The Great Thief

“Upgrades for the Shard of the Defiler?” Fahrad was confused.

“That’s correct, I was hoping you could teach us and give us some tips as to how to acquire the upgrades for my weapon,” Lu Li said, repeating his request. If Fahrad did not know, then he planned on asking his master whom he hadn’t visited in a while.

Shard of the Defiler was a special weapon from Ravenholdt Manor. Its upgrade would likely be a lot stronger than what Lu Li has right now.

“If this was what you were referring to, I actually have one here,” Fahrad said, revealing a variety of items from Ravenholdt Manor that could be purchased with enough Reputation.

Besides the upgrade scrolls, the famous Thistle Tea was also available to purchase.

Thistle Tea was a Thief specific item that restored energy when consumed. Similar to potions for Mage classes, many Thieves would increase their reputation with Ravenholdt in order to get their hands on Thistle Tea.

Once the recipe was learnt, they would be able to craft them.

The materials included Swifthistle, Wild Flowers and Refreshing Spring Water. Wild Flowers were very common, while Refreshing Spring Water could be bought from the supply shop. Swiftwhistle was rather expensive, but the profit margin was high. Since there were so many Thieves in the game, this was a great opportunity to make some spare cash.

The profit margin was not enough for Lu Li to spend his time on this, but he did not mind learning the recipe.

Besides this, there was a set of Thief armor which could be crafted into Golden grade armor. Although Lu Li and Water Fairy had much better gear, this set would be serviceable for a causal player in both PVE and PVP.

Unfortunately, players needed a certain amount of popularity with Ravenholdt to be able to equip the gear. Otherwise, he would have purchased the set and given it to a Thief in his guild.

Of course, the most important item was the Upgrade Scroll for the Shard of the Defiler.

As expected, The Grandmaster offered the items for ridiculous prices. Thistle Tea recipe was 50 gold, while Upgrade Scrolls were 200 gold each. Though these items could be on sale elsewhere for a cheaper price, Lu Li and Water Fairy couldn’t be bothered searching for them anymore.

Lu Li had most of the materials required to upgrade. The materials that he didn’t have should be in the guild storage. Lu Li decided to upgrade his weapon as soon as he bought the scrolls.

Upgrading Items was different from Enhancing them. Upgrading cannot be done on blacksmithing tables that could be found on the streets of the main cities. He needed to head over to Ironforge in order to do this.

Ironforge was like a paradise for players who were looking to become stronger. All of the best blacksmiths from different races gathered in this city, including Buliwyf Stonehand, who hid in the corners of the city, quietly perfecting his craft and researching new and unrivalled techniques.

Unfortunately, Buliwyf Stonehand had yet to make a name for himself.

Lu Li and Water Fairy opened the rusty gates and heard Buliwyf murmuring to himself, “Why did it shatter? I did it perfectly this time; there was no reason for it to fail…”

“Are you sure we can trust this guy?” Water Fairy asked as she pulled Lu Li back, doubtful of the NPC.

It was obvious that the Bearded Dwarf had failed many times before this. There were pieces of scrap metal everywhere and the shop looked very rundown.

“Aiya, don’t leave yet. Do you have any useless weapons that I can forge for you?” Buliwyf Stonehand asked as his eyes lit up.

The Grandmaster immediately noticed the weapon that Lu Li and Water Fairy were carrying. Though the weapons were quite low-levelled, it was obvious that they were of exquisite quality.

Water Fairy held onto her Dagger and stared at him, unwilling to cooperate.

“Don’t be tricked by my rundown shop, I’m actually very good at what I do,” Buliwyf Stonehand said awkwardly as he rubbed his bald head. It was quite sad to see a Grandmaster in such a terrible state.

“We currently don’t have plans of upgrading our weapons,” Lu Li explained, ignoring the disappointed look on Buliwyf’s face as he continued, “I wanted to borrow your work station and buy some materials from you.”

“Oh? Are you a blacksmith as well?” Buliwyf Stonehand’s eyes lit up again.

“I’m just a beginner and I’m nothing before the Grandmaster.”

Lu Li was being humble. Amongst the player base, Lu Li had the highest blacksmithing level in the game, but he did not want to appear boastful in front of Buliwyf.

Buliwyf had the work station and some materials that were needed, so Lu Li was keen to get on his good side.

Once you reached a certain level in Blacksmithing, you would be forced to specialized in weapon crafting or armor crafting.

Grandmaster Buliwyf Stonehand was an important NPC involved in upgrading blacksmithing, so Lu Li knew it was important to not underestimate him for his lack of progress in his research. Buliwyf had already mastered his craft, so he decided to research into the science behind crafting weapons in order to fulfil his thirst for knowledge.

“What do you need my workstation for?” Buliwyf Stonehand asked as he threw the scraps on his work station onto the floor and quickly cleaned up.

“I want to upgrade this dagger with my upgrade scroll. What are your opinions on this?”

Lu Li took out the scrolls and his dagger and handed them over to Buliwyf. Even with his overpowered blacksmithing hammer, Buliwyf was still on a completely different level compared to Lu Li.

“Upgrading weapons…” Buliwyf immediately lost interested, then paused and asked, “So you don’t want me to enhance it?”

“No, it’s okay. I need some Disintegration Liquid and some Kodor Bones…”

Lu Li declined his offer politely because he knew that the chances of him successfully enhancing his weapon were miniscule.

His dagger would join the scraps of metal on the ground if he handed it over to him.

Disintegration Liquid was two for 6 gold and a bag of Kodor bones was 8 gold. Buliwyf decided to give up on asking him and decided to take his money. In order to get back at Lu Li, he sold the items at double the usual rates.

Lu Li took out the gold from his pockets and unwillingly made the transaction.

Some players would purchase trash weapons from the markets to please Buliwyf, but he could immediately tell the quality of the weapons and would become furious.