The Great Thief

This time, what found them wasn’t a miner or gatherer – it was a Thief who was hunting for treasure chests. His ID was Wu Qin.

Wu Qin had discovered that a Silver chest often refreshed in this small mountain ridge at a set time, so he came here every single day.

Over time, he had built up some wealth, even managing to pay off his mortgage and buy a car in real life.

Anyone could get far in the game. Just because Lu Li had reincarnated didn’t mean that he owned everything.

Wu Qin was relatively ambitious – after he sorted out his financial issues, he bought some decent equipment and joined Freedom Sky.

Freedom Sky was currently ranked sixteenth on the guild rankings and were quite established.

Like usual, Wu Qin came to open his treasure chest. He had repaired his equipment at the campsite when he teleported here, which caused him to be slightly late.

He heard the Azuregos announcement on the map channel and he laughed at the unlucky player that had probably run into it by accident.

However, when he approached the mountain ridge, he noticed that something wasn’t right.

In the beginning, he thought that his secret had been discovered.

He hadn’t even shared this secret after he joined the guild. Silver chests often gave good equipment and materials, and were a stable income that was much better than anything his guild could offer.

There was no way that a single Silver chest could attract so many people. These were all players from the same guild too.

Ruling Sword!

He remembered how this guild had risen to its position, and a scary thought appeared in his head.

Ruling Sword was slaying the Blue Dragon, Azuregos!

For most players that were active in the nearby maps, Azuregos was a legend. The average players agreed that there was no way to take him down before reaching level 50.

Wu Qin had seen with his own eyes how this boss slaughtered players indiscriminately; it was a massacre.

One frost skill brought all targets within ten yards to critical health, while a blizzard would finish them off.

What disgusted the players the most was the Frost Mark.

Anyone who died to Azuregos would have a 15-minute Frost Mark that cannot by dispelled. When the Blue Dragon casted ice spells, any targets who had the mark within its 70 yard range would be frozen for 2 minutes. This was a frozen effect that cannot be dispelled, and would not disappear, even if you went offline or committed suicide.

This meant that if someone died, they were guaranteed to keep dying, even if they were resurrected. Besides using Ice Block, other skills couldn’t do anything.

It was hard to believe that Ruling Sword was going to challenge this Boss.

Wu Qin realized all the players that he had encountered were outer ring players who were on alert to prevent other guilds from interrupting them.

This was a chance!

Wu Qin trusted his own invisibility skills and quickly ventured into the mountain ridge. He had to understand what was going on with the Boss so that he could hand off the intel.

This would be a great profit for him, regardless if it was handed to his guild or to information traders.

Ruling Sword could only use melee players and Hunters for this Boss. The other classes didn’t do much damage so they were assigned to guard around.

When the Boss first shouted, the players from Ruling Sword became anxious. They were worried that the other major guilds would attempt to disrupt them.

However, to their surprise, none of that happened. No one actually believed that they were trying to take down Azuregos.

There were even some players in the local chat joking that ’Azuregos Daddy’ was out on the hunt again. They wondered which loser was going to drop their equipment and experience.

So, as time went by, their guard started to drop.

Wu Qin was a decent player; both his equipment and level were elite. When he entered the mountain ridge and remained undiscovered, he began to look down on Ruling Sword.

This was a new guild without a firm foundation.

Usually, major guilds had a set amount of main members who started a new game together. These players were much more skilled and of a higher quality than the ordinary players.

Wu Qin had to hold himself back from the urge to knock out the Ruling Sword members who were standing on guard. He quickly followed the passage way and approached the battle zone.

Waves of heat!

Wu Qin was blown away, and horrifically found that a Mage in a gold robe had casted a spell on him.

He had only just landed on his feet when frost began to climb up his body.

Wu Qin quickly used his badge to dispel his frozen state.

Some might have questioned his move, since Frost would be removed once he was attacked. However, if he didn’t defrost himself, the Mage would have time to channel a powerful spell. Moreover, there were also other Ruling Sword players waiting around.

Wu Qin was just about to make his escape after he broke the ice, but was faced with the fiery, roaring head of a golden dragon.

This was Dragon’s Breath, a signature Fire Mage skill! It dealt decent damage and also came with a Confusion debuff.

The Ruling Sword players gathered around, but strangely enough, none of them moved. They just held their arms and watched on from the side; none of them seemed interested in helping.

"One on one?" Wu Qin asked as he blinked his eyes in confusion.

"You want to fight me one on one? Sure – if you can beat me, I’ll let you go today," the Mage in gold robe smirked.

There were so many players here and he insisted on a one-on-one fight. Did he have no shame?

Wu Qin liked it this way, and silently wiped some poison on his dagger as he planned his battle strategy.

He didn’t know if the other player would keep his words, but this was a chance for him regardless. No one wanted to lose experience and possibly a hard-earned equip.