Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed the World

Waves of hot air rushed out from the depths of the Hellfire Cavern, the heat baking the surrounding rock a dull red. A player needed fire resistance of 7 or more to explore this map without taking constant fire damage. Without the Fire Resistance Potion, Nie Yan would have been roasted by the heat in a matter of minutes.

The Infyrnal, the zone boss that inhabited the Hellfire Cavern, was a monstrous Rock Golem. Just to survive its Infernal Prison ability, a player had to be level 25 with a fire resistance of 30. The sheer level of difficulty didn’t just come from the strength of the Infyrnal. Players would have to fight it in the narrow confines of the cavern, limiting the total number of people that could engage it at the same time. In the previous timeline, a guild finally managed to extract the Chapter of Wisdom from this map after players reached Level 30.

Hellfire Cavern was also a popular farming zone in the previous timeline. The Infyrnal would re-spawn two days after it was killed, so many guilds and players would camp around the area waiting for it. They would call for reinforcements as soon as it appeared, and countless players died in the struggle to secure the drop from the high-class monster.

Nie Yan cautiously entered the cavern, going over what he knew about Hellfire Cavern from the previous timeline in his mind. He was crouched down low and slowly made his way through the narrow and winding tunnels of the cavern. Nie Yan melded into the shadows of the cavern, using the dim red light from the many red crystals jutting out from the walls to find his path. Despite the tense situation, he couldn’t help but think about what a great mining site Hellfire Cavern could be. This place had the potential to produce an enormous number of Fire Crystals.

Once he made his way out of the tunnels, he found himself looking at the blazing silhouette of the monster stomping around in a giant cave within the Cavern. Nie Yan could barely make out the Infynal’s figure in the hazy red glare. He knew the monster had extremely keen senses while it was awake, and that it could easily detect any player in a 30 meter radius. There was simply no advantage to being rash here. With his current level, there was no possibility of making it out of the cavern alive if the Infyrnal found him. He threw himself behind a boulder, disappearing into the shadows once more. He was going to rest here, observing the Infyrnal and patiently waiting for an opportunity.

Five minutes went by in the blink of an eye and the effects of the Fire Resistance Potion wore off. His health dropped by 8 points every second. He drank a Health Recovery Potion, restoring 5 points of health every second for 120 minutes. The effect of the potion and his base regen negated the damage from the Hellfire Cavern, keeping his health level.

Two hours later, Nie Yan was still behind the boulder. The Infyrnal would fall asleep any minute now. The Health Recovery Potion wore off without him batting an eye. The scorching air burned away at his health. He finally realized that he was almost crispy, quickly drinking an Intermediate Fire Resistance Potion. He only had 20 Health left, so he ate some Barley Bread to recover it. He was literally five seconds away from death.

Nie Yan continued to wait patiently behind the boulder. He should have brought some equipment with fire resistance along. That would have dealt with a lot of the trouble from the Hellfire Cavern. The problem was that Thief equipment with fire resistance wasn’t available to purchase. The equipment was of such little value, even to most Thieves, that players would receive more from breaking it down into raw materials than from putting it up on the marketplace. Even with high fire resistance, it was difficult to sell.

Thief equipment with fire resistance had no long term potential either. That’s why Nie Yan never paid attention to it. Most of the equipment he bought was for Warriors, which had the potential to spike in value with the release of the new dungeon, Blazing Ravine. The equipment didn’t really matter, in any case. He owned the Starry Night Potion Shop, and didn’t mind frivolously using potions. The only cost was the price of the ingredients required to concoct these potions.

It was all worth it for the chance to obtain the Chapter of Wisdom! If Nie Yan missed the window of time when the Infyrnal fell asleep, he’d have to spend two more hours in the cavern for another chance. The Chapter of Wisdom was worth the wait. It was the easiest chapter to obtain from the first volume of the Book of Order.

Thirty minutes later, the blazing flames deep within the cavern dimmed out and the air cooled down. The Infyrnal fell asleep! Nie Yan jumped out from behind the boulder, activating Shadow Dance. He sprinted deep into the cavern. Nie Yan could see the Infyrnal resting in a corner, despite the poor visibility. It was fast asleep, the flames around its body puttered out leaving only flares of blue flame around its joints. It was a giant golem, five meters tall and entirely made of stone. When it was awake, the monster had a corona of bright green flames enveloping its body.

Nie Yan cautiously tiptoed around the sleeping Infyrnal, worried that the slightest noise could possibly wake it up. He couldn’t be too slow either. It would wake up in two minutes regardless of any noise.

Nie Yan paid attention to the ground, every step was carefully placed as he continued sneaking past the Infyrnal. The entire cavern was dotted with crevices that exposed the flowing fiery-red lava underneath. They looked harmless, but a player that carelessly stepped onto one would lose a large chunk of their health. The air above these crevices contained superheated air from the exposed lava.

The cavern shook with every breath the snoring Infyrnal took, the walls trembling.

The second he got past the Infyrnal, Nie Yan bolted towards an opening in the cavern walls. He rushed through the hole and into a smaller cave hidden within the cavern. The tiny cave was filled with Fire Crystals exuding wisps of fire elemental energy. Nie Yan marvelled at the sight! A player mining Fire Crystals in this room would harvest 200% more than they would anywhere outside. Sadly, most miners wouldn’t have access to this cave because the entire Hellfire Cavern was always occupied by various guilds.

The cave was filled with dense fire elemental energy and scorching flames. Amidst all of that, a single radiant page floated in the air. The Chapter of Wisdom! Nie Yan reached out and grabbed at it. The blazing aura around the Chapter dissipated the moment he made contact with it. The page quietly floated down and fell into his hands. Nie Yan stuffed it into his bag.

He now had three chapters from the first volume of the Book of Order!

Nie Yan still had more than a minute to escape, before the Infyrnal woke up. He could escape immediately using the Unknown Transfer Scroll, but it made more sense to save it given how much time he had to spare. Without a pause, he used a Haste Scroll and dashed towards the exit; not wasting a single precious second.

The flames around the Infyrnal reignited, the green glow around it gradually intensifying as its flames started burning more and more fiercely. Nie Yan could feel the scorching heat radiating from its body as he ran. He took a running leap, flying three meters right over the Infyrnal! He landed beyond the Infyrnal and shot a web line out from his Silk Spinner Ring at the ceiling. He used it to swing over ten meters away from the still sleeping Infyrnal, instantly putting a vast distance between them.

The Infyrnal woke up as Nie Yan landed. It opened its eyes to the sight of him sprinting away and immediately started chasing after him, startled into a violent rage.

「GROOOAAGH!」

The Infyrnal let out a berserk roar. It closed the distance between them with every stride, and every step made the entire cavern tremble and shake violently. Nie Yan continued to dash towards the outside, despite the Infyrnal’s efforts to throw him off balance. The monster was significantly faster than him and it wouldn’t be another few seconds before it caught up to him. Nie Yan pulled out a pouch of Intermediate Flash Powder from his bag and chucked it at the Infyrnal behind him without even glancing back.

「Bang!」

The pouch exploded into brilliant rays of light. The green flames in the Infyrnal’s eyes flickered as it roared out in pain. A violent wave of flames surged out from the cavern with its roar, ready to engulf everything in fire!

Nie Yan clutched an Unknown Transfer Scroll in his hand. If the situation got out of control, he would crush it without the least bit of hesitation and escape.

The towering wave of flames surged at Nie Yan him. He ducked behind a boulder, taking cover from the onslaught. The flames blasted around and past the boulder. The scorching heat depleted Nie Yan’s health quickly. He saw his health drop down by 200 points, so he took an Intermediate Health Potion from his bag and drank it; instantly returning to full health. The Intermediate Health Potion restored 500 health. These potions were normally only accessible to players when they were around Level 30.

In the previous timeline, this sort of area-of-effect attack wasn’t particularly deadly. As long as you took suitable cover, It would only deal around 50 damage to Level 30 players, as long as they took cover from the blast. Nie Yan guessed that as long as he avoided a direct hit, he would only lose 200 health at most.

Once the heat from the blast of flames subsided, Nie Yan sprinted towards the cavern’s exit.

The Infyrnal was disorientated and confused after channelling its massive area-of-effect skill. It paused for several seconds, shaking off the after-effects of the skill. This was the moment when the monster was most vulnerable, and all the players attacking the Infyrnal would normally unleash their strongest skills; going in for the kill. Nie Yan used the time to run further away from the monster, putting over ten meters of space between them. The Infyrnal roared and resumed chasing him. The chase continued for a brief few seconds, until Nie Yan popped through the exit and out of the cave. The Infyrnal lost interest, there was no longer an intruder in its dwelling. It turned around and returned to its resting place.

Nie Yan was greeted by a refreshing wave of cool air as he came to a halt next to the entrance, gasping for breath. He took the Chapter of Wisdom out of his bag and examined it.

Chapter of Wisdom (Legendary)

Description: The fourth chapter of the first volume of the Book of Order. Whoever shall possess this chapter will receive the inheritance of the God of Light. Your mission is to spread the glory of light!

Properties: Receive 2 Intelligence and 1 skill point every 5 levels. Intelligence +30, Willpower +15, Resilience +15, Jump +15, Reflex +15, Speed +15

Reset: After using this skill, reduce the cooldown of all single-target elemental attack spells to zero and double mana consumption.

Sea of Flame: Summon a sea of flames for a 30 by 30 meter area-of-effect attack. Damage is based on Intelligence.

Restriction: Can only be used by a member of the Righteous Faction.

Note: Item effects are applied immediately upon entering the player’s bag.

Nie Yan examined his character information. The Chapter of Wisdom didn’t have much of an effect on him; it was designed for a Mage. The Chapter’s effects provided a substantial boost to Mages. He sighed dejectedly. Even the two skills were meant for Mages.

His main goal was to collect all six chapters and complete the first volume of the Book of Order. So even though the Chapter of Wisdom didn’t do much to improve his effective stats, it still wasn’t that big of a deal. He returned the Chapter of Wisdom to his bag, activated Stealth and disappeared into the forest. With everyone quickly raising their levels, players were already starting to explore this area. It was necessary for Nie Yan to be careful.

His next destination was the Light Monastery. That was the location of the best chapter from the first volume of the Book of Order. The very first chapter, the Chapter of Justice!

The Light Monastery was very far away, so Nie Yan could improve his Lockpicking Specialist skill by opening treasure chests along the way. He examined the proficiency of his Lockpicking Specialist skill.

Lockpicking Specialist: Junior (17/100)

The Lockpicking skill was the hardest to rank up out of all the skills. Not to mention the fact that he couldn’t neglect the skill as a Thief; because what kind of Thief couldn’t pick a lock? With the speed at which Nie Yan found chests, he was able to find twelve locked chests in two hours.

In order to get Lockpicking from Junior to Specialist, he needed to pick open a hundred chests. Ordinary players would take around a month to find and open that many chests. Finding locked chests in the wilderness wasn’t easy. Despite that obstacle, ordinary players still had plenty of time and opportunities to improve their Lockpicking skills before hitting level 30. Many of the chests hidden in dungeons would respawn. A team would be able to find at least three or four locked chests during a run of Medusa’s Lair or Sosil Valley.

Ordinary players would need a month, but not Nie Yan. He transformed into a machine, unlocking every treasure chest under Level 30 he could find. Most of them were ordinary or silver chests. He came across gold chests on a few rare occasions. As for dark gold chests, he didn’t find a single one. Many of the items he found on his chest-grind were quite decent. What excited him the most were a few of the recipes that he found. Every single recipe signified a surge in profit to him!