The Great Thief

Garona was helpless; she didn’t have many quests to give.

In Dawn, it wasn’t the powerful NPCs who had a lot of quests – instead, it was the Blacksmith NPC uncles and tailor-store NPC aunties. As long as your Charm level was high enough, any quest beyond your imagination could appear.

But then again, these minor NPCs did not distribute very rewarding quests. It would almost be impossible for players to earn much Reputation in this way.

“Perhaps you should try the hostess in Southshore. She needs some helpers. By the way, if you do want to help her, it’s best to go disguised.”

As a possible executive of the Ravenholdt Manor, it was only natural that Garona knew about the hostess.

Lu Li achieved his goals and left happily. Water Fairy was also someone who was in desperate need of Reputation, so she went along with Lu Li. Considering that she was also a part of the manor, she could complete any quest that Lu Li was capable of accepting.

Southshore was still popular as usual, especially after the battle of Hillsbrad a while ago.

Although the map had shrunk back to its original size, it was still enough to fit tens of thousands of players in the area. The monsters that refreshed in this zone were around level 30 to 50, so players that were used to the environment were happy to stay.

There were some beautiful dancers currently dancing in the bar.

Both the NPCs and the adventurers watched closely; none of them paid attention to Lu Li and Water Fairy who had entered. The two of them silently positioned themselves in front of the hostess and found a place to sit.

It had been a while since the Hostess had seen these two regulars.

She quickly sorted out the customers before her and grabbed two light beers before seating herself across from them.

“It’s been a long time since the two of you have visited. I thought you had forgotten that you are part of the organization.”

Lu Li and Water Fairy exchanged glances with a bitter smile.

“A lot has happened, we came here as soon as we were available.”

It was mainly because of the competition. At the same time, it was also the fact that both Lu Li and Water Fairy felt like the quests given out by Ravenholdt Manor were too difficult. Almost every single quest required a great amount of time and energy. These quests also gave out Ravenholdt Manor Reputation as their main reward; they rarely gave out Reputation that could be used elsewhere.

“Alright, I do have a quest for the two of you,” the Hostess said, cutting straight to the point.

Ravenholdt Manor was one of the greatest secret organizations in Azeroth. Unfortunately, their numbers were limited and they weren’t as famous as SI:7, who were affiliated with Stormwind City. There were also a few Thief organizations out there which were a lot more famous than Ravenholdt Manor.

“We’ll do our best to complete the mission.”

Lu Li and Water Fairy both knew that the main story was about to unravel.

“Uhm… this quest can’t be done together. The two of you will have to head out to different cities,” the Hostess said, then looked at them and explained, “You’ll be sent off to the Class Training Hall in the city and serve there as a class trainer…”

Lu Li almost spat his beer out and even Water Fairy was left in shock.

They both doubted their ears. They had previously imagined the quest to be difficult, or to be handed an easier quest with useless rewards. Neither of them expected the content to be so ridiculous.

Lu Li had never heard of this kind of quest before.

“This time, we can only assign two cities. One is Darnassus, and the other is Stormwind City. The two of you can take your own pick and the details are in this ‘Class Trainer Handbook’…” the hostess continued as she took out two books. The book with a green cover represented Darnassus while the book with a blue cover represented Stormwind City.

“Which one do you want?” Lu Li asked.

“I’ll take Darnassus. I like the view there,” Water Fairy said as she reached for the green book. She wasn’t going to hold back from Lu Li.

It was a shame that they couldn’t quest together anymore; Lu Li felt a little disappointed at this.

“You can’t let the adventurers know who you are, or else the quest will fail,” the hostess said strictly. “Next comes the reward – when you successfully teach an adventurer a skill, hand out a quest and have the adventurer complete it, you can receive rewards. There is no time limit to this quest; it will be continued until you give up or are discovered…”

Everything, literally everything about the game that the two of them had known had been turned upside down.

It was as if they had started the game in the wrong mode, or if someone had hacked it. Should they report to the gaming company that such a bug existed?

Besides the quest book, they also received a bunch of other strange items used to fake their NPC identity. It seemed like this was legitimate, as they also received a quest announcement. Everything was following the usual protocol.

“We can get players from our guild to help. Just the Thieves alone in our guild would be enough for us to benefit for a long time,” Water Fairy said.

The girl was smart, but her thinking was a little naïve. Lu Li shook his head and suggested, “We should probably keep it lowkey. What if we run into someone who’s not so trustworthy? Then our secret will be revealed. If any random jumps before us, points at us and tells everyone that we are players, then the quest would fail straightaway. I don’t know about the punishment for the quest, but at the very least, we won’t receive any more rewards.”

In fact, even telling someone who you thought was trustworthy was not 100% safe either.

This trustworthy friend of yours could have other friends who they thought were trustworthy. Everyone had their own little circle and when a secret was circulated, it would no longer be a secret. It would only be a matter of time before it reached the ears of an enemy.

There was no way they would sit around and let Lu Li and Water Fairy gain Experience and Reputation so easily.

Water Fairy thought about it briefly and agreed. She was just overwhelmed by the great prospect of gaining Experience and Reputation, and hastily reacted to the situation. She was also surprised by how clearly Lu Li saw through everything straight away.

In terms of craftiness, Water Fairy wasn’t close to Lu Li. She was the type who liked to plan things directly and achieve them with an almost oppressing strength.

On the other hand, Lu Li’s background meant that he didn’t have the ability to make direct plans in the first place. Whether people called it smart tactics or craftiness, he used whatever he could. It was a common occurrence for him to be guessing over people’s thoughts and intentions.

“Guess we can only follow the standard procedure,” Water Fairy said. She checked the items that the hostess passed over and found a mask.

Lu Li searched for a bit and also found that he had a mask in his bag. The mask had no attributes or descriptions. As soon as Lu Li placed the mask on his face, his body began to shapeshift.

His size didn’t change, but he transformed from a Night Elf to a Human.

He had transformed into a middle-aged human, and a bald one too. He also had a beard around his face. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was still wearing player-styled equipment, Water Fairy probably wouldn’t be able to recognize him.

Even though Lu Li had a few pieces of equipment on him that belonged to the same set, he also had random pieces of equipment all from various sources. NPCs were different. Their clothing style aligned as one, especially class trainers – they almost all wore full sets.

The System then requested Lu Li to name himself.

When players interacted with an NPC, they could only see the NPC’s name if he or she was important. Most of the time, players didn’t need to enquire what the NPCs were called.

Ed Harris.

Lu Li couldn’t recall why he thought of the name; it just popped out of nowhere. From that moment on, he became Ed Harris, the Thief Class Trainer.

Water Fairy also put her mask on, but her image was a whole lot better.

This was an almost perfect Night Elf beauty; her first impression was cold and noble. If she changed her clothes into the common clothing that female Thief trainers usually wore, the kind that stuck tightly to the body, then she would definitely be another beautiful scene in Darnassus.

“Sherry, my English name,” this unfamiliar Night Elf lady said.

Even Lu Li couldn’t judge who she was by appearance alone, so he believed that no one else could tell her identity. Even those in real life who knew of her real English name wouldn’t be connecting the two together, because Sherry was such a common name.

“I’m Ed Harris, nice to meet you,” Lu Li said as he bowed with the common noblemen courtesy.

“Harris, I think we need some equipment – equipment that will have people thinking that we’re real NPCs,” Water Fairy suggested as she spun around on the spot. She was wearing a beautiful set of leather gear, the type that was less revealing.

“Garb of Thero-shan seems like a good set. You could try that,” Lu Li said as he checked his own attributes. After becoming an NPC, he didn’t need to use his equipment to boost himself anymore. As an NPC, his attributes were almost three times stronger than his usual state.

If he were to fight the player version of himself now, he could easily take himself down in 30 seconds.

As such, it didn’t matter what they wore. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t be able to wear this nameless mask outside the city and they wouldn’t be able to attack players without being provoked.

Otherwise, his attributes would be ideal for taking out monsters and levelling.

“Thero-shan, sure. I’ll do that,” Water Fairy said as she smiled discreetly. Considering that she cared a lot about visual appearance when it came to equipment, she knew exactly what each set looked like.

As for Thero-shan, what made it unique was how little it exposed.

It revealed no legs or waist, and even the chest area was well-covered compared to other available sets out there. The only exposed areas were the face and the hands.

Of course, Water Fairy knew what Lu Li was thinking. If anyone else dared to boss her around like this, she would have ignored them.

But right now, she was just happy over what Lu Li was thinking.