The Great Thief

Level 60 was a very important milestone for Dawn players. It unlocked a bigger map, the Stronghold system, Siege warfare and the couples system…

However, level 60 wasn’t something that could be achieved overnight. Lu Li had to work hard to keep increasing his level; he had even been running around the map trying to do more quests. It didn’t matter that his Charisma value was low as there were quests that would be given if the trigger conditions were met. The only difficulties were finding the trigger condition and the location for the quest.

The trigger condition was often the clearance of an Instance Dungeon. For example, clearing Stratholme triggered the Tanaris Bounty Quest and the clearance of Blackrock Abyss would grant access to the maps surrounding that area. As Lu Li had acquired the First Clear on Blackrock Abyss, many other players would not have met that condition yet. This was a rule imposed by the System, so the NPCs couldn’t release the quest even if it wanted to.

However, these weren’t difficult things for Lu Li. He had acquired the First Clear in many Instance Dungeons in the past, and had found many unknown Hidden Monsters. Bounty Quests awarded a good amount of EXP and good quality items. It was said that if you were lucky, you could even get an Enhanced Skill Book, but Lu Li scoffed at that idea.

After killing a rare monster in the hills of Hillsbrad, Lu Li suddenly thought of a way to quickly farm reputation at Ravenholdt Manor. There were many things he could have made use of from his previous life, but as time went on, his memories inevitably became a little blurry.

This method was not difficult and it could be used repeatedly. It would just consume a few of his gold coins.

This quest could be done by a single person, especially a strong Thief like Lu Li. However, Lu Li thought it would be easier with two people, so he contacted Water Fairy.

Water Fairy was probably in an Instance Dungeon, and couldn’t leave it instantly, but she didn’t keep Lu Li waiting for too long and appeared before him after a few minutes. She had obviously handed over the task of commanding the Instance Dungeon to someone else. Blackrock Abyss had already been conquered, so there was no reason for her to do it again herself.

After the two met, they went to the Southshore Inn together.

The Assassins League’s hostess were already very familiar with these two, and knew that they often appeared together. As such, she calmly made herself known and began chatting with the guests.

“You two haven’t been around for a while. I have a few quests here today; would you be interested?”

“Of course, but before that I have something want to ask,” Lu Li said, recalling the strategy for the quest. “I heard that Master Fahrad had been collecting heavy waste bins for recently. Is there anything we can help with for that?”

Fahrad was one of the strongest Thieves of Ravenholdt Manor. The name made it sound like he was a man, but he was actually a Blood Elf girl. As for her face, no one had ever seen it before because she always covered it up, but she probably didn’t have an ugly face, especially given the figure that had been designed for her.

“Fahrad? Have you seen her?” the hostess asked in surprise.

“No, I just heard about it, but I’m not sure if it was true. As a member of the Ravenholdt Manor, I feel like I can contribute,” Lu Li offered.

Water Fairy glanced at him and grinned.

“It seems that there is something that you could help with, but Fahrad is not easy to find. You might need to buy a map from me,” the hostess said as she rubbed her hands together and took out an item.

Sure enough, this was basically just a quest for money.

If they didn’t have the hostess’ map, they wouldn’t be able to find Fahrad, even if Lu Li knew where she was. This was a rule imposed by the System – the player had to pay to progress the quest.

There was no room here for bargaining, so Lu Li paid 20 gold coins for the map.

Although he couldn’t really afford the 20 gold coins, this was something he had to do. 20 gold coins was no small amount either. In the beginning, this was amount that he had sold himself into servitude of the Star Moon guild for.

To see Fahrad, you had to enter the labyrinth from the northeast of Hillsbrad. The trail had been explored by many players. Lu Li and Water Fairy also saw many other players who wanted to become famous for their adventures. These players were all trying to find their way through the labyrinth. Most would get lost and would either kill themselves or be condemned to wasting time wandering around. Even if they spent the whole day in there, they still might not be able to get out the other side.

The arrival of Lu Li and Water Fairy did not attract any attention. Everyone thought that these two players were just like themselves.

“Should we have a look at the map?” Water Fairy couldn’t help but ask after she noticed that Lu Li hadn’t even looked at the map. Drizzle Court had a senior member who was good at deciphering maze-like terrain. However, after trying for a long time, he had to ask a Warlock from the guild to summon a door to get him out.

“Didn’t you see it before? Just follow me and you won’t get lost.”

He memorized the map with just a glance like that?

Water Fairy should have doubted, but she actually believed Lu Li when she heard him say it.

As they walked along the trail, they went past countless crossings. After about half an hour, a magnificent manor was presented before them. It was in a remote place, and the terrain was very difficult to navigate. This seemed like quite a defensible position. From the outside, it seemed that there was a large number of crops planted in the manor. There were also many brightly colored herbs that could be used for poison making.

A blue stone trail stretched out from the manor and vanished behind the shaded fence.

Under normal circumstances, the people who came here would be drawn towards the Chest next to the blue stone trail. Its golden color and cool design made it difficult to ignore.

But how did they deal with it this time?

You could just open the chest. Perhaps it was Master Fahrad’s way to testing the player’s Unlock level. This wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility; there was no doubt that there were other Thieves here. The other professions couldn’t do much here even if they knew exactly how to find it. Lu Li, in his previous life, didn’t listen to everyone else and followed the route for several hours. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have remembered it so clearly.

You could also pretend not to see it. Perhaps this Chest was a test of character. A Thief didn’t necessarily have to steal, and Fahrad might be someone who hated players that used skills like Pick Pocket.

It was probably one of these two things, but Lu Li didn’t want to make a choice either way.

If he opened it, a level 50 Elite would come charging out. It wasn’t difficult to deal with and Lu Li could easily kill it himself, but they wouldn’t be able to enter after doing so. That naturally meant that they wouldn’t be able to get the quest.

The only way to prevent that from happening would be to stand still and be killed by the monster.

If they pretended not to see it, the manor wouldn’t open for them either. Although the manor seemed undefended, Fahrad’s disciples were everywhere inside. Any reckless actions would definitely result in both of them losing EXP.

“Have you learned any skills to detect traps?” Lu Li asked.

Water Fairy shook her head. There was little need for such skills, as Hunters didn’t have any traps yet and the traps that the players ran into were rather numerous.

Thieves that specialized in scouting could receive scout quests from specific NPCs, not only to learn this skill, but also skills that can disable traps.

“I haven’t learnt any yet, but I have a way,” Lu Li said, replacing the headgear he had on.

Berserker’s Horned Helmet (Steel): Armour 15, Agility +8, Special Effect: after use, Detection +5 and has a certain probability of detecting traps. Level Requirement: level 15. Durability 35/35.

This item had become obsolete a long time ago, but Lu Li actually managed to find it again.

This kind of equipment with special effects wasn’t useful for Instance Dungeons, so he had just thrown it into the guild warehouse. Now, it had become useful again.

Using this equipment at his current level made the probability much greater. It detected that there was a trap on the treasure chest. This was the trap that triggered the rune, which in turn summoned the monster.

It was natural to use detect on the Treasure Chest. Lu Li then took out scroll from his backpack and began to cast it on the run. Soon, the trap was disabled.

Now, they could open the Treasure Chest and acquire the gift that Master Fahrad had prepared for the players.

After Lu Li opened the chest, he found two items. One of the Skill Book for ‘Relentless Strikes’ and one was a scroll for ‘Nirvana’.

These items were much better than Lu Li expected, and it was likely because he and Water Fairy were the first ones to open this Treasure Chest. Lu Li recalled that Nirvana was one of Dawn’s most famous scrolls, as it allowed players to revive themselves on the spot with full HP.

This kind of scroll couldn’t be used in the arena or in Instance Dungeons. It could only be used in the wild.

It had to be used within 30 seconds of death to take effect, as it wouldn’t be effective afterwards. If a player wanted to die with this scroll and revive after his enemies had left, it wouldn’t work too well.

However, the players didn’t mind these restrictions at all.

As for Relentless Strikes, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that players with this skill could increase their total strength by 5% at least.

Relentless Strikes: Passive, your Ultimate Skill consumes a combo point have a 10% chance of generating 10 energy. Proficiency 1/5.

Energy for Thieves was the equivalent of mana for Mages. Many of Lu Li’s skills couldn’t be used too frequently because the energy wouldn’t sustain such frequent use. The regeneration was constant, but it still took time.

Relentless Strikes allowed for players to quickly restore their energy, which increased the use of their skills and therefore their overall strength.