Blue Maple tossed the Snow Pearl to the unknown Ice Wizard and left. The reason why he gave it to someone that he didn’t even know was a little strange.

The reason was because Blue Maple found the item useless, and he didn’t like to sell things. Keeping it would take up pack space, while throwing it away wasn’t right either, so he decided to just give it away. The reason why that particular Ice Wizard was chosen was because this was Blue Maple’s first time encountering an Ice Wizard, and the Ice Wizard had even attacked him.

Blue Maple found that a little interesting, but it wasn’t enough for him to give away his Snow Pearl. He knew that the Snow Pearl was an excellent item, except it was useless for him. The real reason why Blue Maple gave it away was because of the Ice Wizard’s apology. Blue Maple wouldn’t go after him if the Ice Wizard had hid himself in the crowd, because he didn’t care in the first place. The Ice Wizard actually came over to apologize, and no matter what his reason was, Blue Maple found his actions interesting. So he decided to give the useless item to the Ice Wizard, thinking of it as emptying some space in his backpack.

Blue Maple’s reasoning wasn’t very righteous or logical, but his personality was just like that.

The sun is actually very strong today, even though it’s clearly winter. Blue Maple braved the afternoon sun as he strolled along.

A Rank 1 Main City governed over a region equivalent to that of a nation. A Rank 2 Main City ruled over an area equivalent to a province, while a Rank 3 Main City ruled over an area equivalent to a city. A Town was just like a town, while a Village represented the suburbs. The entire game’s map was almost a hundred million square kilometers, more than enough to house three hundred million people.

The region Blue Maple was in, which was part of a Rank 2 Main City, was just like a province caught in spring all year round. It was winter in most other places, and snowing.

Blue Maple took out another beverage as he thought to himself, If only my drink were iced. The drink had ten cups in one stack, and he had at least three stacks. It was one of the reasons why he wanted to make space in his inventory…

Iced? Something came to Blue Maple’s mind. The Nine Heavens Mysterious Ice within his body was sealed and suppressed, but Blue Maple could still feel its presence inside his body, just like he could the Heavenly Fire. Why couldn’t he release a single thread of cold energy from it? Heavenly Fire was very versatile, so his Nine Heavens Mysterious Ice should probably be the same.

Blue Maple attempted to channel and control his Nine Heavens Mysterious Ice as his thoughts stopped there, and the drink in his hands immediately turned into an ice cube…

That might have been overkill…

Forget it. Heavenly Fire can melt it to a perfect degree, and I can control Heavenly Fire’s temperature easily.

And so, Blue Maple continued drinking his iced beverage casually as he proceeded toward the Teleportation Portal.

How long is this fellow going to follow me before making a move? Blue Maple thought about the Thief who had been trailing him since the Mercenary Union while he sipped on his iced drink.

---

The Thief had no idea that he had been discovered, and continued hiding himself as he followed behind Blue Maple wretchedly.

Why does this guy like to drink so much? I’ll be damned if I end up stealing a whole bunch of beverages from his backpack. The Thief was more like a pickpocket, but he was probably going to miss this time.

The two of them, one in front of the other, were about to reach the Teleportation Portal when the Thief began closing in on Blue Maple.

Blue Maple only knew that somebody was following him, but he didn’t know exactly where that person was. He was still wondering when that fellow would make his move on him, and truthfully, he was very curious about how the fellow stole things in the game world.

The Thief was starting to close in upon Blue Maple in this moment, and he was following right beside him. Blue Maple didn't realize anything at all! The Thief seemed to be using some special skill, and even his footsteps, breathing, and heartbeat were completely masked. He was a terrifying individual! It was hard to imagine if a person like that went into the assassination business.

However, Blue Maple probably wouldn’t need the game’s predetermined senses to feel his presence if he was here with the intent to kill.

The Thief’s hand was already reaching out to Blue Maple. Furthermore, he had received an announcement from the game system.

Ding! Game Announcement: You are starting to use Steal against another player. You will obtain a random item inside that player’s backpack.

Blue fire started burning on Blue Maple’s body at that moment, but the blue flames weren’t very visible under the intense sunlight.

Ding! Game Announcement: Another player is targeting your backpack with Steal, and has been stopped by Heavenly Fire’s defensive capabilities.

Wow, Heavenly Fire is useful even for that? That makes sense, though. My backpack has been enlarged by my Heavenly Fire’s law of space, so it should be able to detect any thieving, Blue Maple thought to himself with mild surprise.

Blue Maple’s Heavenly Fire retaliated mildly against the Thief, and the Thief ended up standing awkwardly and in shock behind Blue Maple as Blue Maple slowly turned around.

“Hey, uh, good afternoon, brother. Ahaha…” the Thief chuckled awkwardly as Blue Maple turned to face him.

“Ahem, I’m just trying to say hello. There’s still something that I must do, so I’m going to take my leave. Bye!” Blue Maple was still sipping on his iced drink and staring at the Thief, so he figured that he should run before Blue Maple launched an offensive.

“Aiyo, why are you so hasty to leave, Shi Lei?” Blue Maple called outas he watched the Thief turn to leave.

The Thief immediately stopped in his tracks, and his body froze.

“Ah, you guessed my name in real life from my in-game name. Very impressive, ahaha…” The Thief turned back and continued laughing awkwardly as he responded. However, his expression became a little unnatural, like he was worried about something.

[Four Stones] (Level 33 Thief). Four stones, so Shi Lei!

(Translator’s Note: Shi Lei is translated from four characters that mean “stone” in Mandarin.)

“Oh, let me call you something else, then.” Blue Maple paused for a few moments.

“Are you going to leave just like that because you have failed to steal something? The Legendary Thief, Little Stone.” Blue Maple gazed at Four Stones deeply. Blue Maple’s expression rarely ever changed.

Blue Maple couldn’t help it. He wanted to laugh when he thought about this bastard’s attempt to steal a nuclear warhead some time ago.

The Legendary Thief, Little Stone, frequently stole valuable treasures from every corner of the world. In his youth, he would pickpocket wallets off the streets, and would infiltrate military spaceships in his teens. There wasn’t anything in the world that he didn’t dare steal. He had visited almost every country in similar fashion, and his every robbery or heist was either remarkably hard to investigate, nobody knew how he had managed it at all, or he just got away incredibly quickly. Every nation’s citizens who had their things stolen hated him to the core, but there was nothing they could do to catch him because there were too many other things to consider.

This fellow attempted to steal a nuclear warhead before, and somehow managed to infiltrate the army camp which had housed the warhead. He made off with one of the military spaceships in the hangar, and disassembled the warhead’s long-range remote-control mechanism before escaping with the warhead in tow. He even blew up all the fastest ships in that camp before he left, and the military couldn’t catch him in time.

The country in question pursued him mercilessly, and at all costs. Little Stone had a great time escaping. Other countries also discovered that he had stolen a nuclear warhead and was running away with it, and every country grew nervous when he flew over their airspaces. It was the key reason the various countries didn’t dare use long-range tracking missiles to blow him up. They didn’t dare cause a nuclear explosion over their own airspace, while no other country would agree to volunteer their own.

Little Stone’s stolen spaceship ran out of fuel, and he casually patronized a commercial spaceship company to refuel. No company dared to refuse him, because disaster and tragedy would strike if he suddenly decided to blow himself up with everyone else.

This bastard flew over every single country in the entire mainland just like that, and the only thing he didn’t do was cross the ocean to other continents for a spin. He didn’t dare cross the ocean because he would definitely be shot down by some long-range missile if he tried.

This fellow was chased so hard that he eventually ran out of choices. Every single country had their eyes upon him, and he had nowhere to hide. They had no choice but to watch him closely, because things would truly hit the fan if he decided to stop somewhere and “accidentally” blow himself up.

Therefore, he decided to go back in the end, and… and this bastard parked the spaceship out in the open in front of the country’s presidential palace in their capital city. He requested a spaceship that was even faster than his current one, and with better cloaking capabilities, or he would detonate the nuclear warhead otherwise. Little Stone told them before he left that he had attached a time bomb to the warhead, and the government could slowly take it apart by themselves. He also told them that he could detonate the warhead remotely and warned them not to pursue him. The entire country was mortified.

In the end, they discovered there was only an alarm clock on a timer attached to the warhead, and Little Stone was nowhere to be seen…

Finally, every country’s high-level officials, the world of assassins, and the world of mercenaries all knew about this bastard’s existence. This bastard had such great fun with all the havoc that he had wreaked back then that they had no choice but to remember his name.

“Uh, who are you?” Four Stones asked carefully.

Four Stones was known as the Legendary Thief, and naturally had to know every country’s high-level officials, about the world of assassins, the world of mercenaries, and even about the senior figures in bodyguard companies, family clans, and whatnot. Otherwise, he definitely wouldn’t wake up to see the sun the next day whenever he went to bed.

However, he didn’t recognize this fellow before him at all. Of course, he didn’t know who Sura was, also known as Crippled Feather, because he wouldn’t have dared to target Blue Maple even if he had grown a few more pairs otherwise.

“Why don’t you have the attitude and demeanor of someone who stole a nuclear bomb?” Blue Maple glanced at Four Stones doubtfully.

Four Stones replied awkwardly, “Ahem, let’s not talk about that terrible episode. I was chased all around the world, so there’s no attitude or whatever to come with it.”

I guess so. Time to go. Blue Maple didn’t want to chat idly any longer. He found this fellow interesting, so he decided to stick around for a few sentences. He was only at a Rank 3 Main City, and he had already met two large families and two legendary figures.

Did the game world become smaller compared to the real world?

Four Stones wanted to stop Blue Maple, but realized that there was no reason to do so. He was caught red-handed trying to steal something from him, after all. Could he ask him why Blue Maple knew who he was, when he didn’t know who Blue Maple was? He would have to have a stroke to ask that question. He would be in serious trouble if he provoked someone who he couldn’t afford to provoke with a stupid question.

“Oh, yes.” Blue Maple suddenly stopped in his tracks after taking a few steps. “If you see Sura, help me tell him that if he is a little stronger the next time we meet, I might be able to give him something really good.” Four Stones didn’t understand what Blue Maple had just said, but he had already disappeared from sight.

Sura? That sounds like that young and formidable assassin… Four Stones worked hard to recall as his expression gradually turned to one of fear and surprise.

“Crippled Feather is Sura!” Four Stones was terrified.

Something must be wrong with me. I decided to steal from someone that not even Sura could defeat!, Four Stones thought about this after recalling the video of that duel.

Fuck. Fortunately, he doesn’t seem to care. Otherwise, I might even have to shift my location in the real world. It is very risky to change my hiding location. Whew, whew. That was terrifying. Four Stones felt immensely relieved and fortunate. How afraid was he of people like that?

I have yet to complete my work and my legacy. How could I just throw my life away like that? Damn, I have to be more careful when I steal things next time. There was no need to explain what Four Stones had in mind when he spoke about his work and his legacy.

I think I’ll head back to the Mercenary Union to steal from some other people. There’s so many people to steal from there… but they are starting to realize what’s going on. Why don’t I go to another city? Four Stones seemed to make up his mind about something, like he had forgotten about what just transpired. His mindset was great, and he was the Legendary Thief, after all…