The Great Thief

"You... you’ll pay for that," Marin Noggenfogger gasped weakly. He compared himself again and again, finding that he was no match for this adventurer.

"This damned adventurer – why can’t he be a better person?"

"You dare ask for money for this rubbish," Lu Li said outrageously. He had grown up in an environment like this, so he didn’t even need to pretend.

He tried to keep his attention away from the Noggenfogger Elixir.

The Goblins were cunning creatures. If you showed interest in a certain item, they would increase its value to match.

If a Goblin sold an item solely based on the value of the item, they would be a disgrace to all Goblins.

"That’s at least five... three copper coins," Marin Noggenfogger stammered. These were all beginner items that he had managed to swindle, but he couldn’t even sell them to the shops.

He had gotten sick and had lost his job, which meant his research projects also had to stop.

"Copper... Sorry, I don’t have that kind of stuff. I only have this," Lu Li apologized as he took out a large handful of gold coins and scattered them onto the ground.

"Just what kind of tycoon is he?" Noggenfogger thought to himself.

In fact, this was actually all Lu Li had left; he had given most of it to Remnant Dream. If Square Root 3 saw this he would pity him and readily pay for Lu Li’s equipment repairs. As the guild manager, he had hundreds of gold coins at all times.

"Ooofff..." Marin Noggenfogger stared and was feeling suffocated from the gold coins.

The poor Goblin was thirsty, hungry and ravaged by an illness. He had gone out in the hopes of gaining some coins, but he had dealt too harshly with people in the past and everyone seemed happy to see him die.

"It’s too bad that these things aren’t worth my gold coins."

Lu Li put the coins back into his bag and picked up the ones that had fallen onto the ground. He even blew the dust, that may or may not have existed, off the coins.

"What do you want? I can give it to you. Please help me adventurer," Marin Noggenfogger begged as he watched the last glitter of gold disappear.

The power of gold was truly formidable; this sickly goblin was still drooling over it, even in his weakened state.

"Let’s just talk; you can tell me about you. I’m quite bored today," Lu Li said as he looked at the environment and his ordinary clothing before sitting down beside Marin Noggenfogger.

If one didn’t look carefully, they would think that they were two tramps sitting on the streets.

"Really...? Sir, can you give me some water to drink?" Water was scarce in this desert environment. Both players and NPCs had to consume a lot of water here, but Marin Noggenfogger apparently didn’t have the money to buy it.

"Sure, consider it a reward for telling me your story." Lu Li took out a bag of water and put it into his own mouth. He had no intention of handing over the entire water bag.

"Leave some! Leave some for me..." Marin Noggenfoggen was very distressed.

After drinking two-thirds of the water, Lu Li handed the water bag to the goblin. He hadn’t studied psychology, but he knew a few truths here and there. For example, when you went hunting, you couldn’t let the dogs eat too much.

The goblin held the water bag and greedily had a large mouthful followed by several small mouthfuls. He wasn’t willing to drink more than half of this one-third of water remaining.

Lu Li unsympathetically clapped his hands. "Now that you’ve had some water, tell me your story."

"I’m just a researcher of the Hot Sand Group..." Marin Noggenfogger was much more comfortable after having some water, but still resented having to tell his story.

His words were quite scattered as he talked about his study of alchemy and what happened on a day to day basis. He talked about everything in the past that would paint him as a decent person, including his unrequited love Sprinkle and how he had become distracted by a mother Goblin.

"She must have seen you fall sick, and decided that you weren’t worth loving," Lu Li couldn’t help but interrupt.

He would rather listen to the goblin’s alchemical research to subtly discover the Noggenfogger Elixir formula, he didn’t really care about Sprinkle.

"I’ve... never spoken to her before..." Mr. Marin said sheepishly.

After talking about her for so long, he revealed that Sprinkle didn’t even know who he was. Lu Li was speechless and could only listen as he went on about the good side of Miss Sprinkle.

Feelings could be a poison that made some people go crazy and reach outlandish conclusions.

It took more than an hour for Marin Noggenfogger to tell the story of his underappreciated life. He was born into a slave family and had become an apprentice by chance, but because he had given up on engineering to pursue metallurgy, he was abandoned by his peers.

And now, he was sick and had spent almost all of his money on alchemy, which was his life’s hope. However, that, too, had stopped.

"Is this your research?" Lu Li asked as he casually took the bottle of Noggenfogger Elixir, unscrewed the lid and drank it. He immediately transformed into a deep red skeleton.

This was just a visual change. Lu Li hadn’t really become Undead and the equipment on his body was still the same.

"How is it? Is it not a great invention?" Marin Noggenfogger asked as he looked at Lu Li in anticipation.

"Although this adventurer wasn’t generous, at least he respected me and drank my potion. He was even willing to listen to my story. Even if I die tonight, at least I wouldn’t die quietly," he thought to himself.

"What’s the point of it?" Lu Li tried to slow his heartbeat before cancelling the transformation to change back into a Night Elf Thief.

He then used the Deception Orb under the stunned gaze of Marin Noggenfogger.

Lu Li, who had been transformed into a skeleton, was now even more animated and was actually an Undead. Marin Noggenfogger couldn’t see any traces of a transformation.

Everything he then knew collapsed as he suddenly realized that the years of research he had done were in vain.

This guy had just casually turned into a skeleton that his potion couldn’t even compare to. Could it be that the years he had spent on the Noggenfogger Elixir were just a joke?

He had thought of using this great invention to make a fortune, so he could make enough money to marry Miss Sprinkle.

"No, that can’t be right..." Marin Noggenfogger wasn’t an idiot; he grabbed onto Lu Li’s arm and asked, "What kind of item or potion are you using? Show me!"

Lu Li showed him the Deception Orb.

"Is this orb a common item?" Noggenfogger flipped it around and studied it, but couldn’t uncover the mystery of the orb. He had no choice but to give it back reluctantly.

"Who knows? I opened a chest and got the item by chance," Lu Li replied quietly. "But, transformation items and potions are quite common, such as the Steel Dwarf’s win, Dartol’s Rod of Transformation, Savory Deviate Delight..."

Lu Li’s profound knowledge of Dawn allowed him to recount these things, some of which Marin Noggenfogger hadn’t even heard of, even though he had specialized in Alchemy.