The entire morning, William Carter spent all his time practicing Stealth. He checked the level rankings—the highest level in the Evil Alliance was already level three, and would probably reach level four soon. William Carter's experience was still only at 96% of level one. If he wanted to be a professional player, how could he make money from the game if he couldn't even keep up with other players in terms of level?

Yet William Carter continued to patiently train his Stealth skill. Maybe it was a matter of practice making perfect, but gradually, William Carter finally started to figure out the rhythm of Stealth, especially the transition in movement when entering Stealth from a normal state.

William Carter had a very strong muscle memory. The first time he successfully performed the Stealth skill, his body memorized the feeling. Then, after training the skill over and over again for nearly another hour, he kept adapting to the rhythm of Stealth and the transition when entering Stealth.

The feeling was subtle. William Carter knew that, given a bit more time, he would be able to fully master the Stealth skill.

In the endless yellow sands, William Carter spotted another sandworm. He slowly approached it, and when he was about ten yards away, he entered Stealth and crept around to the sandworm's back.

Ambush!

The cold gleam of the dagger stabbed fiercely at the back of the sandworm's head, piercing smoothly into its soft flesh.

"Success!" The Ambush and Sap skills weren't particularly difficult; as long as you targeted the enemy's weak spot and attacked directly, it would work. However, this was the first time William Carter had successfully chained Stealth and Ambush together, and he felt a strong sense of accomplishment.

The sandworm was stunned.

A level one Ambush could only stun the sandworm for three seconds. Taking advantage of this, William Carter gripped his dagger and struck several times, leaving the sandworm with only 30% of its health. When the sandworm turned around, William Carter engaged it in close combat and quickly finished it off. Checking his own health, he still had 78% left.

All in all, it was a fairly successful battle—not as messy as before. After a short rest, he could continue fighting.

Ding-dong! The system finally played the first level-up sound. William Carter checked his status and, without hesitation, allocated his attribute point to Agility.

Agility is the most important stat for a rogue. Increasing Agility boosts a rogue's defense, critical hit rate, attack power, and dodge chance. High-Agility rogues are highly sought after.

William Carter wanted to become a pure high-Agility rogue, which was also the stat allocation most rogues chose.

William Carter picked up the copper coins on the ground. After killing this sandworm, he hadn't lost much health, so his rest time was greatly reduced. This way, his leveling efficiency improved, and his safety while fighting monsters also increased. After gradually mastering the rhythm of Stealth, William Carter no longer had to panic and run away when encountering two sandworms. He would Stealth behind them, use Sap to stun one for seven seconds, then Ambush the other, taking them down one by one.

The difference between Sap and Ambush was that Sap had a longer stun duration, but the target would wake up if attacked, while Ambush had a shorter stun, but the target wouldn't wake up when attacked.

Aside from Stealth, Sap, and Ambush, William Carter still knew nothing about the other skills and had to keep experimenting. But with Stealth, he was getting the hang of it. Although he still made mistakes, as long as he was careful, he could successfully perform the skill.

Chapter 7: Reverse Backstab

After easily killing another sandworm, a piece of equipment dropped on the ground. William Carter picked it up—it was a pair of cloth shoes.

Worn Cloth Shoes: Defense 3–5, Speed +1, Cloth Armor, Level Requirement 1.

All footwear increases speed; +1 speed was the lowest, and the defense on these cloth shoes wasn't very high either. Still, better than nothing—better than going barefoot. William Carter put the cloth shoes on.

Now at level two, if he kept grinding sandworms, leveling up would be slow. William Carter headed deeper into the desert, where higher-level monsters could be found.

Deeper in the desert, some desert beetles spawned nearby. They were level two monsters and could use a Charge skill, but William Carter could handle them. However, desert beetles were often accompanied by desert manticores, which were level five monsters and quite a threat, so he had to be careful while leveling.

William Carter browsed his skill list, looking at Reverse Backstab, Backstab, and Eviscerate, feeling a bit of a headache. How exactly were these three skills supposed to be used?

Spotting a sandworm, William Carter used Stealth to slowly approach a desert beetle. An Ambush stunned the beetle, and he thrust his dagger forward, attacking the beetle repeatedly.

Backstab!

William Carter used the Backstab skill on the desert beetle, but when his dagger touched the beetle's back, he couldn't break through its defense.

Backstab failed!

Might as well just use normal attacks, William Carter thought in frustration.

Of the three skills—Backstab, Reverse Backstab, and Eviscerate—William Carter hadn't managed to successfully use any of them yet. But even if he couldn't, he had to keep trying. These were basic rogue skills; he couldn't just never learn them.

When the desert beetle woke up, it had only about 50% of its health left. It charged at William Carter in a rage.