The Great Thief

Lu Li looked at the man in front of him, the man who had gone through so many great changes in life, then at the weak girl who lay on her bed. He eventually shook his head.

"Pelturas, thank you for your kindness, but allow me to decline this gift."

"Why?" Pelturas was astonished.

"I’m a Thief, so a bow has very little use for me. You, on the other hand, you can keep your little girl alive with this bow," Lu Li explained. "I sincerely hope that she grows up happily and I’m sure she will, since she has a father that loves her so dearly."

He didn’t make this decision without hesitation; Lu Li had attempted to persuade himself that this was just a game.

Unfortunately, the game was too realistic – he couldn’t make himself believe that what he saw before his eyes was only data. To him, this wasn’t just some data – this was a father and a daughter, a disabled father who had almost lost his little girl.

Surviving had never been easy. If he lost his Longbow, there was no guarantee that the little girl would still have a father the next time Lu Li saw her.

Perhaps it was because the little girl reminded him of his sister, but Lu Li felt more sympathetic towards her.

"But you’ve done so much for us – how can I not repay you?" Pelturas laughed bitterly.

"I’ve already received a payment that I’m happy with. Goodbye, Pelturas. I’ll come by again in the future if I get the chance." Lu Li performed an Elven gesture before he exited the simple house.

He never found out the attributes of that Longbow – whether it was Gold, or even Dark Gold grade.

It was the weapon of an Elven sentinel, not to mention the reward of a chain quest, so it most likely wouldn’t be an average Silver grade equip.

Strangely enough, he didn’t feel a single bit of regret.

When he left the closed alley, and returned to the rowdy streets of Astrana, he felt as if he had just passed through two different worlds. It was like he was in a trance.

"I’m Lu Li, the owner of Ruling Sword. I’ll never let myself into a desperate situation like that again," Lu Li told himself.

He then went to the guild storage to exchange some Advanced Antidote and Intermediate Health Potions. These items took up the greater half of his storage, and he was planning for a long-term battle to quickly level himself to level 30.

With his current equipment and level, he wouldn’t be any slower than leveling with an army of Mages. He just needed to find the right monsters.

There was no better choice than the spiders in Web Winder Hollow.

Web Winder Hollow mainly spawned Deepmoss Creepers and Deepmoss Venomspitters. These two types of monsters were packed tightly together and had a fast respawn rate. They were easy for physical damage classes to kill and rewarded a lot of experience.

With the current damage that Lu Li could deal, it would take him around a dozen seconds to kill one. The experience from one spider was equivalent to 1.5 times the experience of other monsters at the same level.

What was important was to keep in mind the poison of the spiders – he would have to drink a lot of antidotes.

The material fees of these Advanced Antidotes weren’t cheap – a single bottle would cost a few Silver coins. Of course, for the average players, this was quite a burden, but Lu Li wasn’t too concerned about it.

There was also another threat in the area – the Sharp-fang Spider King, an elite monster. It dealt significant damage and had a fast attack speed, so players would die very easily to it if they weren’t cautious.

Lu Li wasn’t too concerned about this threat either; he was strong enough and he was also a Thief player.

Before he headed for Web Winder Hollow, Lu Li also purchased a mining pick with +5 mining skill from the auctions.

How could anyone go to Rumbling Gorge without a pick? There was a lot of low=leveled copper mines there, so for players like Lu Li, who had never picked a single mine before, this was a great location to practice their skill.

The Rumbling Gorge was located on the west side of the Barrenlands, south to the Grey Valley and north to the Desolate Land. The Alliance basement, Gorge Peak, and the Horde basement, Sun Rock Dwelling, were both located here too.

The Web Winder Hollow was located on the southeast side of Rumbling Gorge. In order to reach there, it would require Lu Li to cross most of the Rumbling Gorge.

Lu Li teleported to Gorge Peak and ran along the Gorge Path.

He didn’t fly this time because there were Wyverns living amongst these peaks.

These ancient "flying lizards" had always been strong competitors about their territory in the air. When another species posed a threat to their dominance, they would put aside their feuds and work together to defend against the intruder.

There were also Goblin Airships flying around the area, which could kill Lu Li easily. There was no way that he would pop out in the air with his crow form.

Fortunately, there weren’t many monsters along the Gorge Path. The monsters weren’t much of a threat to him either, but some Orc patrol squads did pass by every now and then.

Lu Li didn’t try to be a hero; he was found by one of the squads by accident. It took him a lot of effort to kill two Orc Warriors and as a result, the others who survived pulled out their battle horns and summoned a great wave of cavalry...

Fortunately, he was a Thief.

If Lu Li found any copper mines along the way, he would dig them out. It barely took time anyway.

After around half an hour, Lu Li had reached the end of the Gorge Path. Based on the markings along the way, the next area would be Windshear Crag.

It was definitely unwise to wander around Windshear Crag – this was a dangerous location with Wyverns, Lumbering Oafs, Insane Druids and Goblin Deforesters. These were all monsters that were hard to kill, but gave very little experience.

Lu Li leapt into the Black Wolf River beside him.

The Black Wolf River twisted and extended across most of the Rumbling Gorge.

Although the water quality of the river wasn’t the best, there were no dangerous creatures in it – only some small fish that endured the pollution. Lu Li transformed into a seal and swam safely the entire way. It didn’t take long for him to reach Windshear Valley.

"Halt your steps, adventurer!" Following a shout, two human soldiers stopped in front of Lu Li.

Lu Li packed away his daggers to show that he had no intentions of causing harm, then followed the protocols of Night Elves and said, "I’m a Night Elf from the Grey Valley of Astrana; I’d like to request a meeting with Marshal Paltrow."

"Wait here." One of the soldiers examined Lu Li cautiously before he turned around to make a report.

The other soldier held onto the hilt of his sword tightly; he was prepared to attack Lu Li at any moment if the situation wasn’t right.

They belonged to the Northwatch.

This new force was the main military strength for the Alliance faction in the conquest of Kalimdor and consisted of soldiers from the Barrenlands, Rumbling Gorge and Durotar.

Marshal Paltrow was the highest commander, or at least for now he was. Once the storylines after level 30 were unraveled, Marshal Paltrow would be assassinated by the Horde faction.

Paltrow’s ways were upsetting to some of the nobles in the Alliance faction. As such, they plotted against him and joined forces with the Horde forces to take him down.

Rather than saying that Paltrow died to Horde players, it was fairer to say that he died to the evil plots of others.

Lu Li was brought in front of Marshal Paltrow.

Paltrow was a Paladin in gold plate-armor. He was taller than two meters, and Lu Li suspected that he had Vrykul blood flowing within him.

"Greetings, young adventurer," Paltrow said with a smile. "I haven’t seen an adventurer here for a long time. What a surprise to see you? Is there anything I can help you with?"