The Great Thief

Countless guilds had dreamed of getting their own Stronghold, but even purchasing a Shop cost a large sum of money.

Unfortunately, the basic Strongholds only had one commercial street, which meant that the number of shops that could be opened was extremely limited. There was a limit of 60 shops and only 20 of them were worth a significant amount of money. A few of them had already been removed and given to Water Fairy.

The cheaper shops that were sold at the beginning for two million dollars or less were for smaller guilds and Mercenary Groups.

Only the last 15 shops interested the major guilds.

After all, this was the first Stronghold of the game. As long as Ruling Sword didn’t do anything dumb, this place would undoubtedly be popular. No one was worried about its popularity.

“The appetizers are now gone, and now we have the main course. Please look at this blueprint. I don’t have to say much, but I’m sure you can appreciate its value. Our suggestion would be to build large bar and club. Experts in game magazines have said that the entertainment industry has formed the backbone of the gaming industry’s lifetime.”

“Three bro, that sounds a bit risky. Aren’t you afraid of being investigated?” Wings of Dawn’s Elevenless asked with a smile.

“Elevenless… you’re getting old. Maybe it’s time for you to find a girlfriend and stay at home at night,” Square Root 3 retorted as he smiled back.

“Alright Three Bro, you speak like you have a girlfriend,” Elevenless said, then quickly changed the topic, “Surely you should follow the blueprint. I think you guys are a bit too eager. You haven’t even constructed the buildings yet, but you’re already auctioning the stores. If it turns out differently from the blueprint, who will we turn to?”

“This is pretty obvious. They obviously don’t have the money to do it. Why do you think they are trying to sell things to us?” Wendelian asked faintly.

“Haha, Wendelian sis, what a nice joke. Well now, no more nonsense. Let’s move onto the auction. 5000 gold coins to start,” Square Root 3 announced, then smiled a little before adding, “As for the construction, we guarantee that the building will be exactly the same as the blueprints. Not a single tile will be out of place.”

“5500. I’ll humour you,” Elevenless offered as he raised his hand.

“6000. We don’t want it if it’s any higher. After all, there are fewer Horde players in Grey Valley anyway.”

Wendelian really didn’t mind. Although Ruling Sword’s Stronghold didn’t prevent Horde players from entering as it was still a safe zone for them, Horde players obviously weren’t going to flood into a Stronghold built by Alliance players

“6800!”

There was no way a shop like this would be purchased for 6800 gold. Soon, the price surged and eventually stabilized at 8000 gold.

The final transaction price was 8800 gold, and it was purchased by Wings of Dawn. Elevenless was here as a representative. The remaining 14 stores were sold in a similar way with an average price of 9000 gold. If you added up all the equipment and stores sold, Ruling Sword had made a total sum of 11 million dollars.

Of course, in accordance with the requirements set in advance, you had pay a certain percentage of the gold coins.

In fact, Lu Li was very clear. If they could wait until the Stronghold had withstood several sieges, then the popularity of these stores would be significantly higher and would auction for much higher prices.

In one to two years, a high-profile Stronghold store could be sold for millions of dollars.

The gaming industry was booming, and people’s ideas were gradually changing. At the beginning, no one could even begin to imagine a virtual gaming industry, but now, things were different. Renting a store in the game and in reality was not that different. They had similar benefits.

The only real difference that could be said about a virtual store was that it was based on the game. After all, the vitality of a game was full of uncertainty and it could suddenly close one day.

However, there were insurance companies that had come forward to solve these kinds of issues. If you got your store insured and the game went bankrupt, or some factors led to the loss of the store, you could receive some monetary compensation.

According to real-time statistics, the demographics that purchased the 45 stores were mainly the major clubs, medium to large sized guilds, and several powerful Mercenary Groups or Mercenary Group Alliances.

These people who had purchased the stores were necessary for Ruling Sword. It was so they could attract players to the Stronghold for shopping and living.

“Build the commercial street as soon as possible, and make sure that there are some flying zones for the Horde players. It’s too bad that we can’t use the teleports, otherwise, the Stronghold could be instantly filled.”

Lu Li and Square Root 3 were working out what to do next after counting the money.

There were fewer and fewer Teleportation Channels. They were being replaced by flying mounts, airships, ships and other means of transportation.

“The flying zones just seem like a money sink,” Square Root 3 sneered. “In fact, I’m sure its main purpose is for us to spend money. The game company is way too stingy, making us professional players spend all this money.”

“How about all the money that professional players make?” Lu Li said as he shook his head with disapproval. “The money we made is meant to be spent. Don’t worry about the next attack or defence. Just throw all the money we have earned into it.”

“Hey, why are you even more confident than I am?” Square Root 3 was speechless.

They hadn’t even earned that much. If they lost the Stronghold next week, wouldn’t they have lost everything?

“Because of this,” Lu Li answered as he reached into his bag and pulled out an emerald seed glowing fluorescently. It instantly illuminated the area.

“Wow, what is that? It looks really cool!”

Square Root 3 was surprised. He was usually quite well-informed, but he had never seen anything like this before. Even a child could recognise that there was something special about the glow of this item.

“An Ancient of Lore’s Seed…”

When Lu Li completed a quest to save an NPC girl, he met the Ancient of Lore Bathran.

The tree had a long life, but most of the time it was spent in Deep Sleep. Bathran was cut down while he was asleep and replanted into the ground. This was where Bathran’s Hair, which grew in the Bathran Haunted House, came from.

“At Bathran’s request, Lu Li burned his body with a special fire. In return, Bathran gave this seed to Lu Li.”

“What does it do?” Square Root 3 asked excitedly.

“You don’t even know what it does. Why are you so excited?” Lu Li snapped at him.

“Well, it already sounds like it’s going to be powerful. Tell me, why are you so confident in this seed?” Square Root 3 asked.

“I can only tell you part of it. The most important thing is that our strength continuously grows. This item can only help us, but it is not a silver bullet. An Ancient of Lore can summon Treants. The higher-levelled we are, the stronger and greater the number of Treants. If one day this tree reaches full maturation, it might even defeat an entire siege on its own,” Lu Li explained.

“So how do we plant it?” Square Root 3 asked impatiently. He couldn’t wait to see Lu Li plant it.

“You have to grow your seedling by feeding it with other seeds,” Lu Li said.

“Sounds kinda evil. Aren’t all trees peace-loving?” Square Root 3 asked.

“We eat meat all the time; I don’t see how it’s that different. In short, I have already fed it with various seeds, so that step is already completed.”

Since he had received this item, Lu Li had been collecting seeds from the Exchange Hall. He had even used his position as a Thief Trainer to issue some Thieves to collect seeds for him.

“Let’s go plant it then,” Square Root 3 urged.

“I still need to find a Moon Well. It has to be planted in a Moon Well, which acts as a nest for it,” Lu Li said. He still remembered when Bathran taught him how to plant the seed.

“Oh… surely, we don’t need more money?” Square Root 3 was about to cry.

They had earned more than 10 million in the auction. This seemed to be a good sum of money, and he had thought that they could live easily for a while. He didn’t expect it to be so quickly used. They didn’t even have enough to make ends meet.

“Yep, we need to go to Darnassus to buy it. This is an investment that we have to make, so give me some money.”

Lu Li was helpless in this regard too.

The Moon Well of was a weapon used by Night Elves in wars. When you got close to them, they could quickly regenerate Mana, purify poisons and even relieve fatigue. In short, it was a good thing, but not valuable enough to be worth the amount of gold needed to purchase it. Naturally, it wasn’t going to be a small amount.