Virtual World: Close Combat Mage Chapter 67-68

Chapter 67 – The Final Reward

Gu Fei brought the Fang of the Wolf King with him as he paid the stout Werewolf another visit.

“I’ve gotten rid of him,” Gu Fei straightforwardly said as he handed over the quest item, “He made a fool out of everyone by using this to transform himself into a lycanthrope.”

After taking a good look at the item, the stout Werewolf expressed his shock, “He’s a Werewolf Lord! No wonder he’s so strong!”

“He’s alright, I guess…” Gu Fei could only say so as he did not actually have the chance to witness how strong the Werewolf Lord was. Ironically, he had in fact had the chance to do so last night. The Werewolf Lord, unfortunately, fled with his tail between his legs once he had received a slight injury.

“You did us a favor. We are also eternally grateful that you have kept your promise to not expose our identity to others,” the stout Werewolf sincerely said, adding, “To prevent the occurrence of a similar dilemma, can you leave the Fang of the Wolf King in our hands?”

“Sure,” Gu Fei immediately acquiesced.

“To express our gratitude…” The stout Werewolf went inside his room and rummaged through the bottom of his bed. Gu Fei could feel his heart sinking. The reward from Chief Edwin was at least properly stored inside a drawer. How great could this reward be if it was tossed haphazardly by the stout Werewolf under his bed?

But Gu Fei’s eyes lit up when the stout Werewolf emerged and faced Gu Fei once more.

The stout Werewolf was holding a sword. The blade had an expensive wine’s purplish shine to it, while its surface was shrouded in a layer of black luster. The weapon exhibited the qualities of a top-grade weapon from its naked appearance alone.

The stout Werewolf handed it over, and Gu Fei eagerly accepted it.

Moonlit Nightfalls.

The weapon’s traits gave Gu Fei quite a shock. Not only did the sword possess a very high physical attack, it also had a fair share of magic attack, which was superior than the magic attack of the stave July had gifted him.

The magic staves’ main offense was naturally their magic attack. However, the term ‘physical attack’ would be listed on the magic staves’ traits window as well. This was because magic staves could technically function as physical weapons. As for weapons like sword, dagger, or saber, they would usually not have the word ‘magic attack’ displayed on their traits window. Compared to all those weapons, the current sword in Gu Fei’s hands not only had high magic attack listed on its traits window, the physical attack was very substantial as well.

Two more traits could be seen further down. [Sword Aptitude 170%. Spell Aptitude 170%]

Even more traits were displayed below. [10% proc rate for critical attack, plus 10% increase in critical damage. +20 Agility. +20 Intelligence. 20% increase in attack speed. Usable skill: Moonlit Nightfalls… Conditions are not met; skill unavailable.]

It was terrific! The finest weapon! No matter how much of a noob gamer Gu Fei was, he could still tell how powerful the sword was based on its traits.

Even Sword Demon’s Frost Memories dagger, which Gu Fei had once considered as the finest weapon so far, paled in comparison to this sword right here.

Although Frost Memories was fine, it was just gold-tier equipment in the end. Moonlit Nightfalls, on the other hand, was purple-tier equipment.

Purple-tier equipment was the strongest gear in Parallel World if treated as a standalone item. The only one stronger than it was green-tier equipment. But green-tier equipment came in a set. Thus, players had to collect each piece and activate the hidden traits first before the green-tier equipment could unleash its full potential. Therefore, green-tier equipment was inferior to purple-tier equipment in terms of individual use.

“Look! Look at my sword!” Gu Fei excitedly shoved the sword to Xiaoyu so that she could admire it as well.

“Woahhhhh!” Xiaoyu exclaimed as she looked at the sword before asking, “Sword Aptitude… Spell Aptitude… What do they mean?”

“No idea!” Gu Fei replied, “But they must be incredible.”

“Why?”

“Because you can’t see these words on the usual weapons,” Gu Fei took out Sacred Flames of Baptism and checked its traits once more. Sure enough, the word ‘Aptitude’ was missing on the traits window.

“That’s rad!” Xiaoyu returned the sword to Gu Fei, “I want to do a quest like this as well.”

“You will get your chance!” Gu Fei patted Xiaoyu.

“Both our quests are done,” Xiaoyu said as they left the stout Werewolf’s house. Just as they stepped outside the door, a beam of white light enveloped Gu Fei.

“What happened?!” Xiaoyu was startled into pulling out her axe.

“Chill!” Gu Fei said to her immediately, “I’m fine. It’s just a level up.”

“What’s with the sudden level up for no apparent reason?” Xiaoyu asked.

Gu Fei glanced over at the system notification. The system had sent Gu Fei a message when they exited the stout Werewolf’s house. [Completed the chain quest ‘Eddie’s Mission’ with a rate of 95%. Experience points and coins rewarded.] Apparently, the experience points Gu Fei had acquired were enough for him to reach level 31.

“I’ve earned plenty of experience points!” Gu Fei was dumbfounded. The rewards for this particular chain quest were simply too astronomical. Including Flames of Baptism that had received a new trait after being plated with silver by Chief Edwin, Gu Fei received a total of four equipment and an unexpectedly hefty amount of experience points from this quest. On the other hand, the monetary reward was not that grand, as Gu Fei found that he had only gained fifty more gold coins upon checking his money pouch.

“That’s a given,” Ye Xiaowu, who was observing from afar, smiled wryly as he saw the shocked expression on Gu Fei’s face. It would have been strange if the experience points given were insufficient to even raise one level of someone who had completed a chain quest beyond his league. Furthermore, the traits listed on the two final rewards – Spell Mastery, Sword Aptitude, and Spell Aptitude – had yet to be made available for the low-level gear equipped by the low-level players. Ye Xiaowu was left speechless since Gu Fei had access to those traits now after acquiring that fine equipment from this chain quest.

Ye Xiaowu felt depressed when he saw Gu Fei’s glum look upon obtaining the Midnight Spirit Robe. He really wanted to stab Gu Fei at that moment. He dared feel displeased with such an item? Luckily, Ye Xiaowu calmed down once he saw Gu Fei’s reaction upon obtaining the Moonlit Nightfalls.

“Come on. Let’s go back!” Xiaoyu urged.

“Back to where?”

“Yunduan City! I’m calling Master Kang,” Xiaoyu replied.

“Easy there. We’re not in a hurry,” Gu Fei said, “We’ve put effort into trekking a mountain range for three hours just to reach this faraway city. Let’s roam around some more first! Don’t you want to see what kinds of quests they have around here?”

Xiaoyu’s eyes beamed, “You’ve got a point.”

“It’s best if you accept a quest that requires you returning to Yunduan City to complete it. That way, it’s even more worthwhile for you coming here,” Gu Fei rambled on with his silver tongue, while Xiaoyu kept on bobbing her head. Finally, she decided, “You’re right! I’ve made up my mind to stay in Yueye City for a few more days. Go ahead if you’re leaving. There’s no need to wait for me.”

“Well, I feel a little tired already. I’m logging off once I get into the city,” Gu Fei said.

The two left Yeguang Village and headed to Yueye City.

All the surrounding players in Yueye City behaved audaciously, just like the players in the local grinding zones. Gu Fei and Xiaoyu had already witnessed four or five different brawls while they traveled from Yeguang Village to Yueye City. Those players were very brutal with their fights, never stopping until their opponents were dead. Gu Fei and Xiaoyu carefully went past them, trying not to get involved with the local brawls.

The current Gu Fei was still bounded by the PvP penalties he had incurred previously. About ten hours had passed since he went online in Yunduan City. He still had twenty hours to go before he could clear off all his PK points. It would be somewhat dangerous to enter a city at his current state, but Gu Fei did not give it much thought right now. The chain quest that he had completed gave him a thorough mental workout, and Xiaoyu, who was beside him all that time, did not actually contribute much aside from physical labor. Having been forced to rack his brain and ponder on for a long period of time, Gu Fei considered grinding a whole afternoon to be less exhausting. Hence, at the moment, he only cared about logging off and resting in reality.

When the two entered Yueye City, Gu Fei immediately waved goodbye at Xiaoyu and headed toward a nearby player to inquire about the nearest log-off point.

That player was quite taken aback upon hearing that Gu Fei had come from another city. So once the player had pointed Gu Fei toward the right way, the former also made his own inquiries on how to get to the city the latter originated.

“There’s no way of settling down in Yueye City, anymore. It’s too chaotic. It’s one skirmish after another every single day. Nobody even bothers grinding once reaching level 30; all everyone does is PvP all day!”

“Why’s that?” Gu Fei could not understand.

“That’s because level 30 is when everyone will need to accumulate a large number of experience points! Think about it! Imagine the experience points you now possess are equivalent to a mid level 30; once you get killed by others, the loss of points you’ll suffer is equivalent to dropping from level 29 to level 25. Is it worth it? Nowadays, all are afraid to suffer such a huge loss, so they refrain from grinding further. But they can’t bear to watch others reach a higher level either. In the end, it turns into this endless cycle of PvP where everyone is trying to stop the others from leveling up further,” the player explained to Gu Fei.

“Can’t believe there’s such a thing here,” Gu Fei was bewildered.

“Well, we don’t really have a choice when all are too afraid to grind over here. All we can do is hone our crafting skills… The players over here in Yueye City have very high crafting skills, by the way. So if you want to get yourself new equipment or procure some kind of medication, you’ve come to the right place,” the player continued to brief Gu Fei on how things were locally, before he asked, “Oh, yeah. I forgot to ask you this. What’s the name of the city you came from?”

“Yunduan City,” Gu Fei answered.

“Holy sh*t! Yunduan City?! The one with the close combat Mage?” the player exclaimed.

“Close combat Mage?”

“How can you not know? It’s someone with the serial number 27149. He’s ranked first on the Wanted Players list of the ‘Bounty Mission’ right now. Apparently, this person’s a Mage who allocated all his stat points toward Agility and engages in close combat. Super rad. He managed to make short work of a Thief and dropped his level eight times… Hot dang! It’s simply amazing. A player with such caliber should settle down here in Yueye City. I bet he’ll fit right in.”

On the surface, it seemed like Gu Fei was keeping a straight face. Inside, a surge of emotions had risen. He was thinking about how he had nowhere to display his kung fu in reality, yet he had already caused quite a stir and gained countless admirers by simply unleashing a bit of it within this VRMMO. Gu Fei considered kung fu as a weapon for fighting, and only in such a chaotic world could he receive the greatest form of respect for it.

Gu Fei was lost in his thoughts about kung fu, while the player was lost in his thoughts about Gu Fei’s attire.

“You said a while ago that the nearest log-off point is this way, right?” Gu Fei asked while pointing at the street ahead.

“Yeah.”

“I’ll be on my way, then. See you around,” Gu Fei parted ways with the player.

“Bye,” the player said as he nodded.

Gu Fei walked down the street. While looking at the departing figure, the player opened his mercenary group channel, “I found an easy target.”

“How easy?” someone asked on the channel.

“A black mage robe. Have you seen it before?” the player asked.

“What kind of traits?”

“Couldn’t appraise it…” the player answered.

“F*ck. Isn’t your Appraisal skill at level 8, already?”

“Da*n you! Haven’t you heard of the phrase, ‘There’s always someone better’? It’s not like level 8 is the ceiling for this skill,” the player replied indignantly.

“Even his Appraisal has been honed to a level higher than ours… Doesn’t seem like he’s just a regular guy… Do we have what it takes to mess with someone like that?”

“Relax! It’s not a problem. For some unknown reason, he came here from another city. He’s all alone. Who else can we target but him? You lot better get moving. He’s on his way to a designated log-off point.”

“Which route did he take?”

“The C route!”

“F*ck. Isn’t that a long way to the safe zone?”

“Doesn’t change the fact that we still have to hurry up. I’ll go after him now,” The player entered Stealth mode and slowly followed behind Gu Fei.

Chapter 68 – A Bunch of Idiotic Robbers

Gu Fei continued walking down a paved road devoid of any pedestrians except for him. Out of boredom, he pulled out the sword, Moonlit Nightfalls, from his dimensional pocket and gazed admiringly at it once more. As a kung fu practitioner, Gu Fei did not care much about his fashion, yet he had a picky taste when it came to his weapon. He found that Moonlit Nightfalls was to his liking, as its weight, size, shape, and design seemed to be custom-made for him. Even in reality, he had never had a weapon that suited his taste this much.

While Gu Fei was taking in the sword’s beauty, a disturbance down the street reached his ears. A bunch of men, all brandishing a variety of weapons against one another, came into view from the street ahead. Before long, their chaotic fight filtered into the lane Gu Fei was in, with someone yelling out, “Don’t let them get away!”

Gu Fei furrowed his brows. He had decided to take the shortcut indicated by that player from before due to laziness. The lane he was currently in could not exactly be considered as an alleyway but more like a narrow gap between two rows of houses. These people, who had brought their fight into this cramped walkway, effectively blocked the only way out. Gu Fei knew that even if he continued walking forward, they would not pause their fight just to let him through.

Should he turn back? Gu Fei looked back and immediately felt exhausted just from seeing the distance back. Having no wish to backtrack, Gu Fei decided to keep going forward on the cramped walkway. While maintaining a firm grip around the hilt of Moonlit Nightfalls with his right hand, he took out Sacred Flames of Baptism with his left hand.

In the blink of an eye, Gu Fei arrived at the scuffle. The combatants had of course noticed Gu Fei, but they gave off the vibe that they were slightly holding back as they clashed their weapons with one another.

In contrast, Gu Fei appeared to have not noticed their presence as he plunged headlong through them.

“Ack! Be careful!” a person on the left warned. The person was currently thrusting his dagger toward another person when Gu Fei forcibly squeezed his way through the gap between them. Despite shouting a warning, the person’s hand did not stop its attack at all.

Gu Fei did not bother about the person’s contradicting action. He simply raised his left hand holding Sacred Flames of Baptism to parry the stab as he passed through the gap between the pair. Gu Fei’s next step brought him out of the two’s range of fight.

“Ah!” The shout this time came from a person on the right. He was swinging a claymore downward from above his head.

Gu Fei did not dare forcefully block this swing from a player who seemed to be a Warrior. As he was considering how he should deal with it, he noticed that the pair ahead had momentarily stopped exchanging blows. Gu Fei nimbly stepped forward, and the claymore narrowly brushed past his nape with a whoosh.

At the next moment, Gu Fei lifted his two swords and blocked the attacks coming from both sides. Swiftly propelling himself forward with another step, he shunted past this pair as well.

In an instant, Gu Fei had passed through three pairs of combatants unscathed by simply dodging and parrying.

Placing Moonlit Nightfalls and Sacred Flames of Baptism back into his dimensional pocket, Gu Fei dusted off his sleeves and folded his hands inside them. He then continued toward his destination without sparing the skirmish behind him another glance.

After a bit, the fighting in the walkway had stopped as well, and the group of brawlers could be seen standing frozen on their spots.

All their faces displayed a look of disbelief. They could not wrap up their minds around what had just happened.

“Where’s that guy? Where did he go?” Someone dazedly looked at his weapon as he tried to comprehend what he had just seen.

“Did… he just… walk through?” another asked for confirmation with a voice filled with incredulity.

“But how?” someone expressed his doubt as well.

“It was like this—then that—and then—arghhh!” This person tried to simulate Gu Fei’s moves. The actions looked rather similar, yet the person suddenly clutched his waist with a pained expression.

“What’s the matter?!” everyone asked in shock.

“I twisted my waist. This particular move is rather difficult. You guys try it, too,” the person wailed.

Thus, everyone went about copying that particular move by Gu Fei. The end result was half of them not being able to do it and the other half spraining their waists from the overexertion of their muscles. The degree of their sprain varied on how much strength they had used.

“Ouch! Owwwww…” Half of them gritted their teeth as they cried out in pain.

“What’s the matter?” A running figure suddenly appeared out of thin air. It was the guy who had earlier given Gu Fei direction. Due to his reduced speed while on Stealth, he could only watch Gu Fei get further and further away. By the time he arrived into this walkway, Gu Fei’s figure had long vanished from view. He immediately canceled Stealth when he saw all his buddies crying loudly in pain.

“Where did that guy go? How come he still escaped with so many of you here?” he asked in shock. Half of the ten ambushers in the walkway seemed to be suffering from injuries as well.

Everyone felt flustered. They were tongue-tied on how to explain the situation. Should they say that they had unknowingly allowed Gu Fei to pass through them? Or that their injuries were embarrassingly self-inflicted as they tried to recreate the earlier incident?

“What’s that guy’s job class?” one of them asked as he tried to divert the topic.

“Yeah! What’s his job class? He’s got some strange moves!” Gu Fei’s unfathomable display made everyone assume that he possessed a special skill that none of them had yet.

“That guy? I think he’s a Mage,” the ‘guide’, who had given Gu Fei direction, answered with uncertainty.

“Didn’t you fail to appraise him before?” someone probed, “Then, how sure are you that he’s a Mage?”

“He’s wearing a mage robe, right?” the guide threw this question back.

“Wearing a mage robe doesn’t guarantee that he’s a Mage! Everyone here thinks he’s not a Mage!” someone insisted.

“Agree! That guy’s definitely not a Mage!”

“Come to think of it; what he’s wearing may not even be a mage robe. It’s black! Your Appraisal failed on him as well,” another chimed in.

Since the game’s open beta launching, there had yet to be a black mage robe. A majority of the players considered the Mage and Priest as wholesome job classes that would never be issued black attire by the system. In their minds, black attire was reserved for the Thief job class, which sounded rather loathsome just from its name alone.

The guide did not say anything for a beat, before finally commenting, “If not a mage robe, then what?”

No one answered him, although someone commented, “That guy’s sword looks super rad. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“D*mn! What’re we still gabbing about here for?! Let’s chase after him!” someone hollered to remind everyone of their goal.

“Let’s! Quick! Show us the route he’s taking!” another said as he pulled out a map.

“I directed him to this route, so he should be passing this way,” the ‘guide’ answered as he traced a certain path on the map with his index finger.

“But he’s already seen us. He’ll surely recognize us when he sees us again,” someone commented.

“Guess we can’t fake a scene anymore. Let’s be straightforward about this, then,” another suggested.

The rest nodded their heads.

“Masks!” someone reminded.

All excitedly pulled out a piece of triangular cloth, as a devout expression crossed their faces.

“We thank that player in Yunduan City who thought up of such an ingenious method to hide a player’s identity. We’ll now walk the path toward riches!” a man recited with gravitas.

“Utmost gratitude!” everyone sincerely agreed.

“We’re using this for the first time, so let’s do our best. We don’t want to be the laughingstocks of the players in Yunduan City,” the same man stated.

All nodded their heads solemnly.

“Alright!” The man pulled his buddies to huddle together, taking out a strip of paper with the numbers 27149 written on it using large font.

“This is the benefactor who has paved the way for our group. Although we don’t know his name or his appearance, his glorious record of attaining 15 PK points in a few hours is forever etched in Parallel World’s history. May he protect us,” With that, he burned the slip of paper.

All clasped their hands in front of them and silently said their prayers.

Someone broke this solemn silence as he said, “Boss, I heard that that guy did not pick up the dropped equipment after killing his target. We don’t seem to be walking the same path as him.”

“Don’t worry about the minor details. Just accept it!” the boss snapped.

Everyone continued to pray until the ceremony ended. Gu Fei, who was hundreds of meters away, sneezed his loudest sneeze ever in-game.

“Can you guys really handle this mission?” the boss asked some of the gathered people. Half of them had the same posture: one hand holding a weapon and the other rubbing the waist. They were the few that had sprained their waists while trying to imitate Gu Fei’s moves.

“We’re fine! It’s the first time we’re doing a masked operation. We’ll definitely participate!” the few said resolutely.

“Very well,” the boss nodded his head, “Everyone get ready. Masks!”

With that order from the big boss, all covered their faces with a piece of cloth.

“Let’s go! We’ll show the players in Yunduan City that we’re Yueye City’s masked professionals!” the boss bellowed.

“Yeah!” While the group of highwaymen set off in high spirits, the boss was furrowing his brows. Half of his followers had one of their arms akimbo, looking extremely ugly as they limped forward. They somewhat ruined the image of his mercenary group with their awkward movements. Suddenly, he thought of something, Does it matter? Everyone’s wearing a mask, anyway.

Wearing a mask is truly great! Can’t lose our face even if we want to! The boss heaved a relieved sigh, as he once again praised the man who had come up with the method.

“I’ll add another piece just in case!” The boss added another piece of cloth on top of the one currently covering his face. He felt pleased for coming up with something that their benefactor had not thought up of yet.

As they rushed out of the walkway, the players on the street were immediately drawn to their astonishing sight.

The group of highwaymen obviously understood the concept of not being able to lose face even if they wanted to, as they completely ignored the look everyone was throwing their way. Instead, they focused on following the path that they had previously discussed.

“Who are these people?” a player asked curiously.

“The Black Hand mercenary group,” someone answered.

“How did you know?”

“Someone’s wearing the mercenary group’s emblem,” he explained.

“What’s the point of masking themselves if their emblems can be seen? Are they stupid?”

“Most likely….”

The group was steadily advancing forward when a player from a side-alley grabbed one of them, “Coward, there you are! Didn’t we make a deal that you’ll get me two bandage rolls, yesterday? Hand them over!”

“I’m no coward!” the man’s voice stated calmly.

“I know. Your name’s Coward’s Savior! Two words are one too many. Coward is just easier and nicer to say,” the player mocked.

“How did you know it’s me?” Coward’s Savior asked, feeling shocked.

“I recognized your equipment! What’re you lot up to, anyway?”

“None of your business!” Coward’s Savior retorted. He then bitterly reported on the mercenary channel, “Boss! I’ve been exposed!”

“To think you couldn’t even hide your identity. I’m sorry but you’re not qualified to be a part of this special mercenary group,” the boss remarked coldly.

A cruel system prompt sounded next. [Coward’s Savior has been kicked out from The Black Hand mercenary group.]

“D*mn! I’m going to f*ck you up!” Coward’s Savior tore off his mask and dove straight for the player who had revealed his identity.

“Don’t bother with him. Let’s continue onward,” the boss ordered the few hesitant players.

“Boss, I have that guy in my line of sight. He’s just right ahead,” one of the players in front reported.

“Alright, break up! We’ll surround him stealthily. Don’t let him reach the safe zone. This is our last chance,” the boss commanded.

“Go! Go! Go!” someone shouted and everyone split up.