The Hiding Skill

"This is the reward for completing the task. In addition, I can give you a vial of adder's tongue poison." Thief Teacher Ode handed Xiao Yu a quaint book. After that, Ode fumbled in his bag for a while and found a vial of red-colored medicine.

Xiao Yu took the book and found its cover was a bit frayed, indicating it was an old book. A line of words was written on the cover:

Thief Skill Book: The Hiding Skill.

"A skill book?" exclaimed Xiao Yu. He didn't expect to obtain a skill book as a reward. As a rule, he should be able to learn these skills from Thief Teacher Ode, so why did he need a skill book?

"Yeah, it's the level-30 hiding skill," replied Ode. Seeing the puzzled expression on Xiao Yu's face, he explained, "By the time you reach level 30, you'll be able to learn the hiding skill from me with some gold coins. However, if you have this skill book, you'll be able to learn it right now and not be restricted by your current level."

Xiao Yu suddenly understood the value of this skill book. The hiding skill was a very useful technique for thieves; they could hide themselves during a fight using this. Thieves were lethal one second after they hid, and they could withstand any magic attack or physical strike in such a state. The hiding skill could also reinforce the effect of stealth travel, making it even harder for thieves to be discovered by their foes. But there was a drawback with the hiding skill—one's traveling speed would decrease as a consequence. Hence, there was a limitation in using the hiding skill. This skill was better used during one-on-one combat or when the foes had a poor ability to discover a thief's stealth state.

Thinking that he could learn the hiding skill, a high-level thievery skill when he was still such a low level, Xiao Yu couldn't help but feel excited.

There were two reasons why thieves were considered the kings of the wild field: First of all, thieves had powerful controlling abilities; a powerful thief could control their enemies long enough until they were dead. Secondly, thieves were good at escaping. They could use all kinds of escaping skills, like the windy steps, the hiding skill and the disappearing skill, which could help them gain an advantage in a fight. They could either fight against their opponents if they thought they had a chance of winning or escape if they thought they had no chance of winning the battle. It was almost impossible for their opponents to harm them when thieves used the hiding and escaping skills.

As far as one-on-one combat was concerned, thieves might not be as strong as professional hunters and soldiers, but as for the ability to survive in the wild field, thieves were the best. This was determined by their profession.

A flash of white light appeared in his palm. Xiao Yu took a look at the skill panel and found it had the hiding skill on it already.

"Level 7, with 86% experience," remarked Ode. "In fact, if you completed this task when you were level 5 or 6, you would have been able to get a better reward." Seeing the ecstatic expression on Xiao Yu's face, Thief Teacher Ode felt like he had to say something to calm down his exhilaration.

"Level 5 or level 6?" Xiao Yu was a bit startled. Could anyone even complete the task at level 5 or 6? That was indeed a bizarre task.

"When you complete the task at level 7, your reward is the level-30 hiding skill. However, if you completed it at level 6, your reward would be the level-50 disappearing skill. And if you completed it at level 5, you would get an epic skill. Of course, if you died while carrying out the task, you would be considered to have failed the task. It is impossible for you to lower your level by dying on purpose," said Thief Teacher Ode.

"An epic skill?" Xiao Yu wondered what an epic skill would be. After thinking over the process of completing the task, Xiao Yu believed that he would have no chance to complete the task when he was at level 5. How many rewards one earned should depend on how much ability one had. He found it fortunate that he could complete the task in the first place. As for the epic skill, he didn't even dare to think about it.

"Those players who have the opportunity and ability should go ahead and win it then," he thought.

Xiao Yu let out a small smile as he recalled the saying, "The content ones are always happy." He took the vial of medicine from Thief Teacher Ode and said, "Thank you for the reward, but I'd like to know what use this thing has." Xiao Yu shook the vial of medicine in his hand slightly. The red liquid medicine in the vial was crystal clear and looked like a colorful grape wine.

Thief Teacher Ode was somewhat surprised when he saw the calm expression on Xiao Yu's face. It was quite extraordinary that this young man could behave so calmly after he heard of this epic skill. After taking a glance at the vial of medicine in Xiao Yu's hand, Ode said, "That's a poison made from adder's tongue, a lethal poison. A dagger smeared with it can cause five points of damage for each second, and it lasts for one minute, but the poison in one vial can only be used five times."

It turned out to be such a useful poison. After taking a look at the vial of medicine in his hand, Xiao Yu put the poison vial away, thinking that the poison might play an important role later on down the line.

That act of thieves smearing poison on their daggers had a long history. Regardless of whether it was lethal poison or speed reduction poison, both were rather useful in combat. Lethal poison could accumulate damage points, while speed reduction poison could reduce the traveling speed of opponents. This could come in handy during combat. It was why so many thieves opted to learn mystical pharmacology as their vocational skill.

He wouldn't be able to accept the next task until he was at level 15. Xiao Yu bade farewell to Thief Teacher Ode.

While walking around wearing five green-level items of equipment on the street, the glimmering from the greenish items on Xiao Yu's body attracted the attention of many players. Seeing the items, these players were flabbergasted.

"Is he the boss of a large team?"

"It's hard to say. It doesn't seem like any large teams have come to the small town of Tabarka recently."

Xiao Yu couldn't help letting out a bitter smile when he heard such discussions. His adornments were truly a bit too conspicuous, while all the other players were mostly short of equipment. As a professional player, one had to ensure they were strong as well as well-equipped. So far, his idea of becoming a professional player looked rather promising.

It was still early, so Xiao Yu thought he should keep on trying to level up. Passing through the streets in Tabarka, his attention was drawn by the crowds of people up ahead.

There was an ancient building made of stones on the outskirts of the small town. Xiao Yu had never paid any attention to what this building was for, but his curiosity was piqued when he saw so many players gathered there.

"What are they doing there?" Xiao Yu wondered. He walked over and saw a board hanging by the gate. "It turns this is the trade union for the mercenaries. I thought there was no trade union for mercenaries in Tabarka," he murmured to himself.