The Great Thief

“Is there anything I can do for you?”

Floral Paralysis’ expression seemed quite normal.

In fact, Lu Li had worried for nothing. Floral Paralysis had heard that someone challenged this NPC and was crushed as a result, but he didn’t even consider doing such a thing himself. Even if he tried, the result would be the same.

The gap between the star players and the ordinary players was not as simple as the ordinary player thought.

Star players obviously weren’t able to take on teams on their own, but even when fighting a single player, their respective techniques were what mattered most. After a certain strength disparity, the weaker person would inevitably lose no matter how you fought.

Floral Paralysis did feel an urge to challenge this NPC as well, because it was rare that an NPC would accept a player’s challenge.

However, he did not dare to issue the challenge because he didn’t know how much Prestige he would lose.

As long as the problem only involved money, it could be easily resolved. Once Prestige was at stake, the players would start to feel some pressure, especially professional players like Floral Paralysis.

The reason that he had come to this Profession Hall was obviously not to learn some skills. He still had his Enhanced Skill Book in his backpack, but unfortunately, he faced an issue that almost all professional players were facing. He didn’t have enough Prestige to learn it.

As such, he hoped that this new NPC would give him a quest that would increase his Prestige.

Lu Li’s expression was strange for a second. He really wanted to laugh, because a star player was trying to serve him. This was one of the few things he could enjoy as an NPC. Floral Paralysis would never do this for Lu Li, no matter how strong he was.

“Ahem, you look quite strong…”

“I will not let you down,” Floral Paralysis declared. He began to believe that Mr Harris was a fair NPC, as he was able to determine his strength at a glance.

“But… this is a very complicated quest,” Lu Li said, deliberately speaking in a mysterious tone. Unfortunately, Floral Paralysis wasn’t paying that much attention and just continued listening to Lu Li.

“So before the quest begins, you must complete another smaller task.”

“That is no problem, Mr Harris,” Floral Paralysis responded without hesitation.

If there were visible special effects, you would definitely see a dark aura coming off Lu Li at this point. He was planning something so evil that it was among the likes of Archimonde or Sargeras.

What was the relationship between Lu Li and Floral Paralysis?

If they met in reality, they could probably have a drink together. After all, they were both industry leaders and played the same profession, so they had plenty to relate on. Even though they competed fiercely against one another, Lu Li could even have a few beers with someone like Blood Dagger. Everyone could have a good time of drinking and banter with each other.

However, in the game, and especially when it came to working in the game, things were different.

They were all competitors!

It was either kill or be killed. This was the attitude of the professional players and it was the most basic requirement of a star player.

As such, Lu Li planned to deceive him right from the beginning.

“Go and kill Rethban. He has offended a nobleman, and now his life is being demanded. It would also be best if you did this alone,” Lu Li said solemnly.

Floral Paralysis’ face suddenly turned blue.

When it came to Barth Rethban, you had to know about Rethban Ore. And if Rethban Ore was involved, then you had to be ready to die, because Rethban ore was essential for Warriors.

Rethban Ore was named after the first person who discovered it – Barth Rethban.

This kind of ore wasn’t as hard as iron after smelting it, but it had a pure black colour. Players who liked black weapons would often beat it into their weapons to gain a cold and dark effect. It could also be used as fuel and many scribes used it to make ink.

There was also a very important quest for the Warrior profession that required Rethban ore.

Rethban would guide them to the place where they could mine it. Without Rethban’s guidance, no one would be able to mine the ore. As such, the mining master was often surrounded by a group of Warriors. Rethban was also very likable, and many Warriors respected him like an uncle.

If someone wanted to assassinate Rethban, they would have to face the Warriors’ anger.

Moreover, the respawn time for Rethban was two hours, which meant that the Warriors wouldn’t be able to mine the ore for this time. When Floral Paralysis thought about the consequences of such an action, he felt a chill.

“What’s wrong? Do you refuse to accept my test?” Mr. Harris asked coldly.

What could he do? The NPC was waiting for him.

Floral Paralysis asked Stellar Union Silver Radiant about the quest rewards. He received a positive answer – since the pre-task involved killing a level 50 Boss, the quest reward would be quite worthwhile. The NPC had asked him to fight Rethban alone, but he could send some players to stop the Warriors.

Of course, this was not without its drawbacks as it would draw the indignation of the ordinary players.

Even so, they didn’t care – if they worried about this and that, then the major guilds would never develop. The ordinary players were mostly part of a guild, which meant that plundering and being plundered was just part of the experience.

“Leave it to me, Mr. Harris,” Floral Paralysis said confidently.

Lu Li smiled at him as he walked away, forgetting the item he needed to do his mission. It was a potion that allowed him to ignore the other players’ attacks while he fought Rethban.

In fact, he didn’t even have to lie to Floral Paralysis.

The Prestige reward for this quest was quite good, but he had to complete the very difficult pre-task. The chain of quests following this was also quite cumbersome as they had more than 30 steps. These tasks weren’t too difficult, but they were just annoying and felt like a waste of time.

If you gave up halfway, there wasn’t too big of a punishment and you would only be rewarded for what you had done.

Lu Li gave this quest because it was one of the most rewarding, but also the most ruthless quest he had the authority to give. At the very least, it wasn’t worthwhile for a star player, as it was a lot of time to spend for Prestige.

However, for ordinary players this was a very good quest, as their greatest resource was time.

The final reward for the quest was a Dark Gold weapon. It had good Attributes and could completely change the fate of an ordinary player.