The Great Thief

“Why is it me?” Lonesome Flower’s expression was quite terrifying. Even his little sister kept her distance.

“Ah, Flower, don’t be sad.” Perhaps he felt bad or had some other motives, but Azure Sea Breeze came over and put his arm around Lonesome Flower’s shoulder to comfort him.

“Why am I the only person who hasn’t finished their profession upgrade quest?!” Lonesome Flower felt quite depressed.

The difficulty of the profession upgrade quests was suitable for most players above LV20. Most of the Xin Xin Mercenary Group had reached this level, and all of them had excellent equipment and skills.

As long as nothing went wrong, they would be able to finish the quest, even if they were alone.

Lonesome Flower was extremely unlucky. At the beginning, he had been too arrogant to form a party with the other Light Faction players. As such, he had been slaughtered by a large group of Evil Faction players.

Lu Li felt that Lonesome Flower failing his quest was quite normal, and it wasn’t necessarily bad.

Lonesome Flower was simply too arrogant and aloof.

He only cared about his little sister and didn’t interact much with anyone else.

As such, no one else from the Mercenary Group paid him much attention. His cooperation in Instance Dungeons was also quite lacking – all he did was attack and attack.

Dawn was not a game for single players. Lu Li hoped that Lonesome Flower would understand this through what had happened.

“Alright, you can try again in three days. Right now, we’re going to the Wailing Cave. I’ll draw a map for everyone,” Lu Li said as he took out a piece of sheepskin paper.

“Why do we need a map? Can’t we be transported by the NPC?” Everyone felt quite confused.

Lu Li could only patiently explain, “The Wailing Cave is in the South of the Barrenlands. The last time when I went to the Barrenlands…”

“Wait, the person who set fire to the Horde’s camp was you?” Moonlight asked, flabbergasted.

“Yes, that was a quest,” Lu Li nodded.

“Goddamn, I’m speechless,” Moonlight bitterly laughed and patted Lu Li’s shoulder. This guy was quite good at surprising those around him.

Not many people knew about it in the Light Faction, but there were many discussions going on in the Evil Faction around this topic. This was especially so in the PVP groups, where the players were all very interested. Most people thought that it was an NPC who had dived into enemy territory to set fire to the camp.

As for Gaze, the Warrior who Lu Li had encountered, he hadn’t mentioned anything to anyone.

“To be honest, it wasn’t as glorious as it sounds. We can talk about it later. I’ll talk about what I learned from scouting out the Barrenlands.” Of course, Lu Li hadn’t actually done any scouting. He just needed an excuse to give out information he had read about in his ‘past life’.

“What did you find?”

“There’s a Sweetwater oasis near the Wailing Cave. If you soak in there for 10 minutes, you get an All Stats +5 buff which only works in the Wailing Cave,” Lu Li explained.

“Why’d you go in for 10 minutes?” Wandering was confused.

“To take a bath,” Lu Li weakly replied.

Wandering responded with a middle finger.

“Alright, alright, I’ll stop messing around. I thought back to the Spider Lair Instance Dungeon and decided to try it out. I feel like this will give us an edge over other players. Who else would go in there and soak for 10 minutes?”

“Even though All Stats +5 isn’t that overpowered, it’s still quite useful for our whole team. How long does it last for?”

“I’m not sure. I stayed in the Instance Dungeon for about an hour, but it still hadn’t run out. It disappeared after I came out.” Lu Li knew that Wandering wouldn’t easily be tricked. Luckily, he had prepared some answers in advance.

“Alright, since it’s like that, it wouldn’t be good to be sent there directly by an NPC. Draw the map for us then,” Wandering excitedly said.

“It’s actually pretty simple. You go to Rattan City first and walk along this path. Make sure that you stay on it, because it’s the safest route. Don’t try to take shortcuts, because there are many Orc Wolfriders on the way from Rattan City to the Wailing Cave. They’re all LV30 Elites, extremely fast, and are difficult to deal with. You’re pretty much dead if they see you.”

“Do we have to take this trip every time we go?” Azure Sea Breeze discontentedly asked.

He was a Warrior, so he didn’t like to sneak around and hide.

“That’s not necessary. At this place,” Lu Li pointed at the map, “There’s a frontline command station. You can repair your equipment there and buy some simple items. There’s also an Inn, but the only issue is that there’s no transportation channel or Exchange Hall.”

“It’s so troublesome without a transportation channel.”

“Don’t rely on transportation channels too much. In the future, they’re going to get rid of most transportation channels. They’ll only be in certain maps,” Lu Li kindheartedly reminded them.

“Why would they do that?” Everyone else was quite unhappy about that, especially the lazy Azure Sea Breeze.

Hachi Chan was on the verge of tears. She already had a bad sense of direction and if the transportation channels were removed, it would take her years to get anywhere with those little legs of hers.

“There aren’t many maps in the early stages of the game and there are many players, but it’s difficult to get around. When mounts are introduced, you naturally won’t need transportation channels anymore.”

Lu Li was clearer about this than anyone else. As the game progressed, the number of transportation channels would decrease. In the later stages of the game, they would only be available for distances that would take more than half a day of travelling.

Replacing them would be land mounts, flying mounts, airships and other flying machines.

“Hachi Chan, you scout ahead with your cheetah form in Stealth. If you see any Orc Wolfriders, give a warning and Wandering will direct you,” Lu Li looked at the unreliable Druid and sighed.

“What about you? Aren’t you coming with us?”

“I… I can’t go to Rattan City…” Lu Li stammered as he wiped away some cold sweat from his forehead.

“Why not?” Rattan City was in Astrana’s transportation channel list. Even though it didn’t belong to the Light Faction, it still was a neutral place. Everyone was curious as to why Lu Li couldn’t go.

“Err, I just can’t.” Lu Li’s response made everyone grind their teeth in frustration.

“Tell us, tell us!” Remnant Dream and Hachi Chan grabbed either side of Lu Li, refusing to let go.

“Alright, let go, I’ll tell you. I offended an NPC there, so I can’t go back. Are you happy now?” Lu Li gave in.

Offended a NPC?

Azure Sea Breeze couldn’t help but think of that poor Goblin Businessman Krolly. He pointed at Lu Li with a trembling hand as he yelled, “You killed an NPC again?! Are you addicted to killing NPCs?”

“You hooligan, when did I ever kill an NPC?” Lu Li rolled his eyes.

“Big brother Sea Breeze, have you guys really killed an NPC before?” With Hachi Chan’s encouragement, Remnant Dream began to act cute, but everyone else was curious as well.

Lonesome Flower and March Rain had been with Lu Li for a long time, but didn’t know he had killed an NPC before.

Azure Sea Breeze was being overwhelmed by the girls and could only pitifully look at Lu Li.

Lu Li clapped his hands and sternly said, “What are you guys still doing here? Hurry up and set out. We’re going to try to kill a Boss today; there’s a very high chance of a Mold dropping for the First Clear.”

Could he be more fake than that? Everyone looked at him with disdain.

Lu Li ignored them and simply left.

He had to travel further than them, as he needed to pass through the Warsong Valley, so he ran the whole way.

Although he could fly, it still wasn’t as convenient as using a transportation channel.

“Goddamn, can I tell them or not? Lu Li, you little girl! Don’t run away!” Azure Sea Breeze was only able to react after Lu Li had ran off and was left to deal with the curiosity of his teammates.