The Great Thief

The hostess was familiar with the road ahead and plowed through quickly. Lu Li had to be completely focused just to keep up.

He was slightly regretful now that he was so impatient. It was very important that he didn’t lose track of the hostess, but it was doubly difficult to do so at night. There were several occasions where he almost lost sight of her.

After several minutes, Lu Li was covered in sweat and he had no idea how much travelling he had left.

Eventually the hostess in front of him stopped, then went into a wooden cabin. There were a group of Trolls hiding in this house. Each of them were wearing scuba masks and they were quite strange looking.

Trolls and Night Elves belonged to the Horde and Alliance respectively, and were supposed to be hostile. However, because of the Ravenholdt Manor’s sphere of influence, they were forced live together peacefully.

”Windcatcher, your Excellency, I have brought someone who wants to participate in the test,” the Hostess bowed and said respectfully.

The Trolls sat there motionless. Lu Li didn’t know if they had fallen asleep or just didn’t want to respond.

After a while, the Hostess helplessly waved her hand and said, ”We’ve arrived a little late; the Windcatcher is already resting. Looks like we’ll have to stay here for the night and accept the trial tomorrow”

”So they are no longer working,” Lu Li nodded in understanding. He went to a corner and sat down.

After a while, the System prompted him to log off. The Hostess watched as Lu Li leaned into the corner and fell asleep.

The next day, Lu Li hurriedly logged back on.

When he opened his eyes, the Hostess was gone. There was just a Troll squatting in front of him, who mumbled, ”Lazy fool, if you don’t wake up I’m going to cook you and eat you.”

Lu Li shivered before asking, ”Where is my guide?”

”She left; she had completed her quest. This is your destination and perhaps the end of your journey,” the Troll replied.

”Is the Ravenholdt Manor here?” Lu Li said with a surprised expression. Of course, there was also a bit of contempt in voice as this was just a small wooden cabin. It was just not as he had expected.

”Of course not; this is just the outside. I am the examiner for the test. You are the first adventurer I’ve seen and I had hoped it would be a Troll, preferably a Troll Engineer. If it was, I would have just directly let them pass.”

”I am learning Engineering,” Lu Li said quickly.

Even if he didn’t know how to act like Hachi Chan, he couldn’t offend them.

”Oh, let me see one of your works. We’ll study it together and if you want to pass the test, you’ll have to convince me that it’s good.” The Troll took off the goggles and revealed a pair of grey pupils.

Lu Li thought for a moment, before pulling out a syringe and injecting himself with it.

Then the Troll watched as Lu Li shrunk and became a mini version of the Night Elf.

”Ah, I know this one. The World is So Big.”

The Troll rummaged through his bag for a couple of seconds and also took out a syringe to inject himself with.

He shrunk until he was even smaller than Lu Li.

The originally small log cabin now felt like a big mansion.

”Does this mean I passed?” Lu Li asked tentatively. After all, it wasn’t much of a surprise that the Troll would also have the World is so Big.

”Nope, you’re not a Troll so you need to show me something I don’t have. I am an Engineering Expert.” The Troll was very happy, but he stood firm on the fact that Lu Li wasn’t a Troll.

This was such a difficult task!

Lu Li sighed and took out a bomb, then threw it at his feet.

”This is…” the Troll muttered as he looked at the fuse. Then, there was a bang and the whole hut was blown up.

The two of them climbed out of the ruins and stared at each other.

”Windcatcher your Excellency, do you accept that?” Lu Li had to admit that he had enacted a bit of revenge. What a terrible quest that discriminated against races that weren’t Trolls!

When he had the opportunity, he was going to go to the Warsong Canyon and kill a dozen Troll players.

Bath’ra The Windcatcher wanted to slap him in the face. Building a cabin was easy, but this bomb had almost killed him.

Hrm, the bomb…

”Do you know that one? Let’s see yours if you do.” Lu Li ate some bread and sat down to regenerate his HP. With his current equipment, a single such bomb wouldn’t kill him.

”I…I don’t know that one,” the Troll’s shoulders drooped as he spoke sheepishly.

”What, you don’t know it? This is just an Intermediate Recipe that I learned a long time ago. You just said that you were a Master Engineer!” Lu Li pretentiously shouted with a performance that could win an Oscar.

He spoke so loudly that everyone within half a kilometer could probably hear him.

The Troll’s face turned a bright red.

As an Engineering Master, he hadn’t felt such embarrassment for many years.

There was a long process for upgrading Trade Skills in Dawn. They went from Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert, Sage, Master, to Grand Master. Despite the popular belief, there were no Demigod or God ranks within that system.

Master and Grand Masters were rare. Being a Sage already made you an industry leader. There wasn’t a single Master Engineer in the whole of Stormwind.

When he experienced the Ivy’s Fool Bomb, a recipe that had been lost for thousands of years, Bath’ra the Windcatcher couldn’t help but feel like he had been punched in the face.

Moreover, in this situation he couldn’t even get angry at Lu Li. Lu Li was still laughing when he said, ”You’re a genius after all. Come, you have passed the test. Let me take you to see the duke.”

Bath’ra waved his hand and two motorcycles appeared by the mountain.

That majestic shape, the rough lines and the earthy gold colour – this was the legendary…

Mechano-Hog!

Dawn’s first ever God item!

If he parked this by the side of the road, a pile of girls would rush to his side.

Lu Li’s eyes were bright and he was salivating.

”Don’t look at me like that; these things are just too precious. I spent all my wife’s money and I even had to bind it to my soul,” Bath’ra said bitterly.

A Soul binding meant that the item couldn’t be traded.

”Master, can you show me the blueprints for the Mechano-Hog?” Lu Li asked as he tugged at the sleeves of Bath’ra.

”This is something only a Master Engineer can create. Even if you were at an Advanced level, you couldn’t do it. Young man, you need to develop your conscientiousness,” Bath’ra said as he pulled away.

He started the vehicle and the birds in the forest were scared by the roar of the engine.

”Oh, okay. I had wanted to share the blueprint for the bomb with the Master,” Lu Li said with a face of regret.

”What, you are willing to share the bomb’s secret?” The motorcycle suddenly swerved and hit a nearby tree. Windcatcher Bath’ra had faceplanted into the ground.