The Great Thief

“If the quality is less than Superior, I’ll compensate with 100 gold.”

Lu Li was in need of money and didn’t want to take advantage of his teammates. Therefore, he found ways to maximize his earnings by utilizing all the possible resources he had at hand.

Since this was a massive multiplayer online role-playing game, there were many factors and obstacles that Lu Li would face. Even though he was reborn and given a second chance, this didn’t necessarily mean that he could become a billionaire without putting in the effort and time.

Lu Li was lucky enough to stumble upon Snake Trust Grass and he had sold them to earn his first pot of gold. However, this was a mere accident and if anyone else had discovered it, they would have earned the same amount of money.

As for selling equipment found during battles, Lu Li wasn’t the only player that did that.

The people who were making the real money were in-game merchants such as Shen WanSan.

Lu Li had a very overpowered crafting hammer and he used it to help others craft their gear. If a high-quality gear was crafted, he would charge extra for it.

This was his money-making strategy.

“Can I see your crafting hammer?” Water Fairy was reluctant.

Lu Li laughed and waved his hands saying, “Just because you like eating the egg doesn’t mean you have to find out which chicken it came from. If you ever need to craft anything, just come and find me.”

Water Fairy was left speechless but was somehow more convinced.

She planned on testing Lu Li’s crafting hammer with some blueprints from the guild storage later. If what Lu Li said was true, the only thing she could think of was her whole body covered in shining and overpowered armour.

Soon, Hachi Chan and Remnant Dream logged on.

Lu Li gathered his teammates from the Warsong Valley to go and level up.

They were enjoying themselves too much and didn’t want to come.

With Moonlight and the other experienced players, as well as their Superior-grade equipment, they were thriving and no longer needed Lu Li to help them level up.

Eventually, they gathered at the same place and prepared to go through the same routine.

Lu Li gathered the monsters, while the others threw bombs then watched as countless monsters disintegrated into bars and bars of EXP.

Every wave could be eliminated with around 3 bombs. With a total of 100 or so bombs, they were able to clear 45 waves of monsters.

As the hours flew by, Lu Li’s EXP continued to rise until he was almost LV25.

However, as he was gathering the monsters, he noticed that something was off.

Much to his surprise, he saw some fighting in the distance. It was quite the commotion.

These monsters were between LV20 and 25, which made them very suitable for players to train on. However, rarely any players would ever grind around here, considering their ridiculous defence and how spread-out they were.

These people were coming from a different direction and were very different to Lu Li’s group.

Lu Li suddenly recalled Water Fairy’s warning about the Imperial Secret Service. They had recently received support from the other major guilds and planned to hunt down Lu Li for his bounty.

First, the needed find him before killing him. How dumb could they get?

To kill a Thief with Gale Step was near impossible. Even Lu Li could not guarantee such a feat.

The only reason why he had been able to kill Blood Dagger was because of his teammates baiting-out Gale Steps. After this, Lu Li was able to hunt him down with the Detection Badge and the help of the others.

“Everyone be careful – there might be trouble.”

Lu Li had a suspicion that the Imperial Secret Services were targeting his friends as well.

If they were able to capture all of them in one attempt, it would be perfect for them.

As soon as the chatroom notification appeared, Lu Li immediately received a reply.

“Are there people looking for a fight?” Azure Sea Breeze yelled. He wasn’t worried at all and feared nothing.

“Did something happen? What did you see?” Wandering asked.

“Are there people hunting for Hachi Chan because they’re jealous of how fast I’m levelling up? Dream, I’m so scared…” Hachi Chan said sarcastically, thinking she was being clever.

“You guys should hide; I’ll go find out who these people are,” Lu Li said, ignoring all the chattering.

This group of people was very close to where Lu Li’s group was training. If they were to scout around the area, Lu Li and the others could easily be exposed.

There were hundreds of players in this group.

The sheer number of players made the high-defence monsters look like ants as they stampeded past them.

“Well, if it isn’t my old friends.”

Lu Li recognized the icon of the Imperial Secret Service – an iconic sword from the Ming Dynasty.

“I found his coordinates! He’s nearby!” someone shouted.

The crowd erupted and began to search for Lu Li, who was hiding in the shadows and scouting out the situation. He could pounce out at any time he wanted and take someone’s life.

The players from the Imperial Secret Service were all paranoid and feared for their lives.

You couldn’t blame them for wanting to get rid of Lu Li so badly. If they never got their revenge, Lu Li would forever haunt their dreams.

“Be careful. Mages, cast Blizzard to shield us,” said Raging Wolf Blood, who was standing alongside his trusty Thief sidekicks, Left and Right Eye.

When Lu Li saw them, he decided to return.

This was not because he was scared, but because he wanted to gather more monsters.

He planned on greeting the Imperial Secret Services with a gift to kill all of them.

The players that were sent to hunt down Lu Li would have been the elites from the guild who had decent level and gear.

Lu Li wanted to make them all drop their gear and EXP.

It was not guaranteed that a player would drop equipment after death, however, the chances were much higher than a monster’s drop rate. If a group of 500-600 players died, there would probably be at least 100-200 equips that dropped.

That would equate to hundreds and hundreds of gold in profit! Think about all the bombs that could be made with that money!

“Captain, he’s gone.”

Every few minutes, Lu Li’s coordinates were checked by someone and soon, they realised he was no longer nearby.

“Did he run away? Tell me the coordinates and find out his location.”

Raging Blood Wolf was slightly disappointed because he planned on attacking Lu Li by surprise.

No one knew that there were so many monsters in the Revenant Land.

At first, they didn’t encounter too many monsters. However, after a while, they started spawning and appearing incessantly. Every time they killed one, another would be attracted by the commotion. This delayed their plans and rendered them incapable of moving efficiently.

If Lu Li had noticed them and immediately ported back to town, their whole operation would have been for nothing.

“Captain, he’s still on this map and he’s not that far away.”

The expert map analysist quickly determined Lu Li’s location using the coordinates.

“Send two Thieves to scout him out. Never mind, Left Eye, Right Eye, you two can go and have a look. But no matter what, don’t act foolishly this time.”

“Don’t worry, we know that we’re no match for him,” Swirling Left Eye admitted, finally accepting the truth.

Raging Blood Wolf had no idea that Lu Li had slain Blood Dagger and Sorrowless. He was just a commander, so he didn’t join in on the guild meetings and discussions.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. The Imperial Secret Services utilized their resources well by checking Lu Li’s coordinates whenever possible, while a professional analysist determined his location. The locations were then sent to the two Thieves for them to act accordingly.

“Why do I feel like he’s coming towards our position?” Staring Right Eye looked at the red dot on the map anxiously.

“Even if we can’t defeat him, we can still run, right?” Swirling Left Eye replied.