Frost Ice Studio

Remembering how his first death in his previous life had also come from losing track of time while searching for electric eels in the river, Lu Yang smiled helplessly, cursed the game developers, and continued swimming toward the riverbed.

After swimming less than five meters down, Lu Yang saw a school of small fish swimming over, with an electric eel among them.

Lu Yang took out his fish spear, aimed, and hurled it with a whoosh, accurately impaling the electric eel.

System Notification: You have caught an Electric Eel.

Putting the electric eel into his backpack, Lu Yang continued searching along the riverbed.

On the riverbank, everyone saw Lu Yang jump into the water. A warrior player asked curiously, "Are there monsters in the water to fight? I'll go take a look too."

A thief from his party sneered beside him. "Don't be stupid. With so many people here, the riverbed has long since been searched. Other than some level 0 fish that don't give experience, there's nothing else."

The warrior player gave an "Oh," then looked mockingly at where Lu Yang had dived into the water and burst out laughing. "That idiot thinks he found a new leveling spot. What a complete fool."

Everyone around them laughed along.

Two minutes later, Lu Yang poked his head out of the water. After the gray progress bar had fully recovered, he dived back under.

During that dive, Lu Yang caught a total of twenty-two electric eels. Although he had already exceeded the amount required by the quest, he decided to catch more while few people knew about it, so that he could immediately cook Crispy Electric Eel Meat once he obtained the recipe.

And so, under the curious gazes of everyone on the riverbank, Lu Yang kept diving, surfacing, diving, and surfacing. He repeated this more than thirty times before he finally climbed ashore, just as the people by the river were getting impatient enough to go into the water and see what he was doing.

The warrior player who had mocked Lu Yang earlier asked curiously, "Was there anything down at the riverbed?"

Lu Yang pretended to be annoyed. "Damn it, I wasted so much time, but there wasn't a single monster down there."

The crowd burst into laughter.

Looking at them, Lu Yang sneered inwardly. With the way you people enjoy seeing others suffer, I'm sure as hell not telling you about this quest.

Too lazy to deal with them, Lu Yang ran back to Bredeman, handed him ten pieces of Electric Eel Meat, and asked, "Is this the Electric Eel Meat you needed?"

Bredeman joyfully took the Electric Eel Meat from Lu Yang's hands and said excitedly, "That's right, this is it! Oh, my dear friend, you've done me a great favor. I must thank you. This is the recipe for Crispy Electric Eel Meat. Please keep it safe."

System Notification: You have obtained the Crispy Electric Eel Meat Recipe (Gold-grade).

Having finally obtained the recipe, Lu Yang hurriedly used it.

System Notification: You have learned Basic Cooking.

System Notification: You have learned how to cook Crispy Electric Eel Meat.

Because Second World had an incredibly high degree of realism, learning a recipe did not mean one could cook it automatically. Players still had to make it themselves, and cooking could fail.

Fortunately, Lu Yang had made so much Crispy Electric Eel Meat in his previous life that it had nauseated him, so he knew the cooking method perfectly.

He lit a bonfire by the city gate, took out the Electric Eel Meat, and began cooking.

System Notification:

You have cooked a serving of Crispy Electric Eel Meat. Cooking Proficiency +1.

You have cooked a serving of Crispy Electric Eel Meat. Cooking Proficiency +1.

You have cooked a serving of Crispy Electric Eel Meat. Cooking Proficiency +1.

...

Before long, Lu Yang had cooked more than six hundred servings of Crispy Electric Eel Meat, nearly filling his entire backpack. He took one out and tasted it.

"It's been more than three years, and it still tastes the same—the taste that makes me sick just from smelling it."

Second World's realism had reached 99.9%, even replicating the sense of taste. Every dish simulated exquisite real-world delicacies, but even the best food became nauseating after too much of it. Lu Yang had eaten tens of thousands of these in his previous life, and now even the smell disgusted him.

After eating for eight seconds, a buff appeared above his head, and Lu Yang stood up.

Crispy Electric Eel Meat: Intelligence +5, 8 Mana per 5 seconds.

"My god, a level 0 dish actually comes with two buffs."

"It also restores 7 Health and 12 Mana every second. That's more than three times better than the cheap black bread we buy from the system."

"This recipe is at least Silver-grade, maybe even Gold-grade!"

While Lu Yang cooked, players gradually gathered around him. So many people had accepted the quest, yet he was the only one to complete it. Everyone was curious how he had done it, and when they saw the effects of the Electric Eel Meat, they were even more astonished.

As they discussed it, a beautiful female player in a dark blue mage robe pushed through the crowd, surrounded by more than ten other players, and came to stand before Lu Yang.

"Hello, I'm Xia Yuwei from Frost Ice Studio," the beautiful player said.

Lu Yang, who was cooking, froze for a moment. He had not expected such a coincidence—he had run into someone from Frost Ice Studio again in this life.

Frost Ice Studio had become quite large in Lu Yang's previous life, but at the beginning it had only been a small team. Half a month later, when exchanges between real currency and game currency became available, Frost Ice Studio truly grew. Lu Yang had also become one of Frost Ice Studio's first gold farmers at that time and had some acquaintance with the Xia Yuwei before him.

Lu Yang looked up at Xia Yuwei and found that she was still as beautiful as she had been in his previous life. Though her expression was somewhat aloof, there was no denying that she was an absolutely stunning beauty. However, Lu Yang preferred Lan Yu, who stood beside Xia Yuwei, her beauty no less impressive but her face carrying an air of innocence.

Lu Yang had interacted with Lan Yu many times when he was at Frost Ice Studio in his previous life. After becoming an expert, he had helped her on many occasions, and the two had grown close. But their relationship had gone no further than that. Lu Yang had someone he liked in real life and had only ever regarded Lan Yu as a little sister.

Though he knew exactly why she had come, Lu Yang did not stand up until he had finished cooking the Crispy Electric Eel Meat in his hands. Then he looked at Xia Yuwei and asked, "What is it?"

Lu Yang's calm attitude left Xia Yuwei somewhat stunned. Up to now, every man who had met her had been unable to remain so composed. She could not help but think more highly of him.

"How did you complete this quest? Can you tell me?" Xia Yuwei asked.

Lu Yang smiled. To be honest, he had never considered telling anyone how to complete the quest for the Crispy Electric Eel Meat recipe. If his opponents got it, their leveling speed would rise by an entire tier.