The Great Thief

“Did this guy install a spring under him?” Lu Li thought spitefully.

Old Man Power, who was originally at the back, gradually made his way forward with his high jumps. It seemed as if the obstacle race was made specifically for him.

Not only were his jumps high, but they were also very far as well.

Lu Li guessed that this wasn’t a skill; it was most likely some sort of equipment or item.

Lu Li transformed into a Child of the Forest. The average players thought that this was an upgraded version of the panther transformation, but it ran faster than the panther form, gave more Jump and had better damage reduction.

Many Druids transformed into this form, but none of them jumped as high as Old Man Power.

Lu Li was currently in fifth place, while Old Man Power had jumped from rank 50 to the top twenties as he continued to gain on the others. He seemed to have figured out where his advantages lied and wanted to seize this opportunity.

“A smart man – no one can compete against him at this stage. We’re still uncertain how far he can go,” Jiang Gu complimented.

“I’m assuming he’d have no problem making it into the top 5, but Lu Li sure is a steady player. He has currently dropped to the sixth place and he’s about to be taken over,” Li Yidong responded, then tried his best to hype up the crowd. “We all believe that Lu Li still has some aces up his sleeves, but we just don’t know if he plans to use them at this stage.”

There was no way that someone of Lu Li’s level wouldn’t have an ace up his sleeve.

From the start until the end, he had been running with his basic speed in the first stage. In the second stage, he only transformed into a Child of the Forest and continued to run at a consistent pace.

“Past him! Old Man Power has run past Lu Li!” Jiang Gu exclaimed as he suddenly slammed the table. With a hoarse voice, he continued to dive deeper into his analysis and shouted, “Lu Li isn’t panicking at all! He only looks like he’s in his twenties; how can he still keep so calm…”

“I think it’s because the second stage is almost ending,” Li Yidong sighed.

He was right – Lu Li didn’t really feel any pressure at all. He completely ignored the fact that Old Man Power had overtook him.

The third stage was a water-way, which made no difference for either Lu Li or Old Man Power because both of them were capable of transforming into Seal form.

If they really had to pick who had the upper hand, it would be Old Man Power – he was a real druid after all.

“It seems like they will maintain their distance in the third stage. The third stage is like a natural habitat for Druids; the other professional players quickly fell out of place in this section.”

By this point, Lu Li was in fourth place. It wasn’t that he ran any faster than the two players before him, but that the two players before him had run too fast in the first and second stage. They had used up all their Stamina and now has to rest and recover. To stop and recover basically meant that they were out of the competition.

“I think they’ll decide their places in either the fourth or fifth stage,” Li Yidong said in disappointment.

By the time the third stage had finished, Old Man Power was already in first place. All the players ranked among the top ten was all out of the competition; only Lu Li continued to follow up in a steady pace.

He was currently ranked number four and had quite some distance to cover to catch up to Old Man Power.

After Lu Li arrived at stage four, he immediately changed into his crow form. This was a stage with twisted pathways, so he could easily create a huge gap between the others if he just flew over everything.

This transformation that he had obtained from Medivh was very powerful and fast. However, most of the players had no clue where it had actually come from. They all thought that this was some sort of special equipment, most likely the one that allowed him to transform into the panther and seal.

If Lu Li was just an average player, others would definitely hunt him down at all times until they forced him to drop this equipment.

Even if this was an item that couldn’t be dropped, you couldn’t expect to play the game normally either. The major guilds all agreed that any player that they couldn’t have was an enemy that they needed to kill before he started to bloom.

“Seems like stage four is the stage where Lu Li will make his comeback. There’s no doubt about this,” Jiang Gu said hopelessly.

There was no way in real life for a marathon to have a strategy like this. A marathon not only challenged the competitors physically, but it also mentally. The current marathon seemed more like a joke; it only tested the strength of these players.

However, something unexpected happened – not everyone was helpless.

A total of three players, including Old Man Power, thought of a method similar to flying. One of them used a kite, while the other was a Hunter who had an average leveled pet Hawk that could carry them. Old Man Power seemed to have a cape that gave him flying abilities of some sort.

Lu Li was surprised by the results too; it definitely wasn’t right to underestimate everyone’s luck and wisdom.

Fortunately, Old Man Power’s cape couldn’t last through the entire third stage. Instead, the Hunter took over his position, but unfortunately, his pet Hawk died not long after they landed at the goal.

Lu Li assumed that this special pet wasn’t easy to catch – maybe it was even a unique one. Otherwise, all Hunters could just catch a flying pet and fly anywhere they wanted.

The fifth stage was a completely flat path; it was the type of stage that encouraged everyone to use everything that they could.

Lu Li was ranked number third at this point. The two players before him were the Hunter and Old Man Power.

As for the other player who used a kite, he didn’t become as famous as he thought he would after the competition.

Many Engineering creations weren’t as stable as they seemed, and his thrusters for the kite were no exception.

During his flight, the Goblin Engineer slammed his head into a mountain in front of countless shocked players.

The two analysts were caught by surprise too and had no clue what they could say about the situation. In the end, all they could do was to advise players to be careful with their creations – otherwise, this would be their fate too.

Besides the Goblin engineer who died in an accident, other top hundred players were still persisting. Although they knew that they had no hope in the last stage, they still valued sportsmanship. Despite the changes over time, there were some values that would never fade away.

Lu Li, who was placed fourth, had no threat of being overtaken at all. However, Old Man Power had quite a gap between himself and the Hunter, so it wouldn’t be easy for him to win over the Legendary equipment either.

Even he could manage to find a cape with flying abilities, it was not hard to imagine all the other aces that other players could have withheld.