The Great Thief

“Mr Haggle, in this case, I think I should obtain an extra reward,” Lu Li said bluntly.

The Gnome race was never to be underestimated. They were famous mechanical engineers and technicians with a deep understanding of scientific knowledge. The result of this was an ability to produce amazing pieces of technology like tools, vehicles, armor and weapons.

Gnomish Engineering and Goblin Engineering had their own characteristics, but were on par in the world of Azeroth.

The high-level Gnome Thief in front of him could drop almost anything and it would make Lu Li rich. This was why Lu Li was so blunt about it.

Haggle wanted to tell him that they had already stripped the Bosses and their camp for items, and yet he still wanted a reward from him. Did Lu Li have no shame?

However, he didn’t say anything, because he didn’t have Lu Li’s thick skin. The items they had received from the Rockjaw’s camp had nothing to do with him, so he still needed to give a reward for his quest.

A such, Lu Li received some EXP and Prestige; some of it was even given to Water Fairy.

“This Blueprint was given to me by my father. Unfortunately, I don’t have any expertise in this area. If you like it, you can have it,” Haggle offered as he took out an Engineering Blueprint.

Lu Li’s eyes suddenly lit up. You could find Skill Books by killing monsters, but Engineering Blueprints were much harder to find.

No one really knew what the Gnomes were famous for. Lu Li, someone who had hopelessly low charisma, was able to make this unreasonable request and even trigger this quest in the first place.

These two tasks that Haggle gave out must have been because of the first orphanage.

However, when Lu Li looked at the Blueprint, he was dumbfounded. It wasn’t because this Blueprint was bad, but because he would have had to pay at least a thousand gold coins to get something like this.

Goblin Jumper Cables!

These were exquisite Blueprints!

However, the problem was that Lu Li already had one of these. When he was in Maraudon, Craftsman Gizlock had dropped one of these.

Haggle called himself a Gnome, but had given him Goblin Jumper Cables?

“I can only give out one reward, so think carefully,” Haggle interrupted. He seemed to expect that Lu Li would say something.

The Gnome had an ugly expression on his face. There were two thousand players around, and if he had to reward them all he would go bankrupt. Haggle would rather die than let that happen.

Water Fairy had been standing quietly by as Lu Li and Haggle bargained with each other. At this time, she pulled Lu Li’s arm and privately messaged him, “Let Hachi Chan do this.”

Lu Li suddenly remembered the System’s daughter would be really helpful here.

If a playboy was standing in his place, he definitely would have rejected Haggle’s proposal. He would have done everything necessary to ensure that the girl next to him would receive a reward.

This was why you couldn’t blame some people for not having a girlfriend – they just didn’t want to go through that trouble.

After Hachi Chan heard the news, she immediately ran over and talked to the NPC before even greeting Lu Li.

Hachi Chan had gotten to know Haggle through another NPC she knew in Ironforge. Haggle said that he had heard of Hachi Chan’s reputation as a kindhearted, gentle, lovely little adventurer.

After that, more EXP, a piece of equipment, and a level-requirement reducing gem was awarded.

There was no doubt that if this was Water Fairy’s reward, she would have wanted the equipment. She didn’t know if Hachi Chan had better equipment, but there was no way she could ask for that gem.

The equipment was a level 45 Dark Gold belt for Thieves. Haggle said that he didn’t have any other kinds of belts, and apologized for giving her a Thief one.

Hachi Chan gave the Belt to Lu Li, then walked away with the gem and a smile on her face. Lu Li’s current Belt was already pretty good, so he gave it to Water Fairy who was overjoyed to receive it.

“The underground world seems to be pretty big. Can we explore the area?” Lu Li asked. He knew that Haggle was familiar with the place.

“No, we have to leave as soon as we can,” Haggle said as he shook his head. “After hearing about the Rockjaw camp, this place will be swarming Rockjaws soon. By the time we all leave, they would have started building another camp.”

Lu Li was stunned; this must have been the Rockjaw’s unique method of farming other monsters.

The other Rockjaws seemed to be quite powerful, since even Haggle didn’t want to face them. In that case, Lu Li certainly didn’t want to push his luck. He told everyone to clear out whatever was left and use their Hearthstones to return to the city.

Although Haggle was injured, he was strong and had a greater Stealth effect than Lu Li. As such, Lu Li wasn’t too worried about him.

However, there were still many Thief and Druid players who had decided to stay a bit longer. Most of them had invested into Herbalism or Mining, and had discovered that the area was rich with rare ores and herbs.

The underground world was vast anyway; as long as they avoided the incoming Rockjaw army they would be fine.

Since the event was over, Lu Li chose not to interfere with these players and just returned to the city.

He wanted to equip his T1 Pants, but he didn’t have the materials and also required a high-level Tailor. March Rain was almost there, but she still needed to spend some time and money. It would take three to five days if they rushed it.

The materials that he was missing weren’t too rare either. There were some in the guild materials warehouse, and Lu Li could ask Shen Wansan for everything else.

Lu Li gave the Mold to March Rain and eagerly awaited the finished product. When he wasn’t competing, he would spend most of his time improving his Engineering and Forging.

Of course, he still needed a gem to reduce the level requirement for items.

Hachi Chan’s gem reduced the level requirement by 5%, and she had placed it on her Ivy League Magic Staff. She then gave this Magic Staff to March Rain, impatiently telling her to equip it. Lu Li didn’t really want to fight with the girls over some equipment.

The one that the Boss dropped was -7%. Lu Li assigned this to March Rain so she could equip her Book of the King.

The gem that he needed was one that he had to find on his own.

The easiest way to obtain them was through the arena. The reward for achieving Centurion rank and above was a level reduction gem. The amount of reduction was not fixed – you could be unlucky and only receive 1%, or you could be lucky enough and receive 20%. Such gems were even rarer than the Artifacts.

In fact, a 20% reduction was already Heaven-Defying. For example, a level 80 weapon would become level 64 after using the gem.

Such a weapon could make someone rich overnight!

Of course, by that time, the other types of gems would have greatly improved. Gems with exquisite effects on a level 65 weapon wouldn’t necessarily be worse than a level 80 weapon.

However, the current gems didn’t add any special effects, so it was still more worthwhile to find ones that reduced the level requirement.