“Yes, yes.” Dou Dou who had just been scolding Lu Li suddenly became eager, as she was actually the one who respected him the most. Even though she wasn’t an Elf, she knew that Lu Li had sold a skill book worth 20 gold on the first day and even more equips last night.
He had even gotten the first clear of the Elite-difficulty Instance Dungeon, as well as the wild Boss. This had made global news and he had become a well-known name on TV.
If she knew that the first PVP video on the forums was about him, she would be even more surprised.
“I don’t think I’ll be joining your studio, I don’t have plans like that at the moment.” Even with the beauties before him, Lu Li was clear and straightforward with his rejection.
“What about the rooms? Have you decided?” Huan Huan looked at Lu Li, wholeheartedly hoping that he would choose to stay. This was a gaming god, one that ranked among the best in China and perhaps even the world.
Even if he didn’t join their studio, a few tips here and there from him would be greatly beneficial.
If Lu Li still thought it was too expensive, the rent could be further reduced.
“I can pay for the first month’s rent, but the rest of the initial 6-month payment will have to take a little longer.” Lu Li didn’t plan to stay for free, but he had to find a way to earn 60,000 for the Star Moon Union by next Wednesday.
“Of course, that’s not a problem. You guys can pack your stuff and move in today,” the three sisters all nodded in agreement.
Moving out didn’t take very long as he and his sister didn’t have much; they only brought their clothes and daily necessities, leaving the rest behind to be taken by their neighbors.
Lu Li stayed in the bigger room on the second floor, which was farther away from the girls, while Lu Xin stayed in the smallest room, which was closest to Dou Dou. The landladies had already warmed up to her and had dragged her out to go window shopping in the afternoon.
Lu Li turned down their offer; he still had a very important Quest to complete in game.
When he logged in, it was already 3PM. The sky was sunny today in Moon Shadow Valley and the sunlight rested on the green grass, reflecting a golden light. The valley didn’t look dark at all.
After sending a message to tell Azure Sea Breeze to come over, Lu Li looked for a few monsters near Moon Shadow Valley to try out his new network connection and equipment.
The IV-6 game network had instantly made him more powerful. His original 80% Skill Completion on Shadowstrike had been increased by 2-3%. This was with the worst game helmet as well and when he upgraded to the best helmet, there would be a further increase.
An independent player like him needed the best equipment he could get.
He had already used the skill book he had obtained from the day before. While Backhand Backstab dealt a lot of damage, the hardest aspect of the skill was the required positioning.
However, Lu Li had read guides about this in the past and had PVPed with other independent Thieves, so executing it wasn’t hard. He would have to spend a long time practicing though, if he wanted to increase his Skill Completion.
“I’ve been waiting for a while,” Azure Sea Breeze said as he walked up and patted Lu Li’s back with his shield. “Why did you only just come online? I’m almost level 7 now. Doing Instance Dungeons last night to level up was just too good.”
“I was looking for a house to move into this morning and only managed to find the time to log in now,” Lu Li said.
“I’ve already done what you told me to do yesterday. Many of them are interested, but I chose Drizzle Court because they offered us 3 Jade Spider Webs and any Steel equips if they’re dropped. The only thing is, we will need to join their Guild,” Azure Sea Breeze said.
“Guild?”
“Don’t you know? This morning several Guilds were established. Within the Chinese region there are currently 7 which are on our side: Drizzle Court, Gangnam Royals, Blood Red War Flag and Seventh Heaven. On the evil side, there is Glory Capital, Gale Legion and Stellar Union. The first one to establish their Guild was Glory Capital.”
“They really are quick; this is not a simple task.” Lu Li didn’t think that so much would have changed in the one morning he was gone.
“Boss, your equipment is a little overpowered don’t you think? These people only just gathered enough money to establish their Guilds today and your equips are already worth several gold coins,” Azure Sea Breeze cried out loudly, causing people around them to look at him.
“Shh keep a low profile. Don’t help them farm yet, I still have a quest I need to complete.” Lu Li turned on his communication device and called Moonlight, the Warrior that had traded Steel equips with him.
Moonlight was currently doing an Instance Dungeon. However, when he received Lu Li’s message, he left and ported home, appearing before them.
After mutual introductions, Lu Li told them about the Quest, “This is probably not unique and you guys should be able to get it as well. When we complete it, we’ll see if there are any follow up quests.”
“Is it okay if we don’t have a healer? I don’t have many potions left.” Azure Sea Breeze’s face was bitter; the Boss from yesterday had taken up way too many potions. If it weren’t for the rewards, his bag would be empty.
“Check your friends list to see if there’s anyone suitable; we can get a few more people. But just tell them that it’s an escort quest and not about the materials and rewards,” Lu Li said.
Lu Li said that with a certain truth in mind. When asked to help with a quest without the promise of a reward, most people would come up with an excuse. Azure Sea Breeze was one of the few friends that was here without a reason.
As someone who was proud to have such a large social network, he didn’t realize how many were fair-weather friends. Azure Sea Breeze looked hurt and squatted to the side, not saying anything.
In contrast, Lu Li’s friend list was small, but there were quite a few people who were willing to join.
March Rain the Priest and Lonesome Flower the Mage were the ones who had completed “Pet Escape” with Lu Li. Upon hearing that Lu Li needed help, they had asked for his location and immediately headed over.
In his friends list, there was also Holy Thunder the Mage, Water Fairy and three people from the Grand Hegemony. Lu Li decided against contacting them as he wasn’t very close to them and didn’t want to trouble them.
Finally, his eyes stopped on one name - Remnant Dream, who was the one who traded the skill book with him. After receiving the news, the little hunter obediently presented herself. Her skill was average and she was unsure if she could be of any help.
Lu Li was looking for an opportunity to compensate her for the skill book, so he planned to take her.
With many monsters on the way, the experience gained would not be much different from those that were training in parties. As for the danger level, they would be completely safe as long as they stayed together.
Dawn’s parties had no max number, so the 6 of them could form a group.
Azure Sea Breeze and Moonlight were level 6, Lonesome Flower and March Rain were level 5, and Remnant Dream was level 4. They were all young people so they quickly warmed up to each other and went on their merry way.
The party had killed many monsters before reaching the level 6 Spotted Forest Panther and had received a considerable amount of loot.
However, now that they had entered Spotted Forest Panther territory, they were starting to feel some pressure.
“Remnant Dream, how long until you level up?” Lu Li made a misstep and a shadowy figure closed in. He quickly twisted his dagger and plunged it into the back of the monster’s head. He then heard the system prompt: Backhand Backstab Skill Completion 71%, dealing 79% damage.
“Ugh… still missing 1 percent,” the little hunter said as she uncoordinatedly drew her bow and fired a weak arrow. Azure Sea Breeze waved his long sword to block it as it flew towards him. He was quite familiar with this action as this wasn’t the first time.
“Hmm, you’ll be strong when you learn Trueshot Aura.” Lu Li didn’t have the same nasty look in Azure Sea Breeze’s eyes, instead comforting the little hunter that was about to cry.
Lonesome Flower was using Automatic mode, which was fairly normal for anyone wanting to do well. Later, when he had more skills and a full set of good equipment, he would be a force to be reckoned with. Lu Li hadn’t seen March Rain for a day, but her improvements were already significant. As for Moonlight, there was only one phrase for him: killing machine!
He wielded one of the finest Steel weapons - the Bloodseeker’s Axe, and he wore another piece of Steel equipment on his body. In addition, he had also learned a skill with an incredibly low drop rate - Whirlwind. All this complemented a Berserker Warrior’s high attack and he was dealing more damage than Lu Li.
After walking for half an hour, they reached the Cynocephali mine, which was a forbidden area to the players. The mine was filled with Cynocephali patrols, so there was currently no one training here.
Remnant Dream had now reached level 5, finally learning ‘Trueshot Aura’.
[Trueshot Aura]: Increases melee and ranged attack of all party members within 100 yards by 10%. Passive Skill. Not upgradeable.
All party members gain a benefit: attack strength is increased by 10%
“Yes! This skill is really good for parties.” Not too long ago, Azure Sea Breeze thought Remnant Dream was a burden and had only just realized her value.
Moonlight’s expression also changed and he looked at Remnant Dream with awe, like she was a high-quality equip.
Remnant Dream had always been bullied; no one ever wanted to party with her. To be valued by an expert was a completely new experience for her. It didn’t matter whether it was Azure Sea Breeze or Moonlight, as she looked up to both of them.
“Alright, stop talking. Get ready to attack. Even though the Cynocephali are high level, our party’s attack strength is pretty high too. This shouldn’t be a problem, but we can use this time to practice. March Rain, heal us well.” After a rest, Lu Li tried to get everyone ready to work.
Lu Li went into stealth first and cast Sap to stun one of them. The rest of the party ambushed the target and focused it down. The poor Cynocephali was killed in just a few seconds.
This was a level 10 monster!
“Woah, the exp is higher than in an Instance Dungeon!” Azure Sea Breeze exclaimed.
The monsters here were all 2 to 3 levels higher than he was, which granted the maximum bonus exp. This meant that they gave more exp than the level 4-5 monsters in the Instance Dungeon.
Spirits were high and they rushed in headfirst, even when there were 3 or 4 monsters grouped together. The pressure was on March Rain to heal, but the stubborn girl didn’t protest, instead clenching her teeth and continuing to support. Lu Li occasionally gave some tips, but her technique was becoming good.
After over an hour, they had cleared a way to Tap. Azure Sea Breeze had also been pulling monsters from the surrounding area so they could increase their level.
Coming before Tap, they all received the Exploration Quest.
“The goal of the quest is to find the Sacrificial Alter in the cave. You guys go ahead. I’m going to open some treasure chests.” Lu Li already knew where they could go, and turned invisible before entering the cave.
“No wonder Lu Li’s equipment is so good. A Thief can go anywhere he wants, and can’t he just open any treasure chest he wants?” Lonesome Flower said with envy.
“Don’t think about it; you have to consider who it is as well. Look at other Thieves. Some of them are really bad,” Azure Sea Breeze said with disdain. “Those who play as a Thief are also playing with their heart. There are so many monsters here, but Lu Li had already explored this place yesterday.”
“His technique is pretty good too; his Skill Completion is very high.” Although you damage dealt couldn’t be seen, they had been together long enough for Moonlight to make an estimate on the damage Lu Li was dealing.
“Moonlight, do you play with your friends?” Azure Sea Breeze asked casually while attacking a monster.
“No, I’m alone right now, just playing however I want.” Moonlight’s voice was low and deep and it sounded like there was a story to him.
Azure Sea Breeze smiled: “It’s no fun playing alone. Whenever you do an Instance Dungeon you have to find a random party. The chance of you running into ‘unique’ people is really high. You know, I ran into quite a few of them just last night…”
Azure Sea Breeze was someone who could make good small talk and was a bit of a chatterbox. As long as he was around, there would be no fear of silence. Whenever he met a stranger, he would quickly be able to find a common topic to talk about.
Lu Li went alone and moved quickly, as he didn’t need to fight any monsters. Before the others had even completed their quest, he had already opened all three treasure chests and returned.
“Lonesome Flower, you can have this Magic Bracer. I don’t mind how you decide between you and your sister.” Lu Li had obtained a few Bronze equips from the treasure chests, and if anyone here could use them, he would just give it to them.
Lonesome Flower and March Rain tried to politely decline, but eventually took it anyway.
“Remnant Dream, you’re pretty lucky, there’s two things here for you.” Lu Li gave her two equips that added agility.
“This… this is too precious, isn’t it?” The little hunter was shocked.
Azure Sea Breeze saw what was happening and was also shocked. “This can’t be what you just got from the treasure chests right? This crossbow looks familiar… oh, that’s right, it was from when we got First Clear on the Elite Spider Lair…”
Once Remnant Dream heard that, she was even more reluctant to take it.
“I have no need for a crossbow and your aim with the bow isn’t very good. Try the crossbow, it’s easier to operate. With Automatic Mode, the system will adjust the speed of the arrows,” Lu Li decisively confirmed the transaction, but worried that the other party wouldn’t accept, he added: “Think of it as a loan. When you have better equipment you can return it to me, otherwise you can keep it.”
The others were shocked by Lu Li’s generosity and Remnant Dream was so excited she couldn’t speak.
Even the stone-faced Moonlight who didn’t get along well with others was affected. He always thought that Lu Li was very good in doing business, never taking a loss. He never thought that he would just give away a Steel weapon.
Silver Light Crossbow (Steel): Damage 12-20, Agility +3, Rate of fire +1, Level Requirement 4, Durability 25/25.
Although its attributes were weaker than Bloodseeker’s Axe, it was still a Steel equip, which made it better than a Bronze equip in every way. It was not very useful to someone like Lu Li, but he could easily sell it, as there were Hunters out there who were willing to pay a very high price.
“Finally, there’s this. See if you can use it.”
When Lu Li placed the Bronze pants in front of him, Moonlight got an even bigger shock. He did not expect this at all. If he put it on, it would increase his strength by 1, giving him a total of 2 bonus strength.
This was the first time someone had gifted him an equip since he had started playing games!
This feeling, was really weird…
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GOT IT