The Great Thief

With everyone’s curiosity satisfied, the day was finally over.

The plots of land were bid for on Tuesday before noon. Yesterday’s System update made quite a few changes to the Stronghold system. Usually, players would bid for the new map on Monday before noon and raid it in the same afternoon. Players’ Strongholds were bid for on Tuesday morning, with trials commencing before noon, and official challenges beginning once the results were released after noon.

Changes made to the Stronghold system included a limitation on the number of chariots and price-raise, from a hundred to a thousand coins. With that being said, even if the game did not limit the number of chariots that could be used in Stronghold battles, tycoons like Water Fairy would agree that buying even just a few chariots would be excessive.

The other change was made to the sentry towers. Not only was the damage output of the towers increased, but the game also implemented a health-sharing setting. Unless the challengers took down all three towers, the last two would maintain their health indefinitely.

Lu Li was nothing but amused upon noticing the changes made to the Strongholds. Luckily, these changes were in favour of the Stronghold’s defenders. Lu Li had already done plenty of preparations, but he wouldn’t mind going an extra mile just to increase their chances of success.

The Stronghold in Grey Valley had a solid build. Its walls had endured the attacks of many chariots in the last raid, and they were immediately repaired after the battle. The fortress was also located deep within the forest, which meant that it would be supported by many Keepers of the Grove and Dryads. Lu Li decided it was of no concern.

It was the one at the Black Sea Coast that was problematic. The seeds of the ancient trees planted at the Moon Well had only begun to sprout, but any efforts to raise an army of Treants by the time of the raid would be futile and unrealistic. Though the walls seemed impenetrable, Lu Li did not have to break through them during his takeover of the Black Sea Coast stronghold. More importantly, there were many talented players in the game; he wouldn’t put it past himself if someone were to break them down.

That was why Lu Li left Wandering posted at Grey Valley while he ventured down to the Black Sea Coast. It wasn’t much of a challenge for Wandering. He wasn’t mediocre to say the least – if anything, his leadership and commanding skills were on par with Lu Li. It was only that Lu Li had the advantage of being reborn, and a steel-like willpower that had allowed him to survive his childhood hardships.

Wandering was highly resilient and skilful at improvisation. His title of ‘genius’ wasn’t just for show, but due to the fact that he was always a few steps ahead of the others.

Neither Drizzle Court nor Peerless City participated in the bidding as they had their own Strongholds to defend. Even though Ruling Sword was in the same position, they participated in every plot auction.

Glory Capital and Gale Legion had the two best plots of land – the Barrenlands and Stranglethron Vale – yet they were far from satisfied. The four plots of land co-owned by Drizzle Court and Ruling Sword – Grey Valley, Black Sea Coast, Westfall and Tanaris – were their targets. It was, however, impossible for them to take over all of them, even with their manpower. The main attackers would be randomly selected amongst participating members, so in reality, they would have to prepare more people than they needed.

If Lu Li’s predictions were correct, apart from focusing on defending, Glory Capital would also have a raiding target. The Black Sea Coast was the Stronghold they most likely had their eyes on. After all, Ruling Sword had to defend two Strongholds, and the lacking number of elite players within the guild was a well-known fact amongst the players.

Lu Li did not check up on Grey Valley. He trusted Wandering to defend it, and that was what he would do.

Glory Capital, Seventh Heaven, Wings of Dawn, Azure Guard, Blood Red War Flag, Stellar Union, Gods of Dusk and Grand Hegemony were the eight guilds that won in the bidding. Most of them were also top-ranking guilds. Only Gods of Dusk and Grand Hegemony were slightly eccentric. The only decent player in the former was Wood Fearing, but by sheer determination, the guild was able to maintain its elite status. Grand Hegemony had received a benefaction recently, and since then, had gone on a recruiting mania. Though they were unsuccessful in recruiting top-ranking players, quite a few second and third-tier players joined their guild. This was the first Stronghold challenge since their last batch of recruits, and they had gone straight for Ruling Sword’s Stronghold at the Black Sea Coast.

After the bidding, the guilds would invade the System Stronghold together. The fastest team to successfully invade the Stronghold could officially challenge the Stronghold at the Black Sea Coast. The results were released at about noon and Glory Capital was given their opportunity to besiege a Stronghold of their choice.

Glory Capital did not waste any time during their bid; it was clear their determination to take over the Stronghold at the Black Sea Coast could not be fazed. The Stronghold at Grey Valley was challenged by Seventh Heaven, Peerless City’s Tanaris Stronghold by Wings of Dawn, Drizzle Court’s Westfall Stronghold by Azure Guard, and Gale Legion’s Barrenlands Stronghold by Blood Red War Flag. As for Glory Capital’s Stranglethorn Vale Stronghold, this was Gale Legion’s challenge.

Lu Li was slightly dumbstruck. He had completely forgotten about the bug that existed within the Stronghold system. Gale Legion challenging Glory Capital was utterly pointless since they were in the same faction. This was a bug that could still be exploited in this version of the game. Guilds under the alliance could fight against each other just to avoid having their Strongholds taken over.

Lu Li could have had Drizzle Court challenge the Black Sea Coast Stronghold. By the time they received challenging permission, they only had to forfeit their raid to retain the Stronghold. However, there were two crucial things to consider if he was to follow through with this tactic. Firstly, spending money to scout plots of land was unavoidable, and the price of tax was almost cruel. The other problem was that with eight guilds participating in the raids, having the guild of their faction emerge victorious could not be guaranteed.

Perhaps the reputation of Glory Capital had gotten to everyone. Otherwise, if the other guilds genuinely wanted to take over the Stronghold at Stranglethorn Vale, Gale Legion wouldn’t have succeeded in receiving challenging permissions that easily. With that being said, Glory Capital wouldn’t have to dispatch strong players in defensive posts and could solely focus on their takeover of the Black Sea Coast. This small bug would be fixed in later updates of the game. All Lu Li could do now was toughen up and face Glory Capital’s attacks.

After noon, the results of the takeovers were released.

Lu Li posted himself at the front lines of the Black Sea Coast. He had brought the maximum limit of 30 chariots with him. Since the cost of chariots was increased tenfold, the cost of the mere 39 chariots already equalled the three hundred of the last battle. If any other guild was challenging him, he wouldn’t even have considered spending so much.

“There should be observers within the Stronghold to prevent the enemy from using our strategies,” Lu Li said.

He instructed two members to keep an eye on the interior of the Stronghold. Nowadays, many Warlocks could use Ritual of Summoning and Flight, and the number of players with other flight skills could not be overlooked either.

“Should we go down there to buy some time?” the Ice Mage Sky Moon asked.

“If we send people out, loss of manpower would be unavoidable,” Lu Li said, unconvinced.

“Everyone has backup armor in their backpacks. Even if their current armor is destroyed during the battle, they won’t lose battle power. As for losses in numbers, you know it’s unavoidable.”

Sky Moon was committed to his idea. He believed that if Glory Capital was able to attack the Stronghold walls from the very beginning, they might not hold.

“Fine, we’ll have some members defend under the Stronghold while I observe the enemy’s formations from up here. If anything should go wrong, Sky, you’ll be the impromptu commander,” Lu Li agreed. He thought about it again, and doubted himself this time.

Lu Li wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He had no one but himself to depend on, and had built everything out of nothing. He was always trying to find a way to hit two birds with one stone. That was why he first considered Sky Moon’s opinion to be unnecessary. However, after reconsidering, Lu Li decided that losing a few pieces of armor was better than losing the Stronghold altogether. It took far too much money to repair and construct the Stronghold that losing it would be even more wasteful.