The Great Thief

As Lu Li numbly continued to Pick Pocket the Trolls, he would manage to steal their clothes or their weapons from time to time. He would then have to quickly kill those trolls.

Suddenly, a Frostbolt exploded on his chest, dealing over 100 damage. At first, he didn’t react at all; it was difficult to remain vigilant in this rain while doing this really monotonous task.

It was only when the second Frostbolt hit him that he reacted.

Was there someone attacking him?

Who could it be? Unforgettable Maple, Lucky Southern Persian, Wild, Sorrowless…

It couldn’t be any of those guys; his attacker only dealt 100 damage to him. His HP pool of 2800 was only being reduced by a little bit.

Lu Li turned around to find a Mage behind a tree, whose body was half exposed, charging another Frostbolt. Lu Li wondered who this person was and how they were brave enough to attack him.

The Mage hadn’t stopped. After firing the second Frostbolt, they were already channeling the third one.

Frostbolt was one of the most common Mage skills. It was like an icebolt, but it needed a channel period and did much more damage. If his attacker’s equipment was at the same level as his, it could easily deal 300 damage.

”Why are you attacking me?” Lu Li asked.

”Do I need a reason to fight?’ the Undead Mage said mysteriously, not seeming to notice that Lu Li wasn’t actually taking that much damage from his attacks.

It was said that when a PVP maniac was wildly fighting, their blood boiled, and they stopped caring about anything else.

Lu Li increased his speed as he approached this Mage with the intent to kill him. He then smiled at this Undead Mage as he was walking and asked, ”Do you think you can kill me in a few attacks? Don’t you have a stronger skill?”

Judging from his damage, this Mage couldn’t be at his level. This was obvious, as Lu Li was currently first in the Level Rankings.

His equipment was bad as well; he was wearing level 30 equipment that was quite common.

”You…” The Undead Mage’s hands started shaking a little.

”I think you’d need at least 15 hits before you can kill me, assuming I don’t fight back.”

Lu Li turned over his Shard of the Defiler and was ready to go.

He wasn’t but a PVP maniac, but he wasn’t bad at it either.

He also knew that this person was rather unlucky. They had unfortunately run into someone who was more powerful than they were.

”Your equipment…” Lu Li paused, then shook his head. ”You’re not worth my time. What level are you?”

”Level 33. I could have been higher levelled.” The Undead Mage put away his Magic Staff to show he was friendly.

The Thief before him had the ability to kill him, but didn’t seem to have plans to do so. The Mage liked killing, but he wasn’t dumb. He wasn’t going to do something pointless that would lead to EXP loss.

”Looks like you’ve died quite a few times,” Lu Li observed.

With all the killing that happened here, players in Stranglethorn Valley took a longer time to level up. They were lucky that Dawn didn’t allow players to demote; once they were on 0 EXP, they wouldn’t keep losing EXP. Otherwise, it would be very difficult to stay at level 33.

”I’ve been playing since the opening of the game, and I’m in the top 100,” the Undead Mage said with a smile. ”Oh yeah, who are you?”

”How about you tell me your name?” Lu Li asked.

”Three Season Rice,” said the Mage after a moment of hesitation. He didn’t seem to want to, but he wasn’t distressed about it either. It was just like they were meeting for the first time.

Three Season Rice!

Lu Li immediately knew where he had heard this name from.

He was one of the three noob killers – Son of Arugal, Hogg and Three Season Rice. This was the legend that was spread among the players. To some, these three names were even more dangerous than the rank 1 player in the game.

Lu Li didn’t appreciate this player’s behavior, but now that he had committed to not fighting, it would be hypocritical for him to attack.

”I’m Lu Li,” the masked Thief said quietly.

”Lu…Lu Li.” Three Season Rice’s lip became a little dry. He had killed countless players, but he had never run into a professional one before.

He didn’t realize that the first one he would meet would be the best one.

”It was fortunate to meet you; we’re both considered celebrities,’ Lu Li joked as he got up to leave.

It had already been quite generous of him that he hadn’t killed this noob killer. However, there was no way to him to become friends with him. If players found out that he was close with Three Season Rice, they would misunderstand Three Season Rice’s actions as part of Lu Li’s intentions.

Three Season Rice watched as Lu Li headed back to the monsters. He paused and shouted, ”Thank you.”

It would take days for him to farm 10% of his EXP. After all, there wasn’t really a stable levelling environment here. Those who had been killed by him were always trying to gather a group to kill him.

”The rain is just too heavy.” Lu Li waved his hand and ended the conversation.

”I will not kill Ruling Sword players in the future,” Three Season Rice muttered. He didn’t mean to say that to Lu Li as he spoke very quietly.

”I’d be very thankful for that.” Lu Li’s hearing clearly wasn’t affected by the rain.

It would be best if he didn’t further provoke this lunatic.

Three Season Rice killed noobs regardless of who they were. Lu Li didn’t fight him, so he couldn’t be sure, but he seemed like he had good technique.

Lu Li continued to steal from the Trolls with Pick Pocket and Three Season Rice turned away to continue his murderous undertaking.

With the interruption of Three Season Rice, Lu Li felt reinvigorated. He never really understood those PVP maniacs – they didn’t gain a reward from PVP and yet they still enjoyed it.

In comparison, he decided that perhaps Pick Pocketing wasn’t that boring after all.

Good equipment couldn’t be stolen from ordinary level 35 monsters, but he could obtain all kinds of ordinary materials and skill books that were worth a small amount of money. These skill books were mostly for Thieves, Shamans or Warriors.

Two hours passed as Lu Li continued to mechanically Pick Pocket and kill monsters.

He would occasionally open up his backpack to have a look, but he found something that he didn’t expect.

Fan of Knives: Instant Cast, consume some energy and throw countless blades at all targets within 10 yards, dealing 10% weapon damage. Proficiency 1/5.

It only dealt 10% of weapon damage, so the damage was quite pitiful.

It also consumed a small amount of Energy. With 100 Energy, Lu Li could only use this skill three times at the very most. It also costed more than many of his other skills.

However, it was said that upgrading Fan of Knives was quite worthwhile. The damage could be greatly improved, and the countless blades could trigger a poison effect.

To learn and upgrade Fan of Knives, you needed the skill book and 4 Skill Points. Lu Li didn’t have that many Skill Points to spare.