The portly noblewoman let out a shriek when a cutpurse bumped into her and took her coin purse. "Guards! Thief!" she yelled.

The lean figure, dressed in tattered clothes, immediately darted deeper into the crowd. Guards in chainmail armor, who wielded spears, jostled people out of the way as they chased their target. The city of Ilios took no pity on thieves. There was a reason that the city boasted one of the lowest crime rates of all the great cities. Anyone caught thieving would be executed on the spot.

Ryan's heart pounded as he tried to shove his way through the crowded marketplace. He gripped onto the pilfered coin pouch for dear life as his stamina bar drained. Fatigue was starting to wash over him and he knew that he absolutely could not get caught if he wanted to keep breathing. It had been only a few days since he got trapped in this world. He had just wanted to escape reality for a bit and relax in a game world. Little did he know that upon logging into the game he would be trapped here forever.

What was worse about the situation was that he was spawned into this city without any kind of tutorial or starting items. He darted around the edge of a gothic looking church and scrambled into an alleyway behind the building. He had planned his retreat before starting this endeavor. No one lived long as a thief in this city without at least thinking ahead a little, and he hid underneath a crate he had seen earlier.

Ryan tried with everything he had to slow his ragged breathing and calm down. The guards couldn't have been very far behind. His stamina had nearly been depleted and the muscles in his legs screamed with fatigue. He didn't dare come out from his hiding spot to see what was happening outside. Sure enough, about 20 seconds later he heard voices.

"The rat definitely came this way. Where did he go?!" One of the guards kicked something in the alleyway which crashed against a wall making a loud noise.

"Hell if I know. I thought we were right behind him. He must've gotten away." He spat to the side.

"The Cap'n will have our hides if he finds out that we let that one get away again. Somehow he's been able to escape his fate five separate times now. The reports describing the assailant have been clear. It was definitely the same one." The guard sighed audibly and Ryan could hear them leave, their chainmail armor clinking as they slowly departed.

The guards continued their conversation, but he couldn't make out anything further. He allowed himself a deep breath and continued to stay in his hiding place. One could never be too careful. Ryan took a minute to consider his situation.

The city of Ilios was something plucked straight from the minds of someone who had wanted to live in the clouds. Literally. The giant city floated several hundred feet above the ground proper and that was half of Ryan's problem. The only way down from the city was to take one of the lifts. There were four lift stations in Ilios, one in each quarter of the city, and they were all heavily guarded and cost 3 silver coins to use. The city was held to the ground by a gigantic anchor that sunk deep into the earth. Grand buildings filled the inner city, made out of a shiny, white stone that resembled the look of polished ivory.

Ryan didn't know much about the politics of the place and didn't really have the time to care about such things, but he knew that Ilios was ruled by a king. The people of the city all worshiped some sort of sky god and Ryan had found that their religion had a strict stance against people who broke the law. Honestly, he knew he wouldn't have even survived as long as he had if not for two things: his special ability and that he had met Iris.

Iris had taken pity on him, a young man whom she had found laying in the gutter wallowing in self-pity, and showed him the ropes. She had taught him basic thieving skills and how to use a dagger. They were going to work together to find a way to escape the city, but she had fallen to the guards in one of the last thieving runs. He had been on his own for a little over a day now, but he knew enough that he could figure something out. There was an underground market in the city where he could fence items and buy equipment. The prices were pretty much insane and likewise they didn't give him hardly anything for the items he brought them, but it helped him survive and stay fed.

Ryan was his real name, and he used it rather than his screen name here. If he had known that he would be stuck here forever, he would've chosen something better than Tankilicious as his name. He had planned on playing a tank class like he usually did in games, but he had to work with what he had available to him, and playing a tanky class probably wasn't in the cards for him.

A loud ringing could be heard coming from the building next to him and he knew that this would be the bell for mid-afternoon services at the churches that were scattered about the city. He was hiding right next to one, and he knew that this meant masses of people would be flooding into the building on the other side. This would be his chance to escape and get to one of the thieving dens where he could count his spoils and maybe get something to eat. He slowly lifted the crate and tentatively peaked outside. The alleyway was dark but clear of any people. He stood up and stretched and let the bag of pilfered coin clink in his hand. He emptied its contents into his own coin pouch that hung from his waist and discarded the noblewoman's empty one. He didn't count, but he was sure that he must've scored this time. Nobles were not easy targets and he had been lucky to run across one that didn't have a contingent of personal guards with her.

He made his way out of the alley and away from the main street toward the slums of the city. The buildings visibly got poorer as he got closer to the slums. It was like the world in the rich area was completely separate from the one where unfortunate souls like himself lived. Beautiful, white, polished buildings gave way to concrete structures, which gave way to poor wooden shacks that lined one of the many spillways where water from the large lake near the palace drained from the floating island to the earth below in a magnificent cascading waterfall. This spillway was full with water and was about 15 feet wide. Ryan made his way to the back of the tavern where an entrance to a cellar was. He lifted the door and walked down the creaky steps toward the basement of the business. After a few feet he came to a set of heavy wooden double doors with a covered slit. He knocked heavily on the door three times before the slit opened and a man with a deep voice said, "Tribute."

"Yeah, yeah," he said, as he reached into his pouch. He pulled out 4 silver coins, the going rate for safe haven here, and slid them through the slit. A few moments later he could hear some latches being undone, and the doors swung open. A mountain of a man stood before him and motioned for him to enter.

"Follow the thieves' code and you won't have any trouble." The man closed the doors to Ryan pass through and then leaned against them relaxing in a casual manner. It had surprised Ryan when Iris told him about the thieves' code. He wouldn't have thought that people who made their way through life by breaking laws would have a code of ethics, but they did. The code had three rules.

Thieves do not steal from or harm other thieves.

2. Thieves do not commit murder without good cause.

3. Safe houses are sacred. None shall ever speak of their locations to guards if caught.

The rules were simple, but they did keep these places relatively safe. Ryan knew that no one would try to steal from him since he was one of their own and no one would harm him. There was little doubt what the penalty for breaking one of these rules was. According to Iris, none of the thieves' safe houses in Ilios had been found in well over a hundred years. He knew that the game wasn't that old, of course, but the lore was solid and it meant that this place was relatively safe.

Ryan sat down at a table in the corner of the room and opened up his coin pouch. He counted his haul. There were 3 gold coins, 7 silvers, and 13 coppers left in his bag. He had scored big time today. He couldn't stop a huge grin from coming across his face. The average person whom he had managed to steal from so far typically had little more than a couple silver coins worth of money on them. He had enough money to use the lifts to get to the earth below, but he was a wanted criminal. At this point, he had been seen on several occasions, and had only just barely escaped with his life each time. The guards carefully examined everyone before they went below and he would be caught for sure. The guards all knew what he looked like and he had even seen wanted posters around the city. He had no hope of getting down the conventional way.

Jax, an older grizzled looking man, walked over and took a seat at his table. "Got anything you need fenced today? How about that other thing we talked about?"

Ryan had met this man when Iris first brought him here. She said that in addition to being a fence, Jax was an expert smuggler. He apparently had a way of getting people in and out of the city. The risk was high, however, and the cost reflected that. Jax' fee was 10 gold coins to extract a person from the city. Ryan sighed to himself about how long it would take to get that much money and replied, "Didn't manage to get anything to fence today. I did get some coin to put toward the smuggling fee though." Ryan reached into the pouch and pulled out the gold coins and handed them over to the man.

Jax smiled and deftly plucked the coins from his outstretched hand, making them disappear quickly. "Looking good, mate. Five more gold coins and you'll have paid your fee. You have two weeks to get me the rest, and if you can't by then, you'll have to wait another month." The man got up and went back to his own table, leaving Ryan alone to his thoughts again.

Ryan had found that he didn't mind being a thief, but he had absolutely no desire to stay in this place. Simply put, it had become far too dangerous for him to stay here. If not for obtaining his class so early on, he'd surely still be level 1. He was happy that by completing class-specific quests he had been able to grind up a couple levels despite being in a place where he couldn't exactly go out and kill monsters. It was probably possible to gain a bunch of experience if he could kill some of the guards, but he had no doubt that in a straight-up fight they would easily stomp him into the ground. Currently he only had one active quest, and he reviewed it now.

Quest Log (Active) Flee the Floating Isle of Ilios!

Illios is a harsh place for people who live in the gray areas of society. Those who are caught stealing face a swift and brutal execution, no matter how small the infraction. Jax, one of the item fences of the slums, has offered to get you safe passage out of the city... for a prices. Pay him a total of 10 gold crowns and he will get you to the ground.

Status: 5/10 gold paid

Reward:

• 2000 EXP

• Safe Passage to the ground

The 2000 EXP would definitely be a nice bump and he couldn't wait to see what else was in store for him in this world. If he was stuck here, then he would make the most of it. Ryan didn't really have anyone or anything he cared about in the real world. He had no love prospects to speak of. He worked in a dead-end job and spent most of his free time gaming and eating junk food. Day in and day out he would do the same things. Even though this world was dangerous, it was his now and he would own up to the reality that he preferred the excitement of ducking guards to taking crap from his boss at work. Sure, it was dangerous, but at least it was exciting. He had completed several minor quests and currently sat at level 4. He examined his status screen.

Spoiler: Tankililicious' Stats Name Tankilicious Level 004 (942/1307 EXP to next Level) Class Thief HP 150/150 MP 150/150 AP 6 Attributes Vitality 10 Magic 10 Endurance 10 Magic Resistance 10 Strength 10 Luck 8 Agility 14 Dexterity 18 Abilities • Chameleon Skills

• Stealth - Level 5 (6% toward next level)

• Pickpocket - Level 4 (98% toward next level)

• Daggers - Level 2 (33% toward next level)

• Throwing Daggers - Level 1 (79% toward next level)

• Lockpicking - Level 2 (53% toward next level)

Ryan hoped he could level again soon. It was clear from how hard he had to run today that he needed to sink a couple points into endurance. High agility, dexterity, and luck would be his bread and butter though. He would need to be quick and have nimble fingers if he hoped to be successful as a thief. The dexterity stat served the dual purpose of being able to nimbly steal from people and also added extra damage for thrusting types of weapons like his daggers. He intended to get better at throwing his blades as well. Ryan had no doubt in his head that he had been extremely lucky to run into Iris. She had been kind and had been willing to take him under her wing. She was a high level thief and was able him a lot before her time ran out and the guards finally caught her.

His ability, which so far as he could find out from the people around here, was unique. Chameleon allowed him to blend completely into any surroundings for 5 minutes so long as he didn't move. The downside was that he could only use the ability once per day and it wouldn't hold if someone bumped into him. He also had to be up against something for it to work, he couldn't just stand in the middle of a street and activate it. He had used it while hiding under the crate earlier just in case the guards decided to look closer.

"I need to get another big score... it's going to take me forever to get 5 more gold at the rate I've been going," he mumbled to himself. Ryan stood up and made his way over to the bar. A older woman stood behind the bar and was polishing a glass, just like one would see a bartender doing in old western movies.

"What can I get ya, darlin'?" She leaned forward and looked him over.

"I'll take a bottle of honey mead and what do you have to eat here today?"

"Today's special is roast pork with beans."

"I'll take a plate of that as well then. How much do I owe ya?"

"For the mead and the meal the total will be 74 coppers," she turned around and grabbed a dark green glass bottle of alcohol from the shelf behind the bar and placed it in front of him.

Ryan dug through his pouch and found a silver coin. He slid it across the bar. "Keep the change," he gave her a smile. He knew he had no shot with her but couldn't help himself anyway. "Have you heard of any big jobs lately?" he asked hopefully.

"Actually... we just got a big request today. The client wishes to remain anonymous, but it's a big job and pays extremely well. I have three others lined up for it and they could use one more guy. You've been making waves around here lately, darlin', and I haven't failed to notice. You can join them if you're up for it."

A wide grin found its way back onto his face and he readily accepted her offer to join in on the job. He couldn't wait to get off this rock and this job would be just the thing to make that happen for him if he could make it through the ordeal alive.