The Great Thief

Every city had poor people and some form of a slum. As Dawn followed the rules of reality, it also reflected this. The place where Lu Li was standing was equivalent to the Common District.

The Night Elves weren’t necessarily the most loving or kind-hearted people.

Pelturas Whitemoon’s daughter Little Leila had been lying on a bed for three days. Her fragile, petite body was curled up and her face showed a bitter expression. Her lips were pursed and her groans were heartbreaking.

Pelturas was once a brave sentinel and had participated in many fights.

Unfortunately, he had lost a leg in battle and had become disabled. As such, he later left the army and married a poor wife, but the moment his wife gave birth to his daughter, she died of an illness.

On a regular day, Pelturas would go out to the mines in order to find something that could earn some money. This was his ancestral craft.

However, with only one leg, he could barely make living.

His daughter was his everything.

"Poor Little Leila, you’re all I have. If you die, why else should I keep on living?" Pelturas had planned to rush to the Temple of Fire in the hope of gaining some reward. Hopefully, he could earn enough to get the Doctor’s shot in order to save his daughter.

"Excuse me, is there anyone here?"

Just as Pelturas picked up his crutch and was about to leave, he heard someone knocking at the door.

Upon opening the door, found a Thief who had his face covered and who was equipped with leather armor.

Pelturas had no affection for Thieves and said impatiently, "Who are you? Why are you here?"

"I’m following Remulo’s instructions," Lu Li sighed. "I’ve come to solve your troubles sir."

"Remulos?" Pelturas’ eyes widened as he spoke. "The Moon Goddess must have heard my prayers; my Little Leila can finally be saved! Can you heal her?"

Lu Li took two steps forwards and looked at the pale girl on the bed before shaking his head.

"Sorry, I’m not a doctor."

"How can this be?" Pelturas felt like he had been cheated; this stranger couldn’t help him after all. How could he claim that he was going to solve his troubles then? No, this wasn’t a "trouble" – this was Little Leila, his only family.

"I can go find a doctor."

Lu Li’s hand turned over and revealed a stack of gold coins.

Pelturas let out a long sigh.

A doctor wasn’t difficult to find; you just needed to have the money. After forking out 20 gold, they managed to invite a man called Evena Stillwhisper. He was Astrana’s best doctor and wouldn’t see a poor person under normal circumstances.

Evena carefully diagnosed Little Leila and spoke verbosely about how she was malnourished.

Pelturas looked guilty.

"Alright, I’ve got some idea of the cause." After taking the money, he quickly concluded his examination. He pondered for a moment before saying, "I think this illness isn’t purely physical. Has she been to an evil place recently? Or, Pelturas, have you brought back something contaminated with evil lately?"

Pelturas thought for a moment before he pulled out a sword from the bottom of the bed.

The long sword was rusty, but if it was repaired, it could be sold to the blacksmith for a few silver coins.

"Where did you pick that up?" asked Evena.

"Bathran’s Haunted House. If there was ever an evil place, it would probably be there." Pelturas was disabled and couldn’t fight; he had to do whatever he could to make money.

"Damned Orcs and damned Bathran," Evenal cursed softly.

"Can Little Leila still be saved? Please, Mr. Evenal, you have to save her."

Upon hearing that he was likely the cause of her daughter’s sickness, Pelturas almost looked suicidal.

"Adventurer," Evena said as he looked at Pelturas’ stump and shook his head before turning to Lu Li, "I need help with something. Are you willing to help me?"

"Of course. I’m happy to do some work," Lu Li replied simply.

"If you take the road to the east, there is a plant that grows in the ancient ruins of the Bathran Haunted House. That plant is called Bathan’s Hair and is known to cure the infamous Soul Disease. Can you get some for me?" Evena then went on to describe the appearance of the Bathran’s Hair.

"Please wait a little while. I will be back soon."

Lu Li left and immediately transformed into a Crow before flying towards the Bathran Haunted House.

He wandered around the Haunted House for a while, unable to find the plant that Evena had described. He then landed on the ground in order to search more thoroughly; he couldn’t afford to miss it.

At this time, a ghost appeared in front of him and pointed at his emblem before asking, "Young man, is this the blessing of the priestess?"

Lu Li put away the dagger that he had pulled out and calmed himself before saying, "Yes."

It was indeed a Haunted House – a ghost could emerge at every turn. These repeated appearances were actually quite scary, so there was actually no one farming in this level 20 area.

"How nostalgic. I used to have something like that."

Based on its silhouette, it was a strange looking being. It looked more like a big tree than anything else.

"That must be because you’re a respectable elder, but why are you here now?" Lu Li tentatively asked.

"These creatures... the so called Horde... cut me down and cut off my hair to carry out their evil plan. Can you help me end it once and for all?"

Dammit. This must be the legendary Tree of Knowledge, old Treant Bathran.

Treants had always been the Night Elf’s allies. They lived long lives, but spent most of it asleep and could only be awakened in special ways.

Bathran was unlucky; he had been cut down while he was still sleeping.

After he was killed, the orcs planted Bathran back into the ground. That is how the Bathran Haunted House came to grow Bathran’s hair.

"I would be happy to do that. But before that, I would like to collect some of your hair. Please don’t be angry and hear me out."

Lu Li comforted the old Treant ghost who was about to run away and then tried to explain why he wanted the hair.

"The Orcs had just finished harvesting the hair; no wonder you couldn’t find it. Since it’s to save someone, I will give you some now."

Bathran handed Lu Li a clump of fibrous material. This was Bathran’ Hair.

"Thank you so much. What can I do to help you?" Lu Li asked as he put the item away.

This was the so-called chain quest. One would lead into the other and all of them had to be completed, otherwise, the chain would be broken. As to how long Little Leila could wait, these quests weren’t bound by time. The system wasn’t that boring.

"I hear that their Medicine Master was talking about some fire item across from here. If you can obtain a bottle of that evil item and throw it into my body, you can burn it down completely and my hair will no longer grow," Bathran said as he sighed deeply and melancholically continued, "I’m already dead, so this is a small price to pay to stop them."

Waking up to suddenly find that you were dead was quite an outlandish way to die.