The Great Thief

Lu Li was very interested in this Stronghold, but he felt like he didn’t have the strength for this proposal.

It was Grand Hegemony going in for it once again.

“After such a long time, only one new piece of land has been released, so the competition will be quite fierce. There is only so much we can do to help, as we also have two Strongholds that we need to defend.”

Lu Li had no choice but to decline Drinking Alone even though he had basically just come to offer him money. It was 70,000 gold coins too.

There was no way 5% of a company’s shares would be so easy to acquire. The smiling Drinking Alone that was sitting across from him made Lu Li feel like he was walking into a trap.

However, the first dividends of Grand Hegemony had already been sent – 70,000 gold coins. Lu Li was drooling at the sight of this money. This was for just a month’s time.

70,000 gold coins, for 12 months a year…

That was over 20 million in real world dollars. If Lu Li had this opportunity in his previous life, he would have stopped at nothing to take it.

Moreover, there was also extra compensation after the Stronghold had been taken.

“Obviously, we don’t know what will actually happen, but we will pay no matter what the outcome is,” Drinking Alone promised. He had the look of a tycoon when he said that. They had received a capital injection from some big corporations, so money wasn’t something they were lacking.

The big corporations weren’t afraid of you spending their money, but that you wouldn’t be able to spend it.

Only those that knew how to spend the money were looked upon positively by them. This was the case in real life and in game.

A Stronghold was what Grand Hegemony needed most. They had once owned one, but it had been taken away by the Gangnam Royals.

Lu Li thought for a while before deciding that he might still be able to make a deal.

“Drizzle Court and Peerless City are going to the Stonetalon Mountains, so they have no one to spare anyway. I can give you 20 of my people, but whether you use them isn’t up to me,” he offered.

As for whether the extra 20 players were able to help Grand Hegemony win the Stronghold, Lu Li didn’t really think it would make a difference.

“Lu Li, please rest assured that we are strong enough as we have other assistance too. However, we hope that we would be able to borrow a commander from you.”

Grand Hegemony was quite satisfied with receiving 20 players. As long as they got a chance to fight for the Stronghold, the chances of their success were very high.

“A commander… alright. I’ll let you have Sky Moon. You probably won’t be able to get Wandering,” Lu Li said.

In fact, he wasn’t willing to give up Wandering either. It was hard enough to let Wandering command the defense of their own Strongholds, so there was no way he was going to help someone else. Sky Moon could still do it; his ability and fame still hadn’t reached that same point yet.

This was the ninth Stronghold Wars!

Since the first, the Black Sea Coast, Grey Valley, Western Wilderness, Tanaris, Barrenlands, Stranglethorn Vale, Hillsbrad Hills, Stonetalon Mountains, Thousand Needles, Un’Goro Crater and Desolace had been opened, for a total of 11 Strongholds.

In the early days, when a map was opened and a Stronghold released, there would soon be the release of a second and third Stronghold.

If there were two different Strongholds on the same map, they would either ally or one would take the other. Otherwise, neither could go out to attack other Strongholds and the wars between them would be particularly intense.

In these Stronghold Wars, the strength of the defenders had been reduced once again.

On the one hand, the Stronghold walls didn’t need to be built by the players anymore. They were standard walls given by the System, so every attacking Club faced the same kinds of walls.

But on the other hand, the number of chariots one could buy was limited to 20 for the

attackers and reduced to 10 for the defenders. Moreover, the damage dealt by these chariots to the players had been increased. If the defenders wanted to rush out to destroy the chariots, then they would have to face the chariots’ bombs.

If 20 chariots attacked together, it was the equivalent of taking damage from a wave of skills coming from 40 players.

Of course, the chariots couldn’t be compared to the players. Chariots could launch bombs, but they couldn’t do it as freely as players could cast skills. The Game Company had designed it this way so that the Chariots wouldn’t all the destroyed before they even reached the walls.

Lu Li knew better than anyone that this was not the first nor the last time that they would weaken the defenders.

After a while, the defender’s chariots would be reduced to 5, which meant that the defenders would have to defend with the players’ lives. That also meant that fight would be the most bitter, and the Strongholds were more likely to change hands.

Ruling Sword had to keep persevering for a while and maintain their two Strongholds, at

least until the relationship between the Stronghold and the map was severed.

Currently, the players’ Strongholds were built on the corresponding maps. For example, there was the Grey Valley Stronghold, so Ruling Sword’s Stronghold was the Grey Valley Stronghold. Once Ruling Sword’s Grey Valley Stronghold had been taken away, they would lose their connection with the map as well.

This meant that the stakes were much higher and involved more variables.

After a while, players wouldn’t even want to develop their Strongholds anymore. You could spend 20 million on it but loose ownership next week. This was a complete loss that no one wanted to risk.

The game officials weren’t that unreasonable and would soon come to realize this too.

As such, the separation of the Stronghold and map would eventually become a reality.

If the Stronghold in Grey valley fell, then Lu Li would just lose the right to build a Stronghold in Grey Valley. However, the Stronghold itself would still be Ruling Sword’s Stronghold. In the future, if Ruling Sword managed to take another map, then they could put up the same Stronghold.

Because of this System, Strongholds would become things that could be bought and sold.

Other players could also confidently purchase a business in the Strongholds, because the Stronghold would not be lost. If there was no place to set up the Stronghold, then Clubs would have to compensate the shops for loss of their business time. Alternatively, they could declare bankruptcy and publicly auction the Stronghold.

Currently, you had to defend well, because a loss would mean the complete loss of the Stronghold.

Fortunately, Ruling Sword’s Ancient of Lore and smiling Dryad Sisters were still there even though the walls had been standardized.

The Black Sea Coast Stronghold was facing an attack from the Eternal Kingdom club, so that wasn’t too difficult. This club was from the Horde, and had been overwhelmed by Glory Capital. They were dying now, but if they could win a Stronghold then could have a chance to survive.

Otherwise, they would have no choice but to submit to Glory Capital.

Optimistically, it would be an alliance. Pessimistically, they would be mere vassals to Glory Capital. There were some guilds that saw this kind of arrangement as an opportunity to share in Glory Capital’s power, but Eternal Kingdom didn’t see it that way.

However, Lu Li was quite puzzled. They didn’t want to attack the Un’Goro Crater, which was currently being held by the Gangnam Royals, so why did they want to attack Ruling Sword’s Black Sea Coast? Why had emboldened them to make such an attack? Perhaps Lu Li’s Stronghold looked just a little bit easier to take.

As for the Grey Valley Stronghold, a strong rival had come for it – Glory Capital.