6 The Docks

A simple yet heartwarming breakfast.

When Soran was about to head out, Vivian stopped him and fixed his sleeves, then climbed up onto the stool to tidy his collar. They did not converse a lot as they fully understood one another. Soran gently caressed her hair before leaving the house.

“Br…… Brother!”

When Soran’s figure disappeared into the distance, Vivian locked the door and huddled on the bed.

Soran had often gone out in a similar fashion before. She would not feel afraid, as Heath was beside her at that time and would faithfully scare off anyone who dared to set their eyes on the little girl. Burglars breaking into houses was a common occurrence in the slums. Vivian was now alone at home, as Heath was now eternally at rest, and it was inevitable for her to feel a little scared.

She was just an eight-year-old after all.

She had always been scared of the dark and loneliness, as it gave her a sense of insecurity.

But she could not tell that to Soran.

She knew Soran had something important to do. The siblings needed money, and only a little foodstuff remained.

Vivian did not want to become a burden to her big brother.

Even though there was a limit to her current capabilities, she still felt that she should not drag her brother down.

“Vivian.”

The girl held the broom tightly in her hands and said to herself, “You must become stronger!

“You have to learn to take care of yourself!

“Big brother is now awake. No one would disturb us anymore because they’re afraid of brother!”

The docks.

It was the most densely populated area in Amber City. The entire economy of the city was supported by the Agate River which flowed by.

Most of the males in the slums worked as laborers here. An endless stream of cargo ships coming from a myriad of places would stop by and unload their cargo, thus a lot of laborers were needed to move the cargo around. It was also the most intense battlefield for the factions and gangs. Ranging from stealing or taking a portion of the goods by force to demanding ‘protection fees,’ the triad gangs could always find ways to earn money at the docks.

“Is that Soran?!”

A rangy man glared at Soran who was walking in the distance. He immediately left some orders to the nearby men and walked toward Soran.

“Soran, the head wants to see you!”

Soran lifted his head to look at the person standing in front of him. It took him mere seconds to remember who the guy was.

Gallas, a rather decent warrior.

He was once an adventurer and tagged along with different groups. Unfortunately, he ran into a group of goblins and gnolls just as he left Amber City some time ago. Gnolls were dangerous creatures which moved in groups and often attacked adventurers stealthily at night. The adventurer group was almost annihilated, but luckily he was able to escape just in time. Gallas was left with a serious injury on his arm and could not continue his career as an adventurer. He soon joined a local gang and gave up his dreams of getting famous and discovering treasures from adventuring.

Judging from his looks and experience, Soran estimated that Gallas was a Level 10 Commoner/Level 3 Warrior, just slightly weaker than the city guards.

“The head?”

Soran looked straight into Gallas’ eyes and shook his head, “The head’s dead.

“He was killed by that damn wizard.”

It was a mission they should never have accepted. Not only did Soran fall into a coma, most of the core members of his gang also died.

Were wizards really that powerful?

All wizards who acted solo were past Grade 1. In terms of professions, they were all at least Level 10 Sage/Level 5 Wizards.

Even a squadron of professional soldiers might lose in a battle with a wizard who was above Grade 1, let alone a triad gang of thieves.

Soran had personally witnessed the might of those solo wizards. If not for their physical weakness, it would undoubtedly be the most overpowered profession.

In a world which was about to be thrown into a period of chaos, even people with Legendary professions might be crushed like ants. Soran could not be bothered with such a puny local gang when the world was about to turn into a living hell.

“Soran.”

Gallas looked back and slowly said, “Gale became the new head.

“Decide for yourself if you want to meet him or not. Gale’s not an easy-going person.”

Soran was a splendid thief, and all the gangs would not easily give up on getting their hands on such a great source of income.

No one cared before as he was unconscious, and people thought he was probably going to die sooner or later. Now that he had recovered from his injuries, the gangs were all fighting over the famous thief.

Soran could understand the threat behind Gallas’ words. He squinted his eyes and gave off a slight killing intent in return.

He was a rogue.

Rogues were the assassins of the shadows. They were much more dangerous than any other person.

“It is my decision to make.”

Soran ignored Gallas and continued walking toward the docks.

He still had things to do!

Soran acted weak in his previous gang, as he had to keep the members from targeting Vivian. A large portion of his loot would be forcefully confiscated, and the siblings would only be left with barely enough money to live a simple life in the slums. The main reason was that the original ‘Soran’ did not undergo proper combat training. Even with extraordinary Dexterity, he was still weaker than most warriors who had been properly trained. However, that was already in the past. Soran was now a different person, and could easily defeat the brawny men in the gangs with less than three moves.

…

It was an inconspicuous warehouse where cargo and goods would be stored temporarily.

A shadow silently approached the warehouse.

Soran sneaked past the lookouts standing guard. They were just ordinary men with a bit of strength and muscles, so it was rather simple.

He found a box inside the warehouse. It was locked, which probably meant that there were valuables in it.

Soran took out a hooked wire from his pocket; the crude and simple tool was the only thing he had to pick locks with right now.

He slowly inserted the wire into the keyhole and started working wonders with his hands.

_Cling!_

_Click!_

He successfully opened the lock after a short while.

Rows of words floated in front of Soran’s eyes:

“Successfully picked a lock!”

“Your Rogue skills have improved, earning 15 Profession EXP.”

He let out a sigh of relief after noticing the announcement. It seemed that the method of obtaining Profession EXP remained even in the real world.

Rogues were weak in combat during the early stages. They lacked the physical strength of warriors, and they did not have special skills like paladins. Even hunting in the wild was a dangerous operation for them, as low-level monsters like kobolds and goblins all moved in groups. Most of them had a great sense of smell as well and could easily discover low-level rogues who were sneaking around. This was why picking locks and disarming traps were the only reliable ways for rogues to level up and earn EXP in the early stages.

It was the safest method.

Rogues could gain experience points from picking locks before reaching Level 5. Disarming traps still gave a considerable amount of experience points before reaching Level 10 as well. Only special magic locks and high-ranked traps would give experience afterwards; common locks and traps would no longer be viable options.

_Creak!_

Soran lightly opened the box and found blocks of tea leaves. He moved on to other locked chests without taking the tea leaves.

With a _thud_ , he leapt and landed on a wooden bucket. He held the hair-thin wire beside him between his fingers and tied it tightly onto a nail. Soran sliced the tripwire with his dagger and simultaneously disarmed an alarm with his other hand. It was a simple trap which would trigger an alarm when the thread snapped.

<<Clash of the Titans>> had a cruel and merciless world.

Numerous rogues were done in by such traps and had their arms crippled as punishment.

The players could not afford the expensive treatment costs at the start of the game, and no one was willing to help them unconditionally. The disabled rogues had no choice but to suicide and respawn or create a new avatar.

The path of rising from basic professions to Legendary ones was a treacherous one.

Countless had fallen during their journey.

Strength and power were not the only things which mattered — luck was also a crucial factor.

Soran crouched soundlessly in the corner as he searched for other traps in the room.

It was highly probable that the alarm was not the only trap. In order to keep the valuables safe, warehouses were usually armed with multiple anti-theft devices.

There!

Soran spotted an irregular wooden plank on the floor. With a dagger in one hand, he slowly pried up the plank and held it in place with his free hand, holding the plank in mid-air.

This hidden trap was even more dangerous than the previous one.

Knives would fly from both sides when triggered and would most likely kill the intruder right on the spot.

_Click!_

Soran stuck the tip of his dagger into the trigger and twisted it. Two knives cut through the air above his head and embedded into the nearby walls with a _thunk_.

A data log appeared in front of his eyes once again:

“Successfully disarmed a trap.”

“You have improved your Rogue skills, earning 50 Profession EXP.”

“Successfully disarmed a trap.”

“You have improved your Rogue skills, earning 120 Profession EXP.”

“Hah…” Soran sighed in relief.

“As expected, disarming traps gave the most experience points! But honestly, this is quite dangerous too.”

After gaining the experience points for disarming the two traps and the previous locks, Soran finally saved up 200 EXP. He chose to level up Rogue without any hesitation.

“The profession Rogue is now Level 2.”

“Obtained 23 Skill Points [DEX19+(INT18-10)/2], Health Points increased by 9 [Profession Health 6+(CON15-10)/2].”

“Obtained 1 Free Attribute Point.”

In comparison to skill points, which would be granted for every level up, obtaining free attribute points was way more difficult, as only one would be granted for every two levels.

This meant that Soran would not be getting any more free attribute points until he reached Level 4 with Rogue.

It could be said that this one free attribute point was of significant importance to Soran.

After looking at his own attributes, Soran unhesitatingly assigned the point to Dexterity. Reaching 20 points was a benchmark for all attributes; having less than 20 in an attribute meant that the person was still within the range of common people, while 20 or above meant that the person was now extraordinary in a certain aspect.

The sound of footsteps and hustling gradually approached the warehouse.

Soran agilely leapt and grabbed onto a wooden beam and sneaked out.

That one single point allowed him to display inhuman movements, and he could now move around freely as never before. His agility and reflexes were already beyond the realm of normal humans.

A man entered the warehouse.

Glaring at the disarmed traps and picked locks, the man had a displeased expression as he called for the guards. Armed men came rushing into the warehouse immediately.

It seemed that the warehouse could no longer be used for EXP farming.

They would certainly tighten up their security after the incident.

*[advantage]: by having their erection in contact with her

*[ cent bills]: China has cents in bills called jiao

*[Guoshu]: Guo here means country and shu means technique

*[ 190 centimeters]: Over 6ft tall

*[Lake Cui]: Cui Hu, also means Green Lake

*[hundred dyuan bills]: 100yuan is their biggest bill

*[Daoist Fierce Tiger]: The author of this novel

*[Noodles]: made of wheat

*[Rice Noodles]: made of rice

*[Zhang Tian Tian]: Tian means sweet

*[Bajiquan]: Also known as Eight Extremities Fist, but Bajiquan sounds nicer to me

*[Long Taos]: side characters in Chinese operas who perform acrobatics and fight scenes

*[12.47 to 13.07]: don't ask me about the tree sap