The guide written by Phantom Hand was extremely detailed, spanning thousands of words, but Lin Yu finished reading it quickly.
He didn't actually need to complete the promotion as a Thief - he just needed to understand what a Thief's promotion generally looked like so he could fabricate a convincing story without revealing flaws.
Just as Lin Yu had guessed, the Thief's promotion mission involved stealing.
Moreover, unlike the Fraudster's Unique Class which had two promotion paths, the Thief only had one.
Typically, it required stealing a specific valuable "item" from a dungeon!
Phantom Hand had passed his Promotion Trial on the second attempt. His first trial had opened the ninth dungeon - a museum scenario where the objective was to steal any exhibit valued over 50 million and keep it until the dungeon ended without being retrieved.
It sounded simple enough, but after witnessing a security-uniformed monster punch a Soldier player to death, Phantom Hand abandoned most of his plans.
After scouting the museum, he discovered exhibits worth over 50 million were inherently dangerous - either a pharaoh's cursed sarcophagus or a vampire's mask that would summon something terrible when taken. So he decided to postpone and focus on clearing the dungeon normally.
His second Promotion Trial came ten dungeons later.
After some effort befriending the ship's mermaids and ghost NPCs to gain their trust, Phantom Hand secretly stole the [Mermaid Pearl] and kept it until the dungeon ended.
With Phantom Hand's two experiences as reference, Lin Yu considered he could fabricate a plausible Thief promotion story now.
Of course, the most important part was...
The [Class Item] obtained after reaching First-Tier as a Thief.
According to Phantom Hand's guide, Thieves could choose between two [Class Items]: [Wonder Pouch] or [Swift Blade].
The [Wonder Pouch] granted additional skill uses - increasing the once-per-24-hours limit to three times.
The [Swift Blade] was more straightforward - allowing Thieves to inflict sharp weapon damage when using their class ability.
With perfect timing, it could even deliver a lethal strike to vital points.
[Wonder Pouch] typically manifested as storage items like backpacks or waist pouches, while [Swift Blade] appeared as thin, lightweight blades.
Both had excellent attributes - the pouch's interior space exceeded its appearance, and the blade's sharpness surpassed ordinary weapons.
Reading this Thief guide made Lin Yu's neck feel chilly.
So Li Nian was quite dangerous too - that utility knife she carried was likely a [Swift Blade]!
Fortunately, Phantom Hand had also chosen [Swift Blade] and thoroughly complained about its limitations in the guide.
Despite seeming powerful, the blade required manual operation by the Thief!
Accuracy depended entirely on the Thief's skill, creating huge performance gaps!
Against other players, disabling an arm already counted as a critical hit most times.
Sensing Phantom Hand's frustration between the lines, Lin Yu sighed.
"This guy... as a Thief, having some offensive capability should be enough. It's not like he expects to fight like a Soldier!"
Lin Yu then closed the guide.
Since the group files had few access restrictions, he naturally browsed other class guides too.
Even with view history, he could justify it as cross-referencing knowledge.
Of course, Lin Yu primarily focused on each class's two [Class Items]!
[False Face] was already in use...
Next, he needed to figure out how to utilize [Counterfeit] effectively.
[Counterfeit] could mimic any item's appearance but not functionality, requiring coordination with the Fraudster's abilities.
Combined with its long cooldown...
Lin Yu concluded mimicking Class Items would be more worthwhile than ordinary objects!
Just like memorizing class abilities before, Lin Yu committed to memory over ten Promotion Trial guides and subsequent item choices from Jiang'an Hall's internal files.
The Soldier's [Field Rations] and [Military Rank].
The Teacher's [Pointer] and [Chalk].
The Otaku's [Figure] and [Tissue].
The Craftsman's [Tools] and [Blueprints].
Lin Yu observed that all Common Classes only required completing one task for their Promotion Trial.
Their two Class Items also followed two directions:
One significantly enhanced existing class abilities...
The other compensated for the class's inherent weaknesses.
This provided Lin Yu more strategic options.
"For the next dungeon, it's better to disguise as a class that's already completed Promotion for greater advantage."
"Moreover, in reality... I can also operate as someone who's completed Promotion."
Lin Yu muttered to himself before closing Jiang'an Hall's app.
Of course, he had more important matters next.
Lin Yu pulled out a brand new phone from his pocket - a compact mid-range domestic model this time.
He dialed a memorized number and put it on speaker.
The call connected after just one ring.
After the cheerful female voice answered, Lin Yu remained silent.
Just as he expected, the "clever" person on the other end could follow his thoughts without verbal cues.
"Ahahaha, is this Zhu Ming?"
"I understand - I'll text you the details later."