Chapter 1 The Standoff

Just as his attack was about to hit Nie Yan's back of the head, Nie Yan parried. With a crisp clang, the two daggers collided.

The thief also reacted quickly, suddenly switching the direction of his dagger, aiming straight at Nie Yan's forehead.

Stun!

Nie Yan suddenly took several wrong steps, executing a Shadow H幻 Assassinate, the sharp blade striking his opponent's throat.

Sensing Nie Yan's fierce attack and seeing that there was no way to dodge, he used Gale Step to block Nie Yan's attack.

The invisibility effect of Gale Step wasn't great. Nie Yan locked onto his position and muttered, Eye of Truth!

A strange bloody light burst from Nie Yan's pupils, and he quickly discovered that a faint figure was rapidly moving to a place five or six yards away from him, then stopping.

This guy's skilled, reacts quickly, a tough opponent.

Nie Yan discovered that this person was thin, with a pair of pointed horns on his head. No, not horns, but a pair of ears. An elf!

It was said that elves judge a person's magical power by the length of their ears. The longer the ears, the stronger the strength. The main brain did have this rule, but under normal circumstances, the length of the ears couldn't be distinguished with the naked eye.

An elven thief!

What a rarity!

Nie Yan smiled meaningfully. News came from Carol City that the members of the Niuren (Amazing People) Tribe had lost track of the thief from Angel Corps. Could it be him?

Nie Yan used a Super Appraisal to determine whether this elven thief had followed him here specifically or had simply come here to do a task.

Puti Kongming: Elf race, Grand Thief, Level 52.

Seeing this name, Nie Yan was shocked. He didn't know many experts from the Satrinr Empire. Each race had different skills and talents. He generally didn't watch combat videos of players from other empires because they weren't relevant, but there were a few people who were very famous in the Glimmering Empire. Those people had teleported to the Glimmering Empire, either to do tasks or to play, and had left behind impressive achievements. This Puti Kongming was one of them.

After this guy successfully advanced to Shadow Dancer, he teleported to Carol City and challenged six Shadow Dancers in a row, finally losing narrowly to Sun. In that defeat, the two exchanged blows for dozens of rounds. Puti Kongming was only a little bit away from winning before Sun turned the tables with a single killing move. Although he lost, Puti Kongming's name was remembered by the Glimmering Empire. After all, in the entire Glimmering Empire, only Ying Sha could contend with Sun. At that time, Wangzhe Tianxia (Kings World) had already retired. Some people estimated that there were no more than five Shadow Dancers in the entire Glimmering Empire with strength comparable to Puti Kongming.

This guy's fighting style was the nimble type; he would retreat immediately if an attack failed, never lingering.

He wondered what his strength was like compared to his previous life. Since he had already advanced to Grand Thief, his strength shouldn't be bad.

Many top players often frequented various virtual games and only switched to Faith after it was launched. They had an extremely high understanding of games, and once they were familiar with the game, they had a strong combat power.

Nie Yan didn't move, slowly stalling for time. Puti Kongming had arrived later and didn't know that Nie Yan's important skills were on cooldown after fighting the Evil Spirit Pessina. If he had known, he would have rushed up already.

The more time that passed, the more advantageous it was for Nie Yan.

Puti Kongming, hidden in the darkness, saw Nie Yan's eerie, blood-red eyes, like those of a demon. The substantial gaze swept over him, making him feel a chill.

A pupil skill! Nie Yan's pupil skill seemed to be of a higher level than many other pupil skills!

He had learned through information gathered by the Soaring Angel Empire that Nie Yan was heading this way, with this castle as his target. He had searched this area and found Nie Yan here. However, he seemed to be a step late. Nie Yan's battle was already over, and he hadn't gotten a chance to pick up any spoils.

He ranked fifth among all the thieves in the Angel Corps. As an elven thief, his talent was concealment, which was very suitable for thieves. Furthermore, he had many skills that increased concealment. However, his concealment ability was rendered useless under Nie Yan's powerful Perception and the scan of the Eye of Truth.

He remembered Qing An's warning: Nie Yan, as the leader of the Niuren Tribe, was not simple. It was best to sneak attack him while he was killing monsters. If the sneak attack failed, leave immediately and don't linger.

However, Puti Kongming didn't expect that Nie Yan would sense him as soon as he appeared. Nie Yan's Perception attribute was at least twice his Concealment attribute, which was why he was discovered so easily! His concealment ability, which far surpassed ordinary thieves, had always been something he was proud of, but his attributes paled in comparison to Nie Yan's.

He couldn't comprehend Nie Yan's almost freakish equipment. If it were displayed, he would probably bang his head against the wall. If he had known that Nie Yan had such high attributes and so many powerful skills, he wouldn't even bother fighting and would just run away.

At this moment, he didn't want to leave. The things in this hall were beyond his expectations. There was so much black gunpowder that he wanted to move it all away, because it was too bulky to put in his bag; he could only carry it.

If he couldn't move the black gunpowder, then the scrolls on the opposite table were clearly extraordinary at a glance.

They were definitely very important items!

Therefore, when Nie Yan was about to put these things into his bag, he couldn't hold back any longer and launched a sneak attack on Nie Yan.

The first sneak attack had clearly failed, and his stealth was useless under Nie Yan's Eye of Truth. But if he had to give up these things and run away, he would be reluctant.

Puti Kongming adjusted his mindset and gradually calmed down. He looked at the Zennarde's Sword in Nie Yan's hand. The equipment of the guy in front of him was obviously very good, perhaps so good that it was hard for him to imagine. However, in a contest between thieves, the importance of awareness and reaction far outweighed equipment. He still had a chance. It seemed he could only use his Grand Thief skills!

The scene fell into a stalemate, and Nie Yan's composed appearance made him feel uneasy.

In both his past and present lives, Nie Yan had learned to remain calm through countless ups and downs in life and gaming experiences. He glanced at his skill bar. Shadow Dance and Gale Step had both finished cooling down. With these two skills, he was confident that no thief in the entire Faith could kill him. He was so familiar with the use of Gale Step that it was ingrained in his bones. He could use Gale Step to dodge immediately when in danger. The effect of Shadow Dance was roughly the same as that of Gale Step. With these two skills protecting him, what did he have to fear?

Nie Yan turned around and reached for the parchment scrolls on the table. He was determined to get these things!