The Great Thief

Lu Li chose the Undead Herbalists for 3 main reasons.

The first was that these monsters were the same level as him, so farming them would be easy and there wouldn’t be any reduction to his EXP. Secondly, the Undead Herbalists had a high chance of dropping blueprints, and just like any other humanoid monster, Lu Li could Pick Pocket them. Finally, they also could drop a type of Quick Poison recipe in addition to the Intermediate Potion recipe.

Poison was incredibly useful to Thieves, just as a pet was to a Hunter.

The only issue was that the Undead Herbalist spawn point was quite far away from Astrana and was within enemy territory.

This was of no concern to Lu Li, however. As he stroked the sharp edge of the Broodmother’s Kiss, he felt his body surge with energy.

Every Thief became stronger through killing!

With a combination of flying, using Stealth and running as the Little Cheetah, Lu Li burned through his Stamina twice before reaching the Grey Valley’s frontlines.

The sound of a logging machine could be heard, as well as miserable cries. The scent of grass and trees in the air was stained with the thick smell of blood.

Lu Li saw many players from the opposing factions fighting and killing each other. He observed a few battles while stealthed, before leaving after a short while.

His goal here was to obtain recipes, not to earn Glory. Of course, if there were Evil Faction players crazy enough to charge into Light territory, he wouldn’t pass up the opportunity for free Glory.

However, he first went to the Silverwing Outpost to receive a quest.

The Silverwing Outpost was the outermost outpost in the Grey Valley and as such, was a popular battle site. As he was nearing the outpost, an Elf stopped him.

“Young kinsman, this is not a place where you should come.”

Replying to this Elf required luck. If a player replied too slowly, or gave a poor excuse, this Silverwing Warrior would tell you to leave, as this place was involved in military matters.

However, Lu Li did not feel anxious at all and he quickly replied, “I have sufficient strength and wish to fight for the peace of the Grey Valley!”

As long as a player expressed their desire to fight, the NPC would give them a PVP quest.

Once the Silverwing Warrior heard Lu Li’s words, he nodded in satisfaction.

“Welcome, new warrior. I hope you can prove yourself first,” he replied.

“As you wish.” Lu Li had come solely for this quest, so he did not hesitate in accepting it.

“The Forest’s medicinal herbs have been defiled by the Undead and Orcs. Please go and stop them. This badge will record your battle results,” the Silverwing Warrior said with a murderous gleam in his eyes. “Show those despicable invaders our might.”

Lu Li received the badge and the system notified him that he had received the Faction Quest ‘The Bleeding Outsiders’.

Under the supervision of the Orcs, the Undead Herbalists busily collected medicinal herbs to create potions for the warriors on the frontlines.

The quest required him to kill the Undead Herbalists and Orc Supervisors.

Players from both the Light and Evil Factions would receive this quest. Players from the Light Faction were required to kill the Undead Herbalists, while players from the Evil Faction were required to protect them and kill the Light Faction players.

These quests could only be accepted after reaching LV12 and there were not many players in this region yet. There was only a small training group who were about 200 feet away. They seemed to be from the Evil Faction, as there was a Tauren (a human with a bull head) among them.

Lu Li crept behind an Orc Supervisor and used the Pick Pocket skill on it.

System: Pick Pocket failed.

The instant his Pick Pocket failed, Lu Li used Cheap Shot, stunning the Orc Supervisor for 4 seconds.

The 4 seconds of stun, coupled with Lu Li’s mastery of Shadowstrike, caused the Orc Supervisor to be stunned until its death.

If Pick Pocket failed, Lu Li would immediately be attacked by his target. However, the system would allow him to use Stealth if he was quick enough, which afforded him the opportunity to use Cheap Shot. This was a basic technique for Thieves, but there were not many players who were able to do this.

It was not technically difficult, but not enough players knew that this was even possible.

Killing the Orc Supervisor did not give Lu Li any Glory, but the badge in his bag now showed the number ‘1’.

Killing an Orc Supervisor would usually leave behind 4 defenceless Undead Herbalists. However, Lu Li did not underestimate these monsters covered in large robes. They would often throw out poison bottles, which dealt quite a lot of poison damage.

Pick Pocket.

System: You have obtained a bottle of Basic Antidote.

Basic Antidotes were now common goods. After hitting another Undead Herbalist with Sap, Lu Li quickly killed the one that he had just pick pocketed before any of the others could react.

Lu Li continuously used Pick Pocket and quickly killed his targets after. He was like an incredibly efficient farming bot.

He continued until he heard a system announcement.

System: Respected player, through your continuous efforts, your Shadowstrike Skill has levelled up to LV2.

Shadowstrike had finally levelled up! Lu Li almost wept tears of joy – this was the first time that he had levelled up a skill through his hard work.

Before he could rejoice, he heard the next piece of information given by the system.

System: Because you were the first player to level up a skill through practice, you also receive 1 additional SP.

This was why Lu Li did not use his SP to level up Shadowstrike – he knew that being the first person to level up a skill through hard work would have good rewards.

The 1 SP he had gained was not to be looked down on. The system only gave 1 SP per 2 levels and every profession had more than 10 skills. With every skill having a level cap of 5, it would take many SP points to level every skill to its max level.

SP was even more valuable than Silver grade equipment.

Shadowstrike: Instant Cast, Cooldown Time: 4 seconds. Deals 20 damage to the target, as well as 150% weapon attack damage. Awards 1 Combo Point. Level: 2/5.

Compared to the LV1 Shadowstrike, this LV2 Shadowstrike was much more powerful. Lu Li couldn’t help but find a monster and try to finish it off with Shadowstrike.

System: Shadowstrike Skill Completion 92%, caused 180% Skill Damage. Target stunned for 2 seconds.

The Undead Herbalist, which only had half of its HP bar remaining, staggered and then fell to the ground.

He had actually dealt a critical hit.

Although the official website didn’t give any detailed figures, some dedicated players had run tests. They hypothesised that levelling up a skill didn’t only increase the damage, but also Critical Chance.

With his main attack skill levelled up, the speed at which Lu Li farmed monsters became much faster. The number on the badge now had 3 digits, but all of the items that he had stolen were all common and useless things.

System: You have obtained [Recipe: Basic Agility Potion].

Lu Li stared in shock. He had finally obtained a recipe.

Recipe: Basic Agility Potion

Recipe: Alchemy

Requirements: Intermediate Alchemy (180)

Use: Teaches you how to create a Basic Agility Portion

Basic Agility Potion: Increases Agility by 5 points for 2 minutes. Cooldown Time: 30 minutes.

Although it wasn’t the recipe for the Intermediate Health Potion, Agility Potions were still quite good. They could increase Agility for a short period of time, which was incredibly useful in Boss fights or PVP.

This Potion could raise Agility by 5 points, while Lu Li only received 5 stat points per level.

It seemed that it really wasn’t too difficult to obtain recipes using Pick Pocket. Lu Li felt even more motivated and began to farm monsters even faster.