The Great Thief

Translator: Exodus Tales  Editor: Exodus Tales

After a few Dark Gold equips, there was finally an Epic one-handed sword. Because the main Attribute was Agility it was more suitable for Thieves and Hunters.

However, hunters usually preferred double-handed close-combat weapons, for example, a magic staff. There were typically more Attribute points on double-handed weapons, so this one-handed sword became something that no one wanted.

“No one wants it? Something this good!?”

Lu Li was rather surprised and looked at Azure Sea Breeze, saying, “Breezy, 30 points. You take it.”

Azure Sea Breeze didn’t even bat an eyelid and replied, “Go away.”

“Dreamy…”

“I don’t want it either. If you give to me by force, I’ll cry.”

“Oh man, then I’ll give it to myself. Take off 10 points.”

Even though the starting amount for weapons was 30 points, no one wanted this weapon. As such, ten points didn’t really count as much.

Lu Li instead had come out merry, paying only ten points for a one-handed sword. Other people probably were still laughing at him for ending up with a piece of rubbish.

This patch’ battle Thief was very weak, along with PVP-control and escape variants of the class. PVE Thieves also couldn’t deal the same damage as a magic profession, so it was rare to see a high-level Thief player using a one-handed sword. As such, this one-handed sword with added Agility was considered as rubbish.

Resentment (Epic): Damage 128-164, Agility +180, Strength +120, Critical Hit + 8%, Critical Hit Damage + 33%, 2 Slots. Special Effect 1: Attack the target once more with a certain probability after a Critical Hit. Special Effect 2: Curse the target with a certain probability when attacking, inflicting Weakness. Can stack up to three times. Equipment level requirement 60, Durability 340 / 340.

The Attributes were very simple. It completely suited a minimalistic level 70 style.

The new version of Critical Hit chance was no longer a number that people didn’t understand. It was divided into the probability of a Critical Hit and the increase of a Critical Hit’s damage. According to some people’s speculation, the probability and damage both had a maximum limit. Thieves, as a high Critical Hit profession could control up to 28-33% of critical hit.

At the moment, Lu Li still couldn’t change weapons because he had just learned the double-handed sword skill and needed two swords.

He picked up a Badge of Justice, and completed some quests of his own. The rest of the people didn’t take any breaks to clear monsters. Even though Ruling Sword’s First Clear progress was very fast, Lu Li was rather greedy and didn’t bypass any Bosses. As such, they had wasted a lot of time without realising it.

Other clubs weren’t as confident as them. Plus, they had found a lot of level 70 equipment and their equipment level already had surpassed Ruling Sword’s.

Lu Li called upon his informant to report to him on the outside world’s situation and found that the Shade of Aran strategy was no longer a secret. Without excluding the possibility of someone from the three-guild alliance to have leaked the secret, he also couldn’t look down upon the wisdom of the mass majority of players.

Then, should they go straight away to fight the final Boss, Prince Malchezaar? Or get rid of the hidden Boss, Nightbane, along the way?

To say ‘along the way’ wasn’t entirely correct because the difficulty of Nightbane was higher than that of Prince Malchezaar. Even though in terms of order, Prince Malchezaar was the true final Boss of Karazhan, many people thought that Nightbane was the final Boss.

Greed was a type of original sin. Lu Li hesitated for a long time.

After such a long hesitation, he suddenly wanted to slap himself. There was no need for such conflict. He could just go kill the Prince and get First Clear, then go kill Nightbane. It was a flipped order, which didn’t get in the way of the Instance Dungeon.

Hence, everyone headed straight for the final Boss.

Prince Malchezaar wasn’t just a prince of any Azeroth mainland’s kingdom. He was a being from Eredar.

Back when Kil’jaeden and Archimonde and Velen were best mates, Malchezaar was one of the minority of talented mages in Eredar. The person that Malchezaar admired the most was Archimonde.

Malchezaar wasn’t the son of any of these three giants, because they didn’t have any offspring.

The details of his identity couldn’t be verified. However, his appearance and identity hid that he and Archimonde could very much have a blood relation. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be called as ‘prince’.

Nearly everything that Archimonde said, Malchezaar would go and do.

The same could be said where Archimonde praised this young mage. Hence, Malchezaar had become a small head among the people of Eredar.

Not long after, Kil’jaeden and Archimonde both ran to Sargeras for power without any hesitation. Of course, this included Archimonde’s follower, Malchezaar.

Malchezaar as the small head of the Burning Legion still followed Archimonde, whilst continually studying Archimonde’s evil magic. Archimonde had also patiently fostered this loyal follower.

A demon was still a demon. The magic that Archimonde taught Malchezaar had hidden potential. This meant that Archimonde hadn’t taught Malchezaar everything.

The Burning Legion then invaded Azeroth. Archimonde became invincible and destroyed Dalaran. Including everything that stood in the way of the Burning Legion and its allies, the Alliance were all reduced to dust. He had forced himself all the way to the foot of the World Tree, and evidently, had fought to death there in the end.

Malchezaar didn’t participate in the battle with Archimonde. He originally was a member of those invading Azeroth. Yet, Archimonde was overly confident and didn’t let Malchezaar participate. Archimonde believed that with him alone, Azeroth was a piece of fatty meat for the Burning Legion.

The most important thing was that Archimonde didn’t want to share the power of the World Tree with anyone.

After Archimonde died in battle, the lost Malchezaar couldn’t control his thirst for power. He called upon all the demons under him and frantically began to search for the entry point into the world of Azeroth.

Karazhan’s remnant magic attracted Malchezaar’s attention and he opened the gateway towards Karazhan, stepping into it without any hesitation. His legion also followed him into the gateway.

Evidently, Medivh’s Karazhan was mysterious and unpredictable. The magic of Karazhan was so unstable that when Malchezaar stepped into the gateway, space-time changed dramatically.

Using his own power, Malchezaar was able to successfully arrive on the rooftop of Karazhan.

His demon followers had instead been sent god-knows-where by the gateway.

Malchezaar discovered in despair that in Karazhan he couldn’t find any connection with the outside world. He couldn’t walk outside of this rooftop. There was no time, and no sound, only dead silence and loneliness.

He didn’t know how long had passed when he started to lose his mind and patience, and fell into a state of mania.

He believed that with his capabilities, he shouldn’t be trapped here. He believed that he could subvert the world.

Unfortunately, the only thing waiting for him were players.

Malchezaar dropped T4 set Headpiece and hence became the target of players. Moreover, he had an exquisite axe – Gorehowl.

“Gorehowl” was the famous weapon of Grom Hellscream, the Orc chief of the Warsong clan. The blade had small holes which sent a terrifying Warsong that gave enemies a chill when it was swung through the air.

During the second time when the Burning Legion invaded, Grom used this to cut Mannoroth into two. However, he also died due to the wounds that he suffered. Hence, the axe had been buried here with its owner in the Demonslaying Canyon.

When Malchezaar went to Grey Valley to steal the magic of Moonwell, he was met with an army of Water Elemental. Even though both sides had escaped in a hurry because of the Shadow Alliance, Malchezaar left, saying, “I have found another well-suited toy!”

The Orcs near Grey Valley declared Malchezaar as their enemy.

Hence, it could be deduced that Gorehowl was probably stolen by Malchezaar from the Demonslaying Canyon.

This was the first Legendary weapon unlocked by players from the 70’s. At the moment, it was of course not Legendary. It could be upgraded by completing quests, and after three upgrades, its true glory would be put on display.