The Great Thief

”Beard Stubble, Hunter, recently reached level 20. Do not underestimate him; he solo-killed a Wild boss yesterday,” Square Root Three said as he introduced another Dwarf.

His face was covered by his massive beard and he carried a double-barrelled hunter gun on his shoulders. A white bear laid beside him.

If Lu Li wasn’t mistaken, this pet was called Rare Mangeclaw.

Both Remnant Dream and Beard Stubble’s pets were high-tier, rare tameable monsters. It was no wonder that he had been able to solo-kill a wild boss.

”Big boss, when are we going to go and steal a Wild boss kill?” Although he physically looked like an old man, his voice was that of a boy’s. Lu Li was caught off guard, not expecting his voice to be so high-pitched when he spoke.

”If we get the chance – but we have to be stealthy,” Lu Li said seriously.

Since the guild was now established, they have a higher chance at stealing Wild bosses. No matter how friendly and nice everyone seemed, when it came to taking a Wild boss kill, everyone would become bloodthirsty like a wolf in sheepskin.

Instance dungeons were accessible for everyone whereas Wild bosses were rarer and harder to secure, so the profit gained from killing a Wild boss was much more than clearing a dungeon.

Guild wars were often started for the control of the popular Wild boss spawn maps.

”Darkness, healing Paladin,” Square Root Three said as he pointed towards a girl.

Her Human character had a very curvy body; she was taller than the Dwarfs and Gnomes, but not flat-chested like the Night Elves and Draenei. Her face was covered by a purple cloth so her face remained hidden.

Darkness? Lu Li maintained the same expression, but his heart was stirred up.

This was not because the girl was very skilled, but because her background story was quite complicated.

When Lu Li assassinated Sorrowless at Warsong Valley, he had pretended to be Nightedge’s cousin. In order to gain Sorrowless’ trust, he talked about Nightedge’s sister, Darkness, who had left her family.

Unlike her brothers, Darkness left her home and decided to create an Alliance character.

Lu Li never thought that he would meet Darkness one day, the mysterious person he had only heard of from stories. Now that she was here, Lu Li was afraid that Sorrowless and Nightedge would come knocking at his front door.

”Guild master, why are you staring at me? I’m scared”, she said flirtatiously in a soft and tender voice. Everyone realised that Lu Li had been staring at the girl for an uncomfortable amount of time.

”Sorry, I zoned out for a bit,” he explained calmly.

”Are you going to get me to take off the veil?” Her shy and high-pitched voice was mesmerizing. Her eyes sparkled under the lights and her face was pure, yet seductive at the same time. It was no wonder why Sorrowless was so obsessed with this girl.

”No, that’s fine. You can keep it on.” Lu Li wasn’t interested in her.

So what if she was ranked 6th on the all-time beauty rankings?! Lu Li had seen plenty of beautiful women in his time.

”You don’t have to introduce him; I know who this person is.”

Lu Li extended his arm to shake his hand and said, ”It’s been a while Iron Sword; how have you been recently?”

”I’ve been ok. I’ve been meaning to return the money I borrowed, but I never had the chance. Here is the 2 gold.” Iron Sword handed 2 gold to Lu Li and he happily accepted it.

”Goddamn Lu Li. How cheap are you that you take money from one of our own guys?” Azure Sea Breeze mocked him.

”Two gold is still money! Iron Sword, welcome to Ruling Sword.” Only people like Lu Li, who had been living in the Scum District, knew how good it felt to be able to pay back the money that they owed.

Iron Sword seemed to be doing well. He was level 23 with a body full of decent gear, especially the Staff on his hands, which had black smoke surrounding the gem. Anyone with basic game knowledge could tell that the Staff was definitely overpowered.

”Xiao Xiang, a Marksman hunter.”

Marksman Hunters were a sub-class of Hunters that didn’t rely on their pet to do damage. They relied heavily on their marksmanship and shooting skills to attack, as well as out-positioning their enemies to deal massive burst damage. Xiao Xiang for example, held a massive longbow in his hand and had a Death Spirit Wolf as his pet. This pet has high critical chance and fast attack speed, however, it was extremely squishy and could be killed very easily. Its main goal was to deal as much damage in the shortest amount of time possible.

Xiao Xiang was a marksman hunter and treated his bow like his girlfriend.

When Lu Li met him, he barely replied and seemed to care more about his bow than introducing himself.

Including Square Root Three, this was the line-up for the battle. All of the newcomers were players that had been scouted by Square Root Three, so he had high hopes for all of them.

Assuming that nothing went wrong, this group of people would become their first team of Elites.

With everyone gathered together, they formed a team of 20 people.

This was the limit for a level 5 guild and Lu Li was very confident in this group of talented players.

After the team was formed, Lu Li did not bother giving a motivational speech. Since this was a virtual game, most players would do whatever benefited them the most. Therefore, a motivational speech wouldn’t increase their loyalty to Ruling Sword. Rather, Lu Li had to earn their trust through his leadership skills and his actions.

As everyone continued to work together and interact with each other, team chemistry would naturally build up.

Performance-wise, those who did well could stay, while those that performed unsatisfactorily would be forced to leave.

”Extreme Challenge part 1. Kill all Kobold Warriors, 10 points.” When the announcer finished speaking, the dimmed-lights on the walls lit up and waves of Kobold Warriors appeared.

Lonesome Flower stepped forward and immediately casted Blizzard.

+10 points!

The Blizzard managed to kill of all Kobold Warriors.

These were level 5 monsters and obviously couldn’t withstand the destructive damage of a level 27 Mage.

The nine newcomers were surprised by the decisiveness of Lonesome Flower. The commander had yet to give orders but he had acted on his own. They all thought that they had to wait for Lu Li to give the orders to attack.

On the other hand, if Lonesome Flower saw an opportunity that would benefit the team, he would take it, regardless of Lu Li’s commands. Why would they need an order to clear out a group of level 5 mobs?

”You’re all free to attack whenever, especially those with area of effect skills. These level 5 mobs shouldn’t give us much trouble.” Even Square Root Three was uncomfortable with Lu Li’s style of leadership. However, he knew what to say to keep everyone on track.

The second wave consisted of level 10 monsters which were taken care of almost instantly.

The third wave spawned 7 level 15 monsters which were also killed quickly.

After the third wave, they had totalled up 30 points.

Since they had received a total of 30 points from the small mobs, the next time they attempted the challenge, they would only need to chip off a portion of the monsters’ HP to pass the stage.

As long as they passed the stage, then Lu Li would be content. However, these new players, who wanted to earn the old members’ respect, were trying very hard to defeat the monsters.

The final stage spawned a Kobold Chief.

The level 15, 35,000-HP Kobold, who was considered to be a difficult Boss at the beginning of the game, had become a piece of cake for the Xin Xin Mercenary group.

”Power of Friendship, main tank. Darkness, heal the tank. Everyone else can be DPS.”

Lu Li commanded them casually then pounced onto the boss with his daggers.

When the top player in the game showed off his damage output, no one could compare to him. Even Lonesome Flower struggled to keep up with his damage; the others had no chance.

Overall, the new members fell behind in damage because their level and gear was far inferior to Lu Li’s.

After a minute and 25 seconds, the Kobold Chief was defeated and the system announced that Ruling Sword had levelled up to level 6 guild.

They had finished all the preparations beforehand and were just waiting to complete the guild advancement quest.

After reaching level 6, all guild members received a bonus 5% EXP.

Although 5% did not seem like much, it was still a beneficial buff, especially over a longer period of time. It was for these buffs that many players preferred belonging to a guild rather than playing alone.

Of course, not everyone required the bonus 5% EXP to be a top player.

People like Lu Li and the others had never joined a guild and yet, they were still dominating the level rankings.