The Great Thief

”Dammit, it really is a local tycoon. He just used a contract.”

Some of the players who were sitting around the area knew what had just happened. They immediately recognized the burning object as the legendary contract.

Dawn never advertised itself as a free game, but apart from the helmets, there were no additional fees that needed to be paid.

However, there were some things that did exist, like this contract. It was just like an ordinary contract, but it wasn’t governed by the world’s laws. Rather, it was governed by the game’s own set of rules.

If a player and an NPC didn’t trust each other, it was best to sign a contract.

Players could sign them with other players as well. They weren’t expensive, as they could be bought from the system for 100 gold coins. You could write whatever you wanted within them, but they had to be within the constraints of the system.

Only for an important agreement would a player use this luxury item. No one thought that they would see a contract in this desert Tavern.

”He just signed a contract with that NPC. That NPC isn’t his slave now, is he?” someone speculated. If you could enslave a few NPCs and force them to farm for you all day, that would be quite worthwhile. Or perhaps if you were lucky, you could enslave a beautiful female NPC…

”You wish. Dawn’s system would never allow its NPCs to farm for the players. Moreover, to enslave an NPC is basically the same as killing it. It would provoke its entire race,” another player immediately said, correcting his incorrect thinking.

”But they just signed a contract…”

Everyone saw it and hoped that he hadn’t given this guy some hidden quest.

Marin Noggenfogger hadn’t read the contents of the contract, but the moment it came into effect, he immediately knew what it said.

Cold sweat was pouring from his head, as if he was a pot of water. He looked to Lu Li with a strong hatred, but this quickly subsided as he calmed down.

Noggenfogger didn’t know where the adventurer had come from, but it turned out that he had wanted Marin Noggenfogger’s research this whole time. He was convinced that the research would make a lot of money. Otherwise, why would he have forced Marin to sign this kind of contract?

However, he understood the situation as well. He didn’t have many other options left, so he voluntarily signed it. He didn’t want to reject the contract that would protect him from freezing to death.

Most importantly, the adventurer who wrote the contract wasn’t completely ruthless.

For every sale of a bottle of the Noggenfogger Elixir, Lu Li would take half of the profit. The remaining half would belong to Marin Noggenfogger, who had to make the potions.

To support him, Lu Li would provide Marin Noggenfogger with a lab, experimental materials, manpower, resources and anything else that he needed to do his job.

For the sake of the common good, neither of them would be slacking in their commitments.

Lu Li never intended to sign a slave deal or to take all of the profit – that was simply unrealistic. The System would never allow such a contract anyway. Why would a person who didn’t profit work hard for you?

Fifty-fifty was the proportion that he had decided on right from the beginning.

The potion wasn’t perfect at the moment and could only transform the user into a skeleton. The effect would also vanish when you got onto a mount.

Marin Noggenfogger still needed to continue his research.

”Here are 20 gold coins. Go and find a good doctor. I will send someone else to contact you in the future. Mr Marin, you will never be poor again.” Lu Li was satisfied with Marin Noggenfogger’s mood change as he handed over a small bag of gold coins before bending over for a hug.

”I hope that our cooperation will go well,” the green goblin muttered.

Just like that, the future goblin tycoon of Gadgetzan, Mr Marin Noggenfogger, had joined Lu Li’s merry band. Lu Li was a little surprised because when he first noticed this potion master, he had intended to steal the recipe from him.

This money should have been his alone; he didn’t want anyone else to have a part of it.

The next day, Lu Li stationed Square Root 3 at Gadgetzan to set up a guild quest. There were so many players in the guild that many didn’t mind spending half an hour to help Marin Noggenfogger gather the materials that he needed. Those players then got their reimbursement from the guild.

As to whether this was using the guild for his own interests, Lu Li decided not to think about it.

Many players on the street had a mount, but as Lu Li rode his Headless Warhorse, he attracted countless envious stares.

The weekly mount for the battlefield champion was harder to acquire, but the Centurion 20,000 Glory Points Mount was relatively easy to afford.

From this, a new job was created. A group of players would take two clients with them and spend their efforts to give them last hits to increase their Glory Points for a Mount. This was a decent way to make some money.

Of course, you had to guarantee that you had a decent success rate. Otherwise, the client wouldn’t pay.

The reputations of these groups were spread by word of mouth. Those that were reputable lined up at the front for the clients, while those that were unreliable had to kneel and beg.

Alternatively, players could be rewarded a Mount if they had enough Prestige with a race.

Humans rewarded a Gray Horse, Dwarves rewarded a Goat, Gnomes rewarded a mechanical bird, Night Elves rewarded a Leopard, Draenei rewarded a Thunder Elephant, Blood Elves rewarded a Hawkstrider, Trolls rewarded a Raptor, Tauren rewarded a Kodo, Orcs rewarded a Wolf and so on.

It was more common to see horses, as it was definitely easier to gain prestige with the humans.

March Rain would often complete Prestige Quests when she had nothing else to do, and was almost able to receive a Leopard.

The Night Elf Mount was one of the better-looking ones. Some of the others were actually quite scary, but they were probably worth more. However, if everyone had the same Mount as you, it didn’t really matter how much the Mount was actually worth.

Lu Li was halfway to levelling up, so he acquired some Scarab shell collecting quests, but only gained a bit of EXP. Eventually, he gave up and just started farming.

With his new equipment, Lu Li had his sights on a new type of monster – the Chimpanzees of Stranglethorn Vale.

There weren’t many of these monsters, but they respawned quickly and were mostly Elites. They had high base damage, but also could use Slap and Thunder Trample.

Because there weren’t many of them, Mages weren’t that effective here. Moreover, because of their high damage and skills, most players had to take potions while fighting them. It just wasn’t worth it.

Lu Li wouldn’t be too concerned with their numbers, as long as they respawned quickly. He was going to kill them one at a time anyway. He wasn’t afraid of their damage; it wasn’t as high as his…

After picking a spot, Lu Li appeared in the misty valley of Stranglethorn Vale where there was a heavy fog. It was filled with Chimpanzees and Red Spotted Snakes, both of which were difficult to deal with when provoked.

However, Lu Li had brought some antidotes with him, so he didn’t need to worry about the venomous snakes.