Chapter Ten: A single coin can starve a good man

  Xiao Yu picked up the money that Desert Mantis had dropped, and Desert Mantis contributed 51 copper coins to Xiao Yu's purse, also exploding an equipment.

  Tattered Cloak: Defense 7-9, Cloth Armor.

  After wearing it, the defense can be increased by a few points. Looking at the experience value, it has reached 67% of level three. The initial upgrade is still quite fast, especially after killing the desert snake. The five-level desert snake has a higher level than Xiao Yu, with a certain amount of experience bonus, and the experience value is extremely high, equivalent to the total experience value of more than ten desert beetles.

  Xiao Yu suddenly discovered that the proficiency of his stealth and backstab skills had stopped increasing, it turned out that the skill proficiency was already full, it's time to go upgrade the skill level!

  Xiao Yu returned to the town of Tabak, and once again found that lecherous thief mentor Ode, who was sitting in a chair fast asleep.

  "Respected mentor, I have come to improve my skills." Xiao Yu said respectfully to the thief mentor Ode who was sitting on a chair. Xiao Yu did not believe that a thief mentor would be completely unguarded and asleep, even if he was asleep, he should have woken up when Xiao Yu entered.

  "Improve skills?" The thief mentor, Ode, suddenly opened his eyes and gave Xiao Yu a sharp glance. If he remembered correctly, this young man was just here learning skills in the morning.

  "Yes." Xiao Yu replied honestly, feeling as if his entire body had been scanned. What he didn't know was that this skill was the Thief's Detection skill, which could be learned after reaching a certain level.

  "Which skills do you want to improve?" The thief mentor Ode's eyes scanned Xiao Yu, and his unfocused gaze became sharp.

  "Sneak and backstab." Xiao Yu replied, looking at the expression of the thief master Ode, was there something wrong?

  "Backstab?" The thief master's eyes lit up, and he narrowed them suddenly, examining Xiao Yu before saying, "Upgrading Stealth requires thirty silver coins, upgrading Backstab requires five gold coins."

  "Hiss." Xiao Yu took a deep breath, upgrading Stealth required thirty silver coins, which was fine, but upgrading Reverse Backstab actually required five gold coins. This was simply robbery. However, after the initial shock, he calmed down and thought that Stealth was such a useful skill, upgrading it only cost thirty silver coins. On the other hand, Reverse Backstab required five gold coins. Upon careful consideration of its powerful killing ability, this skill was indeed worth the price. But where could Xiao Yu find so much money?

  "I don't have that much money, I'll upgrade my stealth skill first." Xiao Yu said with some regret, he only had a total of 63 silver coins in his pocket, which was not enough to upgrade his Backstab skill, so he could only upgrade his Stealth skill for now, and the Backstab skill would have to wait.

  "Young people, if you don't upgrade your skills in time, it will affect your future development." The thief mentor Ode said with a deep sigh.

  A hero will die of starvation for a single coin, what can one do, can't just go rob someone.

  Seemingly noticing Xiao Yu's embarrassment, the bandit instructor Ode smiled and said: "I can let you learn the Reverse Backstab skill for free first, but you have to complete two tasks for me."

  "What task?" Xiao Yu asked, his heart somewhat excited. He could learn the Reverse Backstab skill for free first, and this condition was too attractive to Xiao Yu.

  "Your first task is to gather Snake Fennel, and your second task is to find a lost item. The first task requires you to learn Basic Herbology, which can be completed at level 10 or below, but it also requires Stealth skill of level 3. I'll let you know when you're capable of doing the second task. In addition to five gold coins, I'll also give you some task rewards. Of course, you can choose to abandon the task, but if you do so halfway through, you'll have to pay a penalty of 500 gold coins. Will you accept?" Thief Master Ode smiled slyly at Xiao Yu.

  Xiao Yu thought for a moment, anyway, we're not afraid of those who wear shoes, gritted his teeth and went all out. First learn the skills, no matter what, if unable to complete the task in the future, just pay the penalty fee.

  "I am willing," Xiao Yu replied.

  System: You have accepted the Thief Mentor's quest.

  "Now that you've accepted the task, I'll help you improve your skills." The thief mentor Ode regained his calm expression and said, with the gleam in his eyes retracted, wearing a tattered grey robe, looking like an extremely ordinary old man.

  System: Your stealth skill has been upgraded by two levels.

  System: Your Reverse Grip Backstab skill has been upgraded by two levels.

  Xiao Yu looked at his own stealth skill, the stealth time of the stealth skill was increased from 20 seconds to 30 seconds, the cooldown time was reduced from 30 seconds to 25 seconds, and the concealment ability was also enhanced. The movement speed during stealth was also increased by 5%. As for the Backstab skill, the cooldown time was reduced from 30 seconds to 25 seconds, and the basic damage of the skill was increased from 20 points to 50 points, which is a significant increase in basic damage.

  Xiao Yu calculated the damage ability of the Reverse Backstab skill. If he could execute a perfect Reverse Backstab, Xiao Yu estimated that he could deal around 300 points of damage, enough to instantly kill a level 5 Desert Snake! However, Xiao Yu knew that he couldn't always execute a perfect Reverse Backstab and needed to practice repeatedly to gradually become proficient in using the skill. As long as he could complete it above 90%, the damage would be quite impressive.

  "Hurry up and improve your strength." The thief mentor, Ode, waved his hand and said, then resumed his lazy demeanor, continuing to lie in the chair with his eyes closed.

  "Thank you, Master." In front of the thieving master Ode, Xiao Yu's behavior was always proper and respectful. After all, these NPCs were intelligent and possessed wisdom no less than that of humans. Xiao Yu knew that showing respect was necessary.

  Xiao Yu left.

  Thief mentor Ode opened his eyes, narrowing them as he gazed at Xiao Yu's back, his pupils emitting a faint blue glow, seemingly muttering to himself: "To be able to raise the Reverse Backstab skill to level two in such a short amount of time is quite rare indeed."

  The growth of skill proficiency is calculated based on the completion degree of skills. For example, for skills like stealth, each successful sneak attack on a monster earns a certain amount of skill proficiency points. Once the skill proficiency reaches a certain level, the skill can be upgraded.

  Skills like Reverse Grip Backstab, Backstab, and Bone Rip have different rules. Each time you successfully use Reverse Grip Backstab to deal a certain amount of damage to a monster, you earn a certain number of skill proficiency points. Completing 90% of the skill earns two points, while completing 100% earns five points.

  If the skill completion degree is relatively high, the skill upgrade will be very fast. However, in reality, few players can cast skills, let alone complete them. They need to explore and learn skills bit by bit, and even require guidance from others to successfully cast them. Just like Xiao Yu, who has not yet mastered the backstab and bone-picking skills, his skill proficiency is still zero.

  Sneaking and backstabbing have been upgraded to level two, making it easier to kill monsters. The tight financial situation reminds Xiao Yu that he needs to make some money, otherwise he won't be able to afford the next skill upgrade.