Chapter 1 The Beginning

Glancing at the time, it was already half past three. Faith's game time was from five in the evening to nine in the morning, a total of sixteen hours, which didn't affect ordinary people's work. Since everyone's game time was roughly the same, the level gap between players wouldn't widen. Coupled with Faith's ultra-perfect simulation technology, it quickly became popular and swept the globe, gradually becoming an indispensable part of people's lives.

This was a world dominated by virtual technology, a perfect system. Five months later, Faith completed its integration with real-world currency, completely integrating into human life.

The high online rate and such a large player base drove consumption in the virtual world. The annual consumption of players all over the world in Faith even exceeded the total consumption in the real world. The huge consumer group spawned a large number of service industries, among which the most notable was the professional player group.

Almost every consortium had entered Faith. After Nie Yan's father started the company, the company's profits were good, and he also took advantage of the trend to invest in Faith, but it ended in a disastrous defeat, which led to the company's capital chain breaking, allowing Cao Xu to take advantage of the situation. He absolutely couldn't let such a thing happen again.

Entering Faith was necessary, but the key was not to fail. Nie Yan wanted to pave the way for his father first, so that when his father invested, he could do it in one fell swoop. If the capital chain didn't break, no problems would arise.

After spending thirty yuan on a meal outside, it was almost five o'clock when Nie Yan returned home.

He put on his helmet and waited quietly for Faith to start.

Twelve minutes later, the time displayed in the helmet was five o'clock, and a brisk music sounded. This sound was so familiar. He had heard it countless times in his previous life. Music that he used to feel nothing about now sounded so beautiful.

System: Do you want to create a new account?

Yes!

System: Please select your country.

Faith was divided into three camps. The good, lawful, and light camp included the Greenland Empire and the Saturn Empire. The Greenland Empire was a human kingdom with a council of elders, and the Saturn Empire was a tribal alliance kingdom composed of dwarves, orcs, and elves. The evil, lawful, and dark camp was the demonic tribe and the undead tribe ruled by dictators. People who loved peace could also choose the giant tribe in the good, lawful, and neutral camp.

In his previous life, Nie Yan chose the Gale Thief profession in the Greenland Empire. He was more familiar with the map of Greenland and knew all the skills and profession quests of the Gale Thief. If he chose another country, he wouldn't have much of an advantage from being reborn.

Nie Yan had a special feeling for the Gale Thief, after all, he had put nearly ten years of effort into that profession. The level 180 Grand Thief represented supreme glory.

Considering all factors, he chose the Gale Thief, just like in his previous life.

System: You have chosen to be born in the Greenland Empire.

System: You have chosen the Gale Thief profession.

System: Please name your character.

"Nie Yan!" Nie Yan chose the same name as in his previous life. Nie Yan, Nie Yan, now it sounded like a phoenix rising from the ashes, reborn.

System: Character naming successful. Character Nie Yan has been created.

After entering the game, the real appearance was automatically blurred. The system made subtle modifications to the player's face. Under normal circumstances, the characters in the game were very different from their real appearance in reality, and it was difficult to recognize them, but the beauty and ugliness were roughly the same as in reality.

Nie Yan opened the attribute panel and looked at his attributes.

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Character: Nie Yan.

Level: Level 0

Attributes: Strength 2, Agility 2, Intelligence 2, Constitution 2, Perception 2, Charm 1

Health 100/100, Rage 0/100

Defense: 2 (Defense Rate: 21%)

Attack: 3 (Hit: 10)

Tenacity: 1

Reflex: 2 (Profession Specialization Modification)

Willpower: 0

Balance: 5

Focus: 5

Jump: 5 (Small Action Light Jump 0.9 yards, Medium Action Medium Jump 1.5 yards, Large Action Heavy Jump 3 yards)

Stealth: 0 (This skill is currently empty)

Hide: 5 (Thieves can easily hide in the shadows)

Search: 5

Magic Resistance: 0 (Related to Defense, Intelligence, and Constitution, Magic Defense Rate 0%)

Movement Speed: 5 (Weight Modification, 0)

Attack Speed: 5 (Weapon Modification 0, Weight Modification 0)

Weight: 60 pounds (Weight Modification +10) Light Load 0-20 pounds (including 20, easy movement) Medium Load 20-30 pounds (normal movement) Heavy Load 30-50 pounds (difficult movement)

Character Race Trait: Humans possess wisdom that is difficult for many races to match. Gain +3 Intelligence check every five levels.

Thief Profession Trait One: Gain a bonus to the saving throw against traps every five levels.

Thief Profession Trait Two: Sneak attack, gain an extra 30% attack bonus when attacking the enemy from behind.

Human Thief Profession Trait: Their superior intelligence allows them to be proficient in the use of various tools and magic items.

Profession Specializations: Novice Nimble Movement (+2 Reflex check), Novice Weapon Specialization: Dagger (+1 Attack check), Novice Stealth (+2 Hide), Novice Shooting (Can use bows and crossbows), Dexterity (Gale Thieves can use their fingers nimbly)

(For an explanation of attributes, please see the work-related section - Faith Worldview)

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These were the basic attributes, the same for every human thief. In addition, the system gave 5 attribute points and 1 specialization point at level 0.

Nie Yan looked at the attribute column. In his previous life, when he chose the Gale Thief, in order to make himself more resistant, he added one point to Strength, two points to Agility, and two points to Constitution, which made his attack very weak in the early stage, and his attack speed was also very slow, wasting a lot of leveling time. In fact, thieves didn't need too much health in the early stage. The failure to add points in the early stage made him sigh several times, wishing he could delete his account and start over. This time, he would not repeat the same mistakes.

He added three points to Strength and two points to Agility. This was the best ratio he had deduced in his previous life by combining his leveling habits. He looked at the attributes after adding points. His attack became 6 points, hit 10.6, movement speed 5.4, and attack speed 5.6.

There was also a profession specialization. With the profession characteristics of thieves, most human thief players would add their first specialization point to nimble movement, weapon specialization, or stealth. Nie Yan was about to add weapon specialization, but suddenly stopped. After thinking for a moment, he added the profession specialization to shooting.

Intermediate Shooting: Fast Reload +3, Range +3, Attack Damage +3 when using bows and crossbows, Ignore Level Difference +3 (Thief Profession Check +1)

Specializations were divided into five levels: Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert, and Master. After reaching the Master level, they could no longer be improved, but there were many types of specializations. Different professions could improve different specializations.

Human thieves were already proficient in various tools and magic items, and bows and crossbows were one of them, so Intermediate Shooting gained an extra attack bonus.

After allocating the attributes, the scene switched, and Nie Yan had already appeared at the teleportation point in Kalore City. All around were towering buildings in a row. All the buildings in Kalore City were white and extremely clean. The white obelisk in the center pierced straight into the clouds. Next to the obelisk stood a giant white stone sculpture hundreds of yards high. It was a mage holding a scepter, with a solemn expression. That was the patron saint of the Greenland Empire, Emperor Jobia.

The streets were bustling with people coming and going.

The night in reality was morning in the game. The dawn of dawn was cast on Kalore City, like a layer of silver-white light, covering every building.

Kalore City was the capital of the Greenland Empire. It was a sky city suspended above the Kalore Prairie. There were countless teleportation points here leading to various cities, towns, and villages.

"Excellent level 0 white board dagger, 2 attack points, 1 point higher than the novice dagger, only two copper coins, only three available, while supplies last!" A level 3 arcane mage was setting up a stall near the teleportation point, and many newbies were gathering in front of his stall.

Every newbie who had just entered the game had ten copper coins as startup capital. In order to level up faster at the beginning, many people bought one, even though it hurt.

Nie Yan scoffed at this. The same white board dagger only sold for one copper coin in Locke Town on the 1-5 level map. Level 0 players teleported for free. It only took two or three minutes to teleport there, find an NPC, and buy a dagger.

In his previous life, he had also foolishly bought one, and later realized that he had been scammed.

The cloth shop in Link Town, the shoe and hat shop in Joseph Town, and the dagger shop in Locke Town. Nie Yan teleported three times, spending six copper coins to replace all the new player equipment without defense on his body with new ones, changing into shoes, hats, shoulder pads, and leggings with 1-2 defense, and a cloth armor with 2-3 defense.

These were all experiences from his previous life. Looking at his defense, it was 8-13. Early-stage level 2-3 thieves, if they didn't have enough information and their equipment didn't keep up, would only have this much defense.

After strolling around the market, he found a level 3 Silence Paladin selling a thief's Stealth skill book. There were six books on the stall, priced at six copper coins. Due to the high price, low-level thieves could only stop and watch.

The Silence Paladin looked about twenty years old, tall and big. It would be good to be a warrior, and a paladin was okay too.

Paladins were guardians attached to the temple. They could learn divine arts inherited from the temple, possessing a certain amount of magic attack ability and healing ability, as well as good melee ability. They could also provide aura support to team members, belonging to a more balanced profession in all aspects. As for Silence Paladins, they could learn divine arts such as Silence and Mute to suppress magic professions such as mages and priests.

"How much is the Stealth skill book?" Nie Yan squatted down, picked up the skill book on the stall cloth, and asked. The Stealth skill book was an essential skill for thieves in the early stage. Fortunately, the drop rate of Stealth skill books was very high at various monster spawning points, so the price was not very expensive.

"You see it, priced at six copper coins," the Silence Paladin said, nodding his head.

"You're just trying to rip people off. You're a Silence Paladin, and you can get six Stealth books a day by farming Fallen Wizards in Link Town without losing health. It's more profitable than farming goblins. How can you have the nerve to sell them so expensive? Three copper coins, not a single copper more." Nie Yan immediately lowered the price by half.

"It's not as easy as you say. How much do I have to spend on medicine a day? I can't make any money selling it to you for three copper coins. The lowest is five copper coins." The Silence Paladin was stunned by Nie Yan. It took him a long time to reply. He wasn't the kind of person who was good at calculation. This newbie looked like a well-informed veteran and wasn't easy to fool.

"That's because you're farming in the wrong place. If you go to coordinates 22385.21338.23329 to farm Fallen Wizards, you can get at least ten a day, and you won't spend much on medicine. Three copper coins, not a single copper more. If you don't want to sell, I'll leave immediately." Nie Yan sized up the Silence Paladin. The Silence Paladin had a square face, a bit of stubble, and didn't look too lewd.