The Great Thief

“I do, sneakily,” Sao Nian said, pushing his hair aside as the tension was relieved.

From what he knew, Lu Li was a godly person of unattainable status. When he walked around, he expected there to be flowers under his feet. He didn’t expect Lu Li to be sitting on a chair that didn’t seem that comfortable. He was sitting in a slouched position, with a cushion under him that actually had a ripped corner.

He had been completely disillusioned!

Was this not the God of Dawn from Ruling Sword? Was he not someone on the same level as Sorrowless? He should have been a Prince Charming, someone that was worshipped by the people.

When he saw Lu Li like this, he was still worthy of respect, but the Godlike reverence was all gone.

“Does your family not support you?” Lu Li asked. He turned to the guardian consent form, but didn’t notice any abnormalities. Sao Nian’s parents seemed to support their son playing this game.

“I don’t know if they support it, but I just like playing sneakily. I play many of the less popular games as the bigger ones won’t let me pick a fighting class. I’m just a fisherman in Dawn.”

He was a guy that liked to play games sneakily… Lu Li really didn’t know what to think of him.

“Your academic performance is pretty good. You are the first in your school,” Lu Li noted. His eyes suddenly stopped as he scanned this information. He glanced up with a look of surprise; those who did this well in school were generally quite amazing.

“Oh,” Sao Nian acknowledged this show of respect.

“Why don’t you just invest in your studies? Why do you want to play games?” Lu Li asked indignantly. He thought very highly of education, and thought it was definitely better than gaming. This was why his academic requirements of his sister were so high.

Sao Nian became aware of Lu Li’s attitude and suddenly panicked.

“I haven’t lost any time yet…My goal in life is to play games anyway.”

“You mean, you want to play games after you finish school?” Lu Li was very puzzled.

“Yeah, I want to go the Imperial Capital University where Sorrowless studied.”

Sao Nian was not naturally a mischievous person, but he had unknowingly already subverted Lu Li’s expectations.

Lu Li felt that his current status was quite high. In his eyes, he was at least comparable to someone like Sorrowless.

However, he hadn’t gone to school, so why would anyone think that school was important?

“Of course – I think it’s important. Sorrowless came from the Imperial Capital University, Unforgettable Maple was the president of Waterwood Games and even Moonlight guru almost became a lecturer at the Anda Game Academy…”

Sao Nian had obviously studied a lot and knew about these players that were in the game.

“As for you,” he continued, not forgetting to flatter Lu Li too, “You are a true genius – a God descended from the heavens, an expert in both the practical and the theoretical. You must have read a lot about the game. You’re a model for all those who are self-taught. I have several friends who want to make it as a self-taught player like you.”

“Okay, thank you. You can move on,” Lu Li said, weakly waving his hand to dismiss him.

If you really did count everything up, you would have found that Lu Li had read all sorts of different things. Although he wasn’t a game design expert, nor a data analysis expert because he couldn’t understand professional-level material, in terms of actual gameplay, he was no worse than those high-profile students.

The second candidate was a little girl, and she looked younger than the previous person.

Cat Dad’s comments described her as one with amazing talent, being able to memorise anything she saw. Sometimes, you were just able to tell when a rookie had great potential.

“You haven’t played any games before. Why do you want to be a professional gamer?” Lu Li asked.

“I think Wandering is really handsome; I’m a big fan of his,” the little girl gushed as her eyes sparkled. She was very blunt with her response and didn’t feel the need to give a complicated response.

Lu Li turned to the comments that had been given by Wandering.

“She is quite pretty!”

Lu Li really wanted to kick this person out. If it weren’t for Cat Dad’s scoring and comments about how she had achieved an A+, which was even higher than Sao Nian, then he really would have kicked her out.

“You would like to be a Mage. Why don’t you want to be a Paladin like Wandering?” Lu Li continued.

“I have always wanted to be a Mage. In the future, when I am with Wandering, we won’t make a good team if we are both Paladins. I have read some strategies and according to my understanding, we would synergise well. He would be responsible for looking good, and I would be responsible for farming monsters and making money to support the family.”

Lu Li really felt like she was a brat. If this was a child of his, she definitely would have been receiving regular beatings.

“What do you think magic is?” Lu Li asked weakly.

“Magic is obviously a kind of energy,” the little know-it-all said as she looked at Lu Li like he was an idiot, then continued to explain, “Energy that is all around but that is manifested by casting. Mages are just people that can manipulate the magic around them. This is the theoretical basis for magic in textbook ‘Professional Design Theory’. I read it on the 393th page of the third edition last year…”

They had nothing else to chat about, so Lu Li waved his hand so that she could move on.

There were two more after that, but they seemed quite ordinary by comparison.

Candidates were generally rated B- or above. This was not a rule that Ruling Sword had set, but it was a natural requirement that had formed through the growth of the Gaming Industry.

Some clubs even signed an agreement with colleges and universities, who supplied their students directly to the clubs.

Ruling Sword were in contact with some colleges and universities in Jiangnan City. There were still some issues they needed to work out, but in the future, new players would be directly taken from colleges and universities. Lu Li was once again digging into the resources of his old guild – the Star Moon Union.

Star Moon Union had once been known as the Jiangnan University Base Camp, and there were many people with potential there.

Lu Li wanted to tap into these talents. The person that he met with this time was quite different, particularly because he seemed quite old.

He was by no means an elderly man, but compared to the ten-year-olds that had come in before, he could basically be their uncle.

After the man walked in, he didn’t wait for Lu Li to signal before sitting at the chair opposite to him. It was hard to believe that out of so many candidates, this person had appeared in front of Lu Li.

“Your name is…” Lu Li rummaged through his documents, unsure if this person had made a mistake.

“Short Road…”

He had spoken so weakly that if Lu Li couldn’t see the person in front of him, he would have thought that this was an old man speaking.

However, with a name and voice like that, this was definitely Short Road!