The Great Thief

Lu Li took off his ring and put it into the strengthening furnace.

This equip couldn’t be discarded, dropped or traded; it was basically bound to Lu Li. Although he couldn’t take it off, he couldn’t give it to anyone else.

Now that he had placed it into the furnace, if he decided to walk away, the ring would fly out of the furnace and land on his hand after a few steps.

The first strengthening was a success. Despite the fact that it was an Epic equipment, he didn’t dawdle with this minor upgrade. It had slightly increased the ring’s Vampirism.

Its Vampirism was now 35%, which was 5% more than the original value. This would be quite useful when farming and could also be helpful in PVPs when he was on very low HP.

The second strengthening failed, so he lost two Strengthening Stones and 20 gold coins.

There was no shame in this; Lu Li felt that it was better that it had failed here rather than failing on the third strengthening. Of course, failing the third strengthening would cost him more.

On his second try, the upgrade succeeded.

Lu Li checked the ring’s stats, but it seemed like nothing had changed. All the properties looked the same; why would nothing happen after a successful strengthening?

Was it a System bug?

After reading the properties over a few times, he realized that he had missed a small detail.

Special Effect 1: King of the Jungle’s Protection. Instant Cast, summon a natural Shield that absorbs all damage in one attack for the caster. 6 hour cooldown.

This was the original description of one of the special effects on the Supreme Four Ring. It was a very strong damage reduction skill that could absorb the full damage of one attack and provided a window of invincibility.

The one in Lu Li’s hand had a subtle change in cooldown – it was now three hours instead of six.

This reduction in cooldown basically doubled his ability to use it. Previously, he could only use this skill 3 times a day, but now he could use it 6 times a day.

He was satisfied, very satisfied!

A man who was never content was like a snake trying to swallow an elephant. Lu Li had to admit that this was quite a special upgrade as it was equivalent to adding another special effect with the same six-hour cooldown.

When he was about to strengthen it for the third time, Lu Li couldn’t help but take a moment to pray. This was the first time he was going to strengthen an Epic equip for a third time.

In his previous life, Lu Li had never owned a piece of Epic equipment.

He didn’t know if he had just imagined it, but he felt like the upgrade took a little longer this time.

He glanced at the two remaining Strengthening Stones in his hands and the gold coins that were about to run out, and shook his head bitterly. If he failed this time, he wouldn’t have enough Strengthening Stones to go again.

No matter how much money you had, the System wouldn’t let you strengthen your equipment if you were missing even one Strengthening Stone.

After spending such a long time upgrading his equipment, he was physically and mentally exhausted. No one usually upgraded ten equips at a time like this, and especially not to the third stage.

However, his strength had definitely improved.

It was hard to say, but Lu Li estimated that he was one tenth more powerful than before. It was too bad that he didn’t have enough Strengthening Stones, because he still had a few items he would like to strengthen like the Book of Ur.

Lu Li had spent a small fortune this time on his equipment – it was at least a few hundred thousand dollars, all in the hopes of performing well in the professional league so that Ruling Sword could achieve a good position.

The late prompt of the System finally came.

System: Congratulations, you have successfully strengthened your Supreme Four Ring.

Lu Li equipped the ring and couldn’t help but puff up in pride. He really was the best!

Upgrading a piece of equipment and hearing the System’s congratulations truly was one of the most exciting things a player could experience in Dawn. Many players set that sound to their communication device or their alarms and never got tired of hearing it.

Of course, now that the strengthening had been a success, there was only one thing left to do.

Even if two players had the same piece of equipment, the strengthening effect wouldn’t necessarily be the same. There were some upgrades that were so weak that the player would cry, while others would be ridiculously strong.

Lu Li wondered what kind of effect the strengthening had on his Epic equipment.

Of course, he hoped that it would have received a new Special Effect. An Epic equip wouldn’t receive a bad special effect; the System would ensure this.

Supreme Four Ring (Epic):

Agility +50

Strength +30

Constitution +30

Critical Hit +30%

Vampirism +35%

Special Effect 1: King of the Jungle’s Protection. Instant Cast, summon a natural Shield that absorbs all damage in one attack for the caster. 1 hour cooldown.

Special Effect 2: King of the Jungle’s Blessing. Stealth Effect +30%.

Special Effect 3: King of the Jungle Cenarius has granted you a special ability. You are able to learn three Druid Transformation skills and four skills within those transformations.

Equipment Requirement: None

Durability: None.

There wasn’t a new effect, nor was there a great change in its Attributes. However, Lu Li was speechless when he discovered that both the second and third strengthening had enhanced the same thing.

The first special effect’s cooldown had been reduced once again.

Originally, it had a six-hour cooldown, but now, it was one hour. This was undoubtedly a good thing, but Lu Li was still unhappy because he didn’t get a new special effect.

After indulging in his own fantasies, he collected his emotions and put the ring back on. Now all that was left was the Epic dagger, but he really couldn’t strengthen it now.

It was unrealistic to think he could borrow or buy a Strengthening Stone from someone else.

Strengthening Stones were a hot product being sold by merchants and organizations right now. They were at least three to five times more expensive than when exchanged in the Exchange Hall and at least ten times more expensive than their true market value.

Borrowing one from someone would also be a real pain.

If you borrowed one in the current market, things would become difficult when you later returned it. For example, if it was currently worth 80 gold per piece and later on was only worth 8 gold per piece, would you pay the normal price or return 10 pieces?

Moreover, the players that Lu Li were familiar with like Azure Sea Breeze and Lonesome Flower were all high-end players that needed their own strong equipment.

Asking them for their Strengthening Stones would put them in a tough spot.

After strengthening ten pieces of equipment, Lu Li decided to stop. He put the equipment that he had strengthened and went out to kill some monsters before finding a room in the arena.