The Great Thief

After saying goodbye to Garona, Lu Li chose to practice his Stealthing technique.

A player couldn’t easily Strengthen their skills, but there was no restriction on practicing them. Just like when Water Fairy received the Backstab skill, her mentor specifically asked her to reach 100% completion before learning it.

Stealth was a basic skill that didn’t have degrees of completion, but Lu Li still chose to practice it for a while before Strengthening it.

The location he chose to train in was the Eastern Plaguelands.

There were a wide range of monsters here, ranging from level 40 to 50, including Abominations, Ghouls, Zombies, Warriors, Ghosts, Wizards and Lichs, with Gargoyles and Ice Dragons circling in the air. Most importantly, there were many monsters with high Detection like Bats, Spiders, Locusts, Undead Thieves and Assassins.

Among the more perceptive were the Bats, the Lich and the Undead Thieves.

For most players, these were anti-Stealth monsters that could see all invisible units. However, Lu Li knew that this was because of their high Detection ability.

Natural disasters regularly afflicted the Plaguelands from the Lich King far north.

Now that the Lich King has regained his Strength, all of the Scourge had completely surrendered to him. There were no more traitors like Lady Sylvanas and The Forsaken.

Here, zealous crusaders and the Undead were locked in endless battles.

The crusaders drew strength from the light, and were committed to eliminating the Undead and protecting human survivors. However, because of their zealously, this group gradually had to face the natural disasters that were afflicting the lands.

Lu Li himself didn’t object to this crusade.

Those aristocrats that accused them from afar were only the mouthpieces of the Paladins that came here to die. They had no idea how serious the situation at the frontlines was.

Lu Li entered Light’s Hope Chapel, which was the only safe place in the Eastern Plaguelands.

Light’s Hope Chapel was the base for the Silver Dawn Organisation’s activities in the Eastern Plaguelands. Negotiations between the Silver Dawn and the Scarlet Crusade were also held here.

Both the Alliance and Horde players could receive quests here and exchange Silverstone for Silver Dawn reputation. As Light’s Hope Chapel existed as a neutral area, both factions had to access it. At the same time, guards of the area would harshly treat those who disturbed the peace.

Commodity Officer Metz received Lu Li, the new recruit.

The Plaguelands were no longer an inhospitable place as they had once been when Lu Li first came here. Many players who were now level 40 chose this place to train and fight in.

This was especially the case for the Paladins, who would respond to the call of Silver Dawn and vow to fight the Undead.

”Killing is the only way you can increase your rank. Go out and kill a number of Scourge; you might receive a number of Scourge Stones. As long as you bring these back, I will give you some rewards,” Commodity Officer Metz said with disdain.

”As you wish, sir,” Lu Li bowed politely.

Despite his impoliteness, Commodity Officer Metz was actually a brave warrior who had been paralyzed in battle and had lost both of his arms.

There was once a wave of Scourge that attacked the chapel. In response, he raised a huge warhammer and charged right into them.

After leaving the chapel, Lu Li immediately entered Stealth.

In addition to the Paladins, there was also a Troll army in the area. They had come from Zul’Aman in the South and were seeking to regain their ancient kingdom.

Tareshkin and his army had planned to expel the Scourge from the land. It did not matter that the land was barren – the land had once belonged to them and he firmly believed that it would belong to them again!

Although they were part of different camps, Lu Li didn’t attack him. He had his own interests to look out for.

Among the Scourge, Princes Arthas was leading the Undead masses to indiscriminately butcher all those people he had once vowed to protect.

Lu Li attacked two Undead soldiers from Stealth, hitting one with Sap and another with Cheap Shot.

With one rotation of skills, the Undead Elite Warrior that had more than 8,000 HP died. In addition to Lu Li’s equipment, which dealt bonus damage to Undead, the fact that Lu Li was level 45 played a huge part in this damage output.

The fate of the other soldier was the same.

”Friend, do you want to party up? Thieves aren’t very good alone in the Plaguelands and we are lacking a damage output player…”

”That’s okay; I’m fine alone,” Lu Li politely refused. He noticed before his fight that this team had been fighting an Undead Warrior, and was impressed by their strength. After Lu Li had dealt with his two monsters, they had also finished their battle.

It was a party of four players, but the strongest was a Paladin.

The Paladin profession was a jack of all trades. They could play as a Main Tank, a Defensive Caster or a Healer. Although they weren’t very good at dealing with large numbers, their Consecration skill was still extremely powerful.

Their Divine Skills also had bonus damage against the Undead.

Many solo Priests chose to level up here, as their usually weak attacks received a considerable damage bonus.

”Friend, it’s no trouble for us. We can take you in,” the Paladin offered. He was fighting at the time and clearly didn’t see how Lu Li had just killed the two Undead Warriors on his own.

”I’m really fine, thank you,” Lu Li asserted.

”No matter, as long as you help us kill some of these monsters,” the Paladin said fervently.

Lu Li was speechless.

He wasn’t sure if it was this Paladin just had a very strong belief in the light, but it seemed like he had gone crazy. It was as though he couldn’t distinguish the game from reality.

In the Plaguelands, these monsters belonged to the System. Even if you killed them, they would still refresh. Why would it matter if he killed one or two more?

”If you need me, I’ll help out. I’m here to practice my skills.”

Although Lu Li was confused by the Paladin’s behaviour, he didn’t look down on these players. Instead, he simply assumed that they had pure intentions.

”Then don’t stray too far from us, if something happens we can help you,” the Paladin said worriedly as Lu Li ran towards the higher-levelled Lich monsters.