The Great Thief

“That’s the last one. We don’t have enough to kill them in one shot again.”

Sakura Memories looked at the last bomb in her hands and smacked her lips.

“Alright, we’ll leave it there for today,” Lu Li replied, as he looked at his own EXP bar.

He was already at LV25 with more than 17% EXP, which ranked him at fourth place. Azure Sea Breeze, Lonesome Flower and March Rain were in front of him as the top three. All the members of the Xin Xin Mercenary Group were LV25, except for Remnant Dream, Hachi Chan and Sakura Memories. However, they could easily get there with half a day of farming.

The rankings, from first to tenth, were filled with Xin Xin Mercenary players. Eleventh place was taken by I No Understand, Glory Capital’s representative.

By now, no one was surprised.

Other than wanting to join a big guild, those who wanted a high rank thought that they could achieve this by becoming a part of the Xin Xin Mercenary Group.

“Can we do this again in the future?”

Sakura Memories was afraid that this would forever remain as her strongest memory. As a levelling maniac, nothing gave her more joy than seeing her EXP bar rise.

“If I can get more Starwood, then sure, but the EXP won’t be as great.” Lu Li had just popped a piece of jerky into his mouth and was speaking slowly.

The highest-level ghosts were only LV25, which was the same as them. The EXP bonus had long since disappeared and when their levels were higher, they would gain even less EXP. Once they were two levels higher than the ghosts, they wouldn’t receive any EXP at all, no matter how many ghosts they killed.

“At least it was still better than earning our EXP bit by bit. This is one bad thing about Dawn – levelling takes too long,” Azure Sea Breeze sighed.

“They want everyone to play this game. By reducing the speed at which you can level, they can increase the game’s longevity. I’m guessing that after a year, there still won’t be a single person who has reached level 50,” Wandering said sensibly.

In fact, his estimation was quite accurate. In the future, Dawn would introduce a level cap, with LV50 considered as the first stage of being fully levelled.

After reaching LV50, players were required to complete a Challenge Quest before they could continue to gain EXP.

Because of this Challenge Quest, all the players at that level were stuck for three months.

However, Dawn also pushed the players to explore the other richer elements of the game. This led players to care less and less about the levels and rankings.

After all, having a high level did not mean that they were powerful.

For example, the difference between level 20 and 24 was only 20 attribute points. With a few upgrades and good equipment, this difference could easily be mitigated.

Dawn used the standard five-level grouping for equipment, which meant that level 24 players could still only wear level 20 equipment. As such, the level of strength between them was not very large. However, after a gap of five levels, a higher tier of equipment could be worn to better reflect that difference.

When Lu Li participated in the Warsong Canyon war, he wanted Starwood instead of Gold so he could bring everyone to level 25.

The battle at the Meisnera Outpost must have actually dropped quite a few level 25 Silver equips.

Otherwise, there would not be this many Silver Molds available on the market.

Most people would say that only a fool would sell their mold. Wasn’t it better to keep something that could potentially produce strong equipment?

However, those who considered others to be fools were not usually very smart themselves.

Currently, most players were level 22 or below. Those who were higher than level 22 were already considered first class. Considering the hundreds of thousands of players in China, they would be within the top few hundred.

As for those who were below level 22, they would quickly realize that they wouldn’t be able to reach level 25 before next week.

Even if they did reach that level, they might not have the materials to use the Mold. Even if they did have the materials, they might only be able to craft an ordinary Silver equip anyway…

In short, it was too much effort for too little gain.

Even so, many players still thought it was better to hold onto their Molds than to sell them. Yet, the price of one level 25 Silver Mold was equal to that of 2-3, good level 15 Silver equips.

That kind of purchase could significantly and clearly increase a player’s strength.

After splitting up the loot, Remnant Dream, Hachi Chan and Sakura Memories, the three players who had not yet reached level 25, decided to find two other players to grind the Death Mines. The others were already ten levels higher than the dungeon, so they didn’t go with them.

Some of them went levelling, while others went to the Warson Canyon.

Lu Li first checked the Skill Books that were assigned to him.

Skill Books that were dropped by these mobs were generally quite ordinary. Rarely were they extraordinary, but this was not an absolute rule. Lu Li eventually discovered that one of the Skill books he had received was actually quite good.

Sprint: Instant Cast. 120 second cooldown time. Increase your movement speed by 20% for 8 seconds. Can be used while in Stealth. Skill Proficiency 1/5.

This was one of the Thief’s easiest skills. It wasn’t considered rare, as it would drop very regularly later, but for now, it still had a low drop rate.

Even though the skill books were ordinary, he would have no problem selling them.

With Dawn’s third weekly update, the equipment repair prices had been increased once again. Lu Li needed to spend over a dozen gold to repair his exquisite equipment, which was over a thousand dollars.

Lu Li then channeled the return spell and stood before his personal warehouse, trying to determine what equipment he should use.

The loot this time was truly bountiful. Most of the players in his party had only taken 2-3 equips, which left Lu Li with 44 Silver equips and 105 Steel equips.

After looking for a while, he found that there wasn’t anything worth taking for himself.

Other than the Silver helmet that he had taken at the start, nothing else really caught his eye.

To the ordinary players, the group of players that dropped this equipment were experts. However, to Lu Li, they were no such thing. Within this huge pile of equipment, he could barely find clothes or a belt for himself.

He eventually decided on a trashy belt and equipped it.

Bladefist’s Breadth (Steel): Strength +3, Critical Hit +2%, Level Requirement 10, Durability 28/28.

The Bloodstained badge that Lu Li had given to Azure Sea Breeze significantly assisted in maintaining his HP. It served an important purpose when it was used on the Main Tank.

The other equipment was either not for Thieves, or worse than what he had.

He was currently wearing many level 10 or 15 Steel equips, but these had special effects. Equipment such as the Rager set or Shadow cloak couldn’t easily be replaced.

Lu Li also decided to swap his old LV5 shoes with the Tempest Leather Boots dropped by the Wind Wielder.

Tempest Leather Boots (Steel): Amor 25, All Attributes +10, Movement speed +5%, Special Effect: When escaping, you can activate this skill to appear in a random location 15 yards away. 360 second cool down. Level requirement: 25, Durability 50/50.

These boots came with a special effect that helped him escape and provided him with more than one escape skill.

As for the rest of the equipment, Lu Li kept a few of them and gave the rest to Shen Wansan. He would help him sell all of this equipment at a higher price than in the Exchange Hall without having to pay taxes or fees.

The two of them had already established a stable relationship. Now, even the Xin Xin Mercenary Guild’s equipment was given to Shen Wansan to deal with.

After mailing the equipment, Lu Li contacted Shen Wansan with the news.

“I just passed over a few pieces of equipment. You’ll get them soon,” Lu Li said.

“I already saw it. Brother, don’t call it a few pieces. I only ever carry a few dozen equips at a time; my daily trading volume can’t keep up with you.” Even without seeing his face, Lu Li could image Old Shen’s bitter smile.

“This was an accident. As per our old agreement, do you think you can deal with all of it?” Lu Li didn’t dwell on the issues of quantity.

The Imperial Secret Service was clearly seeking to oppress them, to the point where they couldn’t fight back. If it were a difference circumstance, Lu Li would have had no choice but to run as far away as possible.

“Of course. The Shadow Cup main event is starting in two days, so people are currently rushing to buy equipment,” Shen Wansan said with some pride.

“I also have something I need your help with.” If it weren’t for this, Lu Li wouldn’t have even called Shen Wansan. He would have just sent the equipment to him.