The Great Thief

“There’s someone following me,” Remnant Dream whispered after she hurried back to Lu Li.

“I already said to ignore them. We’ve already booked the place. After all, this is a tea house that’s owned by the System. People can only enter through my permission,” Lu Li said. He was not worried about her safety, but he was worried about PKing in the towns.

He was covering her this whole time as well, so there was no way that anyone would be able to check her information.

Even if someone had suspected her, a large organisation would not wage war on a single player over such trivial matters. Small organisations would not be able to stand the wrath of Ruling Sword. The guild was now one of the pinnacle organisations in Dawn, so they would be able to offer protection.

“But they seemed scary…” Remnant Dream mumbled as she rubbed her arms.

“Even I want to take you home! Never mind them. How about you follow me, and I’ll feed all your pets,” Shen Wansan joked.

“What? Kiss my butt,” Remnant Dream said as she made an ugly face towards Shen Wansan, then dropped the two Rings that were promised and ran off.

“Throwing out a treasure like this for some gold? Aren’t you afraid that the game company would suspect something?” Shen Wansan asked Lu Li after Remnant Dream had left.

“It’s the end of the year, so rewards must be given out,” Lu Li answered as he sipped the bitter tea from his cup.

“This is a fairly large sum of money,” Shen Wansan noted. While he seemed extremely wealthy, his riches did not even exceed Lu Li’s.

“I always thought that since China has so many people, as long as there is sufficient money, creating an organisation that had over millions of people would not be difficult,” Lu Li sighed.

“What an unrealistic idea. I feel that you don’t think that way anymore though,” Shen Wansan chuckled.

“That’s right. After building one myself, I realise that a majority of organisations will not even have ten thousand people. After all, it’s quite money-draining. Even very wealthy people wouldn’t be able to afford the demands,” Lu Li said, finally acknowledging his difficulties to Shen Wansan, a person who was not even in the guild.

“Although Ruling Sword’s numbers have grown, your elite teams did not grow, which is fortunate.” Shen Wansan congratulated.

A regular organisation would allow ordinary players to join the elite teams. Ordinary members did not receive a salary, so their benefits came from the guild activities and events that occurred. The guild points that the members accumulated could also be exchanged for gold. All in all, as long as the guild was sensible when it came to giving out rewards, it would be sustainable.

However, the elite teams were different. After all, there was not much difference between an elite player and a salaried worker. Their contributions and sacrifices were much larger, so it was only natural that they received larger rewards.

Ruling Sword had a 300-man elite squad. After splitting the rewards evenly, each person received around 50000 in game currency, which equated to around 1,500,000 in real life. Ruling Sword’s gains over the last 3 to 4 months had exceeded even that amount, and at this point, Lu Li thought that his own net worth was over a million. However, after giving out the salaries, this had diminished extremely quickly.

Bosses that were more ungiving would usually give only ten or twenty thousand gold. However, this would be a bad choice in the eyes of a wise leader.

Lu Li and Square Root had negotiated for a very long time until they had settled on the amount of 50,000. This was not considered an incredibly large sum of money in the gaming industry, so they could only reward the players’ efforts through other means.

Other major organisations would usually ask for sponsors and investments from real life companies, so that they could receive a few hundred thousand per year to solve this particular problem.

However, Lu Li did not want to involve big companies in Ruling Sword. He wanted to build a guild that was independent and could grow by itself, not being commanded what to do by a corporate sponsor.

“Actually, it’s not too bad; Ruling Sword has been growing well lately. We have enough to pay the elite squads, so things have been manageable. I only wish to help the normal members grow as players. It’s these players who suffered and struggled the most during the fight against Gangnam Royals,” Lu Li said.

“I hope you’ll succeed.”

Giving salaries to the normal members was simply a preposterous idea. If an organisation had 10000 people in it, and each person was paid 1000 dollars, that would equate to a total payroll of one hundred million dollars. Even Glory Capital would not be able to afford this sum.

“I plan to use a little bit of money to buy some materials and store them in the guild storage as welfare. When that time comes, I will need your assistance,” Lu Li said, then voluntarily poured Shen Wansan a cup of tea.

Some of Shen Wansan’s wealth had come after the establishment of Ruling Sword. He had the mindset that business was strictly business. However, he had also helped out Ruling Sword during their worst times by providing them an abundance of materials.

“As you wish, my friend.”

“Thanks, mate,” Lu Li said as he raised his cup and clinked it with Shen Wansan’s.

“There are so many people asking me what my name is. Am I that cute in this form?” the little skeleton asked.

“Hurry up and do your job. There are going to be more people later.”

Running back and forth and spending so much money to buy so many mediocre rings – how was this not suspicious?

Every time Remnant Dream had bought something, she appraised the item herself. This attracted the attention of many, to the point where there were rumours being spread that Remnant Dream could buy anything and make it Legendary.

“Mmmm….” Remnant Dream’s hands were shaking

“Don’t try and hide it. I can already see it. This little brat…” Lu Li scolded as he slapped her head softly and grabbed the Ring from her. Remnant Dream expressed reluctance by immediately pouting.

She felt like a cormorant that was commanded to catch fish for the fisherman.

No wonder this little brat had wanted to keep this for herself. If she had kept it, she would not need to worry about gold for the next year and a half.

“Let me have a look,” Shen Wansan requested as he held out his hand.

Lu Li handed him the Ring in shock of its Attributes and properties.

Circle of Hope (Legendary): Damage 25 -36, All Stat +35, Lifesteal +25%, Critical +25%. Special Effect 1: Secure of the Light. Target an ally, giving them Armor +100% and a Barrier that can absorb 10% of incoming damage. Cooldown 2 minutes. Special Effect 2: Unbound, Use: Cures user of any skills that prevent movement and attack. Cooldown 2 minutes. Special Effect 3: Judgment of Light: After using this skill, Undead and Demons are inflicted with 50% damage of the target as splash damage. 100% chance of Stun and Critical strikes. Lasts 3 minutes. Cooldown 20 minutes. Can only be used by Paladins. Level requirement: 50, Durability 225/225.