Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed the World

The cold winds howled as sharp cries rang out in the darkness. Nie Yan created a huge commotion by ordering his Rum Spiders to start wantonly attacking their own in the valley below.

Nie Yan hurriedly gave the order to retreat. His Rum Spiders started running back to him, with a swarm of hostile Rum Spiders lagging not too far behind.

He took out an Advanced Scroll and started chanting series of cryptic syllables as magical energy swirled around him.

Nie Yan had 122 Intelligence, something hardly seen among Thieves. This was thanks to humans having higher Intelligence than other races, and a host of items on him that boosted his Intelligence, such as the chapters from the Book of Order.

Nie Yan’s high Intelligence allowed him to use the vast majority of scrolls and magical tools without a problem.

The hostile Rum Spiders were getting ever closer. There were hundreds of them within a radius of 30 meters.

At this moment, Nie Yan finished chanting out the last syllable as a blazing cloud emerged in the sky and started raining down fire.

Everything within a 20 meter radius was engulfed in a raging inferno, resembling a scene straight out of hell. The Rum Spiders let out miserable shrieks as damage values rose up into the sky. Half a minute later, most of them lay dead on the ground.

Nie Yan saw his experience bar fill up to 73%. This was impressive given that he had levelled up just recently!

The blaze eventually died down, unveiling a tableau of devastation with charred corpses strewn everywhere. Nie Yan had lost two of his own Rum Spiders in the process. He finished off the remaining Rum Spiders in the vicinity, then started picking up the loot.

Nie Yan collected a total of 3 gold and a mountain of junk. He kept the valuable drops and left behind the rest to avoid bloating his inventory.

A certain piece of loot in particular caught Nie Yan’s eye.

It was a black skull roughly the size of a fist. A sapphire gem was embedded into its forehead, and green flames flickered from its eye sockets.

Conjuring Skull (Medium)

Requirements: 500 Intelligence

Description: This Conjuring Skull is a medium for summoning undead creatures and spirits as servants. It can also be used to call forth a Bone Mammoth (Damaged).

Nie Yan didn’t know the use of this Conjuring Skull. It seemed to be a special item meant for Necromancers. He wondered how valuable it was. After thinking it over, he tossed it into his bag.

Except for the Conjuring Skull, there was nothing else of interest. Nie Yan began purifying the corpses of the Rum Spiders. They dissolved into motes of light before disappearing into the air.

Nie Yan continued hunting the Rum Spiders. Time slowly passed by.

When it was time to log off, Nie Yan had reached Level 43. Lil’ Gold reached Level 39, and wasn’t far off from levelling up again. Lil’ Gold also learned a new skill, Flame Shroud, which wrapped him in flames and inflicted burn damage to all enemies within a five meter radius.

Although pets would become more and more common as time passed, most of them would be low-level and possess terrible growth rates. Lil’ Gold was definitely a unique existence among them.

Even Nie Yan couldn’t estimate Lil’ Gold’s full potential.

Nie Yan spent the next two days levelling. When he used up all his scrolls, he had Lil’ Gold blast the Rum Spiders with Dragon Breath. The levelling speed was decent to say the least. He had reached Level 47 and obtained quite a bit of loot.

Checking the level leaderboards, Tang Yao was still in the lead at Level 53. Bloodlust Mad Blade was also Level 53, but he was still lagging a bit behind. The Underworld was an unfamiliar place to Nie Yan. Back on the surface, his levelling speed would surely be several times faster.

Nie Yan had killed several thousand Rum Spiders without finding another item like the Conjuring Skull. He confirmed it was a precious drop that probably wasn’t meant to be sold in a stall on the street.

Unsummoning Lil’ Gold, Nie Yan looked in the distance. He didn’t know what sort of secrets Spider Gorge contained. He had spent the past two days levelling in the outskirts, never once exploring deeper inside.

Nie Yan activated the Crawler Ring and began scaling the cliff walls. He occasionally encountered a spider den while advancing, whereupon he would hurriedly make a lengthy detour.

After passing through a narrow stretch of valley, Nie Yan could make out a few buildings in the distance. Their lights were faint in the darkness.

The ball of light hovering around Nie Yan seemed to sense something and started trembling in excitement.

You have discovered the Karasi Arachne Tribe.

It could be related to Empress Finas’ quest. Nie Yan continued crawling and encountered a 10 meter wide river that cut through the valley. A dense layer of algae coated the water’s surface and gave off a noxious stench. It was probably highly toxic! He put on the Leaper Ring and jumped over to the other side, sticking to the cliff wall like a gecko.

Nie Yan crawled back to the ground. He entered stealth and began making his way towards the settlement in the distance.

This village appeared to be closed off from the rest of the world. It was surrounded on all four sides by cliff walls and a highly toxic river. It was impossible to reach the opposite bank without a special item like the Leaper Ring or Levitate Ring.

Nie Yan crossed a patch of trees and encountered an Arachne up ahead. He slowly drew closer and activated Transcendent Insight.

Arachne: Level 60

Health: 3,000/3,000

There were no others in the vicinity. Nie Yan approached the Arachne from behind.

The Arachne was hunting insects when Nie Yan launched a sneak attack with Zennarde’s Sword.

The Arachne panicked and tried to run away. However, Nie Yan landed a Smothering Strike squarely on the back of its head. He followed up with Backstab and Eviscerate. Immediately, its corpse collapsed in front of his feet.

Nie Yan couldn’t allow that Arachne to escape. It would have alerted the village to his presence.

Nie Yan activated the Pearl of Disguise, his appearance transforming into that of the Arachne he had just killed. He continued toward the village.

He encountered many Arachne along the way. They were either hunting insects or crafting various tools.

“Du-du-du, Darude…” Nie Yan heard strange sound coming from their mouths, as if they were saying something. However, he didn’t understand any of it.

Conviction’s language system was wonderful, containing a variety of different languages with hundreds of dialects. For example, the Undead Language contained six dialects each with subtle differences. The players from the Undead Empired communicated in the Undead Language. If Nie Yan hadn’t learned the Vanbiya Undead Language, he wouldn’t have been able to understand a single word they said. The system automatically translated any language the player learned. When Nie Yan was talking to the players in Valitin Village, he was naturally speaking in the Undead Language. If a player visited a library to learn the language of another race, particularly one from an opposing faction, it would cost tens of thousands of gold.

This was an additional barrier to players from different factions communicating.

Nie Yan didn’t know the language of the Arachne. It was simply too uncommon. He could only keep silent; otherwise, his cover would be blown.

The ball of light was still floating by Nie Yan’s side. He had already spotted Elite-class Arachne in the vicinity. He was afraid of being discovered and clutched an Unknown Transfer Scroll in his hand, planning to teleport away at the first sign of trouble.

Nie Yan discovered the Arachne couldn’t see the ball of light floating next to him. It was a faint light fluttering by his side just like a fairy. He guessed it was Bennet’s soul. He wondered if it still had any of its memories. Was it possible to retrieve some clues by using the Soul Potion?

Nie Yan entered the village. Some of the the Arachne were chatting together in groups. Their ugly appearances were quite frightening in the darkness.

It was a village of horrors.

Some of the Arachne greeted Nie Yan when they spotted him. However, he didn’t understand what they were saying, so he could only pretend he didn’t hear them.

Nie Yan brushed past many Arachne on the muddy roads. He spotted a fairly grand building up ahead. It was three storeys tall with a flight of stairs connecting to the second floor. It looked a bit old, but it was the most conspicuous thing he had seen so far. He suspected it contained something important.

Nie Yan hesitated for a moment before sneaking into the building. He carefully searched around on the first and second floor but failed to find anything. When he climbed up to the third floor, he discovered two Arachne in plate armour guarding a Dark Gold-grade treasure chest tucked away in a corner. It was made out of some unknown material and was covered in mysterious runes and designs.

The two Arachne seemed to sense something. Their gaze swept over the staircase, but they failed to find anything and returned to their idle state.

Nie Yan inspected the two Arachne with Transcendent Insight.

Arachne Ilvitch (Elite): Level 60

Health 12,000/12,000

Arachne Israel (Elite): Level 60

Health: 11,700/11,700

Nie Yan frowned. It would be difficult for him to deal with two Elites all by himself. Furthermore, he couldn’t create too much noise; otherwise, he would attract other Arachne to the scene.