Chapter 1 Evaluating Equipment

After evaluating the equipment, Nie Yan walked outside and glanced down at his skill bar. There were only two skills: Stealth and Vital Strike.

A perfect Thief was built upon countless skills. A Thief could be without equipment, but definitely not without skills.

Nie Yan knew all the locations to farm Thief skill books early in the game. However, he wouldn't expend much effort farming those, as any skill book that could be farmed could also be bought on the market.

Where else could he acquire low-level rare skill books?

Nie Yan smacked his forehead. How could he have forgotten about that?

For a Thief seeking sustained combat capability, the common choices were Herbalism or Bandaging. Herbalism involved crafting various health potions, elixirs, and so on. In combat, a health potion was like a second life. After a battle, drinking a slow-recovery potion could quickly restore combat readiness and accelerate leveling speed. Bandaging was slightly inferior to instant-recovery potions, as ordinary Bandaging skills could only be used after combat.

Nie Yan knew of a place to learn the rare Combat Bandaging skill.

Later, at higher levels, buying intermediate or higher-level instant-recovery and slow-recovery potions from the market would be expensive. After all, every bottle of instant-recovery or slow-recovery was squeezed from players' tight wallets, making them quite costly. Unless they were wealthy, ordinary players often couldn't afford instant-recovery or slow-recovery potions.

But Nie Yan was different. He had many ways to make money quickly and didn't have to worry about money. He could buy instant-recovery and slow-recovery potions from the market later, so there was no need to bother learning Herbalism. However, if he learned Combat Bandaging, it would greatly improve his survivability. Weighing everything, he made up his mind.

He'd go learn Combat Bandaging first.

Nie Yan spent two copper coins at the NPC apothecary to buy two bottles of Novice Underwater Breathing Potions and headed towards Lake Randa, not far from Thrak Town.

Passing through several level two and three monster areas, he saw many players grouped up, grinding monsters. They usually occupied a certain area, with Warriors and Paladins leading the monsters, followed by Mages who continuously bombarded them. Some teams also had Priests. Even though Priests didn't have healing abilities yet and their attacks weren't as good as Mages, they were still popular in groups because any team that wanted to develop in the future had to maintain good relations with Priests. Without a Priest, it was like lacking an endless blood bank.

As for Thieves, they were easily abandoned by teams early on. However, Thieves were famous for their solo leveling speed. As long as they bought all the necessary skills, a Thief's solo leveling speed was comparable to a Mage's. It didn't matter if they couldn't find a team.

Leveling at the various monster spawn points was monotonous, but they could chat and joke around to pass the time quickly.

Nie Yan carefully passed through these players' monster grinding areas. Conflicts between players, where one player killed another, resulted in a red name and inability to return to town. If killed while red-named, the level drop was more severe and all equipment was dropped. However, the red name would disappear after grinding monsters for some time. Therefore, many players often took risks for the sake of another player's equipment, not hesitating to become red-named to loot them. For safety, one had to be very careful when encountering unfamiliar people in the wild.

The shores of Lake Randa were the spawning area for Murlocs. It was said that Murlocs were descendants of the ancient beast Naga. After countless generations of breeding, they evolved into their current form, possessing a fish's body and human limbs. Their weapons were sharp teeth and tridents.

Murlocs were level three monsters and existed in large numbers. There was also a Murloc village nearby. Nie Yan had to pass through the edge of the Murloc village to enter Lake Randa, swim across the lake, and then he could reach his destination.

The Murloc village was located on the shores of Lake Randa, with hundreds of wooden huts scattered along the sandy edge of the lake. This Murloc village had at least three hundred Murlocs, dozens of Murloc Chieftains, and two Elite Murlocs. Clearing this place would require at least a thousand players.

Nie Yan was preparing to use Stealth to bypass the Murloc village when a system notification rang out.

Regional Announcement: Triumph Guild will clear the area in three minutes. Players near the Murloc Village, please leave.

Triumph Guild? Nie Yan raised an eyebrow. In his previous life, he had some conflicts with the Triumph Guild. The Triumph Guild had a large number of members, acted arrogantly, and cleared areas at every turn. Once, one of Nie Yan's brothers killed three Triumph players for objecting to Triumph clearing the area, creating some animosity with them. The Triumph Guild chased him to death, threatening to clear him back to level zero. At that time, Nie Yan and the others were weak and could only hide in the deep mountains and train hard for more than a month before daring to come out. But even after coming out, they could only protect themselves and didn't dare to confront a large guild like Triumph head-on.

The feeling of helplessness back then was unforgettable.

In this life, such history would never be repeated. This debt would definitely be repaid, but not now.

Nie Yan had just entered the game and needed to accumulate capital bit by bit.

He ran towards the shore of Lake Randa.

Looking ahead, the blue water met the blue sky, and the lake sparkled in the sunlight.

The Triumph Guild was mobilizing nervously. Many signs of Triumph Guild players were detected nearby. They had brought a lot of people, apparently preparing to attack the Murloc tribe.

The Murloc tribe wasn't a dungeon, but a monster gathering point. These places often produced some good items.

Nie Yan passed through a thicket of bushes, about two hundred yards from the lake.

A fireball streaked across the sky, shooting towards Nie Yan.

With a flash of fire, Nie Yan's vision passed through the trees and landed on an Elemental Mage wearing red robes. It was a Triumph member, a level three Elemental Mage!

Mages were divided into three types: Elemental Mages, Arcane Mages, and Holy Mages. Elemental Mages could control the power of elements like ice, fire, and lightning. Arcane Mages could control arcane magic. Holy Mages were the rarest, with the most difficult skills to train, but they were the strongest, capable of casting divine spells.

Among the elemental spells, the fire magic of Elemental Mages had the highest damage output.

Nie Yan realized it was too late when he spotted the fireball.

Bang! The Fireball spell exploded on Nie Yan, dealing twenty-two damage.

System: Player Purpleflame attacked you. You can exercise self-defense for 3 minutes.

When encountering a Mage, either rush forward and engage in close combat, or run away as quickly as possible.

Confirming there were no other Triumph members nearby, Nie Yan pounced on the Elemental Mage, Purpleflame.

The Mage's tactic was to maintain distance from the enemy and bombard them with magic.

The Elemental Mage, Purpleflame, jumped backward, casting Fire Burst, releasing another fireball, and then ran backward, trying to create distance from Nie Yan.

When faced with an incoming spell, players could roll to dodge, but rolling would undoubtedly give the Elemental Mage a chance to create distance. Nie Yan charged towards the Elemental Mage, enduring the fireball.

Bang! Another Fire Burst exploded on Nie Yan, dealing twenty-seven damage.

Each spell cast by Purpleflame required some casting time.

The elements of spellcasting were posture, language, materials, equipment, and magic tools. Different spells required different casting elements. Some could be cast with just language, some required posture, and some required a combination of posture, language, and materials.

The casting elements varied for each spell, and the casting time also varied.

Casting a spell was measured in syllables and gestures, with one syllable being one second and one gesture being one second. Ten syllables formed a group of syllables, and ten gestures formed a group of gestures. Syllables and gestures could be combined.

The casting time for the Fire Burst skill was two syllables and two gestures, totaling two seconds. Without learning to cast while moving, casting the Fire Burst skill required standing still for two seconds.

Nie Yan seized the opportunity when Purpleflame cast Fire Burst and moved in close, striking Purpleflame for twenty-three damage. Mages had very weak defense.

Purpleflame leaped backward, unleashing a Violent Fire Ring, sending flames scattering.

Violent Fire Ring only required one syllable to cast.

At such close range, it was impossible to dodge. Nie Yan endured the attack, taking thirty-nine damage. He quickly took out a bottle of Novice Instant Health Potion from his belt and chugged it down.

Purpleflame's movements were decent, but not very fluid. Every Mage felt a little nervous when a Thief forced them into close combat.

Taking advantage of the Violent Fire Ring, he retreated.

Nie Yan had added so many points to Agility that his Thief's speed was quite commendable. At this moment, his speed was an advantage, allowing him to stick to Purpleflame and strike him twice, dealing thirty-six damage.

Purpleflame fired another fireball, hitting Nie Yan.

Faith's time was calculated in rounds of three seconds. Any spell with a casting time of less than three seconds couldn't be interrupted unless the caster died. Even in close combat, Purpleflame could retaliate against Nie Yan.

Under the high damage of the fireball, Nie Yan had only twenty-five health remaining. Purpleflame retreated a short distance, waving his staff and chanting a spell. Fire elements rapidly flowed and gathered into a ball on his staff.

In Purpleflame's eyes, he had fifty-one health remaining, so he was safe for the moment, while Nie Yan only had twenty-five health. He could kill Nie Yan with just one fireball.

As Purpleflame chanted, the fire element rapidly gathered, and the flames burned fiercely.

"Die!" Purpleflame felt in control of the situation, and the firelight illuminated his狰狞 face.

Nie Yan understood how dangerous the situation was. He had already forced himself close to Purpleflame. He glanced at his rage bar out of the corner of his eye; it was full and met the requirements.

His deep black pupils locked onto Purpleflame's throat, and he switched his dagger from a regular grip to a reverse grip.

"Vital Strike!"

Nie Yan and Purpleflame passed each other, and a cold light flashed across Purpleflame's throat, creating a gash, and blood spurted out.

System: Vital Strike complete. Attack position off by 5%, causing additional attack damage bonus.

-51, a damage number floated up above Purpleflame's head.

The fireball gathered in Purpleflame's hand dissipated and disintegrated. After death, any spell cast by a player would be interrupted.

A reversal of life and death!

How could this be!

His eyes were filled with disbelief.

Never underestimate the burst damage of a Thief. Even when holding an absolute advantage against a Thief, don't think you're safe, because the next moment, you might be the one who dies.

Purpleflame's eyes dimmed, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud. Even in death, he couldn't understand how a level two Thief could suddenly burst out with such great damage.

The damage from the Vital Strike skill was indeed impressive.

Nie Yan sheathed his dagger and bent down to pick up the equipment dropped by Purpleflame. It was a level 0 Bronze Staff with +3 Perception, probably worth more than ten copper coins.

"There's an enemy over there, Purpleflame's dead!"

"Chase him, don't let him get away!"

Nie Yan had killed a Triumph member, and such a big commotion had definitely attracted the attention of nearby players. Six Triumph members were surrounding Nie Yan from all directions.

Nie Yan sprinted towards Lake Randa. His running speed was slightly faster than ordinary players of the same level, quickly putting some distance between himself and the others.

A Berserker appeared in front of Nie Yan, blocking his path.

"You want to run? Not so easy! Single Sword Slash!"