The Great Thief

”I believe you can teach her; she is still a child,” Haggle said with a grin. ”Come with me. I hope you don’t mind, but it’s a bit far from here.”

It was indeed quite far; Lu Li followed Haggle straight into Ironforge.

When he saw the so-called child, he saw she was a young Gnome who was no more than ten years old. She was like the smaller version of Remnant Dream after she had taken the Noggenfogger Elixir.

After seeing this child, Lu Li vowed to never call Remnant Dream a dwarf again.

”This is Shoni; isn’t she cute?” Haggle introduced as he squatted down and patted the little Gnome before pointing to Lu Li and whispering, ”I found an elf to teach you.”

”But I want to be with my brother,” Shoni whined. She was obviously the unwilling participant in this agreement.

However, even if she was unwilling, what could she do? Adults generally didn’t take the opinions of their children seriously and Haggle still had other things to do.

Lu Li was completely oblivious as to how he was going to teach this small Gnome NPC. He had no previous experience, no strategy and had never even heard of the quest. If Haggle wanted him to be a babysitter that would be fine, as he had been taking care of his sister all these years.

But after thinking about it, he thought that it would be good for her to experience the dangers of the wild.

There was almost no safety in the wilderness of Azeroth. Even the Moonlight Forest had monsters, and the Indigenous population had become accustomed to this situation.

”Uncle, why don’t you have long ears?”

”My ears are very long, but just not as long as you would imagine. The kind of ears you’re thinking of belong to a donkey…”

”Uncle Elf, do you sleep on trees?”

”Occasionally, but I think beds are more comfortable. There are snakes on the trees, and they might want to get close to you if you sleep on them.”

”Uncle…”

”Do I look old to you? I saw you calling Haggle big brother before.”

”It’s not the same; I will marry big bro Haggle in future. If I wanted to be as tall as you are, it would take at least a few hundred years.”

”Child, even if you lived to be thousands of years old, you will never be as tall as an elf.”

”Oh.”

”Let’s talk about big bro Haggle – why do you want to marry him? He doesn’t seem that charismatic. You’re also still young; you shouldn’t be thinking about this kind of thing.”

”Big bro Haggle saved my life in the year when the Rockjaws suddenly appeared in Khaz Modan…”

The Rockjaws were a barbaric race that were closely related to cavemen. Despite their low intelligence, they had an astonishingly cruel disposition.

The Dwarves’ ancestors were forged by the Titans. In the history of Azeroth, the earliest earth spirits were mutated into Rockjaws, but this was a catastrophic failure. The Titans then sealed away the failed product, and set out to conduct a second experiment in Uldaman. The resulting creature eventually began the race of the Dwarves!

The main burial site of the Rockjaws was located in the ancient Titan City of Uldaman in Khaz Modan.

The Rockjaws were there in deep sleep for many years until the Dwarves began to explore Uldaman. The Dwarves dug too deep and woke up them from their slumber. One by one, the awakened Rockjaws swarmed out of the caves, spreading horror in the Dwarf Kingdom.

One of the most powerful Dwarf Cities, Gnomeregan, was raided.

Although the Gnomes there fought bravely to protect the city they loved, Gnomeregan fell.

Most of the Gnomes were killed during the fall of Gnomeregan – at least 80%. The few survivors fled to Ironforge, which was nearby. There, they set out to rebuild their army, heal their wounds and prepare to recapture the city that they had lost.

This little Gnome was hidden in the dense sewer network of the city by her family at this time.

The dry foods that they carried were quickly depleted and they were subject to panic, hunger and the cold. This was the first time for many of the children to have gone through such an experience.

”During that time, Nipsy would tell us these stories. He said that he used to be a pirate and was called Captain Nipsy. He would set sail…”

Lu Li couldn’t help but imagine the children who were helplessly stuck in the dark damp sewer.

”Then, Haggle came and gave us meat to eat,” the little gnome said happily. ”Obviously, we had a lot of rat meat. Haggle was an expert at catching rats, and we ate a lot of rat meat…”

Lu Li suddenly stopped hating this quest. Perhaps he wouldn’t be able to teach this child very well, but he hoped that he could at least make this child happy.

”Haggle has saved many people, right?”

Haggle wasn’t special just to her, which also meant that she couldn’t decide her marriage based on that fact. Because this girl was like a sister to Lu Li, he felt like it was unwise to fall in love so soon.

”Haggle comes to see me every few months, and always seems to be covered in radiated dust. I guess that he is recusing more Gnomeregan people and probably went through a great battle. When he does see me, he brings me more rat meat.”

Well, at least Lu Li now knew not to say anything bad about Haggle behind his back, but he keenly caught a phrase that she had said.

”Did you said radiated dust?”

”Yep!” The little gnome’s expression didn’t seem to match up with her age. She clenched her fist as she vowed, ”I want to go back to Gnomeregan with Haggle to save our people one day.”

”Nonsense, that’s not a good idea. Shoni, do you think Gnomeregan is a place you can get to easily?” Lu Li asked as his face sank.

At the time that Gnomeregan was about to fall, a great tinker named McNeill Thermaplugg used a special bomb to destroy the overwhelming Rockjaws.

When the bomb exploded, it spread a lot of radiation. Not only did it kill countless Rockjaws, but it also turned many Gnomes into Leper Gnomes.

”Waaah! I am worried about Haggle; he will definitely become a Leper Gnome,” Shoni cried while holding her face. She might have been naïve, but her fate had given her an understanding of many things.

”You have to learn the Thief’s abilities first if you want to go to Gnomeregan to help Haggle. Shoni, are you willing to train for it?” Lu Li sighed.

”Of course,” the little Gnome said as she wiped off her tears and forced herself to stop sobbing, then stared at Lu Li with her eyes wide open.

Lu Li found that his game interface had changed, and most of his skills had changed too.