Chapter 5

Nicholas, a thief from the Thieves' Guild of Baldur's Gate.

But in reality, he worked as a broker, collecting stolen goods and facilitating underground transactions. He also helped guild members find "jobs," taking a cut from the deals. Nicholas had a wide network of contacts, even within the "Flame Fist," where he knew several minor officials and could easily get a thief out of prison.

"Knock, knock," he gently tapped on the attic window.

After a while, Lu Yuan, with sleepy eyes, opened the window, "Damn it, can't you come in through the door?"

"That depends on your landlord," Nicholas nimbly jumped in, glanced outside, and closed the window when he saw no one on the street.

"Ha, look at your head, how many times has this happened? Brother, you need to take care of yourself."

"Cut it out, Nicholas. If you could come in at a normal time through the normal door, I'd live much longer!" Lu Yuan said as he started to remove the bandages from his head. The potion really worked; the external injuries were completely healed.

"Wait a moment." Lu Yuan went to fetch water to wash up.

Nicholas sat on the chair where William had sat yesterday, his eyes scanning the roof, under the bed, and other places where things could be hidden.

When Lu Yuan returned, he laughed at Nicholas's appearance, "Stop looking, they're here this time."

He then took the pillow from the bed and opened it, revealing over a dozen bottles of potions. Of the two healing potions William had brought yesterday, only one had been used, and the other was still there.

"These are regular potions, these are slightly less effective, and the rest can be used as poisons." Lu Yuan placed the potions on the table, dividing them into three piles. Some of these potions he had stolen with his dexterous hands, and some were "defective." But in the Thieves' Guild, these items all had value, such as using poisons for assassinations and defective items to swindle unsuspecting victims, though that wasn't Lu Yuan's concern.

He was just one of the "supply channels" for the Thieves' Guild, and a low-level one at that.

"300 gold." Nicholas said after looking them over.

Lu Yuan directly moved the four bottles of regular potions to the side, "Deal! 300 gold for these!"

"No, 400 gold! A fair price! No more."

Lu Yuan picked up the potion William had brought, "This one alone costs 300 gold on the market... see, I'm growing."

...

After some more haggling, all the potions were sold for 950 gold. Being a mage's apprentice didn't come with free room and board, and selling alchemical products was his only source of income.

"Hey, Nick, are we brothers?" Lu Yuan asked casually after the transaction.

"Shit, if you mention raising the price again, we'll be enemies!"

"Go to hell, I'm serious."

"Depends. What do you need? I'll charge you less if I can help."

"I've decided to be your enemy."

"Shit! Alright, you're the boss. Speak, this time it's free."

"Hey, brother! Welcome back!" Lu Yuan said exaggeratedly.

"Hurry up," Nicholas said, displeased, glancing outside, "It's almost dawn, I need to leave quickly."

"Nick, I heard the Thieves' Guild has some good stuff for sale. Can you introduce me?"

"Go to the guild?" Nicholas looked troubled. Bringing outsiders into the guild was a hassle, but not impossible. He thought for a moment; this kid had made at least 5000 gold from him, and he didn't seem like a spender. He must have saved a lot, a big fat target! He'd go back and discuss it with Black Lily; they could recover most of their costs from the past few months.

"Deal! Don't sleep tonight, wait for me to find you!"

He then opened the window, and with a few silent leaps, disappeared into the distant alley.

Lu Yuan looked enviously, closed the window, and got back to his business.

*******************************

He locked the door, making it look like no one was home, so the other apprentices would leave.

After checking again to ensure no one was watching, he softly said, "System"...

Yes, he was no longer sure if he was from this world. Just as the transaction was completed, a line of text suddenly appeared before his eyes: "Appraisal +1"!

At that moment, he almost shouted out loud, but Nicholas seemed completely oblivious, just packing up the potions. The memories from his dreams surged back, and it felt like he suddenly understood many things. Maybe those weren't dreams, maybe this was the dream, maybe it was a穿越 (穿越 means "穿越" in Chinese, which can be translated as "time travel" or "dimensional travel"), or maybe it was something else, he didn't care!

What he knew was that he finally had the capital to stand on his own! The capital to escape the role of a bait! The capital to become a powerful person!

He finally confirmed that this was the world he remembered, called "Baldur's Gate," the same name as the city, and the game that described the events happening in this city.

The evil god Bhaal, with high divine power, had long ago prophesied his own downfall. Therefore, with the support of his temple, he began to plan his resurrection. To this end, he widely sowed his seed among the various races of the main plane, from dragons, elves, and humans to goblins and dogheads, leaving a large number of offspring in the main plane.

As these offspring grew, they would be influenced by Bhaal's blood and gradually lean towards the dark side, accumulating violent and dark experiences throughout their lives. These offspring would bring slaughter and darkness to every corner of Faerûn, secretly nurturing Bhaal's bloodline. They would wage war and plot against each other, and the survivors would inherit the deceased's power. When all of Bhaal's divine power was concentrated in one offspring, Bhaal could be resurrected with the help of his priests, returning to his divine throne.

Ryther, a major merchant in Baldur's Gate and a member of the Iron Throne Commercial League, submitted his plan to the Iron Throne Council after the Kingdom of Cormyr imposed a ban on Iron Throne merchants. The plan was to pollute the iron ore in Nashkel under the name of the Zhentarim and secretly mine new iron ore in the Cloakwood. When the iron ore crisis hit, the Iron Throne Commercial League would monopolize the iron ore and weapon trade north of Baldur's Gate.

His son, Shar-Thalos, one of Bhaal's offspring, was responsible for the Iron Throne's plans in the Sword Coast. What Ryther didn't know was that Shar-Thalos, upon reaching adulthood, learned in his dreams that he was Bhaal's son. He read Alando's prophecy at Candlekeep and, after contacting Bhaal's church, confirmed that Bhaal's offspring would ascend to the throne of divinity through slaughter. So he began to use Ryther's plan to orchestrate a massacre, involving Baldur's Gate, Amn, and other forces, planning a slaughter that would be impressive even from a god's perspective.

At the same time, the protagonist of the story, Chane, the adopted son of the mage and Candlekeep monk Garius, was also one of Bhaal's offspring. After Garius's death, he would gather a group of adventurers to uncover the truth behind the pollution in Nashkel, overthrow the bandit camp, flood the Cloakwood iron mine, and foil the plot to assassinate the Duke. Finally, the two offspring of Bhaal would have a life-and-death battle in Bhaal's temple!

He knew that Nicholas would give Bhaal's son Chane a task in the future, ultimately involving the entire Thieves' Guild in the upper echelons of Baldur's Gate; he knew that his cousin William would die in an encounter, contributing a mage's robe and a large amount of experience to Chane; he knew that William's teacher, Lamasius, would have a falling out with another archmage over a sprite; and he knew that the Iron Throne would launch a rebellion that would shake the upper echelons of Baldur's Gate.

Of course, if these things only gave him some opportunities, then the thing called a "golden finger" could completely change his life.

"Panel? Attributes? Information?..."

Ten minutes later, Lu Yuan lay weakly on the bed, "War? Peace? Love? Marriage? Family..."

Half an hour later, the completely out of words Lu Yuan looked up at the sky in silence.

"I remember, the final moment was playing a game..."

"Baldur's Gate?"

A holographic screen appeared before him!

Information rolled like a waterfall.

—————————————————

System self-check...

QWDD#@$$#T%GFG%^SDFSRGYFERFJ￥...

System damaged...

Searching for matching rules...

Match successful...

Generation starting...

...

...

[System initialization complete, activate?]

Lu Yuan was about to say "yes" when the system activated. Either it was mind-controlled or it was broken... Lu Yuan muttered, waiting for the surprise to come.

———————————————————————

Name: Lu Yuan

Age: 15

Gender: Male

Build: Medium

Race: Human (Humans are a common race with strong adaptability. While this race has many powerful subraces, you are clearly not one of them.)

Racial Traits: Quick to Learn, gain an additional feat at first level; Skilled, gain an additional 4 skill points at first level and 1 additional skill point per level thereafter.

Background: Mage's Apprentice (You spent a lot of time and labor to gain a little knowledge from your mentor. Meanwhile, the injuries accumulated during your apprenticeship will ultimately affect your life.)

[+1 Spellcraft, +1 Knowledge (Arcana), +1 Alchemy, -1 Fortitude save, -1 Perception]

Class: Commoner (If the system wasn't damaged, it should have said "Peasant" here, but that entry is gone.)

Character Attributes:

Strength: 15 (Your strength has been well-exercised from beating up kids)

Dexterity: 19 (Starting to steal at age four, I doubt any great thief had such a glorious childhood, but your attributes... are you sure your father isn't Liu Xiang Chu?)

Constitution: 17 (The blacksmith gave you a good body, and the mage almost ruined it. What are you waiting for? Join the world of muscles and philosophy!)

Intelligence: 18+5 (Otherworldly Knowledge: +5 Intelligence, you possess a vast amount of non-magical world knowledge and twenty years of education. This education, which you once called "cramming," now gives you significant bonuses in logic, philosophy, physics, chemistry, and mathematics.)

Wisdom: 14 (You're not blind, you're stronger, slightly... maybe... who knows)

Charisma: 14 (Find a normal woman, the NTR probability is lower, see... below 90%.)

Hit Points: 6/7 (Waste! Waste! Waste!)

Skills:

Strength-related (+2): None

Dexterity-related (+4): None

Constitution-related (+3): Concentration 3, Survival 1

Intelligence-related (+6): Spellcraft 2, Alchemy 5, Craft (Calligraphy 1, Smithing 8, Stonecarving 1), Knowledge (Arcana 3, Geography 1, History 1, Planes 5, Religion 1), Appraisal 2

Wisdom-related (+2): Heal 1

Charisma-related (+2): Diplomacy 2

Remaining Points: 0

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That's it! That's it! Lu Yuan jumped around happily!

A crazy system, god-like attributes!

These attributes were far from as bad as the system described! The average attributes for ordinary people ranged from 9 to 12, with some reaching 13 or 14 and others as low as 7 or 8. Most commoners were like this. Through rigorous training, professionals could bring their main attributes to around 18 and their secondary attributes to around 16, with other attributes slightly better than ordinary people.

As for the "mere" 14 points of Charisma, Lu Yuan splashed some water on his face and observed it. Although it looked similar to his original face, Lu Yuan felt it was a bit more handsome. It seems his original face wasn't that great, Lu Yuan thought, sweating.

If the attributes just confirmed his own qualities, then the skill bonuses after the system activated brought about a revolutionary change! For example, his original 5th-level Alchemy skill, after a +6 Intelligence bonus, became an 11th-level skill! A book symbol appeared after the skill, and when he clicked it, a wealth of knowledge about potion-making, scroll-copying, wand-making, and more flooded his mind. The depth and accuracy of this knowledge far exceeded what he had learned in three years at the magic shop. He also discovered that most of the knowledge he had worked hard to learn over the years was either wrong or harmful to the maker, which sent a chill down his spine!

The "Smithing" skill, after the bonus, gave him knowledge of ore identification, metal forging, and many crafting techniques and alloy formulas.

There were also skills with no practical use, like the "Survival" skill, which gave him a comprehensive guide to the flora and fauna of the Sword Coast, detailing which plants were edible, but not covering any actual survival skills. In short, the knowledge gained from the significant skill bonuses was random, with both good and bad aspects.

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