The Great Thief

The story was quite bizarre, but it perfectly explained the game’s elements.

A Steel Dwarf had snuck into the town and stolen the keys to the town warehouse. There had been numerous raids since, but he had not yet been found.

The Dwarves were divided into three major tribes – Bronze, Wildhammer and Iron. However, they all looked quite similar.

The three tribes had a very long-standing hatred, but they were quite equal in strength, so none of them would never truly dominate the continent.

This was because they all had some fatal personality trait. The Bronze Dwarves were too straightforward, the Wildhammer Dwarves were too independent and the Iron Dwarves were too cynical.

The Bronze Tribe lacked strategy, the Wildhammer Tribe lacked diplomatic cooperation and the Iron Tribe lacked decisiveness. Because of this, they could never work together.

Regardless, when Lu Li heard that the key had been stolen, he wasn’t surprised at all.

For the sake of the performance, he acted like he was stunned and asked, "Maybe the Steel Dwarf is gone?"

"He can’t be," Elon Bluntnose retorted. "That fool is trying to steal something from the warehouse; he won’t give up until he is successful."

"Okay, what do you need me to do?" Lu Li asked.

"Find him, dead or alive," Elon said before fiercely adding, "But preferably dead!"

Was this really the kind dwarf that was spoken of in the legends? Lu Li wasn’t sure if this character had been represented well, but he didn’t reject the quest and respectfully said, "I’d be happy to, sir."

Lu Li’s method was dumb, but effective. He was going to guard the door to the warehouse.

Because this was a game, there wasn’t an option like digging a hole into the warehouse. If the Iron Dwarf wanted to get into the warehouse, he had to use the key. As for using an Unlock Skill... that was basically impossible.

In order to prevent this from happening, Thieves usually couldn’t open warehouse doors like this one.

Otherwise, they would be able to steal from anywhere, and if a Thief could steal from a player’s personal storage, the game would be unplayable.

Elon had originally stationed two guards to prepare for this Iron Dwarf spy, but after taking Lu Li’s advice, he went out and lit an old house on fire. This made the two guards run off in a panic as they tried to save the house.

The Iron Dwarf would definitely be fooled by this, as this was their strategy to lure him out!

It seemed simple and a little funny, but if you thought about it, this strategy would have been carefully constructed by players who had done some exploring. There was nothing simple about discovering it.

This was Lu Li’s only advantage – Rebirth.

He lurked around the area and awaited the Iron Dwarf’s arrival. In order to properly fool the Dwarf, the two guards had gone to fight the fire, so there was no one else around to help Lu Li.

Lu Li was level 42, while the Iron Dwarf would be level 45.

However, since it was a quest, the Iron Dwarf was just going to be an Elite monster. Otherwise, no strategy would be good enough to overcome the sheer strength of the NPC.

The waiting was a tortuous affair, but Lu Li had never been an impatient person. He sat quietly by the warehouse, waiting for this stupid Iron Dwarf Spy to appear.

Suddenly, he felt like he had been caught.

It was a vague feeling that someone was behind him, but he didn’t have much time to think before he tumbled forwards. He could feel a dagger behind his head as he moved; he had almost been hit.

Lu Li then also realized that he had detected his opponent at the same time. That feeling he had wasn’t just a gut feeling, nor was it the System randomly deciding to warn him.

The Voodoo Plate Amour had a special effect – there was a certain chance that the user could discover Stealthed units regardless of their level.

Lu Li hadn’t expected to use this special effect and didn’t know it would come in handy so quickly.

After being attacked, he immediately realized that his attacker was at least level 48, which was three levels higher than what he had thought.

There was a big difference in a six-level gap; even ordinary monsters would be difficult to fight.

At level 50, even ordinary monsters would feel like Bosses to Lu Li. A level 48 monster was much weaker than a level 50 monster, but even if Lu Li had the upper hand, it was hard to say whether he could defeat it.

This Iron Dwarf was a Thief.

Lu Li put away his arrogant mentality and began to seriously face this elite NPC that was six levels higher than him.

Elite NPCs were stronger than Elite monsters because they could use a wider variety of skills.

As for why this monster was now level 48...

Lu Li had previously entered the game after a year of its release, and the System had adjusted the level of quests countless times by then. It could be that this Iron Dwarf was level 48 at first, but too many ordinary players had died here so the developers had no choice but to reduce it.

In the face of the level 48 Iron Dwarf, Lu Li didn’t hesitate the rush straight for its waist.

Why didn’t he go into Stealth?

With a six-level gap, his Stealth was useless. Besides, Lu Li was more worried that if the Iron Dwarf decided to use a skill like Vanish, Lu Li would probably have no way of finding him again.

Fortunately, that didn’t happen and the Dwarf raised his two daggers against Lu Li.

This Iron Dwarf was quite aggressive and he was also quite strong. Lu Li failed to block some of the attacks and lost quite a bit of HP, but as he got used to the fighting tempo, he started the circle around the Dwarf as he fought.

He was an Agility Thief – most players were agility Thieves. This meant that he had a faster Movement Speed and Attack Speed than the Iron Dwarf, which gave him an advantage, especially if he circled like this.

In a situation like this without Stealth, Lu Li couldn’t beat the level 48 Elite in a straight fight.

Fortunately, he was a player with poison on his dagger and Healing Potions, in addition to a variety of other special effects.

The fight lasted for more than a minute, and both parties were trading blows.

In the end, when the Iron Dwarf only had 20% HP remaining, he was cut by Lu Li’s dagger which triggered its effect. This effect had a low chance of activating, but was hard to survive against once it did.

The Iron Dwarf dropped a quite a few piece of ore – no self-respecting Dwarf wouldn’t have a few pieces of Ore on their body.

In addition, there was also a single key, which was the key to the warehouse.

The warehouse in Thelsama was right in front of them and he was holding the key to it. Fate seemed to be tempting him with a choice; endless wealth was waiting behind those doors.