The Great Thief

“It’s all thanks to you this time.”

Not long after Lu Li returned, Water Fairy sent him a message.

“I only gave you guys a reminder. Are you alright?”

Lu Li was currently choosing materials at the Auction. The materials required to make the dozens of Silver-grade Molds and totaled an extraordinary sum.

An average player could hunt for one or two weeks, but even then, they still might not be able to save up enough money for the materials to make one Mold.

In order to balance out the prices, Dawn began to consume the gold coins, gear repair fees, skill points, teleportation fees, potions supplies, food supplies and all sorts of different materials that were available in the market.

“I didn’t manage to escape and died to the Orc Wolfriders.” Water Fairy didn’t sound happy, which slipped out unconsciously in her voice.

So what if she had good gear and a fast running speed?

Good gear meant nothing to a huge level gap, and no matter how fast you were, there was no way you could possibly outrun a Wolfrider.

While she was with her guild members, she put up a cold front as she was too embarrassed to be dispirited in front of them, but there was no need for her to hide this when she was with Lu Li.

“You died because you didn’t listen, what can I do?” Lu Li thought, wanting to say this to her face.

Fortunately, he remembered that at the other end of the conversation was a rich customer, so he tried to comfort her in his own clumsy ways.

“NPCs are too strong for players at this point in the game; it’s nothing to be concerned about. Once players manage to get their levels up, the NPCs won’t be that hard to kill anymore.”

Water Fairy lightened up after hearing his words.

“Your team must’ve returned ages ago; what are you doing now?”

“Yeah, we’ve all returned. I’m buying materials from the Auction; I’m planning to make some gear, like what I told you last time. I’m better at making gear, specifically weapons, plate and chain armor. I can make pretty much anything that’s classed under the forging skill.”

Lu Li couldn’t really figure out why this cool beauty suddenly wanted to chat, so he replied at a moderate pace.

This sort of dull and small talk suited Water Fairy perfectly.

It slowly eased away the unhappiness that she felt from dying to the Orc Wolfriders.

“So, you weren’t joking about crafting gear. Aren’t you going to level up? Oh, right, you’re already level 25. So fast, you must have some kind of secret. Can you tell me, uhm…… don’t worry, the price isn’t a problem.”

How did the topic drift back to money again?

Lu Li laughed bitterly on the inside; he expected nothing less from a millionaire like Water Fairy.

“I can’t tell you about this yet; I’ll contact you about it when conditions are met.”

“That’s fine, I’ll mail you a few Molds and the corresponding materials. You can set the price yourself.” Water Fairy hung up quickly; it seemed like someone was looking for her.

Soon after this, Lu Li heard the notification sound of mail entering his mail box.

He took out the Mold and materials, and planned to practice with these first. He would work on his Dagger once he levelled up to a higher proficiency in forging.

The first item was the “Imitated Soulforge Legplates”, a plated leg armor from a level 25 mold that required mostly average materials.

Even though there were no set rules, it was commonly understood that better gear required rarer materials.

Water Fairy probably didn’t trust Lu Li much either.

Not only was Lu Li one of the top players on the level rankings, but he was also so skilled that he was often referred to as a walking Thief textbook. Recently, others had given him the title of ‘The Genius Commander of Dungeons’. Moreover, he could even forge good gear……

How was it possible for someone to be so good at everything?

Other than his clueless team members, no one would believe his words.

Meanwhile, Lu Li learnt the forging process of the plate gear. The system included every single step of the forging process, and the Molds also came with specific descriptions.

He completed each detail step by step, until the system announced that he had successfully forged the “Imitated Soulforge Legplates (Superior Silver)”, and that his forging proficiency had increased by +3.

The special effects weren’t that great, but the attributes were pretty good. After all, it was level 25 silver grade gear and superior quality as well.

The forging process took a total of 25 minutes. This wasn’t too bad, considering that he hadn’t made equipment in the past few days and had become slightly unfamiliar with the process.

The second equip that was crafted had fairly good attributes and special effects, but it was a shame that it was still only Superior quality. Lu Li was a little unsatisfied about this; he believed that he must have made a mistake during the process.

Clearly, he was setting his expectations too high. The big guilds would fight over a blacksmith who even had the chance of crafting Superior gear.

Lu Li repeatedly reviewed his forging process.

Eventually he managed to discover his problem – he didn’t have an overall vision when he was forging.

This kind of theory was based off a Blacksmith guide that he had come across in his previous life. The moderately famous Blacksmith suggested that before you forged anything, you should first structure the model of the equipment in your mind. Every component should exist to serve this model; it wasn’t right to blindly follow the instructions and make the components, then put them together in a passive manner.

There were also many other theories about Forging, such as the theory about the spirit that rested within gear, and the theory of the Yin and Yang of gears …

Behind every trade profession was a wealth of knowledge.

Lu Li put some of these theories to the test and managed to produce Exquisite grade gear from his next three Silver-grade molds!

“You there……”

“What’s up?” Water Fairy asked.

“Your five equipment have been made – four Superior and one Exquisite.”

Lu Li pasted the descriptions of the equipment in the chat.

“……” Water Fairy was speechless.

She had always thought that Lu Li’s promise of “only forging gear with Superior quality or better” was just an exaggeration. Sellers always exaggerated their products for business.

The same could be said about those who sold services.

She didn’t expect Lu Li to actually follow through with his words. There was even an Exquisite-quality equip.

When they had previously discussed this deal, Lu Li promised he would pay one hundred gold coins for every equip that was below Superior quality. This was quite an irrational deal, as some of the Silver-grade equips weren’t even worth one hundred gold coins.

Then, Water Fairy expressed that Lu Li could decide on the service fees.

“Name your price; I’ve still got a few equipment to be made.”

Drizzle Court was a big guild, but many equipment required a lot of strange and rare materials, which they may not have had in stock.

As such, the better choice would be to gather the materials and forge whatever equipment they could make first.

From another point of view, this also placed the Xin Xin Mercenary Group’s wealth on display. First clears and solo clears were more than just a show – their stock of rare materials was just as good as any other guild’s.

“How many more equipment?” Lu Li asked.

“Another seven.”

“I can make all of them for you for free, but you have to sell me this Shaman Claw.”

These Silver-grade equips were extremely rare and could not be evaluated with numbers.

“Exquisite quality aye, you don’t plan to use it for yourself, right?” Water Fairy was puzzled.

The attributes for this claw boosted both dexterity and strength. There were also two special effects – one boosting Critical Strike, while the other applied lightning damage to normal attacks.

Thieves could use this Claw too, but that would put the second special effect to waste.

Although claw type weapons dealt enough damage, they were hindered by their extremely slow attack speed. They simply weren’t suitable for full-dexterity Thieves like Lu Li and Water Fairy.

“I have a close-combat Shaman in my team,” Lu Li explained.

“Oh, Sakura Memories. How rare for a girl to have a close-combat play style.” Water Fairy was well informed about the people on Lu Li’s team.

She had talked about Sakura Memories playing close-combat and had totally forgotten about the fact that she was also doing the same.

“How about it? There aren’t many close-combat Shamans in your guild, right?”

“Take it. Eleven Superior Silver-Grades… based on the market price, that would be at least a few dozen gold coins. Just help us make some gear in your spare time in the future,” Water Fairy offered generously.

No fee was usually charged for a Fine Silver-Grade equipment forged from prepared materials. Superior Silver Grade equipment were usually charged around two gold coins, perhaps a little extra if the special effect was good.

As for the Shaman Claw, not only was it Exquisite quality, but it also had great attributes and special effects. It would at least be worth a hundred gold coins.

Lu Li had definitely profited from this deal.