The Great Thief

Lu Li held Cresso’s Hammer in his right hand, and casted a final Collect on the corpse with his left hand.

System: Gathering complete. Rennesak’s head received.

The corpse on the ground was left headless and Lu Li received a black sack that had a pungent, rotten smell. He placed the quest item into his bag, drank an Intermediate Health Potion and quickly ran away.

Although the Elite Druid Follower had very high HP, defense and self-healing, it still couldn’t withstand damage from 100 or so people.

It was a shame, because if a Follower survived the Profession Upgrade Quest, the player would receive a card that would them to summon the Follower up to 3 times. This could be extremely useful in certain situations.

It was too bad, but the danger was not over yet.

People that were undertaking the Profession Upgrade Quest were all the stronger players of their respective guilds. They advanced together like an army and worked together as a team, not giving Lu Li any chance of escape.

Stealth could not solve every problem, but what about Gale Steps?

Lu Li hadn’t learnt Gale Steps yet, but even if he had, it probably wouldn’t make much of a difference.

However, there was no need to worry, because he had already scouted the area and knew the escape routes like the back of his hand.

“Hehe, everyone, stop wasting your time.”

Lu Li appeared near the altar and cancelled his stealth.

Players from the Glory Capital saw his expression behind his bandana and knew that they had been outsmarted.

He had even dared to taunt all these people right in front of their faces.

“Bye bye.”

Lu Li waved his hands and fell backwards.

Normally, falling from 50 yards would leave you at critical HP. Any higher than 65 yards was basically suicide.

The altar was more than 100 yards above ground; this distance meant certain death.

Everyone from the Glory Capital remained for a few seconds, then sprinted towards the edge of the altar and looked down.

Illusory Dream had logged on and witnessed all of this as well.

“What are you guys looking at?” he asked, as he pulled someone aside.

“Don’t pull me, I want to see as well,” the player said impatiently. However, upon realising that the person that had pulled him aside was their commander, he quickly changed his tone.

“Illusory bro, you’re online! That’s great.”

“Great your mum. The boss was stolen from us,” Illusory Dream retorted and slapped him.

“Illusory bro, don’t be angry. We got revenge for you.”

The player wasn’t angry about being slapped and just accepted it.

“Oh, how did you get revenge? Did you kill him?”

If Thief had actually died, then Illusory Dream could at least save some face.

Everyone failing the quest was less embarrassing than having the Boss stolen right before their eyes.

“We forced him to jump a cliff,” the player proudly said. Forcing someone to commit suicide was crueller than killing them.

“He jumped?” Illusory Dream looked worried.

“Why would he randomly suicide? Are you sure he suicided? Did you see him fall to his death?”

Everyone shook their heads simultaneously.

“Where’s the corpse?”

“Illusory bro, it’s just a game. How are we supposed to find the corpse?” a player naively questioned.

Goddammit! Are you calling me stupid?!

Illusory Dream almost decided to log off again, but he sat down and calmed himself down.

“Illusory bro, what now?” With their leader back, the players could finally rely on him again.

“What else can we do? We can only wait,” Illusory Dream sighed.

“Wait for what?”

“Wait until system notifies us about someone completing the quest. Then, we’ll be transported out.”

“Would someone really complete it? That would be the first ever Profession Upgrade Quest completed in Dawn,” another player said.

“We were supposed to be the ones that completed it first. You did good Illusory bro. Everyone can testify for you if big boss questions us.”

This guild member wasn’t trying to suck up to him. It was the truth.

First of all, Illusory Dream had pretended to ally with the Light Faction and tricked them into clearing the monsters for them, while chipping down their manpower. Then, he ambushed them from both sides, removing their biggest competition.

All that was left to do was to kill the boss and complete the quest together.

Everyone that completed the quest could have all been from Glory Capital!

He had come so close, yet he was still so far…

At this moment, everyone felt a sense of regret.

System: Unknown Player has completed the Profession Upgrade Quest. Rewards will be received.

Everyone was transported out of the map, destroying any last hope that the Glory Capital was clinging onto.

As Lu Li fell down, he had casted Child of the Forest.

Child of the Forest: Instant Cast. You turn into a cheetah, raising your Movement Speed by 50%, as well as your ability to climb at 45 degree angles. Allows you to use all skills available to the Cheetah Transformation. The caster becomes immune to all Polymorph effects and fall damage is reduced. Transforming removes all Movement Restrictions on the caster. Proficiency: 1/1000.

This Cheetah Transformation skill allowed him to drop from a distance of more than 120 yards.

He even drank an Intermediate Health Potion right before jumping just to be safe.

After leaving the area, he completed the quest with Rennesak’s head.

If the Druid Follower was still alive, he would have made the effort to escort it back. However, without it, Lu Li could only the NPC by using the quest item.

“Young Elf, you have surpassed my expectations.”

The elderly Elf lifted his hood, revealing his long, silvery hair.

“By the protection of the Moon Goddess, the sinner paid his price.”

Lu Li handed over the unopened sack which contained Rennesak’s head.

“Oh, it’s my son. Thank you for giving him peace and rest.”

The Elf held the bag with a sad expression.

“Uh…”

Lu Li was stunned at this and felt uneasy.

How could a father hire people to kill his own son? What a tragedy.

“It’s a very long story that shouldn’t be mentioned. I won’t tell it to you.”

The Elf decided not to satisfy Lu Li’s curiosity and instead handed him a stack of skill books.

“These two skill books are your reward. Please pick out two.”

Two?!

Lu Li was disappointed. Why were there only two?

“Your follower died, so the mission was not completely perfectly,” the Elf said, as if he already knew what Lu Li was thinking.

“This is an ancient test and it has its own rules. Sorry about that.”