The Great Thief

“Whoops, you gotta be earlier next time. All the items have been given out.” The last item that was looted by Northern Tang Kitty was the Jade Spider Web; Lu Li’s spirits were high and he spoke thoughtlessly.

“Taking random players into the Instance Dungeon is one thing I can let go of. But you gave the rewards the outsiders as well? Lu Li, is there something wrong with your brain?”

The world definitely contained people like this: those that are completely self-centered and take issue with anything that doesn’t go their way.

“Leave!” his voice was monotone, but the words were rude.

Gasps could be heard in the chatroom; did they hear that wrong? It was I am Richy Rich being told to leave. This wasn’t something that had happened in a long time.

The game was currently in its peak period, and the previous announcement had received the attention of almost everyone who played the game. The Star Moon Union had about 300 to 400 people, and in front of all these people, a Gold Collection Unit player was saying this to a high-ranking player.

Leave!

I Am Richy Rich’s skill was average, but he was rich and willing to spend money.

He was followed by Ao Jian and played dozens of games, spending millions in each one. As such, he eventually became Ao Jian’s number 2, even if someone like Square Root 3 didn’t care much about him.

Right now, his dignity was being trampled.

The chatroom was dead silent for a good few seconds and all that could be heard was labored breathing. The leader of the union was surprisingly silent.

In fact, Ao Jian was actually rejoicing.

Last time he squared off with Lu Li, he had spent 25,000 real money to get one skill book. Every time he thought back to it, he felt more regret, but from another perspective, he also understood. Compared to these rich 2nd generation people, Lu Li was of a different breed.

This verbal slap to the face could have easily been directed towards Ao Jian.

Ao Jian looked over to the side; he was training with I am Richy Rich. Feeling a shared distaste towards Richy Rich, he felt a sense of satisfaction to see his misfortune.

“O-o-okay...” I am Richy Rich was so angry he couldn’t form a sentence.

“Who I do Instance Dungeons with is none of your business. Who the items are rewarded to within our party is none of your business. The items that I choose to use for myself are none of your business.” He didn’t mention that he had over 20,000 real money on his bank card. Even if he didn’t, he wouldn’t mention something like that to cause more trouble.

“Why you... you know I can stop you from continuing in this game” Richy Rich said with hatred.

“If there was someone who could stop me, it definitely wouldn’t be you”, Lu Li wasn’t particularly good at this back and forth insulting, but he could remember some people from the previous generation who really could stop him.

At that time his sister had gotten sick, and he needed sell all the equipment he had for money. But he was tricked, so not only did he not receive his money, he was also hunted by several unions.

He had run away and begged before, but to him, what was more important than his life was his precious sister. To other people, this kind of sacrifice wasn’t something special to behold. They regularly watched it on TV, which demonstrated the thrill of such a thing.

After experiencing this rebirth, Lu Li refused to accept such a compromise again.

Even if he couldn’t earn the money to buy the helmet, he would not join any union.

“That’s enough”, seeing that the situation was getting out of hand, Ao Jian stepped in. Otherwise, the dignity of the union would be at stake.

All this time, the union was a privilege for its members and their performance was above that of an average person. If someone discovered that they had a bit more money and was convicted enough, a Gold Collection Unit member would be able to take a strong stand. Then, more and more people would start to follow from this example.

“In one week, I will return the money for this violation. You won’t need to wait long” Lu Li didn’t wait for Ao Jian to speak, he quickly spoke and left the chatroom.

Raising his head, he saw Azure Sea Breeze and the others who he thought had already cleared the dungeon but were still looking worriedly at him.

Then he remembered that everything he said in the chat room was spoken aloud and the people nearby could hear him.

“Is everything alright, Lu Li?” Azure Sea Breeze kindly asked. The other 3 people were blankly staring, looking very strange.

“Everything is fine, let’s get out of this dungeon” Lu Li equipped his dagger.

“You had a falling out with the Star Moon Union? And you need to pay a penalty fee?” Drinking Alone clenched as he straightforwardly asked his question.

“Yeah something like that, those people are nuts. At first I thought I could just ignore them, but I didn’t realize I was so impatient.” Lu Li laughed; he didn’t look anxious at all.

In reality, the penalty wasn’t a small amount. The cost of the helmet and the penalty fee was about 60,000 altogether. It was basically the cost of 2 helmets.

“If you are willing to come to our union, we will pay for your penalty fee. There will be no other conditions. All you have to do is take our people to do these kinds of Instance Dungeons. If you need something, just ask. We will not refuse.”

Drinking Alone already thought that Lu Li was an expert when he achieved an 80% Skill completion and when his attacking daggers were dancing like snowflakes. Only when the system detected that they were the first to complete the dungeon did he realize that he had been underestimating this young man who looked as plain as water.

The strength of a union is far greater than that of a single person. Lu Li understood this, as the Star Moon Union sent out 5 parties of 5 to find the ‘Seal Transformation’ Skill Book within an hour. If Lu Li was on his own, he couldn’t have done this.

Lu Li needed a large amount of materials to upgrade his Supreme Ring. If there was a whole union to help him look for these materials, then it would be so much easier. But there was an issue.

The Grand Hegemony wasn’t a very suitable union for him. Its President, “Emperor Hegemony” was a very ambitious person, but he didn’t have the ability to bring the union to its peak. Perhaps he could make some fame for them in “Shadow Realm” but it would be too difficult in a game like Dawn.

They were continuously suppressed by a few large unions working together. Once their members left the safety zone, they would be ruthlessly attacked.

In this place, things were clear and simple. But it didn’t suit Lu Li, it didn’t suit a professional player and it didn’t suit a Thief.

“Sorry, I don’t plan to join any union. But if there’s a chance next time, we can do Instance Dungeons again” Lu Li shook his head: “You guys can go ahead and grind the Common Instance Dungeon - it is far easier than the Elite level. You can find anyone to join you guys.”

It was as if he had expected this. Drinking Alone sighed and let go of the topic, “Why don’t you continue farming with us. The Elite Instance Dungeon has a 3 hour cooldown, but you can do the Common Instance Dungeon whenever you want. You just offended the Star Moon Union, so going out to train now seems like a good idea.

“I have something to attend to, you can continue,” Lu Li said nicely, but he had already made up his mind. The others could only watch helplessly as he left.

“How unfortunate”, Nothern Tang Dream started speaking: “Before he came, I thought Drinking Alone was exaggerating. I never thought he would be stronger than you described. I’ve never heard of this person before, it seems like he just came out of nowhere.”

She was only 20 years old, but was an experienced player already. A while ago she had done research on every expert there was, but there wasn’t someone whose style was even close to being like Lu Li’s.

“He is stronger than you can imagine, do not underestimate him.” Drinking Alone said.

“Do we want to share the strategy to the Instance Dungeon?” Northern Tang Kitty responded, for they hadn’t mentioned this matter.

In successfully clearing out an Instance Dungeon, other than gaining fame and equipment, you could also sell the strategy for clearing it out for a large sum. This was especially the case for a small ragtag group like them, as they didn’t need to be afraid of a union monopolizing the resource.

Their fellow union members saw them get the first clear on the Instance Dungeon, but because none of them were the party leader, no one asked for the clearing strategy. Emperor Hegemony was someone of extreme principle.

After contacting Lu Li, his response was simple. They could handle it however they liked, but if a Jade Spider Web was dropped, they needed to sell it to him.

Now Lu Li was cautiously moving through the woods trying to stay hidden. In the previous generation he heard that there was a mine in the forest, he wanted to try to see if he could get in. There is an NPC in there that he is interested in.