The Great Thief

Lu Li couldn’t help but give a subtle hint.

“I think something might still be wrong with the king.”

Although he wasn’t his friend, they had fought side by side. Marshal Windsor was also a man of great integrity, so Lu Li respected him.

“Young man, you’re a bit of a know-it-all aren’t you? I still have other things to attend to, so let’s leave it there,” Reginald Windsor’s said. His face flashed with anger as he quickly got up and turned to leave.

Perhaps that was his fate, and he would always choose to go that way. In fact, the prophecy that he had seen in Karazhan was actually the end that the game had designed for him. As such, all external factors would be compensated for to ensure that this end was fulfilled.

As someone who had experienced Rebirth, Lu Li knew exactly what was going to happen.

Reginald Windsor wouldn’t meet his fate in the Burning Plains. Instead, his supply line would be cut off and he would be captured by the Blackrock Dwarves, who would lock him away in the Blackrock Spire. One day, he would be rescued by an adventurer and discover the truth with the adventurer’s help.

Windsor would return to Stormwind with the truth and attempt to expose the Countess. He would succeed, but the price that he would pay would fulfil his fate – to die under a Black Dragon’s claw.

“Goodbye Marshal Windsor,” Lu Li said as he threw a few gold coins out into his cup. After putting on his cloak, he added, “See you in Blackrock Tower”

When Lu Li was summoned again, he quickly went to see Garona.

“Take a seat,” Garona offered. She wasn’t in her cave, but had met Lu Li under the vast night sky.

He spent a while trying to work out where he was. All he knew was that was on the top of some mountain, so after sitting down, he simply asked, “The view here is pretty good. What is this place?”

“Deadwind Pass,” Garona replied without saying much else.

Lu Li didn’t want to say much more either, but he actually would have liked to ask whether she would like to look at Karazhan which was on the left, or the Dark Portal which was on the right?

Karazhan was the Mage tower of Medivh, which Garona knew about. The Dark Portal was the passage that the Orcs had taken to get to Azeroth. She had nervously walked through when she used to follow them.

That was many years ago, and she hadn’t been back since.

“Presumably, you have completed your quest. How did it go? Tell me about it,” Garona finally spoke.

“If, and this didn’t actually happen,” Lu Li began, fearing that his mentor would kill him, then continued, “If I was a step later, King Varian probably would have died. After the faceless person died, he left a little item and I suspect it is part of an ancient artifact.”

Garona was stunned by what Lu Li said.

“Part of an ancient artifact? How do you know that it is part of an ancient artifact?”

Lu Li was pretending to be naïve and described Samuelson to be a very formidable foe, otherwise his reward would be worse.

“Its energy is too great to be anything else. Mentor, it is only possible through the power of an ancient artifact for such a young officer to become so powerful in such a short amount of time.”

Although this quest didn’t take long, it was not easy by any means. Moreover, until now, he hadn’t seen a single copper coin or point of EXP for his efforts, let alone equipment or Skill Points.

“If you thought that he was strong, that Samuelson really must have been a fanatic. Alright, tell me about Varian,” Garona said, changing the subject. It seemed like she didn’t want to continue listening to her disciple ramble on.

“Well, there is something wrong with Varian. That is the most appropriate way to describe him,” Lu Li said truthfully.

“Besides being defeated by the faceless person, what else was wrong with him?” Garona’s asked as her complexion changed. This was what she was really interested in. When it came to Varian, Lu Li and the old Paladin were unlikely to be able to harm him.

“His character seemed a bit odd. He didn’t seem like he was suited to head a strong monarch. Well… I don’t know if clumsiness is the right word. Perhaps ‘weak’ is more appropriate,” Lu Li answered after thinking for a moment.

“Well, your quest has been completed,” the half-Orc said as she hugged her knees and looked into the distance, at neither Karazhan nor the Dark Portal.

“If there is nothing else, I will go then.”

Lu Li was helpless here, no matter how good he was. Even if she didn’t want to give him a reward, he didn’t want to ask for it either.

“Take this. I hope you are able to find your way,” Garona said as she threw a book at him.

Lu Li grabbed it and grinned widely.

Strengthened Shadowstrike!

This had been his most-used skill from the moment he entered Dawn until now, but unfortunately, as the players’ levels increased, even three hits would not be fatal. The main problem was that the base damage was far too low. This was particularly evident when fighting a Boss, where it was not a very powerful skill because it had a low chance of Critically striking.

Now that he finally had the Strengthened version of the skill, Lu Li couldn’t help but laugh.

“Thank you teacher. I will definitely learn it well and not disappoint you,” Lu Li said as bowed deeply, then vanished in the white light of the Hearthstone.

After he returned, he needed to find a place to train his Shadowstrike. He had imposed a strict standard on himself for this skill. The other skills could be Strengthened in the first moment he had the opportunity to, but he was only going to strengthen Shadowstrike after achieving 100% Skill Completion.

Besides, even if he didn’t strengthen his Shadowstrike, he was still confident in facing anyone.

Shadowstrike was one of the Thief’s main attack skills. If you wanted to practice it, you had to find a monster with high Defense, low Attack and a constant movement speed.

Lu Li thought for a moment before deciding to head towards Timbermaw Hold.

Timbermaw Hold was at a junction in the Moonlight Forest between Winterspring and Felwood.

Of course, he wasn’t looking to kill the Timbermaw Bear – many other players who didn’t know better would make this mistake.

They would either intentionally or accidentally attack members of the Timbermaw clan, which would result in their Reputation with them going negative. This would be particularly serious for some players who attacked them relentlessly without stopping to think.