The Great Thief

After the auction ended, Lu Li went to the Moon Reflection Lake to open another three treasure chests, then logged off and went to sleep.

The next day, when Lu Li logged on, he immediately received a message from Moonlight.

The message was short and simple: let’s fight.

Lu Li was happy to be able to fight and train against someone else, so he did not refuse. He had been waiting for an opportunity like this.

Although Azure Sea Breeze was an expert, he was better suited for PVE. He was strong in Instance Dungeons, but was not a very powerful PVP opponent. In Lu Li’s ‘past life’ as a Druid, Azure Sea Breeze lost more challenges against him than he won.

However, Moonlight was different - he was one a PVP master.

The place they decided on was fairly remote and the land was quite flat. There weren’t any monsters or any forests, so many players chose to fight here.

Moonlight was currently trying out one of his skills. He gently waved his Axe, testing different angles and trajectories.

For melee professions, PVP wasn’t just about positioning, but was also about attacking style. This meant figuring out a way that could render their opponent defenceless, while attaining a high level of Skill Completion. Everyone had their own techniques and Moonlight had been pondering on what sort of path he should take. He was uncertain as to whether he should continue with the strange and tricky style, or the unrestrained and direct style.

After hanging out with Lu Li for a few days, he had received some inspiration.

As such, he wanted to fight with Lu Li to confirm what he had been thinking.

“Who is it?” While deep in thought, Moonlight suddenly heard a rustle and instinctively ducked down.

Damnit, it was a Thief!

Lu Li!

However, the danger had not passed. The Dagger’s trajectory changed and stabbed into the back of his head.

Cheap Shot successful!

Being hit with a successful Cheap Shot by a Thief with Steel grade equipment would mean instant death for most people.

Luckily, Moonlight was a Warrior and also had quite a few good pieces of equipment.

After recovering from the stun, Moonlight whirled his Axe and successfully parried Lu Li’s Ultimate Skill, Backhand Backstab. Had he not parried this, the fight would have been over.

After receiving the system announcement that his skill had failed, Lu Li did not panic. His Dagger twirled and left a few cuts on Moonlight’s waist.

His movement was incredibly complex and relied on his superior Movement Speed. He always tried to position himself behind or to the side of Moonlight. His attacks were also lightning fast and although he couldn’t deal as much damage, he had a significant advantage in the number of attacks he could deal.

Moonlight roared and started to spin.

Whirlwind!

Lu Li took 2 blows and lost about 20% HP. He hurriedly turned and retreated.

After escaping from the range of Whirlwind, Lu Li saw a black shadow charging towards him. It turned out that Moonlight had cancelled Whirlwind and instantly casted Charge.

Lu Li was stunned and saw that he was about to be hit by a Hamstring skill.

Hamstring was one of the Warriors’ most famous skills. It reduced the target’s Movement Speed and added a Bleed effect if the Skill Completion was high enough. However, it took time to cast and execute, so he didn’t use it before using Whirlwind. Instead, he chose to use it when Lu Li had been stunned with no escape.

Just as the Axe was about to chop into Lu Li, he suddenly vanished into a puff of green colored smoke.

“Damnit, the Vanish skill!” Of course, Moonlight remembered the Vanish skill book that Lu Li had obtained.

The Hamstring skill was now useless, but Moonlight didn’t give up. He chopped down with his Axe and kicked out with his foot, after forcing Lu Li into the direction he wanted.

Moonlight relied on his wealth of PVP experience to force the Stealthed Thief out of hiding. This showed that he was indeed quite the expert. However, it was a pity that he had lost too much HP at the beginning.

Lu Li stopped attacking and retreated, ending this fight.

“You won,” Moonlight calmly admitted his loss.

“I began with a surprise attack, so let’s call it a tie,” Lu Li said.

“Haha, you’re a Thief; are you meant to fight openly with a Warrior like me?” Moonlight put away his weapons as he laughed, “I’ll add you to a chat room with heaps of PVP experts. You can fight with them in the future if you want.”

Lu Li received a system announcement which told him that he had been invited to the “North Sea Kindergarten” chat room. This name was worthy of face-palming, but since Moonlight had invited him, he didn’t refuse.

Chat rooms were an important way for players to socialise. Players could either use voice chat, or type, with some people using both. In the North Sea Kindergarten, people used both - even if someone used voice chat, a corresponding text message would appear in the chat.

“Hey, there’s a new person.” A person called Hornet’s Nest was the first to find out that a new player had joined their chat room.

Lu Li was quite shocked. Could this really be the legendary Hornet’s Nest? Hornet’s Nests were dangerous in real life and the one in this game was even more dangerous. Once provoked, he would immediately react and would not give up until he had exacted his revenge.

“It’s someone the Blood Demon brought in. Whose fake account is it?” said Green Flag Wine, who was yet another famous player.

This was the future champion of individual PVP battles. His Paladin was believed to be invincible and his nickname was the ‘Tire Killer’ - he could kill you by simply tiring you to death.

“I’ve never met anyone called Lu Li before. There’s still some people who haven’t joined the game yet; they should be joining next week. At this level, I’ll be able to wreck them repeatedly, heheh. I’ll kill them so many times that they won’t even get out of the Novice Village, hahaha.” Hornet’s Nest’s laughter was incredibly arrogant.

24 hours after Dawn was opened, players were barred from registering and new game helmets couldn’t be used. This lasted until the next week, when players could start registering and joining again.

However, those who joined later weren’t at much of a disadvantage. They were all given double EXP for the first 3 days they played.

Lu Li… Lu Li… the Lu Li who set a new record yesterday?” asked a player called Wild, who had suddenly burst in.

“Heheh. Wild, you don’t accept it? He didn’t just clear your record, he beat it by half.” Hornet’s Nest was filled with glee.

“Of course I accept it. If it was just a few seconds or minutes, I’d be able to contest that… but that half an hour gap is something the people in the union greatly respect.” Wild seemed quite calm.

Lu Li suddenly recalled that Wild was one of the Blood-red War Flag’s experts and was also a PVP pro.

“Lu Li, LV7 Thief. I just lost to him. If anyone’s not convinced, you can fight him yourself,” Moonlight cut the people off and introduced Lu Li.

“How could I let this opportunity go by? I’ll fight with you.” Hornet’s Nest was evidently a PVP maniac. In fact, everyone in this chat room was a PVP maniac.