Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed the World

The faint sound of footsteps resounded from the entrance to the treasury. Mine Slave Igrin had entered!

Nie Yan anxiously unlocked the chest, the progress bar filling up bit by bit. It was already at 60%!

Igrin searched for traces of Nie Yan in every room. It repeatedly brandished the weapons in its six arms, hacking and smashing into the walls and piles of gold. The frightening sounds rang out across the hallway, sending shivers down Nie Yan’s spine.

“Come on! Go faster!” Nie Yan muttered. If Igrin found him, his opportunity of obtaining whatever was inside the Sub Legendary chest would go down the drain.

70%...72%...75%...

Igrin was getting closer and closer to Nie Yan’s location. It was only a few rooms away at most. Suddenly, with a click, the chest popped open!

Success!

Nie Yan hurriedly reached his hand inside and fished out a silver gray cape. It was the item he was looking for—Abak’s Cape of Ruin!

Nie Yan didn’t have the time to examine the stats of this cape. He put it away in his bag, then continued to fish around inside the chest and pulled out an egg. It was about the size of a water basin, black all over, and sparkled like a gemstone.

Nie Yan’s mind trembled. This was a pet egg!

Normally, creatures that came out of eggs had a very high possibility of being a flying mount. Nie Yan had no idea what would hatch from this egg.

Nie Yan stored away the pet egg in his bag. He rummaged around through chest some more but found nothing else.

At this moment, Igrin bursted through the door. Spotting Nie Yan, it brandished its sickle and hacked down toward him.

Having gotten what he wanted, Nie Yan naturally didn’t stay any longer. Without a second thought, he crushed the Unknown Transfer Scroll in his hand and disappeared with a flash of light.

Igrin slashed down with its sickle, but Nie Yan was already gone.

Nie Yan emerged within a forest in the wilderness. He ducked into a secluded area, then took out a Return Scroll. After chanting out an incantation, he arrived back in Calore. He was finally safe.

Nie Yan checked his harvest, taking Abak’s Cape of Ruin out of his bag. He had already seen its appearance from the images within the Glimpse of Darkness. It had a dark gloomy aura and felt very light in his hands, almost as if it wasn’t there at all. He examined its stats.

Abak’s Cape of Ruin (Legendary): Unequippable

Requirements: 1,500 Strength, 1,200 Dexterity, Level 180

Description: This item can only be worn by the owner of the Glimpse of Darkness. It is only equippable when the owner has gathered the full set. Abak held strength in high regard. Only the powerful can become tyrants. Eliminate all traitors!

Properties: Defense +522, Evade +20, Cloaking +300, Strength +700, Dexterity +320, All Stats +100, 50% chance to absorb 20% of incoming damage, 20% chance to absorb 50% of incoming damage

Set Completion: 3/8

This item is automatically bound to the owner of Volume I of the Book of Order. It cannot be traded or dropped.

Abak’s Cape of Ruin’s stats were quite impressive. It was fully deserving of being part of a Level 180 Legendary set. If he could complete the Tyrant Abak Set, he would definitely be unrivalled.

Even though Nie Yan couldn’t equip the set for the time being, it still gave him something to work toward. He could just imagine how sweet it would feel to equip this set once he reached Level 180.

When Nie Yan got to Level 180 in the previous timeline, he was still stuck as a Great Thief with no hope of advancing to a Shadow Dancer. The gear he wore was a Level 160 Dark Gold-grade set that he spent three whole months grinding dungeons nonstop for. In his circle of friends, anyone that obtained a piece of Sub Legendary or Legendary-grade equipment would become the object of envy. At that time, Sub Legendary-grade equipment was considered godly, to say nothing of Legendary-grade equipment. As for Legendary Sets, they were basically myths.

Nie Yan had already obtained three pieces of the Tyrant Abak Set, Abak’s Gloves of Sealing, Abak’s Bloody Dagger, and Abak’s Cape of Ruin. Of the eight pieces of the set, he already possessed three. He could see himself completing the full set before Level 180.

Nie Yan’s goal was to reach Level 180, equip the Tyrant Abak Set, and fly through the skies on his Darkwing Dragon. If he could really achieve this, he would become the undisputed number one player in the game!

Nie Yan headed to the Starry Night Potion Shop and found an empty workshop. He took out the egg and carefully inspected it to find out what sort of creature was inside. However, he didn’t find any clues. It looked like he would have to go to a pet appraiser or patiently wait for it to hatch.

Nie Yan put on the Shadow Walker Cloak and headed to the central square of Calore. The pet appraiser was located there.

The central square was bustling with activity. Many players were shouting requests to form teams. Those who succeeded set off to level or run dungeons.

As Nie Yan walked through the crowd, the sound of shouting players rang in his ears. Among them, one sounded somewhat familiar.

“Searching for an Arcane Mage to run Dark Marsh! Must be Level 60–65 with at least 1,200 magic power.”

Looking towards the source of the voice, Nie Yan spotted several familiar faces. It was Zhai Hao and the others. There were 15 people in their group in total. There were five girls, several of whom were in the same class as him in Huahai High. There were also three others called Mo Tao, Mo An, and Mo Yan. Seeing these three, his expression darkened.

In his past life, Nie Yan was in a team together with Mo Tao, Mo An, and Mo Yan. He had become acquainted with them through Zhai Hao. These three were siblings.[1] Their personalities were snobbish and unkind. Back then, Nie Yan, Zhai Hao, and Li Rui were much lower level than them; their equipment was worse too, so they often suffered abuse during dungeon runs. Mo Tao, Mo An, and Mo Yan were also quite foul mouthed, frequently spouting all sorts of vulgar profanities. After some time, Nie Yan, Zhai Hao, and Li Rui finally got fed up and withdrew from the team. They later heard the three joined Victorious Return. From then on, Nie Yan’s group had no more contact with them. It was rumoured they were given responsibility of managing a stronghold, receiving generous salaries every month. Of course, this position was far out of reach for the likes of Nie Yan, Zhai Hao, or Li Rui at that time. The Mo trio couldn’t even be deigned to associate with them. In fact, during the times they did occasionally meet, the faces of the three were filled with scorn and contempt.

Nie Yan didn’t want to see Mo Tao, Mo An, or Mo Yan. However, he felt obligated to meet up with Zhai Hao, Li Rui, and the others, especially since he hadn’t shown himself in school for a while. Zhai Hao knew Nie Yan was worlds apart from him, so he made it a point not to be a bother. At this rate, if Nie Yan didn’t take the initiative to reach out, he would run the risk of alienating these old friends from his past life.

Nie Yan wouldn’t forget those who helped him along the way. Even if his position was far different in this life, he wouldn’t pretend not to know Zhai Hao, Li Rui, and the others.

“If we’re going to run Dark Marsh, how about we get a few Antidotes? Anyone wants to foot the bill?” Zhai Hao asked. Gathering enough people was only one of many difficulties they would face running Dark Marsh.

“Of course, it’s you guys that are footing the bill. Between Mo An, Mo Yan, and me, two of us are Level 65 and one is Level 64. With our equipment, we can already start running the Underground Mines in Golden City. We’re only tagging along with you guys to give Zhai Hao some face,” Mo Tao said in an disdainful tone.

“We’ve already been here for 30 damn minutes. Mother fucking hell, why are we still not leaving yet?” Mo An cursed after checking the time.

Mo Tao and Mo An were the same age as Zhai Hao and the rest. The two were paternal cousins. They also attended Huahai High. However, they were from Class 1, the so-called elite class with the highest grade average. Most of the students in that class were pretty full of themselves. Most recently, they were rather annoyed with the students in Class 3, specifically Nie Yan who had showed up out of nowhere and stole their thunder.

As for Mo Yan, she was two years younger. Her looks were alright. She had fair skin and a pretty face. Only she was bit short. Like Mo Tao and Mo An, she was a Mage.

“If Sister Yingyu wasn’t here, we would’ve left already,” Mo Yan said in a bratty tone.

Zhai Hao pondered for a moment before gritting his teeth. “Fine, I’ll pay for the Antidotes.”

「We’re even footing the bill for the Antidotes, and they also get first dibs on all Mage equipment. We’re basically getting nothing out of this,」Li Rui whispered to Zhai Hao in a disgruntled tone.

「It doesn’t matter if we’re getting anything out of it or not. Without enough people, we can’t even run Dark Marsh. If they leave, where are we going to find Mages with high enough damage?」Zhai Hao replied. He was also feeling helpless. They needed people to carry them through Dark Marsh so they could get enough experience to run it themselves. There was no other choice. They could only beseech the Mo trio for help.

Although Zhai Hao, Li Rui, and the others were acquainted with Nie Yan, they didn’t go around bragging about it. They never disclosed their close relationship with Nie Yan to others. His real identity was a matter known only to a few people.

“We can’t just let Zhai Hao foot the bills for the Antidotes by himself. Let’s help out and chip in as well,” suggested a lovely, tall, and beautiful girl.

“Don’t joke, Yingyu. How could we let you girls pay. That would be shameful,” Zhai Hao quickly declined.

Hearing Yingyu’s words, Mo Tao and Mo An became somewhat embarrassed.

”Don’t you guys know Nirvana Flame? Just have him come over. Wouldn’t that solve everything?” Mo Tao changed the subject.

“Right? If they have connections like that, why don’t they use them?” Mo An sneered. He had once heard Li Rui and Zhai Hao talk about how they knew Nirvana Flame. Of course, he didn’t believe this one bit. If they were friends with Nirvana Flame, he was friends with Soaring Angel. Such a claim was ridiculous!

1. In Chinese culture, cousins in the same generation tend refer to each other as brother or sister. That’s why Mo Tao, Mo An, and Mo Yan are called siblings despite not all sharing the same parents.