“Of course we want our names to be announced!” Azure Sea Breeze said loudly: “Unless you want to hide our names?”
“Some people are afraid of being famous. Once your name goes onto the global announcement, there will be many people looking to cause trouble with you.” Lu Li thought otherwise; the real world and the virtual world were different - the cost of crime was significantly lower.
Lu Li remembered a poor kid named “Rowing Poetry” in his previous life who had been announced on the global announcements. He was bullied by the other players because of this and couldn’t leave the beginner village for a few months.
Even a strong thief like Water Fairy was taken down by being ganged up on, after a 100,000 real money bounty was placed by I am Richy Rich,
The reputation of the first people to clear an Instance Dungeon would be good for a big organisation, but for a ragtag group of players it was useless. It would only open themselves up to harassment.
“After being identified, the large unions will all extend their offers to you” Drinking Alone guessed that a master such as Lu Li wouldn’t stay with Star Moon Union. Grand Hegemony was also afraid of being looked down upon by others.
“I don’t plan to join any union, I plan to be a professional player.” No matter what other people believed, Lu Li had no intention to join any unions.
The welfare treatment within a union was good, but good things don’t fall out of the sky. If you wanted something, you would have to work for it. Joining a union would mean that he would be earning money for them.
Dawn’s growth would be very rapid; even the game company would not be able to anticipate its growth. An entire industry would form around the game and as it grew, Lu Li would be able to make so much money that he wouldn’t be able to spend it all.
“If you want to be a professional player, then you have to be famous” Azure Sea Breeze said dismissively, “Don’t not say it: you led a team to clear an Instance Dungeon. If this is known, there are definitely many people who would want to recruit you. Professional players are very valuable.”
Lu Li’s brow wrinkled, unable to produce a rebuttal and trying to comprehend how this guy who was normally not very quick witted could come up with such convincing points.
In actuality, this had something to do with the previous life. The top players didn’t really dare offend anyone, it was really the ordinary people that you needed to be worried about. Even Water Fairy, the tycoon goddess, was ambushed by the ‘Steel Blood Alliance’ Union. The great thief appeared and disappeared like the wind, and in a short period was killed up to a thousand times. But the Steel Blood Alliance Union wasn’t acting alone: they had the influence of other big organisations.
“If the Jade Spider Web is dropped, what do we get for giving it up?” Drinking Alone earnestly said: “Northern Tang Dream and I are well known players. If we are recorded in game history it would be great for the development of our union…”
“Later on if you need our assistance, we will definitely spare no effort” Northern Tang Dream’s face was also full of hope.
To the union, acquiring a player with expertise was better than 1000 regular players. Lu Li was such a player, destined to never stay amongst the crowd. One day, when he would be famous, people would naturally remember when he cleared the first Instance Dungeon with members of the Grand Hegemony. It was just like sticking their label on Lu Li.
Lu Li smiled bitterly and shook his head. He didn’t want to enter the lime light at this time, but at the same time he wasn’t afraid of public opinion.
System: Under the leadership of Lu Li, Azure Sea Breeze, Northern Tang Dream, Drinking Alone and Northern Tang Kitty is the first team to clear the Spider Lair (Elite) Instance Dungeon!
It was simple and trite, but everyone’s name was on it.
Next was gaining the exp from clearing the Instance Dungeon. Because it was the first clear, not only was all the exp doubled, but extra equipment was rewarded as well.
Lu Li looked in his bag and saw that he had obtained a dagger.
Broodmother’s Kiss (Bronze): Damage 8-15, Agility +2, Level Requirement LV3, Durability 18/18.
The damage of a single handed weapon could not be compared to the likes of a two handed Magic staff like the Whisperer. However, it added 2 points of Agility, making it an equivalent bronze equip.
The others also inspected their rewards and their faces lit up. What was unfortunate was that Lu Li wasn’t awarded with the material that he needed.
“Let’s see what the Boss dropped”, Northern Tang Kitty was keen on looting the Boss.
The others looked at Lu Li, unsure if he wanted to loot the Boss. The current game rules were that if there wasn’t a special designation, the leader would loot and distribute the battle loot.
“Go for it” Lu Li said casually with a shake of the head.
His words were very unusual and no one believed him.
“waa…”
The first time they killed a Boss that had a small chance of dropping something good, he was like an excited little girl, refusing to let go of the item.
Suddenly, Lu Li’s communication device began to manically vibrate.
This was to be expected, but he didn’t know that people would react this quickly. After a brief check, he found that they were all friend requests.
Lu Li thought for a while, then refused all the friend requests. He resolved to not add anyone.
Even though he could make money by opening treasure chests, the most important thing right now was training. He didn’t want to be disturbed by too many people.
After he got rid of all the friend requests, only 2 entries remained. One was the Star Moon Union chatroom and the other was from Square Root 3.
Lu Li watched Northern Tang Kitty inspect her equipment while opening up the chatroom.
The moment he entered, he was immediately assaulted by a messy chorus of 6 or 7 voices.
“Lu Li, you got the first clear right?” It was Ao Jian, Star Moon Union’s president.
“It was just luck” Lu Li replied.
Spider Silk Hood (Steel): 5 Armour, Intelligence +2, Constitution +2, Special Effect: Dark damage effects increased by 10%, Equipment Requirement Lv 5, Durability 21/25
The chance of a Steel Item being dropped on the elite difficulty was not high, so it seemed like the bonus of the first clear was truly significant.
On the other side, Ao Jian was so angry he couldn’t speak: “What do you mean lucky, that was an Elite Instance Dungeon! You didn’t find people from our union, instead gathering your own team of players. Do you have no sense of pride or honour in our union?”
“Drinking Alone led, and just brought me along.” Lu Li assigned the hood to Drinking Alone. This was typical Warlock or Shadow Priest equipment. As expected of an item dropped by the Boss, its attributes were very powerful.
“You…” As you can imagine, Ao Jian’s complexion was terrible. It didn’t take much to figure out that Drinking Alone was a high-ranking member of the Grand Hegemony Union. If he was the one who truly led them, then Lu Li would not have been assigned party leader.
Generally speaking, 2 kinds of people can be party leaders. An officer or a team leader.
“Don’t give me this rubbish. Say what you want, but once you’ve handed over the equipment it won’t be your responsibility any more. Once the Union is established, you can hand it in to the warehouse.” I Am Richy Rich obviously cared the most about the Elite difficulty Instance Dungeon equipment.
The Boss truly dropped some good items; this second item was also Steel grade.
Weaver’s Leather Armour (Steel): 12 Armour, Agility +4, Strength +2, Equipment Requirement Lv5, Durability 7/25.
Compared to the previous item, it lacked a special effect, however, this didn’t mean that it was necessarily bad. The Armour value was 2 times the previous one, adding 6 points to its best attribute, but for a Thief, this increase wasn’t really practical.
Other than these two, there were 2 more pieces of equipment that were both Bronze. Although the attributes of these were good, both of them weren’t used by thieves, so they were rolled for by the other players.
After all that, Lu Li casually sent the information of the equipment to the Star Moon Union office.
The chat room fell silent for a second, then an immense commotion boiled up.
“I want that Spider Silk Hood, no one take it.” Quickly realising that what he said was not quite appropriate, I am Richy Rich hastily added: “Wait till I earn some money to collect some gold, our union must be established as soon as possible”
“I guess it’ll just be like this, everyone start collecting gold. Do not fear the high prices, you will be compensated” Ao Jian said soon after: “Lu Li, give that Steel Hood to Richy. As for that Steel Leather Armour, you can use it for now”
“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.
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GOT IT