Virtual World: Close Combat Mage Chapter 75-76

Chapter 75 – Exposed

Gu Fei swiftly climbed up to his feet after being tossed away by the Fighter. Glancing back, he saw that all the Past Deeds’ guild members were now charging toward him. Gu Fei did not have time to admire such a spectacle and could only run for his life, as the Archers and Mages’ long-range attacks were presently sailing toward him. But while he was wary of Snipe, the rest of the attacks did not even cause him worry, and he easily waded through all of them.

Gu Fei actually ended up benefiting from the accuracy of Snipe. The Archers using Snipe were all aiming at the same spot, so evading one arrow on Snipe meant evading everything altogether.

The onslaught of projectile attacks had rendered even the Past Deeds’ melee players incapable of pursuing Gu Fei. In Parallel World, the attacks made by players could deal damage even to their comrades. Therefore, the melee units would only become victims of friendly fire if they persisted on chasing Gu Fei at the moment. Moreover, they thought that chasing him zealously was unnecessary. Since he had already been hit with Seismic Toss before, they assumed that another hit from an arrow or magic spell would render him dead. Hence, none of them expected Gu Fei to actually dodge every projectile attack they had sent his way.

“Does he have an extra pair of eyes on his back?” an Archer asked incredulously, as he watched Gu Fei effortlessly dodge their aerial attacks.

He got away even with all of us swarming him? The sight of Gu Fei’s figure getting further and further away made the Past Deeds’ guild members doubt their eyes. They could not wrap their minds around the fact that Gu Fei had managed to escape their concerted long-range attacks unscathed. The Past Deeds Guild had always been domineering and tyrannical ever since its establishment in Yueye City. Players could be seen meekly making way for its guild members whenever they navigated the city’s streets. And when they headed out to grind levels, other players would never dare seize the better grinding spots from them for fear of offending their guild. In fact, the Past Deeds’ guild members would not even wait for other players to offer their spots to them and would simply snatch the spots blatantly.

It seemed that such a puissant guild had finally met its match this very day. Not only did they fail to prevent their guild leader from being assasinated, they also let the assailant escape under the public’s gazes. Although some luck might have factored in on Gu Fei’s feats, he had still managed to tarnish their tyrannical reputation. The Past Deeds’ guild members would probably feel even worse if they knew that Gu Fei had manipulated the Fighter into tossing him out of their encirclement earlier.

“Did anyone manage to appraise that guy?” Seeing the implausibility of catching up to their target, Blue Ease, the vice guild leader of Past Deeds and the one in charge of the current operation, asked.

Blue Ease was a Mage. He had been feeling invincible when he had sent a fireball toward Gu Fei along with the other long-range assault troops earlier, thinking that their target would easily be blown to shreds. In the end, all he saw was the casted fireball trailing Gu Fei’s butt until it died down completely.

“Da*n it! Just how many points does his Agility have?” Blue Ease lashed out silently. Determining how their target had allocated his stat points without knowing his job class was hard. Blue Ease felt secretly grateful that he had not managed to say, “Back off, everyone. I’ll handle this!” back then; otherwise, he would be feeling embarrassed right now.

“No. Couldn’t appraise him at all,” the Appraisal experts said one after another to their vice guild leader.

“How is that possible? Isn’t your Appraisal skill at rank 10 already?” The few Appraisal experts glanced over at the top expert among them.

“I really couldn’t appraise him! Maybe, his Appraisal skill is at rank 10 as well, with a higher proficiency than mine…” the top expert defended himself weakly, his voice trailing off.

“Where did that guy come from?” Blue Ease asked.

“He said he’s from The Black Hand mercenary group,” the player who had previously interacted with Gu Fei said. He was that ‘dumb’ player who had crouched at the Quest Assignment Hub’s entrance while fiddling with his sword.

“That idiotic bunch?” Blue Ease felt stunned. He refused to believe that such an amazing player could belong to The Black Hand mercenary group.

“That guy’s stupid,” the ‘dumb’ player said, “He specifically came over to tell me he’s our guild leader’s killer before leaving. If he didn’t say anything, we’d never find out.”

“How audacious! We must eradicate him to avenge our leader!” the guild members exclaimed.

Seeing how the guild members’ emotions were running high, Blue Ease started issuing commands in high spirits. He divided them into teams and assigned each team to various corners in Yueye City.

“Look for any member of The Black Hand mercenary group!” Blue Ease ordered.

“Shouldn’t we leave someone over here?” somebody asked.

“No need! Our target already finished his business here,” Blue Ease rejected, not knowing that he had just issued an order advantageous to Gu Fei.

Gu Fei did not loiter around after he had escaped the ambush. Since it was along the way, he rushed toward the reported location of the target for the previous ‘Bounty Mission’ he had accepted. Truly, nothing could stop a person who was in luck. Sacred Flames of Baptism’s 30% fire attack had been procced thrice back when he was killing Silver Moon; following that, he managed to extricate himself from the enemy’s encirclement by taking advantage of a Fighter’s Seismic Toss. Lady luck was definitely on his side today, and the next event only cemented this truth. After he had run across two streets while following the coordinates, Gu Fei spotted someone running in panic toward his general direction. Gu Fei paid the guy no mind, as he saw no serial number on him. But immediately afterward, he saw another person holding a bow and arrow come out of a street corner. The Archer was obviously chasing after that panicky person just now.

Gu Fei was overjoyed. The serial number above the Archer’s head was a match with his current target. He did not know whether the Archer was on a killing spree or trying to erase his PK points. If it was the latter, then the target was quite the unlucky guy.

Pretending to be a spectator, Gu Fei moved to the side as the Archer continued his chase. When the Archer was about to pass by Gu Fei, the latter heartlessly stretched a leg out.

The Archer had quite the decent reaction speed, as he timely hopped over to skip past Gu Fei’s outstretched leg. Unfortunately for the guy, Gu Fei had a follow-up move even when he was merely trying to trip someone over. He brought his outstretched leg higher and forcefully hindered the Archer’s foot.

The Archer did not fall down when he landed his targeted foot, but he staggered all over the place for a bit. Gu Fei apathetically slashed the Archer as soon as he closed in on him.

The Archer’s fate was sealed now that Gu Fei had gotten near him. He fumbled with his bow and arrow in confusion, trying to counter the incoming attack. However, Gu Fei did not give him a chance to collect himself and immediately delivered his second sword strike. The Archer tried to dodge it, yet Gu Fei’s adaptive swordplay did not allow him to do so. When the Archer received that slash, he retreated to distance himself from Gu Fei. Sadly, the Archer did not have a full-Agility physique that was on par with Gu Fei’s, so he failed to create a gap between them. Gu Fei delivered yet another slash as he closed in on the target once more. With that third slash, the Archer was finally subdued. The sound of a slamming cell door echoed almost at the same time that the Archer faded into a stream of white light.

Gu Fei had to go back once more to the Quest Assignment Hub to claim his reward. He dared not be careless this time and remained vigilant with his every step toward 4th Night Main Street. When he arrived at the entrance, he circled the surroundings for a long while, checking every corner that might contain suspicious-looking individuals. He only entered the hub after confirming that no ambush had been laid for him.

As for inside the hub, Gu Fei saw that many people were coming and going. He believed that escaping an ambush inside would be easy with this huge crowd, so he walked right in straight away.

Just like when he had come here before, Gu Fei’s masked appearance attracted the attention of many. Gu Fei did not intend to stay here long, so he hurriedly claimed his reward and accepted a new ‘Bounty Mission’.

He aimlessly walked down the street as he waited for the mission’s latest coordinates to appear. Suddenly, Gu Fei sensed that something was amiss behind him.

Acting nonchalant, Gu Fei slowly increased his walking pace while he furtively took note of the situation in his surroundings. As he got closer to a junction, he abruptly dashed toward the next street. Making another turn at a bend, he then hid himself behind a wall column.

Gu Fei saw a skinny figure appear on the street not long after. This person looked around with an alluring gaze and entrancing demeanor. It was a lady.

Gu Fei inspected her attire closely and did not find Past Deeds’ emblem. Gu Fei was sure that the Past Deeds’ conceited players would be mindful of others not recognizing that they belonged to the guild. Therefore, all of them would surely place emblems on the most conspicuous parts of their bodies. In fact, every guild member he had encountered thus far acted that way.

She’s probably not from Past Deeds! If she is, there shouldn’t be just her.

With that thought in mind, Gu Fei stepped out from behind the wall. Still, he remained alert and had even placed a hand on the sword on his back.

“Lady, who’re you looking for?” Gu Fei asked.

The lady smiled widely as she turned around and saw Gu Fei, “I’m looking for you!”

Skinny. Too skinny. Gu Fei thought of this when he looked at the lady. He had this odd feeling that it would be satisfying to snap her in half.

“Who’re you?” Gu Fei inquired.

“Will-low,” the lady answered.

“The tree?” Gu Fei clarified, baffled.

“No. Just Will-low.”

“Quite a unique name you’ve got there,” Gu Fei commented.

“What about yours?” Will-low asked.

Gu Fei did not answer that, and he replied with a question instead, “Why’re you looking for me?”

“To catch you,” Will-low replied honestly.

“Catch me?” Gu Fei’s grip on his sword became firmer. His mind started simulating seven or eight different ways to eliminate the lady in one move under such distance.

“You’re Fugitive 27149, right?” Will-low smirked, “Yunduan City’s close combat Mage.”

Gu Fei received quite the shock. Although he was crazily wondering inside what had given him away to the lady, he remained calm on the surface, “I don’t know what you’re on about.”

Will-low smirked again, “I’ve accepted a ‘Bounty Mission’ targeting you, so I can see the serial number 27149 hovering above your head.”

Gu Fei felt stunned. The lady did not seem to be lying to him. He dropped the charade and asked straightforwardly, “How did you find that out?”

“In the Bounty Assignment Hall, I saw Fugitive 27149’s PK value drop from 10 to 6 on the Wanted Players list. It means that the fugitive accepted a ‘Bounty Mission’ to kill a player with 4 PK points. I happen to know a guy with 4 PK points in this city, so I became suspicious that you’re in here. To find out if I was right, I accepted the ‘Bounty Mission’ to hunt for you. And then… I waited at the hall to see if you’d come back to claim your mission reward. In the end, you did.”

Gu Fei sighed after hearing her explanation. One’s identity could easily get exposed when he or she had a high PK value.

“I actually wanted to trail after you back then. Unfortunately, you’re surrounded by Past Deeds’ players. I was preparing to look for you at the spawn point, yet you actually managed to get away,” Will-low said.

“I just got lucky,” Gu Fei said.

“I continued observing your PK value after that. If there was a change again, it would mean that you had accomplished another ‘Bounty Mission’. If that’s the case, you’d surely return to claim your reward. And so, I waited until you appeared again.”

“You’re clever,” Gu Fei smiled wryly, “Now, you’ve managed to catch up to me.”

“Can you do me a favor in exchange for not capturing you?” Will-low winked one of her eyes as she asked this.

“What favor?” Gu Fei asked. She should be aware that her words did not hold much weight to Gu Fei, so she had clearly said that as a joke. He naturally did not think much of her request and only followed up with a question.

“Take off your mask and let me see what you look like,” Will-low requested.

“No,” Gu Fei did not even think of it. It was as if he rejected her out of reflex. Concealing his identity had now become a habit for him.

“Why?” Will-low asked.

“No particular reasons.”

“How can I treat you to a drink if you don’t take your mask off?” Will-low winked again.

“Why do you need to treat me to a drink?” Gu Fei asked.

“Uhm… Since you didn’t agree to my earlier request, I’m changing it to another,” Will-low answered.

Gu Fei remained silent.

“Why did you hunt that fellow called No Smile?” Will-low asked suddenly.

“It’s a request!” Gu Fei explained.

“Can you also accept a request from me to hunt a person?” Will-low requested.

“No,” Gu Fei rejected her once more.

Chapter 76 – Compassion Surging Out

Gu Fei’s rejection made Will-low display an aggrieved look on her face and purse her lips, “Why not?”

Gu Fei sighed, “I still haven’t cleared off all my PK points! Besides, why should I blithely kill someone for no rhyme or reason?”

“What about that No Smile, then?”

“He’s a villain…” Gu Fei suddenly thought that his answer sounded childish, as if he was coaxing a child.

“The person I want you to kill is a villain, too!” Will-low remarked.

“Oh? How villainous?”

“Just follow me!” Will-low urged.

Gu Fei gave it a thought and decided to follow Will-low.

Gu Fei was not familiar with Yueye City. Before long, he completely lost track of the streets and alleyways they had just walked. He saw Will-low halt her footsteps at a certain establishment and knock with a rhythm on its door.

The door opened not long after. A head peeked out from within and looked around in all direction. The person became very nervous when he spotted Gu Fei, “Who’s this guy?”

“Someone I recruited,” Will-low answered.

“Just one?” The person furrowed his brows.

“Let’s get inside first!” Will-low pushed that person aside and dragged Gu Fei in.

The room was smaller than Amethyst Rebirth’s guild house, and only five people including Will-low were on it. Gu Fei was at a loss as he stared at Will-low, waiting for an explanation.

“These guys here have offended a certain someone in this city. Now, they can’t even properly enjoy the game. You can only meet these guys right now, since most are offline. Some even declared that they won’t play Parallel World anymore,” Will-low explained solemnly.

“That bad, huh?” Gu Fei asked.

One of them sighed, “I was killed every time I got spotted. Can’t even join any guild or mercenary group now. How can I continue playing when people treat me like I have the plague and avoid me whenever I’m outside? I reached level 30 before, but now? I’m only at level 23! Can’t even go outside and grind. Those few grinding maps are all we have here. If I want to do a quest I still have to accept one at a fixed location, so I can’t avoid the hunt for me no matter what.”

“Move to another city, then! Stop staying in Yueye City,” Gu Fei reasoned.

“Another city…” one of them mumbled, “Where is it?”

“Trek across the Oolong Mountain Range, and then you’ll be in Yunduan City,” Gu Fei said.

The few people’s pairs of eyes sparkled, as they stood up in unison, “Let’s get going now!”

Will-low interfered immediately, “Hey! Did you guys forget that we still have to settle the score?”

“Settle what score?!” one of them asked impatiently, “We should leave right away while we still can! We don’t have anywhere to hide before, but now we have one. So we should leave this city at once!” One of the few players headed toward the door as he said that. Will-low went forward and tried to pull them back.

“Shut it!” one of them swung his arm and shoved Will-low away. They got out of the door and left, not even looking back once. Will-low stood numbly at one place, feeling extremely aggrieved that tears collected at the side of her eyes.

“Uhh… friends of yours?” Gu Fei asked.

“Maybe!” Will-low wiped the tears before they could fall with her hand.

“Just let them be! Don’t feel too bad! Why don’t you join them and head off to Yunduan City? It’s much more harmonious over there compared to here,” Gu Fei tried to convince her.

“Why’re you here in Yueye City, then?”

“I’m an exception,” Gu Fei felt embarrassed. Although he had already attracted quite a few troubles upon his arrival to Yueye City, he still had a more peaceful time here than in Yunduan City.

“I’m not leaving. I must settle this score,” Will-low said in a firm tone.

“Good luck to you, then!” Gu Fei acknowledged, thinking of leaving as well.

“Please, you’ve got to help me!” Will-low turned her two tearful eyes at Gu Fei as she pleaded, clutching one of his arms.

Gu Fei did not have the kind of soul-stirring resolve to swing his arm away like one of those guys just now. He could only sigh, saying, “It’s not that I don’t want to help, but I’m only here to take refuge. There’s a limit to what I can do, so how can I help you like this?”

“But you even managed to kill Silver Moon,” Will-low’s face was full of expectation.

Gu Fei sighed again, “Who is it that you’re talking about, anyway?”

“Vast Lushness,” Will-low said, “That fellow is vile. All we did was kill-steal monsters, and most were accidental, too. In the end, that vile fellow brought allies along to hunt us repeatedly. That person declared that if any guild or mercenary group dares to take us under their wings, they’ll be annihilated along with us. So we were driven away by everyone like rats all over the city.”

“So tyrannical?!” Gu Fei felt bewildered. This was truly an eye-opener.

Will-low continued, “Now, only Thieves like us can still come online and roam the city using Stealth. The others don’t even dare to appear online anymore.”

“How dreadful,” Gu Fei’s compassion surged out.

“Can you lend me a helping hand, please?” Will-low’s helpless expression had no doubt moved Gu Fei.

Gu Fei nodded his head in the end, “Alright! I’ll give it a try. I’m not guaranteeing anything, though! You also need to help me plan this.”

Will-low’s gloomy demeanor had shifted to one teeming with radiance and grace upon hearing Gu Fei’s promise, “Just say it. What do you need?”

“Go to the Auction House and get me some equipment, especially clothes. It must be different from what I’m currently wearing. If you see accessories with fire attack proc rate, get some of those, too,” Gu Fei instructed her.

“Ah—but I don’t have money on me now!” Will-low was stumped when she heard the kind of help Gu Fei needed.

Gu Fei took out his money pouch, separated 200 gold coins from the rest, and gave them to Will-low, “Now go!”

Will-low accepted the coins, feeling shocked. She looked as if she could not believe that this was happening. She pondered for quite a while, before saying, “You can’t stay inside the house once I leave. I’ll have to add you as a friend to give you access.”

“No need. I’ll just wait outside!” Gu Fei headed outside. He did not want to simply reveal his identity like that.

Will-low activated her Stealth and went to the Auction House while tightly holding on to the gold coins. Gu Fei did not loiter around either. He continued hunting for the target of the ‘Bounty Mission’ that he had accepted previously. Unfortunately, the target was not inside the city. As Gu Fei followed the coordinates, he noticed that he was about to leave the city gate. He was hesitating whether he should continue chasing or not, when he suddenly smacked his forehead. He remembered something crucial.

He did not add Will-low as a friend, so he had no way of contacting her. He quickly retraced his steps while he could still remember the way back. Ultimately, he managed to find the house that Will-low had taken him to earlier. He stepped forward to knock on the door, yet he could see no one when the door finally opened. Will-low canceled Stealth when she saw that it was Gu Fei.

“I thought you had left already!” Will-low vented.

Gu Fei could only smile at that as he stepped inside. Will-low took a bunch of items out of her dimensional pocket and tossed them on the table.

“Flaming Robe: adds 7 points to Intelligence and 10% more to fire damage. It cost 100 gold coins; Fire’s Blessing: a necklace that increases proc rate of additional fire attack by 6%. It cost 10 gold coins; and finally, two different Ring of Flames: the one with additional 7% proc rate cost 10 gold coins, while the one with additional 6% proc rate cost 12 gold coins. There’s an emblem that adds 7% more to fire damage, but I didn’t buy it since it costs 50 gold coins. There’re 68 gold coins remaining. Here, take them back,” Will-low finished explaining the different items and handed the gold coins back to Gu Fei.

“Hmm… Not bad,” Gu Fei said as he inspected the different items in his hands. Actually, he did not know how in-game items were priced. Even if he did know, he could not do anything about it. This was because the way Parallel World’s cities were set up was similar to that of regular MMOs with two different servers: The prices of in-game goods varied from each city or not at all!

Gu Fei swapped his old equipment with the new items. Upon equipping them, Sacred Flames of Baptism’s additional fire attack proc rate reached 49%. This was akin to the fire attack activating with every two slashes. As for his new clothes called Flaming Robe, it boosted Intelligence by 7 points and increased the fire damage dealt by its wearer, making the additional fire attack even more fearsome. Weapons’ additional magic damage could be boosted by a trait that increased magic damage.

After he changed his clothes, Gu Fei asked Will-low, “So where can we find this Vashy Lushy fellow?”

“Not online yet. But I know Vast Lushness’ daily routine! I’ll bring you to that vile person later. And then, I’ll remain on Stealth on the sidelines and see you in action!” Will-low excitedly said.

“We don’t know that for sure yet… I might be the one receiving a beating,” Gu Fei said, “There’re so many of you, yet you all couldn’t do anything to that person… Vast Lushness has a lot of allies, right?”

Will-low nodded her head.

“What’s that person’s job class, anyway?” Gu Fei asked.

“Priest,” Will-low answered.

Gu Fei furrowed his brows, as this was a job class that he had never gone up against before. Among the current seven main job classes in Parallel World, he had zero confrontation with Priests and Knights. After all, these job classes’ current skills were mainly used to assist and support other players. Carrying assaults in the frontline and ambushing others were not their fortes.

Because of Gu Fei’s tendency to overlook these supporting job classes, he had almost no understanding of them. When Brother Assist analyzed the enemies during their assault on No Smile back then, Gu Fei recalled hearing from him that Priests who focused on building their Endurance were hard to kill.

“What sort of Priest build does that person have?” Gu Fei asked Will-low, sounding very professional.

“It’s one focusing on Intelligence and Spirit,” Will-low answered.

Although Priests lacked Strength and Agility, they had great Intelligence and Spirit. Spirit, in particular, was the Priests’ strongest stat. There existed two kinds of Priest builds in Parallel World currently: Endurance-based build, which increased their chances of survival; and Intelligence- and Spirit-based build, which improved their healing spells’ bestowing speed. Most Priests would choose the Endurance-based build. As for those who preferred Intelligence- and Spirit-based build, they were usually experts confident of their ability.

Gu Fei was of course oblivious to all this, but he felt assured upon hearing that this particular Priest did not have an Endurance-based build.

While he was reflecting on this matter, Will-low happily shouted, “Ah! Vast Lushness is online!”

Gu Fei smiled faintly, “You’re probably not this happy whenever that fellow is online before.”

Will-low felt slightly embarrassed, but she regained her composure soon after, “Vast Lushness habitually leaves the Priest Academy to head to the nearest tavern. When they form into a gang, they then head out to grind levels together. But things might be a little different today.”

“Why’s that?” Gu Fei asked.

“Because you just slew their guild leader, Silver Moon,” Will-low explained.

“Your target is someone from Past Deeds, too?”

“Of course it’s someone from Past Deeds, considering how tyrannical that fellow is!” Will-low said dejectedly, before suddenly asking, “Did you really slay Silver Moon in a tavern?”

Gu Fei nodded his head.

“Where?” Will-low spread a map out on the table as she asked.

Gu Fei did not know where it was located, but he still remembered its coordinates. He pointed the location out after roughly searching through the map.

“Silver Moon and his gang are here… They’re probably waiting for Vast Lushness to get online before grinding together. If they waited there earlier, Vast Lushness probably got online at…” Will-low’s finger moved on the map, before stopping and tapping on a designated log-off point nearest to the tavern, “This Mage Academy right here.”