The Great Thief

The time was growing late. Lu Li didn’t use the teleportal, choosing to postpone this to the next day.

As he casted it in his home, the teleportal quickly drew a magic circle on the floor. This magic circle automatically drew energy from the surrounding air, and within a short few seconds, it was ready to be used.

Lu Li checked his supplies to make sure that his equipment was maintained and his potions were ready, then stepped into the circle.

He didn’t block out the other player channels as he had previously told Square Root 3 about this and placed him in charge of things before his return.

Lu Li didn’t experience too much discomfort in the teleporting process – just some lightheadedness.

Supposedly, teleporting technology was being investigated in reality too, in the hopes of exploring space even further. However, all of these things were still in their theoretical stages, and even before Lu Li had reincarnated, there were still no conclusive results.

Technical research was no easy task, and there wasn’t much that he could do anyway besides playing games after his rebirth.

The teleportation process had ended during his wandering thoughts, and Lu Li’s eyes took a while to adapt to the lighting of his new environment. This place was dark and moist, so it was clearly a packed forest.

It seemed like the higher-ups in the organization wanted to test him, so they had tossed him into the Wild.

However, Lu Li wasn’t brainless and quickly discovered a trace of human activity in the plantation. With some difficulty, he began tracking the marks on the forest floor.

The thing about Dawn and its maps was that they had different timings and weather, so Lu Li couldn’t be too sure what the cause of all this darkness was.

Fortunately, he had chosen the right path. At first, he could barely walk and had to use his weapons to pull apart the thorns, but gradually, the vegetation lightened and he could see further ahead

The shadow of a building began to appear in the distance.

Lu Li was relieved and hastened his pace; perhaps he would be able to find his answers here. While this was an abandoned house, he didn’t expect the game designers to put this much effort into nothing.

The door was unlocked, and there was someone sitting at the center of the room with their back facing Lu Li.

”Are you the one who has summoned me?” Lu Li asked as he stopped at the entrance.

As Lu Li bowed in respect, the person who sat there suddenly disappeared.

What followed was a cold flash behind Lu Li’s neck. This was the definition of speed and precision. What made it even more impressive was the fact that it had been well-timed.

However, the attack still missed.

Lu Li teleported eight yards away when the dagger was about to hit him. While he looked as though he had let his guard down, he was actually on high alert the moment he entered the house.

He was certain that there would be a test for him in the process of finding Garona, so it was natural that he would be on guard.

It was an Undead who had attacked him, most likely a Thief. At the very least, his movement to appear behind Lu Li seemed like Shadow Step. Lu Li had used his Shadow Cloak before to achieve the same effect.

The Undead Thief seemed like it didn’t have any rationality, and kept attacking after the first strike missed.

Lu Li didn’t instantly go into Stealth mode. Instead, he briefly blocked with his dagger with precise movements.

If this Undead Thief could really kill him within seconds, there was no use to his struggle, but he didn’t believe that he would be placed on a trial where there was no hope.

After he blocked successfully, a paltry -146 damage figure floated above his head.

At the same time, he also saw the details of the Undead Thief. Level 45, 4300 HP – this was similar to his level and health.

As for the equipment, he didn’t think that his opponent would outclass him in this aspect.

Lu Li never thought that he would lose against an NPC ’clone’ of himself. However, he wasn’t too happy either – since he was facing an opponent with the level an HP, this trial had become too easy. However, the challenges definitely wouldn’t stop here; there was likely a harder task ahead of him.

It was likely Garona who had summoned him over, or a Thief Master who was willing to teach him.

Otherwise, why would he be put to so many trials?

Lu Li didn’t take too much time with the Undead Thief before he found a chance to strike first. He easily controlled his opponent, not giving him a chance to escape. Although his opponent used multiple different tactics in an attempt to regain an advantage, they weren’t effective as Lu Li predicted his moves.

It didn’t take long for 4300 points of health to disappear.

The Undead Thief never spoke; it didn’t even leave a body after dying, so there was no loot either.

As soon as the Undead Thief died, Lu Li saw droves of Undead monsters appear in his periphery.

There was almost no difference between these Undead Thieves and real player; their equipment was as good as his and their technique was excellent too. It was hard fighting just one, let alone all of them at once.

Lu Li ran out of the house without hesitation and even closed the door behind him.

”There has to be some escape route if this is a trial,” Lu Li reasoned, forcing himself to stay calm.

This definitely wasn’t possible to face head-on, so the next step to this trial had to be centered around this house.

As previously mentioned, it was too strange for a random house like this to be in such a forest.

Lu Li quickly scanned the small room, and his eyes set upon the statue below the table. He felt like he had seen this before in one of the old ruins.

The activation button was on the table – the dusty and broken wine cup that sat alone.

He grabbed it, tried to pull it, spun it...

The statue below the table came back to life, and in a twisted space, a door made of light appeared.

At the same time, the Undead Thieves tried to break through the doors and walls. Some even appeared from the ceiling, bursting into the house and rushing towards Lu Li without hesitation.

As soon as he stepped through the door, Lu Li couldn’t help but curse. This was just a trial – did it really have to be so difficult?