The Great Thief

The only problem was that Lu Li would expose his equipment’s effect, and his opponents would be wary of it in the future.

However, this effect wasn’t impactful most of the time, so he decided to use it anyway.

Once they had cleared the second stage of Fineous Darkvire, they progressed to the third. After the party got wiped a few more times, they were finally able to kill this notorious character.

Water Fairy received a Skill Point and everyone else received EXP. Sorrowless rose to level 54, officially entering the top ten on the Level Rankings. He usually worked with a group of Mages who allowed him to take the last hit of the monsters, so his level was already quite high.

The so-called ‘last hit’ method was only something the privileged had the opportunity of doing.

It was one of the things that rich people were able to do to stay ahead. Sorrowless also had a sparring Mage and a number of other professions that farmed with him.

These Mages weren’t the most powerful, and all had the exact same kind of equipment. The group was always finding ways to farm with monsters that were of an appropriate level and to calculate the rhythm and timing of their attacks so that these monsters would be left with a sliver of HP.

Then, Sorrowless would cast an area of effect skill to claim the EXP for himself.

Of course, an ordinary player wouldn’t be able to afford this kind of service. Even among the clubs, not all star players received such treatment. Or at least, Lu Li didn’t want to waste the time and energy to create such a group of Mages.

In fact, Ruling Sword had already done quite well because of Lu Li. Their levels were not that low, and the other guilds didn’t seem to enjoy the same kinds of benefits.

The players here were all at least level 53, which was not that far from level 54.

Fineous Darkvire didn’t drop the Ironfel, which saved Lu Li from the possibility of offending the others. In fact, he was actually eager to see his teammates’ heartache and helpless expressions.

Darkvire didn’t drop an Epic item, but he did drop a T0 set item for Hunters. There was only one Hunter present, so no one competed with him for it.

After the items were distributed, Franclorn Forgewright didn’t appear again.

It is said that if the Ironfel was dropped and thrown into the magma, Franclorne Forgewright would reappear to the players with a certain chance of turning one of them into an Architect.

When the Strongholds System was introduced into the game, the construction of a Stronghold would require an Architect. However, this was a Trade Profession that most players had little chance of getting into.

If a guild wanted to build their own Stronghold, they would generally have to ask the NPCs from the Architect Association to help. This meant that most guilds would go without a Stronghold for quite some time as the cost would just be too great. Those that didn’t have money could only dream about owning a Stronghold.

The path from the Crafting area led to an upper area in the Shadowforge City. Another feature of Franclorn Forgewright’s architecture was the use of upper and lower areas. From there, they were able to see the body of Incendius that had not yet despawned.

Not long after, they arrived at the Dark Treasure Trove.

This was the place where the Iron Dwarves stored their rare treasures. There were six huge vaults, and each of them was protected by a Dark Keeper.

There was a portrait on the wall with some visible text which told the players the location of the Dark Treasure Keeper. For example, the first one was of Dark Keeper Zimrel and his position was in the arena.

In fact, even though this Keeper had a name, he wasn’t a Boss. He was barely strong enough to be called a Boss.

Pretending that he didn’t know any better, Lu Li sent the two Thieves up ahead so that the team didn’t have to deal with the weak monsters along the road. Lu Li didn’t really have to explain much as this wasn’t the first time they had done this.

The party cleared up quite a few of the monsters and arrived in the arena. There were many Iron civilians here that could be killed for experience, but the ordinary players chose not to because there were many Dwarf children here. Despite the fact that it was in virtual reality, even the most morally bankrupt players didn’t want to kill children.

Zimrel was quickly killed by the team of 15 players. After he died, he dropped the keys that he was

protecting.

The next was Dark Keeper Uggel who was in the Crafting Area. Lu Li and Water Fairy went together to deal with him while the others went to the west side of the residential area to deal with Dark Keeper Pelver.

Dark Keeper Ofgut was in the bar on the way, in the Southwest corner. This place spawned quite a large number of monsters, so it was handled together as a team.

Dark Keeper Bethek was more troublesome – he would walk around the area, so it took quite some time for the players to find him. Eventually, Lu Li discovered him behind a pile of rocks, using his golden finger skill. This was one of the easiest spawn points to find this Keeper.

The last Dark Keeper was Vorfalk, who was also responsible for guarding the wine cellar of the bar.

For any Dwarven race, even those of that have been enslaved, the most important thing to them other than ore was good wine.

As such, Vorfalk was actually very much like a Boss.

Under Lu Li’s leadership, the group walked through a suspension bridge and entered the pub area. There were many civilians drinking in the pub that appeared to be neutral even after the players had made their appearance. This meant that they wouldn’t attack on their own.

However, Hot Twitch failed to control his pet, which caused damage to one of the Dwarves. This resulted in the whole pub of Dwarves rushing at them.

This inevitably resulted in the team getting wiped.

Fortunately, after everyone was Revived and returned to the pub, the Dwarves seemed to have gone back to being neutral, forgetting the adventurers that had attacked them just moments ago.

“It seems like we can’t fight among the other Dwarves, or all of them will attack us,” Lu Li commented, summing up the lesson they had just learned. It was just a roundabout way of saying, “We have to lead Vorfalk out of the tavern.”

“Why would he come out if he is having a good time drinking here?” Hornet’s Nest asked as he inhaled deeply.

He was also a drunkard both in reality and in game, and had seen that they had so many different kinds of good wine here. If it weren’t for the fact that they were doing something, he probably would have already sat down to have a drink.

“Yeah, I just tried to talk to him and he completely ignored me,” Unforgettable Maple reported helplessly after he came back.

They couldn’t fight in the tavern, but the NPC was completed ignoring them. How else could they possibly get the Treasure Trove Key that was on this Dark Keeper?