Chapter 6: Cold Ice Studio-Renascimento do Mago do Fogo Furioso(O rugido flamejante do inferno)

Recalling his first death in his previous life—also caused by losing track of time while searching for electric eels in the river—Lu Yang let out a helpless smile and muttered a complaint about the game developers. Then he continued swimming down toward the riverbed.

Less than five meters below the surface, Lu Yang spotted a school of small fish swimming by, among which was an electric eel. He took out his spear, aimed carefully, and with a swift flick of his wrist, impaled the eel precisely.

System prompt: You have caught an electric eel.

Placing the eel in his backpack, Lu Yang resumed his search along the riverbed.

…

On the riverbank, the crowd watched as Lu Yang dove into the water. A warrior player, curious, asked, “Are there monsters down there to fight? I want to check it out too.”

A rogue from the same team scoffed, “Don’t be foolish. With so many people here, the riverbed has long been scoured. Apart from some level-zero fish that don’t give experience, there’s nothing else.”

The warrior responded with a dismissive “Oh,” casting a mocking glance at the spot where Lu Yang had dived, then burst into laughter. “That idiot actually thought he found a new leveling spot. How silly.”

Laughter rippled through the nearby crowd.

Two minutes later, Lu Yang surfaced, letting the gray progress bar refill completely before diving back under.

In that first dive, he caught twenty-two electric eels. Though this exceeded the quest’s required amount, Lu Yang decided to catch more while few knew about the task, aiming to cook the crispy electric eel meat as soon as he obtained the recipe.

Thus, amidst the curious gazes of the crowd on the shore, Lu Yang repeatedly dove and resurfaced more than thirty times. When the onlookers could no longer contain their curiosity and were about to wade into the water to see what he was up to, Lu Yang finally climbed out.

The warrior who had laughed earlier asked with interest, “Anything down there?”

Lu Yang feigned frustration, “Damn it, I wasted so much time. There’s not a single monster down there.”

Laughter erupted again.

Watching their amused expressions, Lu Yang sneered inwardly: With your kind of joy at others’ misfortune, there’s no way I’m telling you about this quest.

Ignoring them, Lu Yang returned to Bradman’s side and handed over ten slabs of electric eel meat. “Is this the eel meat you need?”

Bradman’s face lit up as he accepted the meat. “Yes, exactly this! Oh, my dear friend, you’ve done me a great favor. I must thank you. Here is the recipe for crispy electric eel meat; please keep it safe.”

System notification: You have obtained the recipe for Crispy Electric Eel Meat (Golden Grade).

Finally acquiring the recipe, Lu Yang hurriedly used it.

System prompt: You have learned Basic Cooking.

System prompt: You have learned the cooking method for Crispy Electric Eel Meat.

Because of the ultra-realistic simulation of the game Second World, even with the recipe learned, cooking required actual execution and could still fail.

Fortunately, in his previous life, Lu Yang had practiced this recipe to the point of disgust, so he mastered the cooking method perfectly.

At the city gate, he lit a campfire and began cooking the eel meat.

System prompts followed:

You cooked a portion of Crispy Electric Eel Meat. Cooking proficiency +1.

…

Soon, Lu Yang had cooked over six hundred portions, nearly filling his entire backpack. He took one out and tasted it.

“After more than three years without eating this, it’s still the same nauseating smell.”

Second World’s realism rating was 99.9%, even replicating taste sensations. Though every dish simulated exquisite delicacies from the real world, excessive consumption would still cause revulsion. Having eaten tens of thousands of these in his past life, even the smell now made him queasy.

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

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

“Oh my, a level-zero cooking recipe grants two buffs?”

“Each second restores 7 health and 12 mana—more than three times that of the cheap black bread we buy from the system.”

“This recipe is at least silver grade, maybe even golden!”

As Lu Yang cooked, more players gradually gathered around, amazed that only he had completed the quest among so many who accepted it. Their curiosity grew especially when they saw the effects of the eel meat.

Amid the murmurs, a beautiful female player dressed in a deep blue mage’s robe, accompanied by over ten players, parted the crowd and approached Lu Yang.

“Hello, I’m Xia Yuwei from Ice Studio,” the woman said.

Lu Yang, still cooking, was momentarily stunned. He hadn’t expected to encounter someone from Ice Studio again in this life.

In his previous life, Ice Studio had grown large, but initially it was just a small team. Half a month after opening currency exchange between the real world and the game, Ice Studio truly flourished. It was then that Lu Yang became one of their first gold farmers and developed some acquaintance with Xia Yuwei.

He looked up at Xia Yuwei and saw she was as stunning as ever—aloof in expression yet undeniably a top-tier beauty. However, Lu Yang preferred Blue Feather, who stood beside Xia Yuwei, matching her in beauty but radiating a fresh, pure aura.

In his past life, Lu Yang had many interactions with Blue Feather during his time at Ice Studio. After becoming skilled, he helped Blue Feather multiple times, and their relationship grew close, though only platonically. Lu Yang had someone he liked in real life and considered Blue Feather more like a little sister.

Though he understood why Xia Yuwei had come, Lu Yang finished cooking the crispy eel meat in his hands before standing and looking at her.

“Is there something you need?” he asked calmly.

Lu Yang’s composed demeanor took Xia Yuwei by surprise. None of the men she’d met before had maintained such cool composure, making her regard him with newfound respect.

“How did you complete this quest? Could you tell me?” Xia Yuwei inquired.

Lu Yang smiled. Honestly, he hadn’t thought about sharing the method to complete the crispy electric eel meat recipe quest. If his rivals obtained it, their leveling speed would increase a whole tier.