The Great Thief

These updates weren’t bad for Lu Li, but not everything made him happy.

Thieves had been nerfed, along with Warlocks. The main nerf to Warlocks hit their brainless, continuous damage skills. On the other hand, Mages had received quite a significant buff. Ice Mages originally didn’t deal very much damage, but now, they had improved significantly in that regard.

With each balancing patch, there would be different professions that came into the limelight. Ice Mages were now going to be the strongest profession.

Lu Li had no choice but to accept that Mages were one of Dawn’s most important professions. Fortunately, the Thief nerfs were not too impactful – they were only weakened in their Stealth. Currently, it was difficult for any other profession to make the first move against a Thief, which was not what the game company wanted to see.

In addition, there was quite a bit content that had been added, which made this quite a large update.

On the day of the System Update, Ruling Sword actually had a game to play against Gods of Dusk, but Lu Li did not participate in it.

This guild, which was older than Glory Capital, had gotten by all this time by relying on their top player, Wood Fearing. Although they had gained a number of new players since entering Dawn, it was difficult to restore their former glory and compete with Ruling Sword. The match against Gods of Dusk was almost a completely one-sided affair.

Moonlight could deal with Wood Fearing and the other Ruling Sword players were quite capable as well. As long as they won in the individual rounds, there was almost no possibility of losing the team match. Lu Li was farming while also Forging the Felstriker at the same time.

His Forging level was high enough to Forge the Felstriker, but in order to maximize the result, he chose not to complete it for the time being and continued to increase his Forging level. He would also help his guild members create their daggers out of Molds to practice.

After a long period of research, Lu Li found out that producing an exquisite item was largely up to luck. However, it wasn’t completely out of his control.

For example, the Felstriker needed a skill level of Master (350), but if Lu Li continued to improve, the probability of making something Exquisite would greatly increase. In practice, most other Forgers didn’t have a godly crafting hammer, so perhaps this rule wasn’t applicable to them.

The second factor was the choice of materials. Dawn’s Mold Forging required the correct rare materials. These were unique and could not be replaced by other minerals.

However, there were some materials which could have a positive effect on the item. Ore was one such example. It was the most basic material for Forging, but different ores had different qualities and there were a few extremely rare variants. Lu Li had been searching for some time now and had finally found two pieces of the Thorium Vein Ore variant that he was looking for.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t acquired any Dark Iron Ore and he was the only one who was currently capable of smelting Dark Iron ingots in the game.

Lu Li had chosen quite a remote location – Un’Goro Crater.

There were only a few players here, and this environment was good for Forging. The Fire Plume Forge was the place where the Fire Elementals chose to reside after the Elemental war. The Fire Elementals here would burn anyone that approached them, so only the brave and careful adventurers dared to venture here.

The huge volcano in the middle of the crater was quite unique. It was also the place where Rok’Alim had set the record for the highest known temperature. As a result, this attracted Fire Elementals to live her and even invade.

The legends said that this was the site in which the Titans had created the world of Azeroth. The river that snaked around the area and the Earthens that were guarding it seemed to be a testament to that fact.

There was a mine to the north of Marshall’s Refuge. Although it had been abandoned, some ores of very high quality could still be mined there. When Forging weapons, you could receive a little extra from this mine. Of course, Lu Li himself could not do any mining, so he had to bring some players to help him.

Master Camogodo used the flames from Fire Plume Forge to create the most famous Forging Furnace in Azeroth.

Un’Goro had some specialties that could not be found elsewhere, like the Bloodpetal Sprout, Un’Goro Soil and other multi-colored ores.

It was a tropical rainforest with thick vegetation and large fierce beasts everywhere. There were all kinds of raptors, pterodactyls, stegosauruses, and gorillas. Because of these monsters, there was only a small group of greedy adventures, archeologists and exploration parties.

Most of the adventurers who were here had come to complete quests and make money. They were here to collect resources that they were later going to sell. For example, players would kill the mud monsters at the swamp to extract their goo, collect furs from the gorillas and take the pterodactyls’ wings. These quests were mostly given by the Goblins.

Lu Li had completed similar quests and was eventually allowed to use the Forging Furnace of Master Camagodo.

Ruling Sword players were notified that they could find Lu Li there if they needed helping Forging weapons. The only condition was that their Mold’s Forging Requirements had to be greater than level 350.

It wouldn’t be unreasonable to say that this condition was a bit harsh, as the level 350 Molds were not quite common yet. However, Lu Li was surprised to find that hundreds of players had come to the Un’Goro Crater. This map which was normally quite quiet was now very lively.

“I have been waiting to Forge this dagger for a long time. Please Boss,” a Thief pleaded as he threw a level 340 Mold into Lu Li’s hands, afraid that he would refuse it. After all, the condition was that it had to be higher than 350.

“Put down the material and go to the mine to get some ores for me. When you come back, I’ll send a dagger to your mailbox.”

Lu Li’s Forging level had just passed 350, so this Mold would still grant him some EXP. There was no need for Lu Li to be too strict, but he had to pay a price for this exception. Otherwise, who else would help him mine?

As luck would have it, the equipment that was produced was actually a Perfect Dark Gold. Lu Li licked his lips as he saw the first Perfect item that he had created today.

The Perfect equipment gave him a lot of EXP. It was much more than an ordinary creation, so Lu Li was quite satisfied.

Everyone was in a party with Lu Li, so that the Warlocks could clear out the monsters safely as there was no respawn point in Un’Goro. When the players saw that Lu Li had made a perfect weapon, the Thief who was mining became so excited that he almost cried.

“You have to buy everyone drinks; this is basically an Epic item,” the others said.

“Definitely. When we go back, I’ll pay for everyone’s drinks in the Stormwind City Tavern.”

This equipment was originally worth a few hundred coins, but now its value had increased at least tenfold.

Although the number of Perfect weapons he made was relatively small, Lu Li’s exquisite Forging hammer often produced great or exquisite items.

Many of the newcomers now knew why the players were so excited when the Boss announced that he would be Forging items for them.