If you are looking for The Great Thief Chapter 553: The Art of Switching Targets you are coming to the right place. The Great Thief is a Webnovel created by 泛舟填词, Boating Lyrics. This lightnovel is currently Ongoing.

Chapter 553: The Art of Switching Targets

Translator: Halcyon Translations Editor: Halcyon Translations

Lu Li did not second guess himself; there wasn’t even a split second of doubt or hesitation.

As planned before the match, all four DPS cla.s.ses from Ruling Swords switched onto Deadly Golden Underwear and dumped all their skills onto him.

Chanelle only had a sliver of HP remaining and would be teleported out of the arena if they all attacked her.

However, everyone acted according to Lu Li’s strategy and decisively stopped attacking Chanelle, switching their focus to Deadly Golden Underwear. In order to prevent himself from being crowd-controlled, Lu Li even activated his Cloak, as well as his damage and armour penetration buffs.

Deadly Golden Underwear was not expecting the sudden and synchronised attack, so the only thing he could do was to try to stay alive.

However, something happened that silenced the entire arena.

Could Warriors be instantly killed?

Normally, this was impossible, even if the Warrior was focused by 3 to 5 other players. This was something that the developers of Dawn had taken into account in their patches to balance the game.

The only possibility of this happening was if the Warrior was in Berserk mode.

The Berserker cla.s.s was one of the most popular cla.s.ses in Dawn, as well as other games. The developers of Dawn worked hard in balancing Berserkers so that they could keep up with PVP t.i.tans such as Mages and Thieves. Their background lore read: "Berserkers will do anything beyond reason in pursuit of becoming stronger and more powerful."

The best description of the Berserkers was ‘unrivalled’.

The reason why they were such a powerful cla.s.s was because Berserk mode sacrificed half of a player’s HP and defence to increase damage output. This made them the definition of a ‘gla.s.s cannon’. Deadly Golden Underwear only had 2,000 HP and half of his normal defence when he was jumped, so he was killed almost immediately.

After they killed Deadly Golden Underwear, they immediately s.h.i.+fted their focus back to Chanelle.

Professional Healer had almost 3,000 HP, which was higher than most Warriors. Additionally, he had many skills that increased his survivability. Many teams would tunnel vision on him too aggressively and lose the game because they took too long to kill him.

Chanelle’s HP was already back to full. This showed how difficult she was to kill with Professional Healer’s healing.

Peerless City made an immediate decision to retreat after losing one of their players unexpectedly.

There were times to be decisive and this was one of those moments. Decisiveness was a key factor in determining whether a group was well-trained or not. For example, Ruling Sword had followed Lu Li’s commands to switch targets from Chanelle to Deadly Golden Underwear without hesitation. Peerless city also showed off how decisive they were by running away and avoiding the disadvantageous fight.

A 4-on-5 fight would result in a complete slaughter, especially against Ruling Sword, a PVP powerhouse.

Chanelle and Professional Healer’s crowd-control, Vegetarian Mosquito’s Frost Trap and Green Flag Wine’s Slow were enough to help them retreat from the fight.

Lu Li and the others continued chasing, but the opposing Crowd Control was too much for them to catch up to. They could only watch as they disappeared into the fog of war.

"Screw it, let’s stop chasing. We killed one of them, so we have the upper hand right now." Lu Li was calm and collected. His shot calling was often compared to a commander in ancient war times, because he always made the right calls and was always a few steps ahead of his opponents.

Even though they had created an advantage for themselves, Lu Li decided that it was best to regroup and plan their next move.

"In the next stage, we’ll fight them with equal numbers. We can sub out anyone, except for March Rain" Lu Li said.

Everyone in the audience wanted to see one team slaughter the other, even if they had a difference in numbers. However, Lu Li’s strategy basically nullified the numbers advantage that they’d created.

In reality, Lu Li had a more despicable way of winning, but decided against it for other reasons.

Since the map was very large, they could to stall out the game and embarra.s.s Peerless City by playing cat and mouse. They had already killed an enemy player, so they would win by default after the remaining 38 minutes was up.

However, there were no rewards for winning this match, so Lu Li decided to win in a special way, which would attract more players to join Ruling Sword.

The Pro League at the end of the year would form an even larger and more powerful Gaming Committee. The first rule that they would introduce would be to limit the number of partic.i.p.ating guilds to only 10.

As such, several hundred guilds would have to compete for the top 10 spots in the tournament.

To determine the top 10 guilds, several factors were considered. Firstly, the strength of the Guild would take up 20% of the criteria.

Secondly, past guild tournament performance would account for 50% of the total criteria. Of that 50%, 30% was their performance in the Pro League, 10% was from past, smaller-scale tournaments, and the last 10% was from their in-game PVP performance in the PVP arena and their battleground rankings.

Lastly, the player vote accounted for 30% of the total criteria.

Many believed that the player vote affected the qualifying criteria too much. However, the committee ignored the criticism and would eventually pa.s.s the rule.

Lu Li wanted to keep the fight fair and not embarra.s.s Peerless City because he cared about their feelings. In order to be voted in by the other players in the Pro League qualifiers, Lu Li had to get on everyone’s good side.

"Are we still targeting Chanelle?" Fat Monkey asked.

Even though Fat Monkey wasn’t being targeted in their last fight, he could tell that Deadly Golden Underwear and his teammates were all strong players. He was unsure whether he could survive their attacks if he was on the receiving end of their damage instead of March Rain.

"Their subst.i.tute will probably come in soon. It’s too bad we’re too far away from their sp.a.w.n and can’t ambush him on his way," Lu Li sighed.

"Their subst.i.tute is an arcane mage called Half a Cigarette. He doesn’t get much game time, but his mechanics are pretty decent. I’ve encountered him twice in Arena, and our current record against each other is 1 win and 1 loss. My equips are better than his though," Fat Monkey recalled, telling the others what he knew about him.

If he could to defeat Fat Monkey with an equipment disadvantage, he was likely to be quite formidable.

There was a feature that allowed players to invite others to duel them in Arena. Lu Li received several invites a day from random players, but he would usually ignore them. However, the system sent a special notification if the player sending the invite was registered in the tournament player list.

Fat Monkey had also recently been registered with the help of Square Root Three.

This was why Fat Monkey accepted Half a Cigarette’s duel invitation. Upon hearing Fat Monkey’s past experiences, they respected Half a Cigarette even more since he was able to defeat a starter in Ruling Sword.

With the subst.i.tute Mage, Peerless City regrouped as a team of five again, but their morale seemed to have taken a hit and they no longer looked like the champions.h.i.+p team they once were. Peerless City decided to camp at an advantageous position and waited for their opponents to find them.

"If we don’t go over there, then wouldn’t they lose?" Sakura Memory asked as they observed Peerless City from afar.

"Yeah, but that would be boring."

Lu Li came up with a new attacking strategy after observing them for a short while from afar.

"I’ll Stealth in. Lighty instead of charging in, I want you to advance slowly towards them. March Rain, make sure you keep your heals on him. Remember not to engage in a fight, but retreat when you are around 20 yards from Green Flag Wine and repeat this continuously. Wait for my attack as a signal to back me up." Lu Li disappeared into the fog and approached Peerless City, being cautious of traps in the bushes.

Hunters could set traps which caused damage, a snare effect, and revealed your position to the caster. The only way Lu Li could escape a trap was with Gale Steps.

If you are looking for The Great Thief Chapter 263: Rich Customer you are coming to the right place. The Great Thief is a Webnovel created by 泛舟填词, Boating Lyrics. This lightnovel is currently Ongoing.

Chapter 263: Rich Customer

Translator: Halcyon Translations Editor: Halcyon Translations

“It’s all thanks to you this time.”

Not long after Lu Li returned, Water Fairy sent him a message.

“I only gave you guys a reminder. Are you alright?”

Lu Li was currently choosing materials at the Auction. The materials required to make the dozens of Silver-grade Molds and totaled an extraordinary sum.

An average player could hunt for one or two weeks, but even then, they still might not be able to save up enough money for the materials to make one Mold.

In order to balance out the prices, Dawn began to consume the gold coins, gear repair fees, skill points, teleportation fees, potions supplies, food supplies and all sorts of different materials that were available in the market.

“I didn’t manage to escape and died to the Orc Wolfriders.” Water Fairy didn’t sound happy, which slipped out unconsciously in her voice.

So what if she had good gear and a fast running speed?

Good gear meant nothing to a huge level gap, and no matter how fast you were, there was no way you could possibly outrun a Wolfrider.

While she was with her guild members, she put up a cold front as she was too embarra.s.sed to be dispirited in front of them, but there was no need for her to hide this when she was with Lu Li.

“You died because you didn’t listen, what can I do?” Lu Li thought, wanting to say this to her face.

Fortunately, he remembered that at the other end of the conversation was a rich customer, so he tried to comfort her in his own clumsy ways.

“NPCs are too strong for players at this point in the game; it’s nothing to be concerned about. Once players manage to get their levels up, the NPCs won’t be that hard to kill anymore.”

Water Fairy lightened up after hearing his words.

“Your team must’ve returned ages ago; what are you doing now?”

“Yeah, we’ve all returned. I’m buying materials from the Auction; I’m planning to make some gear, like what I told you last time. I’m better at making gear, specifically weapons, plate and chain armor. I can make pretty much anything that’s cla.s.sed under the forging skill.”

Lu Li couldn’t really figure out why this cool beauty suddenly wanted to chat, so he replied at a moderate pace.

This sort of dull and small talk suited Water Fairy perfectly.

It slowly eased away the unhappiness that she felt from dying to the Orc Wolfriders.

“So, you weren’t joking about crafting gear. Aren’t you going to level up? Oh, right, you’re already level 25. So fast, you must have some kind of secret. Can you tell me, uhm…… don’t worry, the price isn’t a problem.”

How did the topic drift back to money again?

Lu Li laughed bitterly on the inside; he expected nothing less from a millionaire like Water Fairy.

“I can’t tell you about this yet; I’ll contact you about it when conditions are met.”

“That’s fine, I’ll mail you a few Molds and the corresponding materials. You can set the price yourself.” Water Fairy hung up quickly; it seemed like someone was looking for her.

Soon after this, Lu Li heard the notification sound of mail entering his mail box.

He took out the Mold and materials, and planned to practice with these first. He would work on his Dagger once he levelled up to a higher proficiency in forging.

The first item was the “Imitated Soulforge Legplates", a plated leg armor from a level 25 mold that required mostly average materials.

Even though there were no set rules, it was commonly understood that better gear required rarer materials.

Water Fairy probably didn’t trust Lu Li much either.

Not only was Lu Li one of the top players on the level rankings, but he was also so skilled that he was often referred to as a walking Thief textbook. Recently, others had given him the t.i.tle of ‘The Genius Commander of Dungeons’. Moreover, he could even forge good gear……

How was it possible for someone to be so good at everything?

Other than his clueless team members, no one would believe his words.

Meanwhile, Lu Li learnt the forging process of the plate gear. The system included every single step of the forging process, and the Molds also came with specific descriptions.

He completed each detail step by step, until the system announced that he had successfully forged the “Imitated Soulforge Legplates (Superior Silver)”, and that his forging proficiency had increased by +3.

The special effects weren’t that great, but the attributes were pretty good. After all, it was level 25 silver grade gear and superior quality as well.

The forging process took a total of 25 minutes. This wasn’t too bad, considering that he hadn’t made equipment in the past few days and had become slightly unfamiliar with the process.

The second equip that was crafted had fairly good attributes and special effects, but it was a shame that it was still only Superior quality. Lu Li was a little unsatisfied about this; he believed that he must have made a mistake during the process.

Clearly, he was setting his expectations too high. The big guilds would fight over a blacksmith who even had the chance of crafting Superior gear.

Lu Li repeatedly reviewed his forging process.

Eventually he managed to discover his problem – he didn’t have an overall vision when he was forging.

This kind of theory was based off a Blacksmith guide that he had come across in his previous life. The moderately famous Blacksmith suggested that before you forged anything, you should first structure the model of the equipment in your mind. Every component should exist to serve this model; it wasn’t right to blindly follow the instructions and make the components, then put them together in a pa.s.sive manner.

There were also many other theories about Forging, such as the theory about the spirit that rested within gear, and the theory of the Yin and Yang of gears …

Behind every trade profession was a wealth of knowledge.

Lu Li put some of these theories to the test and managed to produce Exquisite grade gear from his next three Silver-grade molds!

“You there……”

“What’s up?” Water Fairy asked.

“Your five equipment have been made – four Superior and one Exquisite.”

Lu Li pasted the descriptions of the equipment in the chat.

“……” Water Fairy was speechless.

She had always thought that Lu Li’s promise of “only forging gear with Superior quality or better” was just an exaggeration. Sellers always exaggerated their products for business.

The same could be said about those who sold services.

She didn’t expect Lu Li to actually follow through with his words. There was even an Exquisite-quality equip.

When they had previously discussed this deal, Lu Li promised he would pay one hundred gold coins for every equip that was below Superior quality. This was quite an irrational deal, as some of the Silver-grade equips weren’t even worth one hundred gold coins.

Then, Water Fairy expressed that Lu Li could decide on the service fees.

“Name your price; I’ve still got a few equipment to be made.”

Drizzle Court was a big guild, but many equipment required a lot of strange and rare materials, which they may not have had in stock.

As such, the better choice would be to gather the materials and forge whatever equipment they could make first.

From another point of view, this also placed the Xin Xin Mercenary Group’s wealth on display. First clears and solo clears were more than just a show – their stock of rare materials was just as good as any other guild’s.

“How many more equipment?” Lu Li asked.

“Another seven.”

“I can make all of them for you for free, but you have to sell me this Shaman Claw.”

These Silver-grade equips were extremely rare and could not be evaluated with numbers.

“Exquisite quality aye, you don’t plan to use it for yourself, right?” Water Fairy was puzzled.

The attributes for this claw boosted both dexterity and strength. There were also two special effects – one boosting Critical Strike, while the other applied lightning damage to normal attacks.

Thieves could use this Claw too, but that would put the second special effect to waste.

Although claw type weapons dealt enough damage, they were hindered by their extremely slow attack speed. They simply weren’t suitable for full-dexterity Thieves like Lu Li and Water Fairy.

“I have a close-combat Shaman in my team,” Lu Li explained.

“Oh, Sakura Memories. How rare for a girl to have a close-combat play style.” Water Fairy was well informed about the people on Lu Li’s team.

She had talked about Sakura Memories playing close-combat and had totally forgotten about the fact that she was also doing the same.

“How about it? There aren’t many close-combat Shamans in your guild, right?”

“Take it. Eleven Superior Silver-Grades… based on the market price, that would be at least a few dozen gold coins. Just help us make some gear in your spare time in the future,” Water Fairy offered generously.

No fee was usually charged for a Fine Silver-Grade equipment forged from prepared materials. Superior Silver Grade equipment were usually charged around two gold coins, perhaps a little extra if the special effect was good.

As for the Shaman Claw, not only was it Exquisite quality, but it also had great attributes and special effects. It would at least be worth a hundred gold coins.

Lu Li had definitely profited from this deal.