The Great Thief

Blood Elves were quite common and Elves were one of the strongest race in the Alliance.

What was surprising Was that the System did not consider them to be enemies, so they couldn’t attack one another.

How could a Blood Elf and a High Elf not be enemies? This was something that shouldn’t have happened in Dustwallow Marsh since the map did not belong to either the Alliance or Horde.

Usually, when an Alliance and Horde player encountered each another, there would be a blood-red glow around them, signifying that they could be killed for honor points.

Lu Li quickly realized why this was the case before the other Thief did.

”Raven…”

”...Holdt” the Blood Elf finished the word in a husky voice.

”Nice to meet you. I’m Lu Li,” he said as he put his daggers away.

Besides special maps or scenarios, the only time when an Alliance player could be friendly with a Horde player was if there were in the same sub-faction. Additionally, they had to also be attempting the same quest given out by the sub-faction.

”Hehe, if it isn’t older brother Lu Li. I’ve lost to you before. I’m Song of Sorrow from Peacetime Dynasty; do you remember me?” the Blood Elf Thief asked with a laugh.

”Ah, such a coincidence.” Lu Li remembered this guy very clearly.

Song of Sorrow was from the major guild Peacetime Dynasty. When they were in their prime, he was ranked as a top 3 player in the guild. However, they had recently some expert players and were no longer the powerhouse they once were. Song of Sorrow’s position in the guild naturally rose with the decrease in members.

He was a famous star player in the gaming scene and was known to dominate with Thief or Assassin classes, earning him the nickname ’God of Thieves’.

In the Shadow Cup, Lu Li had the privilege of fighting in a 1v1 against him and won with an edge in his mechanics and equips.

Their match went down as an instant classic. Many new Thief players would re-watch the recordings and study their positioning and skill rotations.

”I accepted the quest from Ravenholdt and it told me to collect some Moon Grass, but I accidentally aggroed the Black Dragon and died,” Song of Sorrow sighed.

”I was told to collect Moon Grass as well. Why don’t we work together?” Lu Li suggested.

It was better to make friends than foes, otherwise, they would be competing for the Moon Grass and end up fighting against each other. Besides, if they accidentally aggroing the Dragon would be bad for either party.

If it weren’t for the quest, Lu Li would have liked to have a rematch against him.

Lu Li wouldn’t underestimate him, even though he had defeated him once. Even after such a long time, he wasn’t able to detect Song of Sorrow’s positioning while they were both Stealthed. This showed that Song of Sorrows had similar Stealth and Detection attributes to him.

Song of Sorrow had previously lost because Lu Li had better Stealth and Detection, so he was able to get the first strike on him.

”Sure, the monsters around here stay in groups so it’ll be easier for us to deal with them together. What about this Moon Grass?” Song of Sorrows asked as he pointed towards the one they had been fighting for.

”You can have it first since you found it first,” Lu Li quickly conceded.

”Ok, the next one we find is yours then.”

Song of Sorrow was very courteous as well; they were both well-mannered.

He needed a lot more than Lu Li, but he had been gathering around this area for a while now. If they rotated the Moon Grass harvesting, they would finish at around the same time.

Their efficiency greatly increased when working with each other. It became so easy that they were able to multitask and have a conversation while killing the mobs.

”This feels so weird. A Horde and an Alliance player are working together to kill monsters.”

”No one will see.” Lu Li didn’t care.

”Oh yeah, can’t you transform into a Blood Elf? Let’s see you do it,” Song of Sorrows suddenly asked.

”I’m not your slave. Why would I listen to you?”

Lu Li picked up the drops and placed them into his inventory, then bent down and harvested the second Moon Grass.

”What’s there to hide? Everyone knew that you transformed into a Blood Elf to get closer to Sorrowless, then decapitated him with ease. Let a brother see your trick, in case people see this and spread rumors,” Song of Sorrow said.

”You’re so annoying,” Lu Li sighed, but reached for the Deception Orb in his inventory.

A Blood Elf Thief appeared before Song of Sorrow. He inspected Lu Li and commented, ”I now understand why Sorrowless was tricked. This is almost a perfect replica; there’s no way anyone could tell.”

”Stop trying to reveal my secrets. It’s not like we’re really good friends,” Lu Li said. He refused to reveal any more of his secrets.

”That’s not true. We can form an alliance together,” Song of Sorrows laughed. ”Just because we’re in different factions doesn’t mean that we can’t work together. It’s not like there’s a law that prevents us from doing so.”

”Stop trying. What does Peacetime Dynasty have left to offer?” Lu Li asked.

They had lost around 70 to 80% of their professional players, the guild resources were running dry and their sponsors were nullifying the contracts. Peacetime Dynasty was the Titanic waiting to hit the iceberg.

The current scene of the guilds in the Alliance and Horde were completely different. There were multiple major guilds in Alliance and everyone competed, but had a fairly good chance at thriving.

However, for the Horde, it was Glory Capital that dominated the entire faction.

The game had only been opened to the public for three months. After two more years, the only surviving guild would be Gale Legion. Peacetime Dynasty, Stellar Union, Brotherhood and Kingdom Eternity would all be completely dominated by Glory Capital.

There had been many changes in his current life such as Sorrowless, who had returned back to the professional scene. However, Lu Li felt that changes like these would not alter the fate of those guilds.

”Peacetime has been in the gaming community for almost a hundred years. How could it fall because we lost out on a single game?” Song of Sorrows was pissed off, but he knew that Lu Li was right.

”I don’t mind working together to be honest. Glory Capital is developing too fast for us to keep up with.”

Although they were called a top 10 guild, Lu Li reckoned that combining the nine others together would still not make them as large as Glory Capital.

　　萧莫是个法神,更是一个极为高明的管理者.

　　长恨歌听出来陆离的言外之意,也笑着点了点头,他甚至开始考虑有什么项目是可以跨阵营合作的.

　　别的人都从盛世王朝走了,他不走的原因有很大一部分是因为情感,也有一些是因为这个公会里有他的份额.

　　与长恨歌合作,寻找草药的效率大大提升,很快就凑齐了陆离需要的五株.

　　长恨歌比陆离还早完成,他等到陆离完成了才提出离开.

　　陆离看着他的背影遁入黑暗,不知道该不该同情他,因为无论他多么不愿意承认,至少盛世王朝已经到了油尽灯枯的地步.

Sorrowless was a great Mage player, however, he was even greater at running guilds.

Song of Sorrow knew what Lu Li meant and smiled while nodding. He began thinking about the potentials of having a cross-faction alliance.

Many players had already left Peacetime Dynasty, however, one of the biggest reasons why he hadn’t left was because of sentimental reasons. Additionally, he also held a share of the guild.

By working with Song of Sorrow, their efficiency greatly increased and Lu Li managed to gather the 5 Moon Grass he needed.

Song of Sorrow finished earlier than him but waited until Lu Li was finished.

Lu Li watched as Song of Sorrows disappeared into the shadows. He felt quite sympathetic towards him because, though he doesn’t want to admit it, Peacetime Dynasty was a dying guild.