The Great Thief Chapter 6

After entering the water, a grey bar appeared before Lu Li. This represented how long he could stay underwater, which was roughly 30 seconds. After this period, he would start to lose HP.

Seal Transformation!

After casting the skill, Lu Li instantly transformed into a small seal. His body was very smooth and he continued diving towards the bottom of the lake.

There were different kinds of monsters within the lake; like variations of fish, shrimps, crabs and snails. While the transformation reduced aggro, none of the monsters were higher than LV5 so they did not target him.

After about 2 minutes, Lu Li reached the bottom of the lake that was over 100 yards deep.

Amongst the aquatic plants, there were fish swimming through them. Lu Li looked around and found the object that he had come here for.

A treasure chest!

This was the kind of advantage he had. The game had only started about 4 hours ago; who else would be able to find a treasure chest like this?

Loot that was found in treasure chests was like the loot awarded for killing elite monsters. In the previous world, Thieves who opened treasure chests were all very wealthy.

So he approached the chest and cast his Unlock spell.

[Unlock]: 10 second cast time, 2 minute cooldown, opens locked chests and doors. Skill Proficiency 1/1000

Unlock was not an offensive skill, so even in seal form it could be used. Lu Li got lucky and the chest was opened on his first try.

The chest slowly opened, and he reached into it and felt around, pulling two items out with his seal claws.

One of them was a piece of equipment.

Crab Claw Band (Bronze): 8 Armor, Agility +2, Level Requirement LV3, Durability 9/20

An attribute equipment!

It was even armor suitable for Thieves!

The bronze equipment before him was great – it completely suited the Agility Thief playstyle that Lu Li had taken up. Once he reached level 3, his skills would be even more synergized.

The other item, was a skill book.

Even though it was easier to find these low grade skill books, right now it was still early in the game. As such, the value of these skill books were much higher than bronze equipment.

[Frost Nova]: Instant Cast, 50 second cooldown, affects all targets within 12 yards, dealing 9-11 ice damage and freezing them. The freeze can last a maximum of 8 seconds. This freeze effect can be cancelled by dealing damage to the target. Level requirement LV5. Upgradable.

Oh my!

Lu Li couldn’t contain himself; he felt the rush of 10,000 galloping horses.

He just gave Square Root 3 a common Magic Staff that dealt 5-7 damage for a skill book. A skill that could deal 9-11 damage was already incredibly good, but this Frost Nova, the damage was a secondary effect with the primary effect being a freeze!

All targets… in 12 yards… for 8 seconds… all these aspects together, made Frost Nova the best attainable skill!

Even after 2 years of this game, not all Magicians would have owned this skill.

You couldn’t farm it in the LV5 Spider Lair Instance Dungeon, the LV10 Death Mines, the LV15 Howling Caves nor the LV25 Scarlet Monastery…

Hmm, in the LV25 Scarlet Monastery, the boss might have a small chance of dropping it, a very small chance.

So if a grade were to be given to it…

Bronze?

What a joke!

Iron?

Definitely higher!

Silver?

Take any piece of silver equipment and it wouldn’t compare to this skill book!

……

Lu Li was completely shocked; he did not expect at all to get Frost Nova from this low grade treasure chest. He thought he was dreaming… or maybe it was a bug.

This book alone could be sold for 20 gold.

With 20 gold you could match the entire earnings of a large union down to their last copper coin.

Only after a while did he finally calm down and put the skill book in his bag to continue looking for treasure.

Moon Reflection Lake had 3 treasure chests, placed randomly at the bottom of the lake.

If he could get 3 Frost Nova skill books…

Pah, Lu Li slapped himself – to find another Frost Nova would just be wishful thinking.

There were many aquatic plants around and elite monsters that could appear, so he had to search very slowly. It was only after 10 minutes did he managed to find the second treasure chest.

His heart started beating faster!

The life of a Thief was so exciting; so far he had no regrets with this occupation.

Montreal’s Sickle (Bronze): Damage 15-23, Strength +1, Level requirement 4, Durability 12/18.

It was another bronze equipment, this time a long two handed weapon. It could be used by Hunters, Druids, Paladins and Warriors. The attributes were also good, boasting significant damage and one of the best stats in the additional strength.

Small Black Bag (Common): Container, 6 Spaces.

This was also a good item. In Dawn, players first started with only 10 bag spaces. It was not clear now, but when the levels were a little higher and with various drops to collect, everyone would find that there would be enough inventory spaces.

A 6 space bag would be sold by the universal shop at the Beginners Village for the price of 80 silver when it was renovated. Lu Li could sell this bag for 50 silver or more, depending on whether people could afford it.

After opening 2 treasure chests, Lu Li started to swim towards the surface of the water because the 20 minute duration of Seal Transformation was about to end. If he didn’t leave now he could drown here.

After breaking through the surface, Lu Li quickly returned to his original Thief form. He climbed onto shore to find a few Grells to kill.

When the Seal Transformation cooldown had reset, he quietly dived in once again.

The third treasure chest contained a silk cloth, which was material for a tailor. It wasn’t worth much money.

However, there was also a ring.

Sturdy Ring (Bronze): Damage 2-6, Constitution +3, Level Requirement 5, Durability 20/20.

Tutut, he was salivating over this ring.

Not only did this ring increase his damage, it also gave 3 points of Constitution.

Every player, when they levelled up, would gain some additional max HP depending on their occupation but also on their Constitution stat.

Thieves and Magicians both gained 7 max HP for every point of Constitution. Paladins and Warriors on the other hand gained roughly 10 max HP for every point. This was known as growth potential.

If he kept this ring for himself it would be a bit of a waste, but he believed that Azure Sea Breeze would really like it.

He would have to wait 24 hours before he could farm these treasure chests again. In the meantime, he could only train. He didn’t farm any more Grells, instead going to farm some Shadowmaw Panthers and hoping to find ‘Cheetah Transformation’.

Unfortunately, he kept farming till level 3, and it was now 6pm in game. In real life it was already 12am, and he still hadn’t found a skill book. Other than the furs that he had found, there was only a common piece of armor.

The colour of in game sky started to dim. According to government regulations, this was the daily 8 hour period where the game would be dark – from 12 am to 8am. In the open field, visibility was reduced to half and the training areas would randomly spawn Night Crawlers

Night Crawlers were especially strange; their level was highest level player in the area + 10. They had high attack, high defence and high HP, as well as strong regenerative abilities. Only after an attribute decreasing weapon was found could the players stand a chance against them.

These were put in place for the sake of the player’s bodies.

Virtual technology was truly well developed but it was unable to resolve the problem of rest for the players.

At this time, death was very costly, and if you were killed by the Night Crawlers, you would lose 40% of your current exp: 2 times the penalty of normal death.

Of course, there were advantages and disadvantages to these measures. A rich person could just hire a bunch of players as cannon fodder, and use them to draw away the Night Crawlers when travelling by night.

Lu Li had no reason to oppose the system; he returned to the village, and like the numerous other players, set up a stall in the open area in front of the inn.

Before long, the first player came to look at Lu Li’s shop. This little Night Elf girl squealed so loudly that the whole valley could probably have heard her.

“Heavens, am I seeing things? There are 2… 2 bronze equipment, and even a skill book!”