The Great Thief

“You must be talking about this,” Lu Li said as he pulled out the crafting hammer.

He had no reason to hide it. Players were often murdered for equipment, but no one would kill a blacksmith for a hammer.

Generally speaking, players would try not to offend others who had a crafting hammer. Killing those players would be useless, as the hammer was unlikely to be carried on them. Players would often just store their hammer in the warehouse and only take it out if they were going to use it.

“Oh wow, no wonder you can make such good equipment. I guess our future armor and weapons will depend entirely on you,” Wandering said straightforwardly.

Everyone else probably didn’t understand, except for Wandering, who had crudely studied Forging.

If this hammer could be sold, it would fetch a heaven-defying price, as it represented the creation of countless exquisite equips.

“You all have whetstones, and you can also find out what kind of materials you need. If you have all the materials required, I’ll make it for you.” Lu Li didn’t mind spending some time to make equipment for his party.

This was what a party should be like – everyone putting in their best to achieve a common goal.

The strength of a party wasn’t solely determined by each individual’s strength, but also by the emergent synergies its members.

“Can you help us make equipment to trade for rare materials? All you need is that hammer…” Wandering’s eyes lit up as he thought about all the rare materials that were now available to him.

“Stop dreaming,” Lu Li rejected decisively. “I don’t have that much time, and who knows whose hands that equipment will fall into?”

“Drizzle Court, probably. I hear you and Water Fairy had a thing. I’m sure you would make equipment for her?” Wandering asked with a grin.

“We’ve only had a few interactions,” Lu Li said, with a change in his expression.

A beautiful woman like Water Fairy would often be rejected not because she wasn’t beautiful enough, but because she was too beautiful. People would often feel that she was out of their league.

“What if she has material that we desperately need?” Wandering pressed.

“I’ll do a maximum of three per day, but you have to supply your own materials.” Lu Li quickly estimated that crafting three pieces of equipment would take up to one hour. He thought that this was an acceptable loss.

“That’s what I’m talking about! It wouldn’t be worth it if it was any easier,” Wandering nodded in agreement.

After bidding farewell to his teammates who were going to train, Lu Li started channeling to return to the city and was immediately transported to his original spawning location – the Dark Ravine.

The trees of the Dark Ravine were just as dark as the sky, with their leaves mostly being a reddish-purple.

The ground was covered in a jade-green grass, which was mottled with thick patches of crimson and lavender flowers. Wild Boars and Black Panthers could be seen moving around amongst the greenery. It was truly a harmonious sight.

In the distance, a purple mist tinted the color of the hills and jungle, making it appear like an oddly-colored amber.

It was evening in Dawn, and the sunlight was lazily shining through the purple mist.

Countless players were continuously leaving the place. Some were leaving for the first time, while others left because they had died in the wild. Some were confused, excited or even frustrated. It was truly a unique taste of life.

Lu Li’s black leather armor, rings and necklaces quickly gave away the fact that he wasn’t a novice. A group of people immediately started to gather around him.

“Expert, lead me. I’ll pay you 100 dollars per hour, what do you think?”

“Expert, do you have any spare equipment that you can give me? It’s urgent.”

“Expert, can I borrow some gold to repair my equipment? I’ll return it to you when I have money.”

Lu Li surveyed his surroundings, before slowly disappearing into Stealth and walking away.

“Humph, he’s just here to show off. He has no compassion at all.”

“It’s probably because he didn’t do well outside of here. That’s why he came back.”

“When I’m higher-levelled, I’ll kill this kind of person whenever I see them.”

The group of players scolded among themselves and scattered. Lu Li could only bitterly smile; he would never lower himself to argue with these people. He then transformed into a leopard and ran among the green grass.

Carolina – the Sentinel Party Leader was still riding her Winter Frostblade Leopard. There were two Ranger Sentinels closely following her, guarding her against any attacks from behind.

Just like last time, many players were still following this Night Elf beauty.

However, they didn’t dare to approach her, so they could only stare and drool from a distance.

Like Meisnera, Carolina also had a queen-like noble temperament that made players obsess over her.

Lu Li didn’t even dare to take one more look than he needed to. He stood before Carolina and stepped forward with a salute, saying, “Greetings, respected Excellency. I have travelled in Stealth to get here; I hope the Moon Goddess will light our paths.”

Carolina stopped the guards who were about to chase Lu Li away and sat up on her mount. “Greetings, Pioneer of the Howling Caves, we meet again,” she replied.

As Lu Li’s party had achieved the First Clear of the Howling Caves, he had gained an additional title – Pioneer of the Howling Caves.

“I’m glad that you remember me.” Lu Li was a little flattered.

It was always a happy affair to be remembered by a beautiful woman. Although she was really just some lines of code, it felt like she was a real woman.

“Last time, your party cleared out the Spider Lair and now, you have brought the good news of clearing out the Howling Caves. I would like to thank you on behalf of the Elune sisters.” Carolina broke out into a smile, and the nearby players could only envy Lu Li.

This was the kind of smile that anyone could fall for, the kind of smile that could make the whole world disappear.

The person who had designed this character was truly a genius.

“Lord Navarax is a great control mage, but unfortunately, I didn’t gain any favor with him. I have a few questions that I was hoping you could address,” Lu Li said, stating his intentions.

“I know he was immersed in transforming the Barrenlands, but it seems like even he can’t remember what Nordrassil looked like.”

Carolina seemed to be somewhat discontented with Navarax as Lu Li remained silent. He didn’t want to accidentally slander a famous, meritorious Archdruid.

Some things were fine for an NPC to say, but were best for a player not to say.

Of course, the only exception to this was Hachi Chan, the System’s daughter.

“What kind of question do you have?” Carolina sighed emotionally before returning to the topic at hand.

“I accidentally came across this mysterious ring which has given me the breath of the forest. But in trying to explore the secrets of the ring, I have experienced some things. Now, I am confused and I don’t know the way forwards.” Lu Li raised his hand and revealed his finger with the ring on it.

Carolina had a serious look on her face; the prior laziness had completely disappeared.

She stretched out her hand and the ring floated off Lu Li’s finger. It then landed on the Priest Goddess’ jade-white palm.

Dammit, didn’t it say that it couldn’t be dropped or lost?

“So this is it,” she said, shaking her head. “Not his.”

Even Lu Li was confused about this.

However, as someone who had experienced rebirth and spent countless hours reading in the library, he knew more about the game’s lore than anyone else. He quickly came to realize what Carolina meant.

She recognized that this was the Supreme ring and that it wasn’t the one that Malfurion had.

“Do you know how to make it stronger?” Lu Li asked cautiously.

If Carolina didn’t know, then he really didn’t know who else to turn to. He wasn’t a Druid, so he couldn’t enter the legendary Emerald Dreams to look for Malfurion.

The creator of the ring, Cenarius, had disappeared without a trace. As such. there was very little hope in finding him as well.