The Great Thief

Chapter 20: Kill Stealing

Translator: Halcyon Translation Editor: Halcyon Translation

The escaped pet!

Seeing the target of his quest, Lu Li stared in shock for a few moments.

This thing was a bit too different from what he had seen in his ‘past life’.

The wolf in front of him was gigantic and towering, whereas the one in his ‘past life’ had been the size of a small husky and didn’t have much HP. This was the difference between a normal monster and an Elite grade monster.

However, he realised that this was normal- in order to allow players who had started later to catch up, the game company had reduced the difficulty of many of the quests. By the time Lu Li had joined the game, the escaped pet could easily be killed.

“Hey, do you want to form a party?” It would be difficult to fight by himself and there was no one else around, so Lu Li casually asked the girl in front of him.

“But, but my big brother’s… dead,” the little rabbit-like girl said with watery eyes.

“It’s just a game; it’s not like your brother’s permanently dead. He’ll be back soon.” Lu Li sent over a party request. It was accepted by a player called “Lonesome Flower”. The other player in the party, “March Rain”, was evidently the little ‘rabbit’ in front of him.

Who would have thought that this scared little rabbit would be one of the members of the champion team of the 5v5 team fights in 2 years’ time.

“Bro, wait for me, I’ll be right there.” Lonesome Flower was the player who was just killed.

A party of 3 people against an Elite grade monster wouldn’t be too hard.

“Flower, you’re a Magician, so start attacking at full power once I start attacking. March Rain, when I tell you to heal, make sure you heal immediately.” After chatting for a bit, Lu Li started to give out orders.

“Don’t call me Flower. If you have to shorten my name, at least call me Lonesome.” The Magician sounded quite annoyed.

“Alright, Flower, get ready.” Lu Li used Stealth and went to the back of the monster, and used Cheap Shot to stun it. He and Lonesome Flower began to rapidly attack it.

Lonesome Flower evidently hadn’t cleared any Instance Dungeons before, or killed any Elites. He didn’t have a single piece of Bronze grade equipment, and his damage was simply pitiful.

“I say, bro, what hack are you using?” Seeing that his skill damage couldn’t even compare to Lu Li’s normal attacks, Lonesome Flower couldn’t stay calm.

“I’ll tell you for 1 gold coin. Deal?”

“1… just 1 gold coin?” Lonesome Flower was quite disappointed. If Lu Li had wanted a higher price, he might have accepted. 1 gold coin was far too little for something so precious; Lu Li was definitely joking.

System: Backstab Skill Completion 65%, caused 72% Skill Damage.

Lu Li successfully used his new skill. However, it was not executed very well, so he only dealt about 20 or so damage.

Seeing his maxed out combo points, Lu Li could only inwardly sigh. Once a Thief reached LV5, they experienced profound changes. However, what truly made a Thief strong was their Ultimate Skill.

Ultimate Skills required combo points to use. Right now, if Lu Li had an Ultimate Skill, he would be able to insta-kill a Magician with Common grade equipment like Lonesome Flower. It wouldn’t even require a Critical Hit.

“Heal me!” Lu Li commanded.

“But… but you’re still at full health.” March Rain felt quite confused.

Just as she spoke, she saw Lu Li’s health being reduced by half, and she hurriedly healed him 3 times to return him back to full health.

Lu Li wasn’t angry, and patiently explained, “Healing requires intuition and prediction. You need to predict when a Boss will attack, and start healing just as your target starts receiving damage. This wolf’s attack damage isn’t that high, and isn’t very tricky to deal with. Otherwise, if it continuously attacked me twice, I would already be dead.”

“No wonder you told me to heal when you were at full health. But how do I tell when the monster is going to use its skill?” March Rain seemed to really like her Priest Profession. Normally, she didn’t dare to say much to Lu Li, but as soon as he mentioned skills for being a Priest, she instantly became excited.

“Normally, only Elite grade monsters or NPCs can use skills. These sort of characters have fairly good AI systems, so their movements, expressions and words all have meanings. For example, the giant wolf’s howl was slightly longer than normal. That meant it was going to use a skill. Plus, the amount of HP it has left indicates that it’s probably in its ‘struggling’ state.

“You know so much…” March Rain paused, “Even more than my big brother.”

Lonesome Flower’s face fell. Was this guy here to steal his little sister?

“Make sure you spend time and effort practicing. Healing takes a lot of skill, and will often determine the outcome of a battle.”

March Rain had always been interested in being a Priest, but she had never felt that Priests were strong or important. However, upon hearing Lu Li say this, she felt a spring of hope well up inside her.

Lu Li didn’t know how much of an impact his words had had on this little rabbit. Back then, she had joined at least half a year earlier than him, and for games, half a year was incredibly important.

“The escaped pet is over here. Big brother, come over quickly; it’s about to be killed!” They suddenly heard a few players and soon saw them appear.

The giant wolf’s HP had fallen to 20%, and neither Lonesome Flower nor March Rain had expected any other players to barge in. Their faces turned a bit pale.

“Flower, go and lead the giant wolf somewhere else. Go with your big brother, March Rain. I’ll kill these guys first and then meet up with you.” Lu Li retreated a few steps, and entered into Stealth. The Boss’ aggro was instantly transferred onto Lonesome Flower.

“They haven’t done anything though.” March Rain said in a small voice.

“It’s going to happen sooner or later.” Lu Li said in the Party Chat, then stopped speaking.

The newcomers were a small party made up of a Priest, Warlock, Hunter, Magician and a Druid. From how much HP the Druid had, it seemed that he was the main tank.

Druids were Jacks of all Trades, and could play a variety of roles. The Bear Transformation could greatly reduce damage taken, which helped in tanking.

The group of people came over while sniggering. They didn’t view Lu Li’s party as a threat at all. Seeing Lu Li enter into Stealth, the Magician commanded the Druid and Hunter to gather around the Priest to protect him.

As long as the Priest didn’t die, he could continuously heal back the damage the Thief dealt, reducing Lu Li to an insignificant threat.

However, just as they got into position, the Magician found that there was something wrong with the Warlock next to him.

His eyes were clouded, and was slightly swaying, as if someone had smashed his head with a stick.

Sap!

The Magician immediately prepared to release a Blizzard around himself and the Warlock. AOE skills were incredibly effective in forcing Thieves out of hiding.

Blizzard was an Instant Cast skill, and only required a hand gesture. It was fast and easy to activate.

This Magician had pretty good reactions, and had good judgement. It was a pity that he had run into Lu Li. Just as he started to raise his Staff, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head.

Swish swish swish…

-67, -82, -74… a chain of terrifying numbers quickly arose. By the time the Hunter had pulled out an arrow, the Magician was already dead.

Lu Li had 2 pieces of Steel grade equipment and 3 pieces of Bronze grade equipment. The Magician only had a single ordinary piece of Bronze grade equipment. Not only was there a great gap between their equipment, Lu Li was also 1 level higher than him. Lu Li had finished him off with just 5 normal attacks.

After the Magician fell, Lu Li sprang towards the Warlock, who was still incapacitated.

System: Shadowstrike Skill Completion 89%, caused 112% Skill Damage, target stunned for 2 seconds!