The Great Thief

“Of course we want our names to be announced!” Azure Sea Breeze said loudly: “Unless you want to hide our names?”

“Some people are afraid of being famous. Once your name goes onto the global announcement, there will be many people looking to cause trouble with you.” Lu Li thought otherwise; the real world and the virtual world were different - the cost of crime was significantly lower.

Lu Li remembered a poor kid named “Rowing Poetry” in his previous life who had been announced on the global announcements. He was bullied by the other players because of this and couldn’t leave the beginner village for a few months.

Even a strong thief like Water Fairy was taken down by being ganged up on, after a 100,000 real money bounty was placed by I am Richy Rich,

The reputation of the first people to clear an Instance Dungeon would be good for a big organisation, but for a ragtag group of players it was useless. It would only open themselves up to harassment.

“After being identified, the large unions will all extend their offers to you” Drinking Alone guessed that a master such as Lu Li wouldn’t stay with Star Moon Union. Grand Hegemony was also afraid of being looked down upon by others.

“I don’t plan to join any union, I plan to be a professional player.” No matter what other people believed, Lu Li had no intention to join any unions.

The welfare treatment within a union was good, but good things don’t fall out of the sky. If you wanted something, you would have to work for it. Joining a union would mean that he would be earning money for them.

Dawn’s growth would be very rapid; even the game company would not be able to anticipate its growth. An entire industry would form around the game and as it grew, Lu Li would be able to make so much money that he wouldn’t be able to spend it all.

“If you want to be a professional player, then you have to be famous” Azure Sea Breeze said dismissively, “Don’t not say it: you led a team to clear an Instance Dungeon. If this is known, there are definitely many people who would want to recruit you. Professional players are very valuable.”

Lu Li’s brow wrinkled, unable to produce a rebuttal and trying to comprehend how this guy who was normally not very quick witted could come up with such convincing points.

In actuality, this had something to do with the previous life. The top players didn’t really dare offend anyone, it was really the ordinary people that you needed to be worried about. Even Water Fairy, the tycoon goddess, was ambushed by the ‘Steel Blood Alliance’ Union. The great thief appeared and disappeared like the wind, and in a short period was killed up to a thousand times. But the Steel Blood Alliance Union wasn’t acting alone: they had the influence of other big organisations.

“If the Jade Spider Web is dropped, what do we get for giving it up?” Drinking Alone earnestly said: “Northern Tang Dream and I are well known players. If we are recorded in game history it would be great for the development of our union…”

“Later on if you need our assistance, we will definitely spare no effort” Northern Tang Dream’s face was also full of hope.

To the union, acquiring a player with expertise was better than 1000 regular players. Lu Li was such a player, destined to never stay amongst the crowd. One day, when he would be famous, people would naturally remember when he cleared the first Instance Dungeon with members of the Grand Hegemony. It was just like sticking their label on Lu Li.

Lu Li smiled bitterly and shook his head. He didn’t want to enter the lime light at this time, but at the same time he wasn’t afraid of public opinion.

System: Under the leadership of Lu Li, Azure Sea Breeze, Northern Tang Dream, Drinking Alone and Northern Tang Kitty is the first team to clear the Spider Lair (Elite) Instance Dungeon!

It was simple and trite, but everyone’s name was on it.

Next was gaining the exp from clearing the Instance Dungeon. Because it was the first clear, not only was all the exp doubled, but extra equipment was rewarded as well.

Lu Li looked in his bag and saw that he had obtained a dagger.

Broodmother’s Kiss (Bronze): Damage 8-15, Agility +2, Level Requirement LV3, Durability 18/18.

The damage of a single handed weapon could not be compared to the likes of a two handed Magic staff like the Whisperer. However, it added 2 points of Agility, making it an equivalent bronze equip.

The others also inspected their rewards and their faces lit up. What was unfortunate was that Lu Li wasn’t awarded with the material that he needed.

“Let’s see what the Boss dropped”, Northern Tang Kitty was keen on looting the Boss.

The others looked at Lu Li, unsure if he wanted to loot the Boss. The current game rules were that if there wasn’t a special designation, the leader would loot and distribute the battle loot.

“Go for it” Lu Li said casually with a shake of the head.

His words were very unusual and no one believed him.

“waa…”

The first time they killed a Boss that had a small chance of dropping something good, he was like an excited little girl, refusing to let go of the item.

Suddenly, Lu Li’s communication device began to manically vibrate.

This was to be expected, but he didn’t know that people would react this quickly. After a brief check, he found that they were all friend requests.

Lu Li thought for a while, then refused all the friend requests. He resolved to not add anyone.

Even though he could make money by opening treasure chests, the most important thing right now was training. He didn’t want to be disturbed by too many people.

After he got rid of all the friend requests, only 2 entries remained. One was the Star Moon Union chatroom and the other was from Square Root 3.

Lu Li watched Northern Tang Kitty inspect her equipment while opening up the chatroom.

The moment he entered, he was immediately assaulted by a messy chorus of 6 or 7 voices.

“Lu Li, you got the first clear right?” It was Ao Jian, Star Moon Union’s president.

“It was just luck” Lu Li replied.

Spider Silk Hood (Steel): 5 Armour, Intelligence +2, Constitution +2, Special Effect: Dark damage effects increased by 10%, Equipment Requirement Lv 5, Durability 21/25

The chance of a Steel Item being dropped on the elite difficulty was not high, so it seemed like the bonus of the first clear was truly significant.

On the other side, Ao Jian was so angry he couldn’t speak: “What do you mean lucky, that was an Elite Instance Dungeon! You didn’t find people from our union, instead gathering your own team of players. Do you have no sense of pride or honour in our union?”

“Drinking Alone led, and just brought me along.” Lu Li assigned the hood to Drinking Alone. This was typical Warlock or Shadow Priest equipment. As expected of an item dropped by the Boss, its attributes were very powerful.

“You…” As you can imagine, Ao Jian’s complexion was terrible. It didn’t take much to figure out that Drinking Alone was a high-ranking member of the Grand Hegemony Union. If he was the one who truly led them, then Lu Li would not have been assigned party leader.

Generally speaking, 2 kinds of people can be party leaders. An officer or a team leader.

“Don’t give me this rubbish. Say what you want, but once you’ve handed over the equipment it won’t be your responsibility any more. Once the Union is established, you can hand it in to the warehouse.” I Am Richy Rich obviously cared the most about the Elite difficulty Instance Dungeon equipment.

The Boss truly dropped some good items; this second item was also Steel grade.

Weaver’s Leather Armour (Steel): 12 Armour, Agility +4, Strength +2, Equipment Requirement Lv5, Durability 7/25.

Compared to the previous item, it lacked a special effect, however, this didn’t mean that it was necessarily bad. The Armour value was 2 times the previous one, adding 6 points to its best attribute, but for a Thief, this increase wasn’t really practical.

Other than these two, there were 2 more pieces of equipment that were both Bronze. Although the attributes of these were good, both of them weren’t used by thieves, so they were rolled for by the other players.

After all that, Lu Li casually sent the information of the equipment to the Star Moon Union office.

The chat room fell silent for a second, then an immense commotion boiled up.

“I want that Spider Silk Hood, no one take it.” Quickly realising that what he said was not quite appropriate, I am Richy Rich hastily added: “Wait till I earn some money to collect some gold, our union must be established as soon as possible”

“I guess it’ll just be like this, everyone start collecting gold. Do not fear the high prices, you will be compensated” Ao Jian said soon after: “Lu Li, give that Steel Hood to Richy. As for that Steel Leather Armour, you can use it for now”