The Great Thief

Lu Li was a little overwhelmed.

As someone who had experienced rebirth, he was used to being in control. He knew about the Supreme Ring, how to clear dungeons and even the nuances of dealing with NPCs.

This quest was only supposed to reward the skill book, so why wasn’t it following the order?

If Lu Li wanted to learn Forging, he would have immediately jumped at this opportunity. However, he didn’t have any plans to do so. He had already invested a lot of time into Alchemy, so if he learnt Forging now, he would have to invest even more of his time.

“Elf, do you not want to accept my request?” Gabriel Cresso asked.

“Your Excellency, I have a friend who really loves forging, but I’m not sure...” Lu Li wracked his brains, trying to come up with something.

“Haha...” Gabriel Cresso smiled and said, “Do you think that the Cresso Family inheritance can just be given to someone else?”

Lu Li almost swore at him.

Did he look like a blacksmith?

“You misunderstand, respectful warrior, I have no knowledge in forging. I’m just worried about breaking your trust,” Lu Li quietly responded.

This response was ingenious. Gabriel Cresso did not get angry and his goodwill towards Lu Li was deepened. He pulled out a hammer from his bag and gave it to him, saying, “Your heart is strong. I believe in you. I hope you will be able to carry this onwards.”

Lu Li helplessly took the hammer and watched as Gabriel Cresso limped away.

System: You have received Cresso’s Hammer

System: You have learnt Dwarven Forging. Your strength has permanently increased by 5.

System: You have completed the quest ‘Last Wish’. You are awarded with EXP and 50 Forging EXP.

The EXP reward wasn’t very much, but receiving 50 Forging EXP was certainly a surprise.

Forging was the most difficult skill to raise. Even after making a dozen pieces of equipment, one might only receive a little bit of EXP. Most of the equipment that was made by forging was also Common-grade, so it could only be sold to stores. The yield wasn’t even enough to cover the costs.

However, these were all things to worry about in the future. For now, Lu Li’s attention was focused on Cresso’s Hammer.

Cresso’s Hammer (Special): Strength +20, Forging Speed +30%, Forging Success Rate +20%, Equal +1, Lu Li Exclusive, Durability 100/100.

Of the 4 attributes, the +20 strength was the most negligible. Lu Li had quite a few pieces of equipment that gave him bonus strength; together, these were definitely stronger than the Forging Hammer.

The 30% Forging Speed bonus wasn’t too impressive either; it just helped to save some time.

It was the 20% Forging Success Rate bonus that made Lu Li’s heart race.

In his previous life, the best Forging Hammer that he had seen belonged to the Blood Red War Flag’s Chief Engineer. It was called the ‘Blacksmith Guild’s Gift’. It was the reward given by a long chain of quests that required half of the guild’s participation and over a month of effort.

That hammer gave a bonus 15% Success Rate, which attracted a huge number of people to join the Blood Red War Flag. This item alone helped the guild, who had been suppressed by the Gangnam Royals, to greatly prosper.

The Forging Hammer that Lu Li was holding did not give a bonus 15% but 20%!

Learn! Learn! Learn!

He simply had to learn Forging. As he clutched the hammer, he could already see the gold coins raining down on him.

If he posted about this hammer on the forums now, there would only be one of two outcomes. Everyone would want to win him over, or everyone would want to hunt him down.

The last attribute, Equal +1, had Lu Li completely lost. He had never seen something like this before, nor had he ever heard of something like before either. What on earth was the purpose of Equal +1?

In most games, the stronger and more important equipment attributes were stated closer to the end.

This meant that the “Equal +1” was stronger than “Success Rate +20%”. It was too bad that Gabriel Cresso had left already, so he couldn’t ask any questions about it.

In addition to all of this, it was exclusive to Lu Li. This property made him both love it and hate it. He couldn’t sell the Forging Hammer, even if he wanted to. How much money could he make if he did? One million? 10 million?

However, it also prevented anyone else from taking the Hammer from Lu Li.

It also had a durability of 100/100. The worst part about being a blacksmith in this game was that the Forging Hammer’s durability usually declined too quickly. They required a repair after forging a dozen or so equips, and the repairs weren’t cheap either. Moreover, forging common equipment wasn’t enough to cover the cost of repairing the hammers.

However, with the bonus 20% success rate, he could charge others to help them forge their equipment when his Forging level was high. To him, the repair costs were a small obstacle.

The rewards for this quest had been very good. Not only did he receive the Warrior damage reduction skill ‘Demoralising Shout’, he had received an unreal Forging Hammer.

When he returned to Astana, Lu Li logged off to rest.

He was going to fight Hornet’s Nest at night (game time), so he needed to be at his best.

If Water Fairy was considered a top player because of her looks and high end equipment, Hornet’s Nest would be one because of his technical skill.

Hornet’s Nest had been infamous in his past life for having a personality that matched his name. A single poke would set him off; he swore relentlessly and would easily become enemies with anyone.

Backing him was the Seventh Heaven of the Light Faction – China’s fifth ranking guild.

Hornet’s Nest was lower-levelled than Lu Li, but he still wasn’t too far behind. He almost certainly had a team of Mages to help him farm. Equipment wouldn’t be a problem for him either; Lu Li expected him to be equipped with LV15 Steel-grade pieces. If a ranked guild Seventh Heaven couldn’t gather a full body of LV15 Steel equipment, then there would definitely be something wrong.

Hornet’s Nest was a Warlock, which meant that he had many skills. Lu Li had seen videos of him PVPing other players, but he always felt like Hornet’s Nest was holding back. He was probably hiding his skills.

Warlock minions (pets) were very different to the Hunter pets. These creatures were summoned from the Abyss.

Hornet’s Nest’s minion was a rare succubus. So far, only Moonlight had faced off against it. It had good crowd control skills such as Charm, and it could apply two different kinds of debuffs on a target. These

Moonlight wasn’t optimistic about the battle between Lu Li and Hornet’s Nest. As such, he had purposely scheduled for it to be after the fight with Water Fairy, so that Lu Li had more time to prepare.