The Great Thief

Ironforge was the main city of the Dwarves and Gnomes, built upon the snowy mountain of Don Morough in the center of the surrounding mountain ranges. It housed an ancient race of strange Dwarves and friendly Gnomes.

Countless blacksmiths, adventurers, miners and warriors gathered here.

While it wasn’t quite as busy as Stormwind, it wasn’t as quiet as Darnassus. Many players enjoyed the banging sounds of the iron, the sweet Dwarven fine wine and the picturesque snowy scenery.

Elves would rarely appear in a town like this because they disliked the environment.

Lu Li didn’t particularly enjoy being here either; he would much rather be drowned in the busy crowds of Stormwind.

Hyacinth Bar was located between two blacksmiths which was considered quite a good location. There were countless blacksmiths in Ironforge, but very few would offer their services to players as most of them were NPCs working for the Alliance Army.

When he entered, he saw a crowd of short people in the bar.

There were more Gnomes than Dwarves and barely any Humans, Elves or Draenei.

Square Root Three led Lu Li to a Gnome, more specifically, a female Gnome. She wasn’t exactly attractive, but she was quite cute. Female Gnomes were considered cutest class in the game and most of the players who chose this class were creepy middle-aged men who were obsessed with lolis.

If a little girl held onto your legs, called you older brother and begged you to train with her, most people would happily agree.

However, the Gnomish race were not to be underestimated.

The No.17 ranked guild on the Guild Rankings called "Jump to Hit Your Knees" was a Gnome/Dwarf exclusive guild. This guild was newly established and had only been in the gaming scene for around two years. In every game

that they played, they would always choose races that were shorter than others, despite any advantage or disadvantages.

It was difficult for a guild to thrive if they had so little variety as their versatility and flexibility would be much lower than the other guilds. The fact that they reached the No.17 rank said a lot about their individual skills and team work.

As most of the players from this guild were from Ironforge, in Dawn, they would refer themselves as "The Ironforge."

There were perhaps less than a million people in Ironforge, but most of them were solo players or minor guilds that could never compete with Jump to Hit Your Knees.

Lu Li nodded at the female Gnome and ordered a rye wine.

"That’s her – she has a stone that can decrease equipment level by 20%, but she won’t sell it and I’ve tried everything to persuade her. You can go and have a try," Square Root Three said with a shrug.

"If you want this stone, then I want you to kill someone for me."

The Gnome’s voice was very sweet, but the words that came out of her mouth were very conflicting.

"If it’s possible, I’d much rather buy it off you for a high price," Lu Li said, not wanting to waste his time.

From his past experiences, he would much rather solve problems with money.

"No, I don’t need money," the Gnome refused.

Lu Li knew that she was a hard one to crack and so he decided to accept her offer and said, "Fine, we accept. Who do you want us to kill and how many times do you want us to kill them?"

Killing someone wasn’t as simple as it sounds.

"Drunken Heart from Ironforge. He..."

The Gnome’s expressions were filled with worry; she stared into Lu Li’s eyes as the rest of his face was hidden behind her mask.

The rest of the story explained why she wanted Drunken Heart to be killed and how much he deserved to die.

It was quite simple – Drunken Heart was attracted to the Gnome’s older sister and began chasing after her.

However, unlike in Korean dramas where the handsome thug chased after the main actress, the Gnome’s older sister did not reciprocate his interests. Drunken Heart became frustrated and angry, so he began sending people out to harass her while she was playing. Eventually, she decided to quit.

"Drunken Heart..."

She was expecting Lu Li to have an expression of fear, but all he did was repeat the name and nodded to show that he accepted.

"It’s Drunken Heart," the Gnome repeated again.

"I know him – he’s in charge of the Warrior squad in Jump to Hit Your Knees. Level 47 Warrior tank that likes to use a one-handed hammer and shield. He’s a primary tank and secondary DPS, right?" Lu Li said calmly.

"You’re not scared of him?" The little Gnome thought she was dreaming.

Drunken Heart was one of the top members of Jump to Hit Your Knees; his level was high and he had powerful equips. Wherever he walked, he would always be escorted by ten players.

Jump to Hit Your Knees were the most powerful guild in Ironforge and would often abuse their powers to do whatever they wanted. As such, they had offended quite a number of people in the city. There were probably a lot of people that wanted revenge on Drunken Heart, but no one had the power or resources to take him down.

Lu Li decided to contact someone that he hadn’t talked to for a long time.

"Blacky, you there?"

"Brother Li. It’s been a while." Blacky’s voice sounded pleasantly surprised.

Blacky and Buggy were all old friends of Lu Li’s in real life. When Buggy was in trouble, Blacky sought out Lu Li for assistance. Lu Li had bought them gaming helmets so that they could play the game with him.

When they heard that Lu Li was making a name for himself playing as a Thief, they all decided to choose the same class.

Thieves weren’t as popular in dungeons and unless they recruited a party of their own, others usually wouldn’t invite them.

Under Lu Li’s guidance, they entered the Grim Reaper faction, which consisted of mainly Thieves. The difference between Ravenholdt Manor and Grim Reaper was that they were a more underground assassination association.

Many people know them as mercenaries that specialized in assassinating people.

After they joined, they stopped attempting dungeons and began focusing on levelling up and accepting hitman missions for money and rewards.

Besides Lu Li and Square Root Three in Ruling Sword, no one else knew about their existence.

"Do you know Drunken Heart from Ironforge?" Lu Li asked, getting straight to the point. He didn’t really like to catch up with old friends. This was just giving them an opportunity to repay him back.

Gang members heavily emphasized loyalty and they would do anything to return a favor from a past friend.

"I know him – a defensive warrior. He’s extremely arrogant; did he offend you in any way?" Blacky was always good at gathering information.

"Not me, but I need you guys to kill him and send me the recordings of you doing so," Lu Li said.