Chapter 27: Buying Loyalty
Editor: Halcyon Translation
Within the Trade Window were 4 Jade Spider Webs!
Jade Spider Webs only spawned in the Elite level Instance Dungeon for the Spider Lair, and had an incredibly low drop rate.
Yet Azure Sea Breeze had suddenly taken out 4.
“Don’t worry, they all came by legitimate means.” Azure Sea Breeze sent them over as he explained, “After clearing the Instance Dungeon, I contacted some of the big unions, and planned to sell the guide to clearing it. After comparing the compensation they each offered, I decided to sell it to…”
“The Blood-red War Flag?” Lu Li realised what was going on.
“That’s right, I sold the guide to them. We agreed that they would give all of the Jade Spider Webs to me, but I couldn’t sell the guide to anyone else.” Azure Sea Breeze said.
“4 Jade Spider Webs… that’s amazing,” Lu Li sighed in awe, “The Grand Hegemony only obtained 1.”
The Blood-red War Flag was much more powerful than the Grand Hegemony, and they had probably invested at least 100 teams into clearing the Instance Dungeon. Assuming that they didn’t keep any for themselves, a 4/100 drop rate was simply astonishing.
“How many do you still need?” Azure Sea Breeze didn’t ask Lu Li what he needed them for. He knew that to require so many of an incredibly rare item, Lu Li was definitely planning something big.
“I still need 2 more,” Lu Li said as he patted Azure Sea Breeze’s shoulder, “Thanks bro!”
He would be a liar if he said that he wasn’t touched. No words could express the gratitude in his heart, so he could only say a simple “thanks”.
Azure Sea Breeze was good friends with him in his ‘past life’ as well. Azure Sea Breeze’s character was bold and refreshing, and wasn’t the type to plot against others. Once he saw you as a friend, he would be completely loyal and devoted to you. Otherwise, Lu Li would have never known about the secret of the Supreme One Ring.
Lu Li couldn’t be as open as Azure Sea Breeze, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want a friend who would be open with him.
“Alright, alright, just take it. I wasn’t this courteous when you gave me your equipment.” Azure Sea Breeze punched Lu Li, “If you’re grateful, then help me level up.”
“You sure you want me to help you level up?” Lu Li didn’t think he was much stronger than Azure Sea Breeze, who was a Warrior. In Dawn, Warriors, Magicians and Hunters were the kings of levelling.
After what happened in the Instance Dungeon, I’ve come to enjoy playing as the main tank. I’m going to lean more towards Constitution in the future, so I won’t be able to deal as much damage,” Azure Sea Breeze said.
“Being a main tank is good; you’ll have lots of potential in the future. If you have good equipment, you’ll also be strong in PVP. In his ‘past life’, Azure Sea Breeze had also been a main tank, however, he had been dragged down by the Supreme One Ring and his attack was even weaker than Lu Li’s who was a Druid.
“Levelling up is going to be a pain.” Azure Sea Breeze sighed.
“The Public Instance Dungeons can be repeatedly cleared, and there’ll be more and more Instance Dungeons in the future. Just level up through doing Instance Dungeons and quests. If you can make a good team, it’ll be even more efficient than killing monsters,” Lu Li advised.
There were very few quests in Dawn, and relying on them wasn’t enough to get to high levels. As such, most players relied on killing monsters to level up. The monsters in Instance Dungeons were harder to kill than monsters outside, but they gave more EXP. If Azure Sea Breeze could form a team with high efficiency, just like Lu Li had said, he really would be able to get on the Player Level Rankings.
The two of them walked as they talked, and soon arrived at a LV8 Stone-skinned Boar Territory.
There were two types of boars here- one was the Stone-skinned Boar, which had high Defence and average Attack, while the other type was called the Stone-toothed Boar, which had high Attack and average Defence. Both types had high HP, so players generally preferred not to train here.
Lu Li and Azure Sea Breeze both had quite a few pieces of Bronze grade equipment, so that bit of HP was nothing to them.
The most efficient way to train was to not share monsters with anyone else.
Azure Sea Breeze usually spoke a lot, but was incredibly focused while training. He was like a silent monster-killing-robot.
While killing monsters, Lu Li would also practice using his skills, slowly applying the things he had learnt in his ‘past life’ to his current playing style.
Continuously testing and continuously improving.
On the forums, everyone revered Lu Li, saying that “he had opened a door for Thieves and melee professions.” However, most of the things he used were not his own - he had absorbed many skills and tricks from other Thieves that he had read about in his ‘past life’.
If one didn’t want to fall behind, they would have to continuously improve.
It was getting closer and closer to night in the game world, and Lu Li soon stopped, “Alright, let’s go. I want to take you somewhere before it’s night.”
Lu Li wanted to go and open the treasure boxes at the bottom of the lake.
The game was progressing quite slowly, but he didn’t know when other players would start to obtain items that could allow them to breathe underwater. The power of a large union was not something a solo player could compete with.
Most players had reached LV4 by now. It was much more efficient to form a team and hunt high levelled monsters, so there were barely any players at the Moon Reflection Lake by now.
Azure Sea Breeze was completely in the dark as to why Lu Li had wanted to come here.
What made him even more curious was that Lu Li told him to stand on the shore, then looked around and jumped into the water.
Suicide?
Before Azure Sea Breeze could yell out, he saw a seal break out of the water and nod towards him.
The Elf Warrior was completely shocked and his eyes widened as his world collapsed.
Lu Li grinned, then dived into the water.
Not long after, he found one of the respawned treasure boxes.
There were 2 pieces of Bronze grade equipment, both of which had average stats.
With treasure boxes, the more there were together, the worse the items inside would be.
However, during the early stages of the game, any equipment was good equipment. A Bronze grade piece of equipment that had a decent bonus stat would definitely sell for at least 50 silver coins. Equipment that weren’t gender or class specific and had 2 good bonus stats could sell for at least 1 gold coin.
Normal players couldn’t afford that sort of equipment, but a team definitely could. A group of people could pool together their money to buy good equipment for their main tank or main attacker, and upon earning more money, they could buy the rest of their team equipment.
This was how non-affiliated players played.
There were water plants everywhere, and it was difficult to find the other 2 treasure boxes. Lu Li looked around the bottom of the lake, but couldn’t find any, so he could only go back to the surface and wait for the skill to refresh again.
Upon reaching the surface, he saw Azure Sea Breeze anxiously looking down.
“You finally came out. I thought you drowned!”
“I opened a treasure box down there, but there should be 2 more. I’m going to go down again after my skill refreshes.” Lu Li replied.
“Goddamn, you’re frickin’ overpowered. Even GMs might not be as overpowered as you.” Azure Sea Breeze could not help it, as the crude words rolled out of his mouth in shock. Even receiving 4 Jade Spider Webs hadn’t made him this shocked.
This guy Lu Li was simply incredible. He had turned into a seal and dived down to open treasure boxes.
Perhaps he was the only person in the game to do this.
Lu Li was speechless. He didn’t really know what to say. Inwardly, he was muttering, “It’s because of the item you got in my ‘past life’, but as a Warrior, you wouldn’t have been able to open the treasure boxes anyways.”
Lu Li could only take out a few pieces of equipment saying, “Have a look, and take what you need!”
What magnanimity!
Azure Sea Breeze nearly got down on his knees and called Lu Li ‘big bro’.
Chapter 28: Underwater Boss
Editor: Halcyon Translation
Azure Sea Breeze seemed like a carefree person who said things offhandedly, but he had a good sense of what was and wasn’t appropriate. As such, although he knew Lu Li could go into the water, he didn’t ask why.
Since Lu Li had offered him the equipment, he didn’t hold back and chose a valuable shield, as well as plate pants. If these equipments were sold, they could definitely fetch a price of at least 3 to 5 gold coins.
If someone told you their secret and trusted you to be their friend, refusing their goodwill would simply be an act of rudeness.
Friends who always acted extremely courteously and did not accept each other’s goodwill could not be said to have truly deep ties.
Lu Li had considered the potential consequences of telling Azure Sea Breeze his secret, but after thinking it through, he still decided to tell him.
Lu Li had received a lot of help from Azure Sea Breeze in his ‘past life’, and he felt that he owed him for the Supreme One Ring. After getting to know him for 2 years, he knew that as long as he didn’t let Azure Sea Breeze down, Azure Sea Breeze wouldn’t let him down either.
Moreover, Lu Li had some plans of his own.
Dawn simply wasn’t a game that could be played as a solo player. Instance Dungeons were incredibly important, as many rare and valuable equipment and materials could only be found within them. Take the Jade Spider Webs for example: there was great demand, but only the Elite level of the Spider Lair spawned them, and they had a horrendous drop rate. Waiting to buy that sort of material for a decent price would take at least 1 or 2 years.
Joining casual groups temporarily was fine, but it wasn’t good for the long term.
Seeing that Azure Sea Breeze was keen on once again embarking on the path of a main tank, Lu Li decided to recruit him for his team.
The main tank was usually the core of the team. Azure Sea Breeze was skilled, and was also a decent person. It would be difficult to find a main tank like him.
A Permanent Party didn’t necessarily mean that every single person was a permanent member, but the main members had to be able to work together efficiently, as well as be amicable in splitting the rewards.
If everyone got along, then they wouldn’t have to worry about disagreements and people trying to take advantage of each other.
In actuality, the 4 Jade Spider Webs that Azure Sea Breeze had given Lu Li were worth far more than the 2 Bronze grade equipment that he had taken. When Trade Professions became more popular, a single Jade Spider Web could be worth as much as 100 gold coins!
Then again, these Jade Spider Webs were exchanged for Lu Li’s guide to the Instance Dungeon.
All in all, this was a good transaction for Lu Li. If they really became a Permanent Party, this would have happened anyways.
Lu Li once again dived to the bottom of the lake and searched for treasure boxes. As he searched, he suddenly saw a ridiculously large turtle- one that was bigger than most Elites.
It had a dark-green shell, 4 grey limbs and a thick and powerful looking body.
Could it be a Boss?
This was entirely possible - after all, Bosses in Dawn could appear on land, in the water, or in the sky. However, despite doing his best to recall, he couldn’t remember there being a Boss in this place.
Bosses had a certain drop rate for rare materials, so large unions would always try to keep them a secret. Whenever a Boss spawned in the wild, they would always chase non-affiliated players away. As such, Lu Li had never been able to kill a Boss in the wild before.
However, it was different now- currently, no one knew that there could be Bosses in the water.
Lu Li ignored the turtle for now, and went to find the other treasure boxes.
After half an hour, Lu Li finally found the other 2 treasure boxes. He received a valuable material and 2 pieces of Bronze grade equipment, as well as a Hunter Skill Book - Trueshot Aura.
It was a pity that it wasn’t Tame Beast!
[Trueshot Aura]: Passive Ability. Cannot be levelled up. Increases the Attack Power for both melee and ranged teammates within 100 yards by 10%.
This was a strong Passive Ability, and was very useful for team situations.
Although it was valuable, it couldn’t be compared with Tam Beast.
Currently, there were people advertising that they were willing to buy a Team Beast Skill Book for $20,000 in the real world, which was about how much Lu Li had sold the Frost Nova Skill Book for.
This Trueshot Aura Skill Book was very suitable for Hunters who worked in teams. It would definitely be able to sell for at least 5 gold coins.
The rare material was called Crocodile Scale, and was a high-quality material used in creating heavy armour. There was even a chance of it giving the armour a special effect. However, since no one would be using it soon, Lu Li could only put it into his storage.
One of the Bronze grade equipment was a hat which had average stats, but Lu Li could at least equip it immediately.
[Black Velvet Cap] (Bronze): 5 Armour, Agility+1. Level Requirement: LV4. Durability: 12/20.
Lu Li swapped out the Fisherman’s Old Felt Cap for this cap. Not only did it look better, it had a few more Armour points and a point in Agility. Lu Li was extremely pleased.
The other piece of equipment was a Magic Staff.
Moon Shadow Magic Staff (Bronze): 15-22 Damage, Intelligence+3. Level Requirement: LV5. Durability: 28/28.
This Magic Staff’s Damage was quite high - higher than the Whisperer Lu Li had obtained from the Goblin Businessman. Moreover, it gave a whole 3 points in Intelligence that even most LV5 weapons could not compare to it. Lu Li was sure many Magicians would be willing to pay a high price for it.
When Lu Li came out of the water, Azure Sea Breeze was killing Grells. These LV4 monsters had no chance against a LV6 Warrior - it was pretty much 1 hit, 1 kill for Azure Sea Breeze.
It was a pity that they gave very little EXP, and rarely dropped anything.
“Done?” Seeing Lu Li come out, Azure Sea Breeze’s eyes lit up, “Did you find anything good?”
Lu Li shared all the equipment on the Party Channel and replied, “There’s a Boss underwater- do you want to kill it with me?”
“Boss? How would I kill it? I can’t go underwater like you.” Azure Sea Breeze was excited, but soon became deflated.
“I’ll lure it up here and you draw aggro. Do you have enough Potions? Don’t be too reluctant to part with them.” It was Lu Li’s first time hunting a Boss in the wild, so he was a bit nervous.
Will we be able to kill it? And do we need a healer?” Azure Sea Breeze asked.
“I’m not sure, but let’s try. Don’t let anyone know that I can go underwater though,” Lu Li replied.
Apart from players that he wanted to form a Permanent Party with, Lu Li wasn’t considering telling anyone else his secret. When Potions and items that allowed players to breathe underwater became more common, it wouldn’t matter if he revealed it then.
One of the reasons why Azure Sea Breeze had been hunted down in Lu Li’s ‘past life’ was because many people knew he was a Warrior who could turn into a seal.
“If we can kill it, we’ll kill it. If we can’t, we’ll run away. Alright bro, go lure it over.” Azure Sea Breeze was quite open with trying new things.
After Lu Li’s Seal Transformation refreshed, he dived into the water and carefully edged towards the Boss.
It turned out that the massive turtle was indeed a Boss and it even had a name- ‘Kleig’. As soon as Lu Li swam into its aggro range, it immediately charged towards the little seal.
[Seal Transformation]: Instant Cast, Cooldown Time: 30 minutes. You turn into a seal, and can swim in water. The effects last for 20 minutes. You receive Swimming Speed+50%, draw 30% less aggro, and can also breathe underwater. While transformed, you cannot use any Attack Skills. Proficiency: 23/1000.
If it wasn’t for the bonus 50% to his Swimming Speed, Lu Li probably would have been caught very quickly. Lu Li could only swim as fast as he could as he watched the turtle Boss closing in on him.
The little seal furiously swam for its life!
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
19 Power
stone 
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