A Legendary Thief

Xiao Yu got back in the game again. Having sold the remaining items at his stall, he began to tour the night market.

The magic lights by the streets in the small town of Tabarka cast a yellowish, dim glow that illuminated the uneven streets. But the low buildings in the area had an apparent Western style, giving off a distinctive flavor.

"I heard that there are plenty of bloody grass plants in Often Valley."

"Can we really go to that place right now? The monsters are all at level 20 there. Any one of them would be lethal for us."

"I was just mentioning it, that's all."

Xiao Yu wandered around the street aimlessly and listened to the discussions among the players. He had a great deal of time in the evening that he didn't know how to spend.

"This is a waste of time," Xiao Yu thought sullenly. "It would be better if I could go and kill some monsters to level up. If I can, I'll be able to level up faster than the others."

Thinking of all this, Xiao Yu couldn't restrain himself any longer. He thought he should give it a try. He was fully aware that it was impractical to challenge monsters of the same level in the pitch-black night. But, he could challenge those lower-level monsters. As long as he killed monsters that were above level 4, then he could gain some experience points, even though the experience will be a little less than usual.

Many special monsters and elite monsters came out at night. The desert at night was full of dangers, and few players were as audacious as Xiao Yu.

One cannot capture baby tigers without venturing into the tiger caves, as the saying goes. The reward is always proportional to the risk.

"Let me find a level-3 monster to give it a try. If it works, I'll challenge the level-4 or level-5 monsters." Xiao Yu headed outside of the town in the direction of the area inhabited by the wild sand dogs, which were level-3 monsters.

The vast desert was quiet, and no players could be found here. The dim moonlight shone down, but it still failed to illuminate the ground. His visibility was merely three meters. It was dark everywhere and scarily quiet. The whistling wind and the deep wailing and howling of the wild animals could be heard from time to time; those noises also sounded like the cries of ghosts. If he were any other player, he wouldn't come out here in the middle of the night. But Xiao Yu didn't care too much about fear and dread. The fear he felt in his heart was nothing in comparison to the need for subsistence.

"I can do it." Xiao Yu had this steadfast notion in his heart.

A dim glow would appear in the desert once in a while. He could sense the commotion of some creatures. Xiao Yu was aware that they were the level-3 wild dogs. A night, they would emit a greenish glow from their eyes.

Two dim glows were approaching him at a fast speed. One wild dog was charging at Xiao Yu with a roar. He couldn't see the wild dog. All he could do was use his daggers to block the attacks of the wild dog and thrust forward by relying on his senses.

He jabbed at the glowing eye of the wild dog with all his might.

Evisceration!

He didn't need good visibility to use the evisceration skill after hitting the weak spot of the opponent, so long as he could feel the sensation in his wrist. Xiao Yu was very good at this.

The sharp snake-tooth dagger pierced through the body of the wild dog, then he slashed a gash on the head of the wild dog. He could smell a bloody scent in the darkness.

The wild dog was four levels lower than Xiao Yu. It dropped to the ground and died after it had been struck several times by Xiao Yu.

He didn't get any experience or skill proficiency points.

Xiao Yu bent down, groped on the ground for a while, and picked up a few bronze coins. Seeing countless greenish glows heading in his direction, Xiao Yu hastened to flee the place, thinking those wild dogs must be drawn by the bloody scent.

"It's not worth my effort to kill the wild dogs. I'd better go find some level-4 sand lizards to kill," thought Xiao Yu. The level-4 monsters were relatively easier to deal with, and they would produce experience points value as well as skill proficiency points. Though the sand lizards would make some slight noise when they were crawling, they didn't have any features that could be discovered easily, like the eyes of the wild dogs in the dark.

Xiao Yu was hesitant. He was aware that it was not a simple thing to attack the monsters at night. He knew he might encounter some unexpected mishaps at any moment.

Xiao Yu was crossing the territory of the wild dogs and going to the area occupied by the sand lizards.

He had killed many wild sand dogs on his way to the area inhabited by the sand lizards. Though he hadn't gotten any experience points, he had picked up many bronze coins. He had nevertheless gained something even though it was not much.

The bushes in the desert were intermittently visible in the darkness, and Xiao Yu was trekking forward through them. He was almost poked by the cactuses several times.

"If I remember correctly, I should be at the area with the sand lizards after rounding the sand dune up ahead." Xiao Yu sped up slightly at the thought.

In the darkness, two intermittent dim glows were heading toward Xiao Yu. They were probably the eyes of some creature.

"Wild dogs? No, wild dogs can't move so fast!" The two dim glows moved at a remarkable speed and arrived before Xiao Yu in a brief moment.

A sharp claw struck at Xiao Yu. Sensing the attack, he hastened to turn his body sideways in an attempt to dodge the strike, but the attack of the opponent was too fast. Xiao Yu didn't dodge it in time, and so a gash was torn on his shoulder by the sharp claw of the animal.

Checking his health, Xiao Yu found it sat at 32%. The attack was truly powerful.

Xiao Yu could finally see the general profile of the foe because he was only one foot away from his opponent. It looked like a tiger and had a large body. It looked rather fierce, its eyes casting intermittent gloomy glows, and it uttered a deep roar from its throat.

"It's a dark ghost!" yelled Xiao Yu in surprise. According to the information on the forums, Xiao Yu knew that this was a creature that liked to come out at night, and it often showed up in areas occupied by low-level monsters. Dark ghosts were not animals but a sort of lost spirit with very strong fighting abilities. They were also very clever and good at identifying the strength of their foes. If they found out that their opponent was three levels higher than them or that there was a large number of opponents, they wouldn't show up in the first place. On the flip side, they would launch a sneak attack after they ascertained that their opponents were weaker than them.

While traveling alone at night, Xiao Yu became its target.

So far, no information had been released by anyone about killing a dark ghost. On the other hand, many players were killed by the dark ghosts when they came out to level up at night. The dark ghosts became a major obstacle for players to come out at night. However, there were very few dark ghosts, so few players would be able to encounter such a creature when they came out at night.

"I'm so lucky to meet a dark ghost, also known as the 'night killer,' the very first time I come out to level up at night," Xiao Yu thought wryly.