Ascendance: The Rebirth Of The Unknown Gamer

Aura had a few other tasks to see to on his way back, the first being to pick up some clone fruit and also grab some lifewood.

Lifewood was a moderately rare tree that promoted growth and good health, and grew in places with high concentrations of life and nature energy. It was commonly used in potionmaker's tools and healers' staves due to the effects it has on healing and the body in general.

Aura wanted it to be the main material for Fiona's prosthetic, because he had once read a novel about a boy with a false arm made from a living tree, and he grew plants and raised insects in it.

Aura wanted to do the same, and lifewood was the best choice.

Fortunately, every major city has a lifewood tree farm due to its many uses, so getting your hands on it was pretty easy, just expensive. Aura didn't have a lot of money right now, so he planned to steal it.

Crimes in Ascendance were pretty much the same as in real life, so long as nobody caught you, you were fine, but the system put some harsh penalties on those who commited serious crimes or repeat offenders.

Penalties could even include f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y removing a player's class and levels, and making it so that they could only choose criminal classes, so most people who committed crimes made sure to be careful.

'Why would they not commit crimes? It's just a game.'

That's what some people thought until they learned what it meant to be caught as a criminal.

They could be put into slavery without access to the system's mercy.

An extremely painful punishment, complete loss of your free will, with no system protections. Your only choice is to log out until your sentence is over.

However the rewards for crimes are just as high as the risks, with some players intentionally trying to reach the end of the achievement path, starting small and working their way up until they can reach the peaks of crime, never having to lift a finger again.

A successful criminal is also known as a merchant, because they rip you off and make bank doing so, ignoring the law when profit is involved.

The lifewood farms were mostly unguarded at night, so all that really needed doing was to sneak in, chop down a few trees and get out of there. The guards would never investigate a few missing trees, since it happens all the time.

But Aura liked to do things properly, and leaving anything in the farm would be a waste of good materials, so when Aura reached the next major city on his path home, he picked up a mask and some dark clothing and prepared for an unnecessarily dramatic tree heist.

He even put on some classic Mission Impossible music, preparing himself mentally for this extremely important tree thievery.

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Nighttime, Some Random City In Warrick (Not its real name)

Aura was dressed in all black, wearing a silver mask in the shape of a cat, standing on top of a building overlooking the tree farm.

He was armed to the teeth, because it seemed like you always had to have at leasy forty knives on you when you broke into a facility to steal something.

He used Sky Steps to get over the fence, and salamander-climbed down, making sure not to make too much noise, then once he reached the bottom, he wrapped a line of mithril thread around the base of the tree and cast a constrict spell, cleanly slicing through the wood without making a noise.

Then, before the tree fell, he stored it in his Item Box, repeating the process until the farm was empty, before heading to the on-site warhouse to steal everything there too.

Once he stepped out of the facility, immediately recieving a notification from the system.

'Achievement tree unlocked: Criminal'

'Achievement unlocked: Thief'

'Class unlocked: Thief'