The Great Thief
chapter-19

However, before going for that quest, he would complete the one he had right now.

Lu Li had already run around the entire mine tunnel, and had finished the quest given to him by Tap.

A few Cynocephali Magicians were gathered around an altar, calling their god.

That’s right- their god!

The Cynocephali in Dawn were the lowest creatures, but they deeply believed that they were chosen by the greatest evil god- Saron.

The Cynocephali Magicians chanted as they made sacrifices, “O Great Saron, descend upon us with your immeasurable glory and destroy those arrogant Elves.”

When he went back to Explorer Tap, Lu Li described the altar, completing his quest.

Lu Li originally wanted to delay completing the quest- that way, he would be able to use the mask for a few more days. However, it was a pity that the mask would be taken back at night, and Lu Li would receive a penalty of a reduction in reputation for not completing his quest.

Fortunately for Lu Li, players only started taking this sort of quest after they were LV8. To the LV4 Lu Li, 300 EXP was a tremendous amount.

He had risen to LV4 in the Instance Dungeon, and had received EXP from 2 Bosses. Adding on the EXP for clearing the Instance Dungeon, the bonus EXP for the First Clear, as well as the EXP from a LV8 quest, Lu Li’s level shot to LV5.

LV5!

Currently, most players were still LV4, and only some exceptional players were LV5, or even LV6. Out of these people, the only one Lu Li knew was Azure Sea Breeze. Even if there were other levelling-freaks, they would be few in number.

In order to obtain the Supreme One Ring, Lu Li had spent quite a bit of time. He had also used a lot of time in clearing the Instance Dungeon, as well as travelling to this mine through the forest. Within the mine, he had spent more than 1 hour looking for treasure boxes. Out of these first 2 days, at least half the time he spent could be described as ‘mucking around’.

And yet, Lu Li’s level was still on par with that of other experts.

“Wait, my kinsman, I’m sure you can see that I’m heavily injured, and can’t return to the Village.” NPC Tap called out to Lu Li.

Lu Li’s heart sank. Could it be that he had to take this injured Elf back to his village?

Escorting Quests were quite common in Dawn, and required players to protect a character or thing to their destination. Players would battle monsters the entire trip, and sometimes even NPCs.

And this place was filled with LV8 monsters.

The worst thing was that Escort Quests weren’t easy to refuse. Once refused, the NPC would take it as the player abandoning them to die. This was particularly bad for Lu Li, since Explorer Tap was his kinsman- the drop to his reputation with Elves would be terrifying.

“Respected kinsman, can you please take this letter to the Moon Shadow Valley’s Sentinel Captain Carolina?” It seemed that Explorer Tap had some intelligence, and was mercifully sparing Lu Li from death.

However, how the hell did he write a letter without Lu Li even noticing?!

By the time Lu Li returned to the Moon Shadow Valley, it was already late. Lu Li first headed over to the Profession Trainer.

A LV5 Thief and a LV4 Thief were worlds apart- this was because of the skill Double Dagger Proficiency.

Double Dagger Proficiency: When using 2 Daggers, Physical Attack Damage+40%, Attack (Skill) Success Rate+5%. Proficiency: 1/1000.

Although at low levels, Lu Li’s offhand damage couldn’t be maximised, an extra 40% wasn’t too bad. Moreover, with normal attacks, 2 Daggers simultaneously attacking quickly could sometimes seem like an Attack Speed Bug.

The Double Dagger Proficiency skill not only drastically increased Thieves’ Attack Power, but also had a hidden skill- Parry.

The offhand Dagger could be used to parry enemies’ attacks. Even some Magic Attacks could be parried. If the Parry was successful, the damage received would be greatly reduced. Of course, parrying greatly relied on one’s experience and battle sense.

Furthermore, there were 2 other skills that he could learn.

Sap: Instant Cast, Cooldown Time: 10 seconds. Incapacitates a target for a maximum of 20 seconds. Can only be used while Stealthed, and can only be used on a humanoid target not in combat. Any damage will cause the target to awaken. Only 1 target can be incapacitated at a time. Proficiency: 1/1000.

In the distant future, there would be a thread on the official forum dedicated to cursing the most disgusting skill in Dawn.

No one could protest against the Thief Skill ‘Sap’ hanging at the top of the Skill Rankings.

Imagine if you were doing a quest, and suddenly found that you couldn’t move at all. Goddammit, is it possible to lag in a virtual game?!

Before you could realise what was happening, your HP would start to empty out.

It was also possible that the Lord Thief didn’t want to kill you- but this depended on the Lord Thief’s mood. Female players would often be harassed by this skill.

Of course, all the Thief would be able to do was look. They could look at breasts, butt, face, etc, but as soon as they touched, the system would allow the female player to retaliate.

And afterwards, you would appear back at the spawn point.

There was another skill that Lu Li could learn: Backstab.

Backstab: Instant Cast, Cooldown Time: 30 seconds. Stabs the target in the back, causes 150% of Equipment Damage. Must attack from behind the target, and the main hand must be equipped with a Dagger. Awards 1 combo point. Proficiency: 1/1000.

This skill’s damage was not bad, but its Cooldown Time was quite long. Only Lu Li knew that although this Backstab skill seemed very ordinary, if he could obtain the Backhand Backstab and the Enhance Backstab Skill Books, this skill would become the Enhanced Backhand Backstab. Not only did it deal a huge amount of damage, but if its Skill Completion was high enough, it would also cause Paralysis.

After learning those skills, Lu Li planned to go and clear the 2 remaining LV4 and LV5 quests.

The Hunter Trainer had a “Pet Betrayal” Quest. Apparently one of his pets, a wolf, had escaped, and his request was for players to kill the wolf and bring back its head. The Quest Reward and EXP were all decent, and also gave 2 pieces of Pet Food which could increase Pet Loyalty. They could sell for 1 silver coin each, which was decent.

The other quest was a Collection quest, and required him to look for a plant called the “Silver Leaved Grass”. This quest allowed players to learn the Herbalism Skill for free, and the Quest Reward was the Alchemy Skill. These skills were essential to Thieves.

Also, Lu Li still had the “Tap’s Request” quest that he needed to complete. The Sentinel Captain Carolina wasn’t stationed in the village; she was somewhere in the wilderness, so doing these 2 quests meant that he would also have a high chance of running into her.

The Collection quest was quite easy. Silver Leaved Grass was one of the most common herbs, and while looking for the escaped wolf, Lu Li quickly found 20 of them. However, he still couldn’t find the Sentinel Captain.

A scream sounded out, and Lu Li instantly entered into Stealth and rushed over.

A gigantic black wolf was mauling a player, who quickly turned into a white light and flew off.

The face of the little girl next to him was completely pale, and she didn’t even dare to move.