A Spirit Thief

"There are two major federations in Enzes Land: the Evil Federation and the Angelic Federation. These two major federations have been engaged in an ongoing war for several thousand years. Starting today, many new forces will join these two major federations and forever change the destiny of Enzes as written in the annals of history."

After a lengthy introduction, a palm-sized spirit with transparent wings flew next to Xiao Yu and floated around him. Xiao Yu was aware that this was the Spirit Guide for the game, one who was here to give information and help him should he need it.

"You will have 20 minutes to choose your federation and profession. Please tell me which federation you would like to join, after which I will tell you what your choices are."

After some thought, he said, "I choose the Evil Federation."

Xiao Yu didn't think he was a decent person and, therefore, unworthy of anything but an evil federation.

"The professions of the Evil Federation include being a soldier, dark wizard, black wizard, thief, poison wizard, shaman, mage, death knight, and a spirit wizard. The ethnic groups of the Evil Federation include the Orc tribe, Fiend Prison tribe, Spirit tribe, and Element tribe. Please tell me which one you want to choose."

All the players entered the game with their actual appearances. After they chose the tribes, they would have the features of the chosen tribes; the Orcs were usually big, tall and hairy; the Friend Prison tribe had bright red skin; the Spirit tribe had whitish skin. Additionally, various tribes also had their unique talents. For instance, Orcs were usually strong at birth and suited for the profession of a soldier, the Fiend Prison people were talented with fire and resisting demons, and the Spirit people were talented in recognizing spirits and carrying out the wills of the spirits.

"Please tell me which tribe is best suited for the profession of a thief," Xiao Yu said. Stealing required agility and high speed, something Xiao Yu thought suited him well. Of course, there were some other special reasons for it.

"Both the Spirit tribe and the Fiend Prison tribe are suited for thievery. The people in the Spirit tribe have power over the spirits and can effectively weaken the control other professions have over thieves, which is suitable for the thieves who choose to engage in battle. On the other hand, the thieves in the Fiend Prison tribe are good at magic, which is great for the thieves who choose to join teams," the Spirit Guide explained patiently.

"I choose to be a thief in the Spirit tribe then," said Xiao Yu after some consideration. If he joined a team, the winnings would be allocated by the squad leader, which meant that he couldn't resell them as he wished. That was not a good choice for a professional player. Though it was riskier to engage in battles alone, there would be more gains.

System: Do you confirm your choice of a thief in the Spirit tribe?

Yes!

System: You have chosen your profession as a thief in the Spirit tribe.

After creating his character, Xiao Yu took a look at his appearance. The outside of his body didn't change very much except that his pale skin seemed even paler. Seeing such an appearance, Xiao Yu felt relieved.

"At the very least, I'm not a skeleton," he thought.

Xiao Yu took a look at his attributes.

Xiao Yu:

Profession: A Spirit tribe thief

Level: 1

Basic features:

Health: 200

Attack: 50

Defense: 10

Strength: 10

Agility: 10

Mental ability: 10

Stamina: 100

Attributes of talents:

Level-1 Spirit Recognition: spirit friendliness +10

Level-1 Spirit Will: passive talent, reduces effectiveness after being controlled by magic by 20%.

Level-1 spirit suppression: innate skill, ignores the effect of fear within three seconds of using it, ignores all the effects of controlling magic within one second. It can't be used to dispel the effect of magic control over the body.

After waiting patiently for twenty minutes, Xiao Yu finally entered the game. He didn't encounter the sea of people that he had expected. This was probably because the players were still scattered in their respective birthplaces, so there were few of them in one place at the moment. He spotted some players in newbie clothing walking back and forth on the street.

Xiao Yu wore a regular piece of gray, cotton clothing. The clothes were rather plain and less than appealing, but it was better than wearing nothing.

System: You were born in Tabarka in Warsat City in the Spirit State of Dyak.

Warsat City was the second-largest city in the Spirit State of Dyak, while Tabarka was an inconspicuous, small town among hundreds of small towns within Warsat City.

Xiao Yu took a look at his surroundings. This was a small and rundown town, where a few dilapidated houses were scattered and on the verge of collapsing. Whenever a gust of wind kicked up in the town, yellowish sand would fill the air like misty smoke and fog, encasing the whole town. Looking out from the town, one could see an endless yellow desert.

A vast majority of the areas in the spirit State of Dyak were in the desert, lacking any kind of vegetation. However, the inhabitants of this state had survived in this patch of desert due to there being many cactuses.

This small town had nothing special, with the only exception being a black river flowing by it. This river flowed by the town and nourished its land while on its way to the endless desert. Some black fog would rise above the black river from time to time, drifting intermittently in the sky above the small town Tabarka.

Xiao Yu took a deep breath, and his body was permeated by a sliver of dark energy, invigorating him.

The water of this river came from the Black Holy Spring, which was the energy source of the Spirit tribe that nourished the whole of Dyak.

Twenty minutes after Xiao Yu had chosen his profession, the Spirit Guide introduced the history of Dyak to him. Dyak was a Spirit State, though, in actuality, the inhabitants of Dyak were not spirits themselves. They belonged to an ethnic group called the Spirit tribe. Several thousand years ago, like all the other tribes, the Spirit tribe had lived in a human country known as the Erathia Empire. Unfortunately, they were regarded by the humans in Erathia as a symbol of evil because they had daily contact with the spirits of the dead, and they were driven out of Erathia before ultimately arriving at this barren desert. The Spirit tribe had been fighting for hundreds of years to survive.

Having endured hundreds of years of struggle, the Spirit tribe couldn't fight it any more. Clarence, a wizard endowed with his ancestors' spirits, made use of secret spirit magic and magic items used to "suppress ghosts" to successfully control the Lord of Dyak, Gerrie Von Hart, who was sent by Erathia and the Dyak province of the Erathia Empire. The muddleheaded king of the Erathia Empire, Esend, had made the biggest mistake of his life—he had expelled all the warlocks.

The warlocks were engaged in a struggle against the Erathia Empire for hundreds of years. They established a free kingdom of Brakada in the northernmost part of Enzes Land, the former Brakada province of the Erathia Empire. Afterward, the spirit wizard, Sandro, found the tomb of St. Robert in the desert, the founding father of the Spirit tribe, and he dug out a holy spring in the tomb. The water of the Black Holy Spring had been flowing throughout Dyak ever since. The spirit wizard, Sandro, had also procured the rumored magic item, the "Ghost King's Conical Hat." This formidable magic item could help Sandro, who was already knowledgeable about summoning spirits, summon the powerful death wizards back to life. This made the Spirit tribe, once on the brink of extinction, powerful again.

After the founding of the free kingdom of Brakada, and after the Orc tribe and the Fiend Prison tribe had become powerful enough, various provinces of the Erathia Empire declared their independence, signaling the end of the empire. The Presbyterian Church of the Erathia Empire seized control of the empire and changed its name to the Erathia Human Kingdom. As a result, Enzes Land was divided into eight states, these being the Erathia Human Kingdom, the Free Kingdom of Brakada, the Marsh State of Beardes, the Dwarf State of Over, the Ghost State of Harmundell, the Spirit State of Dyak, the Orc State of Taitalia, and the Fiend Prison State of Klurod.

Of the eight states, the Spirit tribe had developed the fastest, and they also allied themselves with the Orc State of Taitalia and the Fiend Prison State of Klurod to form the powerful Evil Federation, contending for the reign of the world. In the meantime, the Erathia Human Kingdom allied themselves with the Ghost State of Harmundell and the Dwarf State of Over to form the Angelic Federation. Later, the Angelic federation gave up their discriminatory views and accepted the Free Kingdom of Brakada and the Marsh State of Beardes as members of the federation. As such, the main conflict in Enzes Land was between the Angelic Federation and the Evil Federation.

The two major federations held deep grudges against each other due to the ongoing war.

Xiao Yu chose the profession of a Spirit thief, meaning that he was a member of the Spirit tribe. From that day on, his fate was closely tied to that of this state.