Xia Yuwei nodded and said, "This person really is extraordinary. He had the aura of a drawn sword, yet he gave off a very steady feeling. He'll definitely become an expert someday. By the way, did he tell you how to obtain Electric Eel Meat?"
Lan Yu nodded.
"Great. Let's head back to town immediately. Once we shake off the people around us, gather beneath that big tree in the southern part of the newbie village. Then we'll do the quest together and see whether this method he gave us is real." Afraid that other players might overhear, Xia Yuwei sent everyone a short message.
Everyone nodded in agreement, but Zheng Yuan still said resentfully, "I don't think he could possibly have told us the real method. There's no point in going."
The people who had been about to leave froze at Zheng Yuan's words. The players who had signed contracts looked awkwardly at Zheng Yuan and Xia Yuwei, unsure whom they should listen to.
Xia Yuwei frowned and looked at Zheng Yuan unhappily. "Are you going or not?"
Seeing Xia Yuwei get angry, Zheng Yuan did not dare cause more trouble. He quickly put on a smile and said, "I'm going. I'll go, okay?"
Lu Yang returned to town and disappeared into the crowd. He left Giant Town through the northern gate with the other players and headed toward the level 5 monster area. With Electric Eel Meat, Lu Yang finally had the ability to kill level 5 wild monsters.
Of course, Lu Yang would not stupidly fight level 5 wild monsters head-on. In the settings of "Second World," a wild monster's attributes increased greatly with every level. Normally, a level 0 player would certainly die against a level 3 wild monster, let alone a level 0 alt like Lu Yang trying to kill level 5 wild monsters.
However, Lu Yang had his own unique method. He ran along the main road of the newbie village for over an hour before arriving at the Silent Plains. This was the border between the level 2 and level 3 monster areas, and so far, only a small number of players had come here in teams to hunt monsters.
Lu Yang found Shepherd Flack beside a tent on the plains. At the moment, Flack was blaming himself in frustration.
"Why, why didn't I tie her up properly? Oh, heavens, how am I supposed to live without her..."
Lu Yang walked over to Flack and asked, "Sir, you look deeply troubled. Did something happen?"
"My beloved mare was stolen away by a wild stallion from the plains. Can anyone help me bring my mare back? She's my only mount," Flack said regretfully.
Lu Yang said apologetically, "I'd really like to help you, but I don't have the tools."
Flack hurriedly pulled a long lasso from his waist and handed it to Lu Yang. "Honored adventurer, please, you must help me. This is the rope I use to catch horses."
"Don't worry. Leave everything to me."
System prompt: You have accepted the shepherd's request to find his lost mare.
You have obtained the shepherd's lasso.
Looking at the lasso in his hand, Lu Yang revealed an excited expression. The item given by this quest was actually a bug. Lu Yang had seen an article about it in a guide during his previous life, discussing the remarkable uses of various items in "Second World." This lasso was among them.
At the boundary between the level 2 and level 3 monster areas stood a steep mountain. Under normal circumstances, players could not climb it with their bare hands.
In his previous life, a player had tracked the mare to the foot of the cliff. He failed to lasso the mare, but his rope caught on a protrusion on the cliff.
The player had not expected that to happen. Out of boredom, he tried climbing upward with the rope and actually reached the mountaintop. Once there, he discovered that the other side of the mountain was a level 5 monster area. What surprised him even more was that attacking the level 5 bison below from the summit did not count as an invalid attack.
The player was overjoyed and immediately began exploiting the bug to grind monsters. Although he had entered the game three days later than everyone else, he quickly caught up to the first wave of players with this bug and even broke into the top ten of the Level Rankings.
Lu Yang ran all the way with the rope, carefully passing through the level 2 monster area until he reached the foot of the cliff. He threw the rope upward, looped it around a protruding rock, and immediately began climbing. After reaching the summit, Lu Yang found the concave terrain mentioned in the guide. Seeing the level 5 bison spread out below the cliff, he could not help feeling excited.
The bad-tempered bison were the monsters at this level with the highest physical damage and the greatest ability to instantly kill players. Normally, no one would come fight them without classes such as warriors or knights in the party.
Bison could charge, and they liked to travel in groups of three or five. Once they encountered an enemy, several bison would charge together. Mage classes would be instantly killed, and even poorly controlled warriors could not withstand them. But now, Lu Yang could use this bug to farm them alone.
Of course, it would be much slower than attacking level 1 monsters, but killing monsters above his level gave bonus experience. Lu Yang's leveling speed from killing level 5 monsters would definitely be much faster than competing with countless players outside for level 1 monsters—far faster.
Targeting a sturdy bison, Lu Yang decisively began casting Fireball.
Fireball Type: Fire spell Cost: 12 Mana Cast Time: 3 seconds Range: 30 yards Description: Fires a blazing fireball at the target, dealing 14–22 points of fire damage.
In the game, one point of Intelligence equaled one point of spell damage. Lu Yang had 10 Intelligence of his own, Demon God's Heart added another 10, and Crispy Electric Eel Meat provided 5 more Intelligence. That converted into 25 spell damage, so Fireball's actual damage was 39–47 points.
Three seconds later, a fireball formed in Lu Yang's hand and accurately struck the nearest bison, dealing 42 damage.
The grazing bison was suddenly struck by Fireball. It let out a painful, furious bellow, abruptly turned its head, and glared at Lu Yang with bloodshot eyes.
The surrounding bison were also roused by the bellow. They glared toward Lu Yang with bloodshot eyes as well, then six or seven bison charged at him simultaneously.
On flat ground, a player with weak nerves would probably be sent flying by a group charge like this before they could even defend or dodge. However, Lu Yang was not worried.
With a boom, all six or seven bison slammed into the wall beneath the cliff and were bounced back. The bison were not intelligent. Seeing that they could not charge at Lu Yang, they could only run anxiously back and forth beneath the cliff, completely helpless.
A level 5 bison had 580 health points. Lu Yang cast fifteen Fireballs in succession and killed the bison in the valley.
System: You killed a bison and gained 75 experience points (including 25 experience points for killing a monster above your level).
It took 5,000 experience points to advance from level 0 to level 1. Lu Yang did the math. Each bison gave 75 points, and killing one took an average of 45 seconds. In other words, including recovery time, Lu Yang could reach level 1 in around two hours. That was several times faster than the more than four hours normal players needed.
Especially while most players were helplessly fighting over monsters in the level 1 or level 2 monster areas, Lu Yang could level in the level 5 monster area without taking a scratch. Just thinking about it felt great.
While Lu Yang was leveling up rapidly, Lan Yu led Xia Yuwei and the other members of Frost Ice Studio beneath the bridge over the great river that Lu Yang had mentioned.
Lan Yu said, "It's here."
Xia Yuwei waved her hand. "Send two people down to check whether there are any electric eels."
Everyone nodded. Two players hired by the studio immediately jumped into the river to search.
On the riverbank, Zheng Yuan once again failed to restrain his rich young master temper. He said bitterly, "I don't think there could possibly be anything at the bottom of this river. That guy must have lied to us. Just wait—next time I see him, I'll teach him a proper lesson."
Neither Xia Yuwei, Lan Yu, nor the others paid Zheng Yuan any attention. Just as Zheng Yuan continued babbling, one studio member emerged from the river, excitedly holding up an electric eel. "Found one! There really are electric eels at the bottom of this river."
Zheng Yuan stood there awkwardly.
Before you continue