Lost

The so-called Six-Second Rule for thieves meant that if they didn't attack for six seconds, they'd exit combat and re-enter Stealth. Li Shaolin had played as a Death Knight before and knew a bit about it, so he was somewhat surprised when he saw it. This thief seemed pretty skilled and practiced, even if he was only level 10.

"Heh heh," Li Shaolin chuckled lewdly, not caring about the six seconds or not. Two Bone Fangs shot out from his hand with a hiss, and he quickly condensed two more and fired them off again. Unlike the combat skills in World of Warcraft that required locking onto a target to cast, his fangs could be fired freely—they could even break wooden stairs, so he could just spam them wildly.

After firing six or seven fangs in a row, blood splattered through the air. The thief who had already entered Stealth was knocked out of it, now sporting several holes in his body, his face twisted in pain as he gritted his teeth. Li Shaolin waved his hand, and his three summons surrounded him.

"Go on, run!" Li Shaolin felt his mana running low and quickly ordered his minions to move in, not wanting any delays.

"Wait, I really have confidential info—" Before he could finish, a Skeleton Warrior swung its blade and lopped off his head, sending it flying! As the thief died, a beam of white light descended from the sky onto that Skeleton Warrior—it had leveled up!

"How is that possible? I haven't leveled up yet. Is this a bug?" Li Shaolin was puzzled and quickly cast a Detection spell. Sure enough, the Skeleton Warrior's name had turned green: Skeleton Warrior, Level 9. Oh, right, he remembered—the first time in Fargodeep Mine, the two fighting Skeleton Warriors had both advanced like that. This one must have stored up a ton of experience from the last fight with the Murlocs at Crystal Lake and just now leveled up.

"Alright, forget it for now. Let's go report back to that old man Hagard." He searched the thief's body but found nothing valuable, so he picked up the mask and walked out, recalling the Skeleton Warriors and Clay Golem back into the Book of the Dead.

He closed the shack door and returned the same way to the sheriff's small courtyard.

"How'd it go?" One-eyed Hagard was still chopping wood, not even turning around.

"It was a level 10 Defias Bandit, name seemed to be James Clark. I took him out." Li Shaolin pulled the Linen Mask from his chest and handed it to the old man.

Hagard's face turned serious: "Him? I never would've guessed... Well, you've done me a big favor. What reward should I give you?" The old man paced a few steps, thinking. "There's a Horse Ranch nearby that I've got a stake in. If you ever want to buy a horse here, I'll give you a 20% discount. How's that?"

"That works. I was actually planning to buy one." Even though Hagard didn't give him gold or anything, this was still a decent deal. If he bought a top-tier horse, it'd cost him anywhere from dozens to hundreds of gold coins—this discount would save him a lot. The old man raised his hand and handed him an emblem.

The moment he took it, he felt a faint surge of light flowing through his body—a sign of leveling up! He quickly suppressed it in his mind, hurriedly said goodbye to Hagard, and stepped outside.

He opened the Book of the Dead, and sure enough, his character level had changed to 9, with an extra skill point available. He really had leveled up! "That's not right—don't I only get experience from fighting and killing monsters? I haven't killed many since leveling up at Crystal Lake. How did I level again? Does completing tasks like the sheriff's quest give experience rewards too? That's just like a game..." He couldn't figure it out. But leveling up was a good thing anyway—he'd understand it slowly over time, no rush.

He looked at the Book of the Dead. Where should I put this skill point? His current skills and stats were as follows:

Name: Li Shaolin

Race: Human (Eastern Warlock)

Gender: Male

Class: Necromancer (Owner of Fargodeep Mine)

Health: 124/124

Mana: 124/124

Level: 9

Remaining Skill Points: 1

Equipment: Book of the Dead, Eight-Slot Space Belt

Skills: Detection Level 2, Raise Skeleton Level 2, Bone Fang Level 1, Clay Golem Level 1, Skeleton Mastery Level 1 (Passive), Venomous Dagger Level 1, Bone Shield Level 1

Summons: First-Tier Skeleton Warrior (1), Second-Tier Skeleton Warrior (1), First-Tier Clay Golem (1), Fourth-Tier Clay Golem (1)

"So this Second-Tier Skeleton Warrior must be the one with the green name. But what's up with this Fourth-Tier Clay Golem? And I can clearly feel my strength and everything improving, but why isn't it showing on this panel? I can't even see the skill damage." The more Li Shaolin thought about it, the more frustrated he got—he just couldn't wrap his head around it. Did he have to reach a fixed level to see it? He studied it for a while but got nothing, so he gave up. After some thought, he put the skill point into Raise Skeleton, which would let him summon one more skeleton.

After allocating the skill point, he couldn't find a corpse to summon right away, so he followed the path Hagard had described. Sure enough, a large horse ranch appeared ahead, right next to the Lumber Camp.

"Hello, sir. Are you looking to buy or rent a horse?" A young woman with an olive complexion, around twenty years old, approached him.

Li Shaolin quickly pulled out the emblem Hagard had given him: "The sheriff gave me this. He said I can get a 20% discount on a horse here. Is that true?"

The girl took the emblem, looked it over, and nodded: "You're a professional, right? Would you like to apply for a Sealing Emblem?"

"Uh, well, I'm not high enough level yet. Just a regular riding horse will do—nothing too fancy, since I'll only be riding it in Elwynn Forest." Li Shaolin felt a bit embarrassed and quickly added.

"Alright, then follow me. Just point out the one you like!" The girl led him inside.

Horses of all colors and sizes were scattered around the ranch, wandering about, with a few hunting dogs occasionally running past. The neighing and whinnying gave the place a bit of a highland feel.

"Miss, do you have any gentler horses? These look a bit wild, and I don't actually know how to ride." Li Shaolin asked the girl beside him.

"The ones tied up in the stable are all pretty docile. Want to take a look?"

After wandering around for a while, he finally settled on a Brown Horse. When he asked the price, thanks to his emblem, it came to just one and a half gold coins. He paid up, got a Saddle, and clumsily climbed on. The horse was indeed docile—it didn't struggle and started walking slowly with him on its back.

He gave it a try and felt pretty good, delighted. He said goodbye to the horse-selling girl, mounted the Brown Horse, and rode out of the ranch.

Seeing that it was already getting dark and he didn't know anyone else in the Lumber Camp, he decided to go find Jack and the others. With that plan in mind, he guided the horse along the dirt road the logging carts used. After a few steps, he figured riding wasn't that hard, so he lightly slapped the horse's rump, and it picked up speed a little.

"Heh, this is pretty handy." Mimicking the knights he'd seen on TV, he shouted, "Giddyup!" and squeezed his legs. The horse neighed and broke into a gallop! As it ran, Li Shaolin suddenly felt flustered and nearly fell off. He quickly yelled, "Stop, stop, stop!" But the horse didn't listen and kept running, sending lumber workers scrambling out of the way.

Panicking, he wrapped his arms around the horse's neck and let it go. The sounds of chaos faded behind him, the trees grew denser, and he had long since veered off the little dirt road, charging into the forest!

Finally, the galloping horse gradually slowed to a stop.

"Who'd have thought you'd look so honest but be full of mischief!" Li Shaolin finally came to his senses, sighing in amazement. He jumped off the horse and looked around—all he saw were massive Elwynn Ancient Trees. He had no idea where he was.

"Well, no choice. One step at a time." This place wasn't that big anyway; he probably wouldn't get lost.

He walked for about another hour, but he had no clue where he was. All he saw were trees filling his vision, annoying him. The sky was pitch black now, with the moon hanging high overhead. He pulled out the map he'd gotten from Azura's Mage Tower, but he couldn't figure out his location at all, let alone find an exit.

Then, a wolf howl rang out!

He turned around and saw several pairs of red eyes glowing in the near-dark air—three Forest Wolves!

At the howl, the Brown Horse, utterly spineless, abandoned its owner and bolted, disappearing into the trees in a few bounds!

"Dammit, you coward! Once I'm done with these beasts, I'll skin you and use your hide for a blanket!" Li Shaolin regretted picking such a useless horse. He should've gone with one of those livelier ones.

The three Forest Wolves crept closer step by step. He quickly pulled out the Book of the Dead, and with a thought, the two Skeleton Warriors and the Clay Golem appeared around him. At the same time, he waved his hand, and three bone shields spun into the air and vanished. He then flicked his fingers, and two fangs were ready in his palm.

"Grrr." One wolf leaped up, lunging straight at him! The other two followed, running over with jaws wide open, sharp fangs glinting in the night.

Thud! The Clay Golem raised its arms and smashed its fists into the wolf's head as it pounced, while the wolf's claws scraped across the golem's body, sending clumps of mud flying! But in this forest, with the earth as its backing, the golem had incredible recovery—it didn't care about that little damage. It wrapped its arms around the wolf, twisted, and flung it to the ground. Then it drove a knee down, pressing into the wolf's head!