The Great Thief

“Why are you wasting your breath on him?” Moonlight rushed forwards and swung his axe to split the negotiator in two.

“Do you guys think we would have conceded if he offered $10 million?” Lu Li smacked his lips and left the arena when the System gave them the victory prompt.

“These are just the qualifying rounds. He’s not dumb; there’s no way he would offer $10 million,” Moonlight said, shaking his head.

Before the first 10,000 players were found, the matches were called the Qualifiers. The actual competition would start after this, with the last 16 players being part of the Finals.

“What if it was the finals?” Lu Li was a little puzzled.

“You say that like we’re guaranteed to make it into the finals,” Moonlight laughed. “Even if it was the finals, there wouldn’t be a need to concede. If we can make it into the top three, the prize money in addition to various other endorsements will give us a few million dollars, if not 10 million.”

“Have you ever been to the Shadow Cup finals?” Lu Li asked.

“A few times,” Moonlight nodded.

He didn’t really like talking about his past, but he wasn’t so sensitive that he would refuse to talk about it at all.

This guy was obviously a veteran, but Lu Li suddenly realized that Moonlight had never participated in any of Dawn’s tournaments in his previous life, whether it was the Shadow Cup or Dawn’s own professional tournaments.

The impression that Moonlight gave off was that he was constantly fighting.

Lu Li’s rebirth had actually changed Moonlight, or rather, it had put Moonlight on a different path.

This was probably a good thing.

They didn’t run into any more weird attempts at bribery in the later matches. March Rain got to face a wide variety of different players and her skill improved by leaps and bounds.

Soon, they had completed all ten matches and there was only half of the day left.

They decided not to spend it at the Warsong Canyon as they were sick of PVPing. Instead, they went and started an Instance Dungeon.

The Howling Caves had four difficulties. They didn’t consider clearing the Regular Difficulty and they had already cleared the Elite Difficulty, so they settled upon Heroic Difficulty.

It wasn’t necessary for them to do the Nightmare Difficulty. Although there was a chance for Gold equipment to be dropped, it was just too draining to be worth the small chance.

Compared to when they were still clearing the Elite Difficulty, everyone had now become stronger. Everyone had gained quite a few pieces of level 25 Silver equipment.

In fact, they were actually concerned that they would instantly clear the first few Bosses on Heroic Difficulty.

The EXP that they received was higher than in the Elite Difficulty, especially for those who were not yet level 26. Sakura Memories even received a Skill Point.

The equipment that was dropped was quite good as well.

Hachi Chan received a level 25 Leather Hat which was a classic drop from the Howling Caves. Its special effect would deal 200% rebound damage to whoever hit her head.

Whoever hit her would be really unlucky!

Most people would aim their attacks at the head, as this increased the chance of a critical hit or applying a debuff.

Someone like Lu Li would prefer to stab the back of another’s head with his dagger.

Remnant Dream also received a good piece of equipment. Its special effect made her pet go berserk, increasing its attack and critical hit by 30%, but decreasing its attributes after the effect.

As Beastmaster, equipment like this was basically God-like.

Skum dropped a decent Pants Mold for Lu Li. After Skum, they began to fight Serpentis, but they were defeated two times in a row. The players reluctantly then decided stop for the rest of the day.

As Lu Li already had the required materials for the pants, he decided that it would be convenient to Forge them now.

Basilisk Hide Pants (Superior Silver): Armor 22, Agility +12, Constitution +8, Special Effect 1: Critical Hit +6%, Special Effect 2: Increase Stealth effect by 10%. Equipment Requirement: Level 25. Durability 55/55.

Lu Li’s current pants were already quite strong.

Spellbreaker’s Pants (Steel): Defence 10, Strength +4, Critical Hit 10%, Equipment Requirement: Level 5, Durability 25/25.

Everyone else thought that Lu Li’s single level 5 equip was rather unsightly.

However, he simply didn’t want to give up the +10% Critical Hit; this effect was too strong. In fact, the Perfect Silver level 25 Dagger that he had equipped yesterday only added 8% critical hit.

A level 5 equip that had 10% bonus Critical Hit was considered to be godlike.

But now, his Supreme Three Ring added 25%, his Bracer added 5%, his gloves added 5%, his dagger added 8% and his new pants would add 6%. As such, the loss of 4% critical chance appeared less significant.

Lu Li had already reached a bottleneck in critical chance anyway; adding any more would have diminishing returns.

It was impossible to gain 100% Critical Hit and critically strike with every attack. Dawn’s calculations prevented such an absolute situation from ever occurring.

Lu Li had previously read some data analysis on how a pre-level 30 Thief would be capped at 40% critical chance.

Replacing his pants would not only increase his Armor, but would also give him a worthy special effect.

It wasn’t that he was lacking in items that increased his Stealth effect, but that this Critical Chance cap was quite significant.

He had personally experienced Stellar Union Silver Radiant’s powerful Detection Badge firsthand. Against the Badge, the Evil Faction’s number one Thief, Blood Dagger, could be easily killed when detected.

He already had the Supreme Three Ring which gave him a 20% increase in Stealth, and now the pants would give him an additional 10%. It was unlikely that he would be easily detected from now on.

Other than this, Lu Li didn’t make any more equipment for himself. He helped Wandering forge a one-handed shield before moving on to Water Fairy’s three Molds. He was even lucky enough to forge an exquisite piece of equipment.

After this, he gave his level 5 pants to Shen Wansan. He knew that they could be sold for a high price with a little bit of hype.

The next day, Lu Li did a bit of levelling while he was waiting for the competition to start again.

“Don’t put too much pressure on my sister,” Lonesome Flower complained to him in a message. “It’s one thing for her to be competing with you guys, but I hear that you guys are relentlessly teaching her PVP strategy when the match starts. Are you forcing her to do this?”

“That is definitely not the case.” Obviously, Lu Li wouldn’t admit it

When it came to talking about March Rain, Lu Li didn’t want to be too candid as he understood the perspective of an older brother.

“She printed a stack of PVP information and brought it to school, but it was found by her teacher. Luckily, I am quite familiar with her teacher, otherwise, the consequences would have been disastrous.”

College students had more freedom to play games, but the school obviously couldn’t allow that.

Studying game strategy in class couldn’t be forgiven, especially for someone like March Rain who loved to study.

“We absolutely had nothing to do with that.” Lu Li would refuse to admit it, even if he was beat to death. “With Moonlight and I, she doesn’t really need to do too much. Haha… hahaha….” he dryly laughed.

“Good. Quickly finish the matches so you can return my sister.” Lonesome Flower was a sistercon, but he wouldn’t unnecessarily create a scene.

Of course, he didn’t know how Lu Li was training his baby sister.

The second day of the Shadow Cup was very important. The 10,000 qualifying players would be decided by the end of the day and the real competition would begin shortly afterwards.

With the real competition came real prize money.

Even if you couldn’t make it into the finals, there was still some prize money up for grabs.

This money came from a portion of the ticket price.