The Great Thief

“Where are you right now? I’ll come over to you immediately.” It was the Star Moon Union’s Square Root 3. Lu Li was a little taken aback; he didn’t think that the Seal Transformation skill book would be found so quickly. The union’s capability was definitely greater than any individual.

If it were up to him alone, it wasn’t guaranteed that he would be able to find this skill book, even after three days of searching.

“By the Moon Reflection Lake, where you said the Grells would spawn” joked Square Root 3: “Seeing as you now know how to farm the Seal Transformation, could you tell me how I could farm a Tame Beast Skill Book?”

Tame Beast was a unique Hunter skill, whereby after learning it, they were would be able to tame beasts. This was the mark of a true hunter.

“For that you have to grind a LV 6 monster on the mountains – Wild Forest Wolf. They can drop ‘Tame Beast’ or ‘Revive Pet’ skill books for the hunter, ‘Wolf Transformation’ for the Druid, ‘Inferno Impact’ for the Magician, ‘Backhand Backstab’ for the Thief, and if you are lucky, it might even drop ‘Shieldstrike’ for the Warrior.

“I shouldn’t have said that”. Immediately after he had finished speaking, Lu Li regretted it.

It was also because he got the Seal Transformation so quickly, that he was a little excited.

The blood of a Thief should be calm; next time he definitely needed to keep his cool.

He had honestly just asked Square Root 3 that question in passing, not thinking that he would receive such a detailed answer.

‘Shieldstrike’!

With Shieldstrike, professions that focused on Defence would no longer be a useless burden, and the LV5 Spider Lair Instance Dungeon would be possible to clear.

After repeatedly farming, the quest for Shadowmaw Panther skins had already been completed. He immediately set out for the Moon Reflection Lake.

In the history of Dawn, there lived the intelligent Eisenna of the Wild. In a way that even she cannot remember the precise process of, she created a weak evil spirit race, giving them the Moon Reflection lake as their habitat.

Eisenna was a demigod and was once rumored to be Cenarius’ spouse - mother of the keepers of the Grove, but this had never been confirmed by the King of the Wild.

Perhaps the God of Creation didn’t care, but the Grells were exceedingly ugly and frequently said “this is our territory, trespassers must die” while aiming fireballs at them.

However, these small rogue-like monsters were in fact vegetarians who fed off moss.

The corrupting moss quest, was to collect 20 of these items from the bodies of these small evil creatures.

Not long after, Lu Li found Square Root 3, but following him was not one person; he was leading 2 members of the union, one was a Magician, and the other was an impressive Druid!

The Druid, “I am Richy Rich”, was staring at Lu Li with hate in his eyes - it was his party that found this Druid skill book. As such, he thought that it would be his, but it was unexpectedly reserved for a Thief.

How could he not feel resentful?

Lu Li knew this Druid, he had very rich parents and would die for his pride. He infamously set a massive bounty for the head of the ‘Water Thief’, all because they had some good equipment that they did not want to sell to him.

If that kind of circumstance caused such an event, then what would happen now that there was an actual reason for resentment?

“This is the skill book that you wanted” Square Root 3 said, handing the skill book to Lu Li. After the trade ended, he left without saying a word. Square Root 3 had some reservations about Lu Li saying he wanted the skill book for a friend.

Dawn only had a few open skill books, from which all professions could learn. However, this definitely did not include ‘Seal Transformation’ which was unique to its occupation.

“I have a Magic Staff, you can have it as compensation for the skill book.” Lu Li did not satisfy their curiosity, putting the skill book in his bag, and taking out the Magic Staff that he attained earlier.

The Magic Staff had broad usage requirements, Magicians, Warlocks, Priests and Druids could all use the Magic Staff.

“What kind of joke is this, a common equipment to compensate for a skill book? You’re insane!” I am Richy Rich took a glance and immediately started calling out.

“You guys can also choose not to take it” Lu Li was too lazy to explain how high the damage of this Magic Staff was, and how weak the skill book actually was.

“That’s enough” I am Richy Rich was dumb, but that didn’t mean Square Root 3 was too. He pulled past the child with wealthy parents, and took the Magic Staff. “It’s clear according to what you have said, do you want to train together?”

“Not right now, I need to do a collection quest”, Lu Li didn’t want to form a party with them. On one hand, he didn’t want to expose his own secrets, and on the other, he wanted to practice Skill Completion alone.

The reason for forming a party to train was efficiency, but other people had no obligation to practice skills with him. Moreover, he did not like these arrogant people who were favored by God.

He still had 8% exp left to go and after handing in the two quest items he had on hand he would rise to LV2. When that time came he would be able to learn a very important Thief skill – Cheap Shot. After learning Cheap Shot, training with the Thief would become much more efficient.

[Cheap Shot]: Instant cast. Stuns target for 4 seconds, must be cast when under the effect of Stealth. Awards 2 combo points.

Although it didn’t deal any damage, Cheap Shot stunned for 4 seconds, making the thief an elegant King of control, regardless of whether it was PVE or PVP. This skill was a big part of professional Thief gameplay.

What was quite unfortunate was that this skill is not upgradable.

Square Root 3 was the diplomat of Star Moon Union and was considered rather amicable to talk to. Even after being declined by Lu Li he was unfazed, it was only I am Richy Rich whose expression was not too pretty.

This rich child had always gotten the first of everything, but today, not only did he not get a skill book of his own occupation, he was also offended by Lu Li. If it weren’t for Square Root 3’s good demeanor, he would have organized for some members of the union to take out Lu Li.

After collecting everything, he returned to the village. Lu Li handed over the Young Shadowmaw Panther, Shadowmaw Panther fur and corrupting moss to complete 3 quests, becoming level 2 in the process. He also immediately learnt Cheap Shot.

Of course, the price that he paid to learn the skill made him return once again to having only copper coins, after newly breaking through into having a silver coin.

This was the nature of the game - the money earned was never enough. Learning skills, repairing equipment and buying potions, were all reasons for your wallet to decrease in size.

Lu Li did not forget the ‘Seal Transformation” in his bag. This skill was not for Thieves but after learning it, it would appear within his skills column.

[Seal Transformation]: Instant Cast. You transform into a seal that is capable of swimming. You can now enter and explore waters. Spell duration 20 minutes. Cooldown 30 minutes. Swimming speed increased by 50%, gain ability to breath underwater, when transformation is in effect offensive skills cannot be used. Skill proficiency 1/1000.

To speak the truth, the Seal Transformation was terrible, and didn’t gather much attention amongst the other Druid skills. Its function was very limited.

A large majority of Druids who picked this skill used it to find herbs or mine underwater.

Regular players could achieve the same effects by taking breathing underwater pots. Furthermore, they could still attack while under those same effects.

However, this was completely different; Lu Li was a Thief, a Thief that knew Seal Transformation.

The reason that he dared to make a claim that he could make 20 gold in a single day to the Star Moon union was because he could take advantage of this – a Thief that could transform into a seal!

He moved to a more remote part of the Moon Reflection Lake, and looked around in all directions as the water rippled around him. He then disappeared below the surface of the water.