The Great Thief

Gaming shares had always been taken from the game company to be sold on the market, and even now, gaming clubs hadn’t been put on the market.

Finances were actually a very normal thing, but to have this sort of thing be handed out was an autonomous decision. A strong-willed person like Lu Li wouldn’t be willing to receive people’s finances no matter what. He was just afraid that others would run onto his turf and direct him to do all sorts of things.

If a club went on the market, then what could they get to cheat those stockbrokers?

Trophies?

This was completely possible, but in the eyes of stockbrokers, all they saw was the championship. They had no way to understand what it meant to just have one championship. Most of the trophies had been taken by Glory Capital, and the few recent ones were won by Ruling Sword. The trophies that other clubs had won were already more than five years old.

Trophies didn’t grow more valuable as time went on.

And the total number of members in the guild?

With virtual online games having developed to this stage, recruiting 100,000 members was a simple task. However, there was no way to just gain more members than other guilds in an instant. It was the same for competitors – you couldn’t instate any random player as a competitor, otherwise every club would have thousands of them.

In the eyes of ordinary people, the most awesome thing was to have some actual territory.

There were a few cities in the game.

In order to enter the market smoothly, these clubs began to frantically farm Strongholds.

Then, some really crazy things happened.

One of them was sold the Stronghold for a high price, taking in cash and assets too. After it went on the market, everyone split up the money, and that was it. The capitalist market had never been very logical.

In an even more ridiculous instance, someone actually used appearances to trick others.

And they used it with an emerging talent – the commander Sky Moon.

Lu Li didn’t know about it to begin with. It was only when players in the other clubs made fun of Sky Moon that he knew.

One of the girls in the top 100 beauty rankings was hired to flirt with Sky Moon.

You couldn’t blame Water Fairy for not liking beauty ranking being brought up. Most of the girls were unwilling participants, and it was a very humiliating thing for them.

Of course, it didn’t mean that the people on the ranking were necessarily worse off

If you were listed up near the top, for example, in the top 50, you would receive so many sponsorship deals that you couldn’t even handle all of them. Dancing Flower Beauty, who was ranked number one, had entered the top 10 highest earners last year. The game had even invited her to be a spokesperson for a race in the game.

As for Water Fairy, she was a tycoon to begin with.

Ruling Sword had never for a moment considered going on the market. Regardless of whether it was Ruling Sword or Judgement Spear, they were all developing at a very healthy rate.

Their three Strongholds were their foundational territory. This number wouldn’t increase, nor would they let others take them.

Two new Strongholds were released – one of them in Winterspring, and the other in Loch Modan.

Winterspring was a map that almost everyone was familiar with. Countless people went there to farm mounts. It was very lively, and so the new Stronghold there gained the most attention.

Loch Modan was made up of steep hills and low grasslands. There were plenty of mineral resources, and the cities here made money from trade with travelers who were leaving from South Lordaeron and Azeroth. The main inhabitants were humans and dwarves.

Loch Modan was the heartland of those proud, sturdy, energetic dwarves.

Although the Horde had chased away the dwarves to distant areas in the second war, forcing them to resort to guerilla warfare, they had now returned to their homeland and had grown even stronger.

The players here were sockpuppets, but ever since the Loch produced a type of flying fish that couldn’t be found anywhere else, all the fishing and cooking players journey here.

There were also players who came here to hunt black bears and Threshadons.

No matter what, these two places had become key battlegrounds. The Strongholds in the hands of the major clubs were defended to the death, while new Strongholds became points to make breakthroughs.

Lu Li was also rather interested in the new Strongholds.

He decided to expand his own Stronghold model. They already had more than enough defense for the three Strongholds. The game had limited the production of Fel Reavers and replaced them with a new type of Reaver blueprint, which was more than just a minor upgrade over the Fel Reavers.

He moved a few Fel Reavers to Judgement Sword and adjusted the top players to try and help them claim the Winsterspring stronghold.

Loch Modan was said to be better, but it wasn’t as bustling as Winterspring.

Especially after the game cancelled mount trading, if you wanted a mount, you had to farm it yourself. All those traders busily farming mounts to sell had left Winterspring, and there were now more fighting and lifestyle players.

The snowy scenery of Winterspring was so beautiful; it almost looked like a painting.

Defeat Winterspring!

Establish a snowy tourist city!

Lu Li personally went out to command, entering right into the chaotic war situation.

This so-called chaotic war situation involved eight clubs showing up to fight on the map, with everyone being level 1 and having no equipment. They could keep fighting monsters and growing on the map, ultimately aiming for the Stronghold’s stone tablet right in the center.

With this sort of fighting, the dead were kicked right out, unless they had respawning equipment or tools.

With a new style, there was a new way to play. Lu Li had actually never participated in this sort of thing before. How could he have participated in Stronghold battles in his last life? At the very most, he had just watched a few streams because they looked energetic.

Firstly, the 80-Thief strategy was implemented.

Stealth couldn’t achieve everything, nor was it realistic to wait until the other players had eliminated each other.

However, Thieves did have some advantages, so Lu Li brought ten of them along.

“Five to a group. Go and develop quickly, and retreat as soon as you see an enemy. I’ll mark out a few assembly points; send a signal if you meet an enemy. Then, retreat and lead them to the assembly point, and after they get there, you know what to do.”

Lu Li gave out the tasks first.

He also assembled a small Elite team, with the Priest Princely Beauty, the Warrior Soulless Grass, the Ice Mage Short Road, the Paladin Sikong Clear, as well as himself.

The other members who had come over from Ruling Sword, including Fat Monkey, Moonlight, Big Dog Li and Crippled Black Ant each brought a few new people.

Everyone was level 1, there was not a single piece of equipment on them, and they only had basic skills. At this time, they needed to develop.

There were a lot of monsters in Winterspring, most of them being level 50 or 60. Of course, the Stronghold map couldn’t be set up like this. There were monsters from level 1 all the way to level 70. With the highest being level 70, this was also the maximum level the players could reach.

Lu Li’s group of five surrounded and killed a level 5 Holly bear. Now, all of them were at level 3.

The drops weren’t bad either – the Holly bear dropped a green bow, and they all looked at each other with blank dismay.

There wasn’t a Hunter here!

In the end, it was still Lu Li who put on this weapon. Thieves could shoot arrows too, although the attack wouldn’t be at its full potential, and the shooting speed was slow.