The Great Thief

Chapter 306: Pre-Game Preparations

Translator: Halcyon Translations Editor: Halcyon Translations

The top-100 phase of the tournament was simple and brutal, but the top 16 finals were going to be

much grander.

In order to give everyone time to prepare for the competition, the game company decided to postpone

the matches by a day. This meant that the competition would resume on Tuesday, with Monday being a

proper celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Some teams spent it hurriedly levelling in hopes of reaching level 25.

However, this was only a small portion, as the EXP required to level up after level 20 was really high. It

would be difficult to even get earn one fifth of the EXP required in one day of levelling.

Most of the other players just participated in the official events organized for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The star players also needed to show their face to make use of their commercial value.

"Old Shen, how is the situation with the skill books? You can’t let me down now." Lu Li and his team

didn’t need to level up, so they focused their energy on finding their skill books.

They didn’t need to show their faces either, so winning this competition was their top and only priority.

"I’ve had a look, but the prices are really high. If it isn’t particularly important, I would suggest you wait a

little longer." Shen Wansan knew the prices well. If a wealthy person like him thought it was high, then it

truly must have been expensive.

"How much were they?" Lu Li’s asked flatly.

Although his voice was flat, it was also firm.

They had come this far and made it into the top 16. It was too late for them to back out now. Even if

they knew that they were going to be slaughtered, they still had to go in and try.

"I found Soul Shriek for 300 gold coins, but I can probably haggle it down to 250. There was no room to

discuss the prices of the Warrior’s Frightening Shout. The seller just told me that he was selling it for 650

gold coins. As for Kidney Shot, there were a few sellers but there is no way to get your hands on it for

less than 500 gold coins. I only managed to find these three books; the others were out of stock."

Shen Wansan had his own circle of fellow merchants who bought and sold goods to opportunistically

make a profit.

These kinds of players were not satisfied at doubling the price. They generally targeted high-end players

and used all sorts of tricks to sell their goods at upwards of 100 times the original price.

In reality, Soul Shriek was only worth around 20 gold coins, as only a PVP Priest would be interested in

such a skill.

However, the top 16 was about to begin, so the demand was significantly higher.

These books were for exquisite PVP skills and had the potential to have a significant impact.

This was especially the case for Frightening Shout, which was already rare even among the competitors.

Only Peerless City’s Deadly Gold Underpants had that, as well as Soul Shriek. They could induce two

opponents in a 5 yard radius into a 4-second state of confusion.

"I’ll take them. Old Shen, you have to get them, no matter how much they costs." Lu Li didn’t deliberate

for too long. With these three skills, they had a much better chance at making into the finals, if not the

semi-finals.

By then, the Mercenary Group’s prestige would be at an all-time high.

To an ordinary player, equipment and skill meant wealth. However, for the top players, glory was

equivalent to wealth.

The difference between third and fourth place was millions of dollars.

"Alright, I’ll send them to you when I get them. I’ll need to pay for Frightening Shout in gold coins, but if

you don’t have the money, I can pay for it first."

When Shen Wansan saw that Lu Li didn’t mind the price, he went ahead with the plan.

"Then you can front the cost. I’ll calculate the amount earned from the tickets after the competition and

pay you back then," Lu Li accepted.

Not long after, Lu Li was holding onto the three skill books.

Soul Shriek was acquired for 249 gold. 250 gold didn’t sound as nice, so the seller conceded the 1 gold.

Frightening Shout was acquired for 650 gold. The seller couldn’t reduce the price even by a single cent.

In fact, he had almost increased the price because the Gale Legion also wanted this skill book. Luckily,

Shen Wansan was well-acquainted with the seller and had pinned the deal on their relationship.

Kidney Shot was acquired for 450 gold. This was because there was more than one seller. If any one of

them missed this opportunity to sell it during the Shadow Cup, selling the book would become even

more difficult.

This amount of money couldn’t have come out of Lu Li’s own pocket. Following the club’s procedure,

they would wait until the revenue from this competitive season came in and deduct the cost from that.

March Rain and Moonlight also changed into two level 25 Silver equips. Lu Li didn’t make any changes to

his equipment as any upgrade would have been insignificant.

Additionally, Lu Li and Moonlight also opened up an arena and gave the slightly jittery March Rain some

extra training.

They dealt with issues like how to deal with a chasing Hunter or Thief, what skills to use in a time of

crisis, how to stall for time and even how to heal her teammates while she was being chased down.

Teaching her all of this wasn’t unrealistic. This was expected of a top-level PVP Priest.

In order to ensure that March Rain was familiar with each profession that she would face in the top 16,

Moonlight found friends from each profession to spar with her.

These were all friends that he had met in battle, so their technique was quite good. Most of them

weren’t his close friends, but this was a small matter. Moreover, it was likely that they were interested

in the Xin Xin Mercenary Group as well.

The topic they were currently dealing with was how to deal with a Mage’s attacks.

To train March Rain, they had invited a skilled, level 24 Mage.

March Rain would try to protect herself while also burning the Mage’s mana. She would also

occasionally stand near Lu Li and heal him.

The result of each spar wasn’t particularly exciting.

Priests didn’t have much attack strength and March Rain was entirely focused on healing. No matter

how good she was, there was no way she would defeat these elite players who frequented the Warsong

Canyon.

A regular person being abused by professionals like this would have quit a long time ago.

Moreover, you also had to consider the mental capacity of the player. To lose so often and in so many

different ways could have a significant impact on their confidence.

Lu Li was concerned about this at first, but his concerns were quickly dispelled.

This little girl might have lacked experience, but she had an excellent learning ability and had a great

mental fortitude.

She didn’t get frustrated, even after all these losses.

"When facing a magic profession, you don’t need to keep increasing the distance between you. Doing

that is just a waste of time. You need to consider the position of your teammate and try your best to

stay near them. That way, you can most effectively help each other." Lu Li hadn’t invited a Priest expert,

so he had to rely on his own guidance. Fortunately, he had read a lot of strategy, so he had a good grasp

on the theory.

"Mm," March Rain grunted in response and started to circle around.

First, she familiarized herself with each profession’s skills, techniques and responses. Then, she learned

the different ways that each profession would fit into a composition.

Lu Li didn’t let Moonlight’s friends come here at their own expense; he gave them 20 gold coins each for

repair costs. In reality, durability consumption was quite low in the arena, so it was really a reward that

added up to be around 2000 dollars.