensive price. It’s to the point where it has no set market value. Our party consists of only one Priest, and the reason we want to enter the Fallen Shaman Camp is because we need to obtain the Heal skill book for him. So tell me… if we don’t meet these requirements, can we still enter the Fallen Shaman Camp?” the Paladin asked.

“Entering is definitely possible. However, you’ll need to use a special method to enter.”

“What kind of special method?” the Paladin asked curiously.

Nie Yan smiled wordlessly. In the future, he would most likely enter the Fallen Shaman Camp as well. If others wanted him to inform them about this special method, then they must be willing to pay a sufficient price.

“All party quests are divided into five difficulties: Easy, Normal, Hard, Expert, and Specialist. If you guys are unsure of yourselves, then you should select the Easy difficulty. Speaking of which, it really shouldn’t be too difficult. If you guys don’t meet the requirements, then you simply need to just keep upgrading, that’s all.” Nie Yan looked at him meaningfully. He can’t possibly think that a single Stealth skill book would allow him to candidly obtain the special method for entering the Fallen Shaman Camp, could he?

Although Nie Yan was only Level 0, he still gave off the appearance of a professional. The Paladin began weighing his thoughts and in the end, he still trusted Nie Yan’s words.

“Thank you.” The Paladin sincerely expressed his gratitude.

Nie Yan couldn’t help smiling. The person before him was forced to give him a skill book free of charge, and he still thanked him in the end—this was truly adorable. In his previous life, Nie Yan was also such a sincere type of person. Only after experiencing many difficulties and setbacks, he slowly became cunning and sly. Although he felt this Paladin was very stupid, Nie Yan had a good impression of him. While tossing the skill book in his hands, he muttered, “We each take what we need.”

Just as Nie Yan turned around and started to leave, the Paladin called out to him, “Expert, what’s your name? Why don’t we add each other as friends? That way, if I ever meet up with a problem I can’t solve, I’ll still be able to ask you for advice.”

“Sure, but it’ll cost you. I’m not one who offers a free service,” Nie Yan replied. He definitely didn’t want to give out information for free.

“That’s not a problem,” the Paladin replied straightforwardly.

“Alright then, my name is Nirvana Flame.” If this person was able to give a sufficient price, Nie Yan felt there would be no harm in sharing some information. He’ll just consider it earning a bit of extra income.

“My name is Flying Stone, though all my friends just call me Stone,” the Paladin named Stone replied. He had already considered Nie Yan to be one of his friends.

“That’s fine. I have a few matters to attend to. So, I’ll be leaving first. See you later!” Nie Yan said his goodbyes to Stone and walked over to the transfer point. He wanted to learn the Stealth skill quickly. A Thief’s defense and health were too low when compared to other close combat professions. In the initial stages of the game, he would only be able to train on the weak mobs that were the same level as him. Not only that, but he could only fight them one on one too. If he were to face a more powerful mob or perhaps… two or more monsters, then his only option would be to flee for his life. Thieves were unlike Warriors, who possessed the ability to fight two monsters of the same level. If the Warrior had decent equipment, then they’d be able to face off against three or more monsters. Therefore, unless a Thief was training in a party, their leveling from beginning to end was much slower when compared to Warriors, Mages, and other similar professions.

Currently, the highest level player among them was Level 5, while the highest level Thief was only Level 4.

At the start, thieves must continuously make money in order to buy skill books. Only after getting plenty of skills would their strengths finally begin to emerge—which would additionally cause their training speed to gradually increase.

At present, Nie Yan had gained the first ability in his skill bar, Stealth.

Stealth was the bread and butter skill for all thieves—their most basic and most powerful skill.

Nie Yan transferred over to Tellak (te-la-ke) town. This was one of the most ordinary towns within the Calore Prairies—it was an NPC settlement. The houses were made of clay and mud, which exuded prairie-like characteristics. There were many Level 2 players in the area. Hence, the place was bustling with movements.

The monsters surrounding these small settlements ranged from Level 1–10.

There were Level 2–3 players everywhere in small towns. They were either trading goods or looking to form parties to hunt monsters. The streets were filled with noise and excitement. When walking down the streets, one could easily feel a bit claustrophobic.

If he recalled correctly, there was a silver treasure chest near the Wildcat region of Tellak town. In his previous life, he had discovered it while farming monsters in that region. He had obtained a high-quality Thief skill book from the chest. However, it was an area that contained Level 5 monsters. Fortunately, no one should have reached that location yet.

When teams formed parties to level, players would usually split into groups of three or four. Otherwise, the experience definitely wouldn’t be worth it. If ten or more were to form a party to hunt, then the experience gained would be too minuscule after being split. In general, three to five people in a party were able to train in an area where Level 5 monsters spawned, however, this was also rarely seen.

Treasure chests were graded from White Treasure Chests, Silver Treasure Chests, Gold Treasure Chests, Dark Gold Treasure Chests, Legendary Treasure Chests, etc… The higher ranked the treasure chest, the better the items that would come out of it. The items inside the chests were set, so once they were removed, the chest would disappear.

Although he was only Level 0, after obtaining the Stealth skill, Nie Yan had come up with a few ideas on how to obtain that silver treasure chest.