The Great Thief

“Do you see that wild boar? Go and kill it,” Lu Li said as he pointed at a level 5 monster in the distance.

“I…I…” The little Gnome hadn’t done any training, so asking her to fight anything that was bigger than her was overwhelming. Other than rats, almost any other monster would be bigger than her, but her heart was obviously afraid.

“Do you not want to go to Gnomeregan?”

“Yaaaa!” the little Gnome yelled as she raised her two small daggers and ran towards the black wild boar with her eyes closed.

She stuck her daggers into the back of the wild boar, which penetrated its skin, but was not fatal. This passive wild boar that had been attacked now turned around and began violently charging at Shoni. She had failed to pull out her daggers in time and was knocked down.

When she got up, she saw that the wild boar was stamping its feet as it bulldozed towards her.

The little Gnome could only stare in complete shock; she didn’t know how to attack it or avoid this attack.

Fortunately, an arrow flew into the boar’s neck and nailed it to the ground.

The little gnome licked her mouth and tried not to cry. When she turned her head, she saw Lu Li holding the bow. It was his arrow that had saved her from the wild boar’s mouth. From this moment onwards, she felt that Lu Li was also quite powerful.

“If the wild boar is too difficult to kill, then try that deer over there.”

The deer was also a passive monster, so she didn’t have to worry about missing, and it was also at level 1.

It wasn’t that Lu Li didn’t want to teach her any skills, but he wanted her to experience what it was like to kill monsters without regular attacks.

“But this deer is so cute…” Shoni began, finding this difficult too.

“Think about Gnomeregan…” Lu Li said manipulatively.

“Ahh…” Shoni gripped her daggers again and screamed as she ran towards the harmless deer.

She had said that she liked using hammers, as this was Haggle’s weapon of choice. However, Lu Li quickly vetoed that decision because he couldn’t teach a Thief to use a hammer. Moreover, the size of the little Gnome made her unsuited to wield one.

The dagger that cut into the deer left a bloody mark.

The deer’s HP was very low, but Shoni still couldn’t kill it in one attack. It used its antlers to topple the little Gnome, who fell onto the ground once again.

“Get up and attack; don’t forget about Gnomeregan,” Lu Li reminded her again.

Shoni was just about to start crying as the pain and frustration was getting to her; she was also famous for crying back in her hometown. However, when she heard Lu Li say this, she decisively stopped herself.

She bit her teeth and quickly attacked the injured deer, inserting her tagger into its neck. The level 1 monster twitched a few more times and finally stopped moving.

“Beautiful. You will become a great warrior,” Lu Li praised. He knew how to build up confidence in children too.

“Assassin, I will become a great assassin,” the little gnome sobbed, but was refilled with a new confidence. After failing one time, she had finally managed to kill her prey.

Lu Li showed neither approval nor disapproval towards his apprentice and began to teach her skills. To progress in order, he first taught her to go into Stealth and Shadowstrike. This was almost exactly in the order that a player would learn these skills.

When the little gnome tried to use Stealth, Lu Li looked at his EXP panel.

He hadn’t noticed it before, but the System had prompted that he had received EXP. It was from the level 5 Boar and the level 1 Deer – somehow, even those monsters had given him a EXP.

It was quite a bit of EXP as well, almost as if he had killed a level 45 monster.

Perhaps this was part of the quest reward. Lu Li was very happy with this outcome, as he thought he was wasting time by completing this quest.

Not only did he gain EXP, but killing these two monsters also increased his Reputation by a slight amount.

This quest…

Was really good!

The intensity of Lu Li’s teaching quickly increased. He first taught to little gnome how to go into Stealth, then taught her how to attack her target from behind.

Although she was an NPC, she learned a few tips and tricks from Lu Li. For example, attacking a target from behind would deal more damage, and she would more likely be discovered if her target was higher-levelled than her.

After killing a few dozen monsters, the little Gnome finally reached level 1.

The level wasn’t that important, but her self-confidence grew as she killed more monsters.

“You have a brave heart, so why did you stop in the middle of the fight? Was it because you thought you would die if you didn’t run away? Could you really have outran the wolf?” Lu Li had already taken her to kill a level 3 wolf.

“But…” the little gnome still had a lingering fear.

“You have to be faster and more ruthless than your target to live. Once the battle begins, escape is your last resort, even as an assassin,” Lu Li explained, teaching her his own style.

He very earnestly taught his apprentice and held nothing back.

If his apprentice was a player, he would be worried that she would overtake him. However, since this was an NPC, he had no conflict of interest.

Even so, Lu Li didn’t know who he was really training. This little NPC would later form the backbone of the Gnome revival as the Silent Shoni. She would restart another war for Gnomeregan in future and rid the city of the Rockjaws.

If Lu Li hadn’t been reborn, she would have been the apprentice of Wood Fearing from Gods of Dusk. They would have been the first in the game to build a player-led orphanage a few months later.

The little Thief would have learned to be calm and calculated from Wood Fearing, but now Lu Li was teaching her to be cunning and ruthless.

Unknowingly, Lu Li had reversed this NPC’s fate.

According to Wood Fearing’s teachings, Shoni’s current path would lead to tragedy. This was similar to Wood Fearing’s own experience. He could have been much better off, but he was an old-fashioned man. He rejected countless invitations and insisted on staying with Gods of Dusk, a guild that was going downhill.

However, Lu Li was different. He was very realistic, cunning and would be willing to fight hard when appropriate.

“Teacher, why do the monsters always know I’m there?” the little Gnome asked.

Lu Li didn’t tell her it was because the monsters were higher-levelled than her, and made up a lie. “Because you are not good enough yet; you can do better. Keep working hard and think about your people in Gnomeregan who are still in the sewers.”