The place where Mo Tan's line had ended was still Medi's home. Everything around him was exactly the same as before he had been forcibly disconnected, except that it was now night.
That was only to be expected. After all, there had been no fire or explosion, and with Medi appearing in town fewer than twice a week, it would not be easy for anyone to notice that he had gone missing. This also taught us that if you did not want to be kidnapped—or have something similar happen to you—only to find that there was no one to report it, you had best make a few more close friends. Failing that, you could always find a way to owe someone money.
Mo Tan leisurely leaned against the wall and sat down on the ground. The first thing he did was bring up his character panel and continue confirming the information he had not had time to examine before. Of course, before that, he had already claimed the reward for the tutorial quest, successfully obtaining the basic Thief class and the corresponding 60 experience points.
Well then...
Tan Mo
Health: 170/170
Stamina: 140/140
Perception: 310/310
Class: Trickster Level 2 (77/150); Thief Level 1 (60/70)
Faith: None
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Talents: Chaos, Cunning, Sophistry, Faithless (You cannot choose a faith because you simply cannot feel awe toward any higher being. No priest would waste time on you! None!)
Basic Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 11, Wisdom 11, Constitution 7
Mental Attributes: Eloquence 10, Charisma 10, Knowledge 9, Leadership 4
Combat Attribute: School of Cunning Level 6
Skills: Confuse, Befuddle, Stealth, Pickpocket, Gouge Throat
Since providing a detailed description of every skill would take up too much space, they will not be explained individually until Mo Tan uses them for the first time. Thank you for your understanding.
"The conversion ratio for Constitution really is just as I thought." Mo Tan examined his attribute panel and murmured, "Thieves gain one point each in Constitution and Dexterity with every level, while Tricksters gain one point each in Dexterity, Constitution, and Wisdom. Both also increase my School of Cunning level... The latter also influences my mental attributes to a certain degree. Hmm..."
He pondered briefly, then invested the experience reward from overcompleting the tutorial quest into the Thief class, raising it to Level 2 with 140/150 experience. He then stretched lazily and stood up before beginning to search Medi's little cottage.
For a dead man, worldly possessions were entirely unnecessary. It was better to let them benefit his descendants or the hard-working masses. Items with commemorative meaning or spiritual significance, such as wedding rings, did not count as worldly possessions. Thus, Mo Tan could conduct this house raid without the slightest burden, and he would not feel the least bit of regret over burying those two rings of exceptional quality earlier...
As it turned out, whether it was simply good luck or Medi's family was relatively wealthy, the loot Tan Mo had gathered this time was worlds apart from the few lousy potions he had struggled to scrape together at the inn while he was Hei Fan.
His consumables included: 4 Minor Health Potions, 2 Minor Mana Potions, 1 Gargoyle Reagent, 2 Random Teleportation Scrolls, 2 Divine Favor Scrolls, 1 Soul-Guiding Bottle, 2 bags of finely ground bone ash, and an ancient book.
His equipment included: ritual robes, a pair of cloth bracers, and a Blood Sacrifice Dagger.
After changing into the first two items, Tan Mo gained a little extra defense and 1 point of Intelligence. As for the final weapon, its quality was ordinary, but it happened to be well suited for a Thief.
Blood Sacrifice Dagger
Weapon Type: One-Handed
Quality: Common
Attack Power: Weak
Attributes: None
Equipment Requirements: None
Description: If you want, we can teach you more than seventy ways to self-harm, and guarantee... What? You say you want to use it to cut people? Fine. Please close the door from the outside.
"Seriously~" Mo Tan fastened the dagger to his waist and sighed wistfully. "If someone gave me a complete guide to this game's equipment, I could probably spend an entire day quietly reading it to expand my reserves of shamelessness. Now, let's see what this has in store..."
He opened the only ancient book he had not placed in his inventory and immediately saw the content he had been anticipating.
Basic Necromancy
Use: Grants you the class: Basic Necromancer
Description: You should not have any expectations of this book's contents. Come on, you didn't really think we would write things like spirit-channeling techniques in here, did you? Understanding is everything, okay?
"Fine~ Understanding is everything." Mo Tan smiled and casually stored the book in his inventory. He did not eagerly give himself an additional class, as one might have expected.
He had calculated the matter immediately in his mind. The conclusion was that, at this initial stage when he was still a "newbie," learning the controversial Necromancer class would bring far more disadvantages than benefits. Not to mention how much the almost-certain decrease in Constitution and Strength would affect him, those perceptive religious people alone could tie him to a stake and barbecue him for half a day. He was not Medi. The Faithless talent had already completely eliminated the possibility of secretly learning holy-light lore to conceal his other identity.
Therefore, he would not learn it!
At least not for now!
After leaving the cottage, Tan Mo stretched comfortably in the cool evening breeze. He then pulled up the hood of his ritual robes and left Maple Sugar Town without looking back. He knew very well that this peaceful countryside was clearly not a suitable place for him to settle down, nor could it help him find the happiness he yearned for. Besides...
Sole Quest—Go to Pato City and destroy the "hero," Dave. Reward: ???
"Although I have no idea who that 'hero' Dave is~" Mo Tan's figure flickered in and out of sight beneath the night sky. His eyes shone with a strange mixture of chaos and fervor, while an evil curve formed at the corners of his lips. "I have to say, this kind of quest is right up my alley~~"
At that moment, as he strolled along the country road, he suddenly heard a scream. Though it stopped abruptly in less than half a second, it was definitely not an illusion. The fear and helplessness contained in that voice left a deep impression on Mo Tan.
To his left was a forest that was not particularly dense. Yet on this night of extremely low visibility, it still gave the impression of a huge maw ready to devour anyone who approached. The sound had come from there...
The situation of the Warm Sun Squad was terrible. Absolutely terrible. It was a complete disaster~
They had been ambushed in a planned attack on their way back from completing their final assessment. Two Crimson Ridge Beasts that should never have appeared here had suddenly emerged by the roadside as the group returned and launched a berserk assault. Though these students from Pading Knight Academy's second year possessed a certain degree of combat ability, they had no chance whatsoever against two monsters shaped like lizards, with sharp teeth and claws, immense strength, and venomous bone spines capable of shooting from their backs.
Moreover, both were fully grown Crimson Ridge Beasts nearly four meters long.
Just moments ago, the squad's apprentice mage had been caught off guard and pierced through the left leg by a bone spine, stumbling to the ground. Although another student in plate armor desperately used a lance to block the giant beast that pounced from above, the other Crimson Ridge Beast still instantly pierced the elven mage's fragile skull with its thorn-covered tongue, ending her suffering.
"No... Rona!" The young thief moving around the edges of the group let out a pained growl. He then hurried behind the knight, dragged him back, and stared at the equally pale and exhausted face before him as he said in a low voice, "Dave, take everyone and run. Try not to make a sound. I'll fight these two beasts!"
With that, he spun around and kicked the strongest knight in the group backward. He turned and roared, then flung out both gleaming curved blades in fury, forcing the Crimson Ridge Beast that had just completed its killing attack back half a step. In the next instant, he appeared behind the other beast, drew a dagger from his waist, and pinned its thick tail firmly to the ground. His eyes bulging with rage, he shouted at his companions in the distance, "Now! Run!"
Crimson Ridge Beasts had no vision, so under most circumstances, they were not that difficult to deal with. Although their hearing and sense of smell were extremely keen, neither could make up for the weakness caused by permanent blindness. The Warm Sun Squad's thief, Cole, had been shouting repeatedly for precisely this reason, intending to sacrifice himself to buy his teammates time to escape.
In any case, he no longer wanted to live...
Rona—the girl whose face had always been filled with a bright smile—would never return. As an elf, she should have had another century of life ahead of her. Her innate affinity with the wind element should have given her limitless possibilities and a boundless future. Yet she had died so easily in this nameless forest, killed by that filthy monster through a method that was almost humiliating.
"Unforgivable!" Cole leaped onto the head of the Crimson Ridge Beast before him, his eyes bloodshot as he shouted through a trembling voice, "Unforgivable!!"
The knight who had fallen at the feet of his two companions clenched his fists tightly. Only after Cole roared for them to "run" did he slam a fist into the ground and grit his teeth. "Go!"
"But Cole... Ah!!" The human girl in a sky-blue robe, her stance crooked and unsteady, was clearly hesitant. The tall, broad-shouldered greatsword wielder behind her suddenly hoisted her onto his shoulder.
"Little Ai! What do you think an apprentice priest with completely depleted mana can do by staying here?" he barked. "Move faster. Cole might still have a chance. Don't forget, he's a thief!"
The boy then carried the priest Little Ai and ran deeper into the forest alongside the knight Dave. Though his movements were utterly decisive, his eyes beneath his visor were shot through with blood vessels...
No one understood Cole better than his childhood friend Lada. He knew very well that although he claimed there was a chance, he understood in his heart that the boy fighting the Crimson Ridge Beasts to the death behind them could never leave. Because Rona was dead... Rona was dead... Dead...
"Lada!"
Feeling the girl on his shoulder pounding hard against his back, Lada felt tears silently slide down his cheeks. He could not stop, could not turn back, and could not waver. They had to find the person who had plotted against the Warm Sun Squad. Otherwise, whether Rona or Cole, neither of them would ever rest in peace!
"Lada! Stop, quick!" Little Ai cried anxiously.
"Shut up!"
"Look out!!"
"?"
A blinding light suddenly flared. It came from... the plain-silver tip of a lance!
Cole was indeed just as Lada had imagined. Even though his body was already covered in wounds, he had no intention of escaping. Instead, he fought back even more frenziedly. The iron dagger in his hand had already bent at the edge, yet it still carved fierce arcs through the moonlight as he slashed, chopped, stabbed, and thrust into one of the Crimson Ridge Beasts. But his movements had inevitably begun to deteriorate, and his face grew paler by the moment.
A bone spine had pierced deep between his ribs. Every movement brought a wrenching pain that tore through his heart and lungs...
But Rona was dead, so it did not matter. Shadowstep! Backhand Spin Thrust!
The poison had begun spreading through his body. His reactions were growing slower and slower, and his hand was becoming weak...
Even a weak hand was nothing compared to how weak his legs had felt the first time he saw her. What was this supposed to be? Tear open its wounds! Make it bleed! Roar! Pain!
He had lost too much blood. His head spun, and he had failed to evade that last claw. His leg seemed to have lost all feeling...
Then he did not need it. Rona was dead. What did one leg matter? Make them pay! Coat the blade with poison one last time, then strike again! Even one strike would be enough!
His body was knocked flying and fell beside Rona's body, which had long since gone cold...
Cole tremblingly reached out a finger, wanting to touch the half of the beloved girl's face that remained before him. Her wide-open eyes still held a trace of confusion and terror that had not yet faded.
And death had already arrived silently, accompanied by a descending claw!
This is it... It's a shame I never confessed to you sooner~
The pain he imagined never came. The two Crimson Ridge Beasts that had been roaring continuously from the beginning suddenly fell silent for some unknown reason. Cole struggled to raise his head and saw a figure entirely shrouded in black robes standing with his back to him before the two giant beasts, quietly murmuring something.
Befuddle
School of Cunning Active Skill
Requirement: Possess the Trickster class
Cost/Restriction: 1 Perception; speech function intact
Effect: Befuddles one target, causing it to regard you as a friendly unit. Success rate and duration depend on the target's mental state and the Intelligence of both parties. Cooldown: 1 hour
Description: Don't shoot! I'm one of you!
The Crimson Ridge Beast that had been about to tear Cole's body apart with its claws suddenly let out a confused grunt. Its two bright-yellow eyes stared fixedly at Mo Tan for a long while. It then took two steps back and stopped moving.
The other beast, which had been poised to pounce in the distance, began turning around in confusion...
Confuse
School of Cunning Active Skill
Requirement: Possess the Trickster class
Cost/Restriction: 60 Perception; eye contact
Effect: Confuses one target, greatly reducing its judgment and sense of self. When it attacks, it cannot distinguish friend from foe. Duration and success rate depend on the target's mental state and Intelligence. (The effect is doubled against those with decision paralysis.) Cooldown: 1 hour
Description: Behold my strange light! Ultrasonic waves! Bluffing! Nonsensical chatter! Are you confused yet, you bastard?
With these two Trickster-exclusive skills, Mo Tan, who had been watching for some time, managed to restrain both Crimson Ridge Beasts at once through his own efforts. He had also successfully created an aura with an extremely high style rating, leaving Cole with the initial impression that he was mysterious and powerful.
"Don't ask any questions... Come with me." Mo Tan slightly turned his head and glanced at Cole. "You have five seconds to decide."
Seeing that Cole only stared blankly at the mutilated corpse before him, Mo Tan pointed at Rona's lifeless body and added, "Bring her."
Then he turned without another word, casually chose a direction, and began walking.
Cole's body trembled violently. After a brief moment, he reacted and quickly hoisted Rona's corpse onto his back before chasing after him.
Chapter Nine: End
Before you continue