Virtual World: Close Combat Mage
chapter-127

Chapter 127 - How is this possible?

Gu Fei and the ladies made their way back to Yunduan City. Upon reaching the tavern by the east gate, all were about to say goodbye to one another when someone suggested that they had a couple of drinks inside the establishment first.

“I’m gonna log off first,” Will-low bade everyone goodbye, looking visibly burned out. Luring monsters ten levels higher than hers for hours was truly a difficult task for Will-low who wore common-grade equipment and had average gaming skills. Nonetheless, Will-low once again displayed the very same determination that she had previously shown when facing Vast Lushness by not complaining even once during their party’s level grinding. Although Will-low could sometimes only pull one monster, she still determinedly performed her task.

Once she got back to the city, the tiredness that she had been ignoring assailed her full force. Her figure visibly swayed side to side as she waddled onward.

“Are you sure you can manage?” Gu Fei called after Will-low as the ladies rushed forward to support her. Her skinny figure walking down the street like loose flotsam set adrift in the sea was too pitiful a sight that no words could aptly describe it.

“I’m okay!” Will-low waved her hand to reassure them, saying, “I don’t need anyone to hold on to me.” Just as these words slipped past her lips, her body that was feebly staggering forward nearly toppled to the right. The ladies screamingly watched Will-low shoot her hand toward a wall on the right to regain her equilibrium and turn her head around to feebly smile at them, “I’ll use the wall for support.”

No one knew if she had pushed too hard, but as she moved forward while using the wall for support, her energy-drained body suddenly strongly veered to the left. Her left side only had empty space in it. Fortunately, Gu Fei arrived beside Will-low in time to catch her falling body. He then helped her stand upright once more.

All the ladies quickly gathered around the two, thoughtlessly asking Will-low what the matter was in their panic.

“It’s nothing. I’m just feeling a little bit tired,” Will-low softly answered.

I have to log off, too. I’ll accompany you to the safe zone,” Gu Fei offered.

Will-low knew that she would probably be found lying in a ditch like a corpse if she insisted on walking by herself further, so she reluctantly accepted Gu Fei’s offer, “Alright.”

“I’m going as well!” Gu Fei bade the ladies farewell.

“Be careful,” Luo Luo said as she bestowed yet another Heal on to Gu Fei.

M*th*rf*ck*r! Gu Fei cursed in his heart, silently expressing his vexation.

Despite his Mage body’s inherently weak Strength, he found it easy to support Will-low on their way to a safe zone. This was because her skinny frame barely weighed a thing.

Gu Fei was truly very unlucky. He had spent days and nights roaming the city in hopes of encountering highwaymen and such, yet it was only now, when he did not want them around, that they chose to appear before him.

After walking for two streets, the log-off point finally appeared just ahead of Gu Fei and Will-low. It was at this moment that they bumped into a group. It was the group of the black-capped Warrior and his six companions.

This coincidental meeting stunned both parties for a good while until one of the black-capped Warrior’s companions recovered himself and shouted, “That’s him!”

The seven men instantly dispersed; the Archer and Mage went to the rear of their group, the Knight began to bless his friends’ stats, the Thief entered Stealth, and the Fighter and Warrior began to close in on Gu Fei and Will-low. Eyeing them, Gu Fei suddenly realized that the seven men had coincidentally taken up the seven different job classes – the legendary Calabash Brothers finally appeared!

“Where’s that Mage friend of yours?!” someone among them hollered this question. Evidently, they were still feeling enraged that Drifting had insta-killed the five of them last time. Whereas the black-capped Warrior who had been shot to death by Royal God Call only had to spend two hours in prison, the rest of them that that had died from PvP lost a level each. The experience points that the six had lost with their deaths were not something that they could recover by grinding for just two hours.

“My friend here isn’t feeling well, so I’ll help her get to the log-off point first. I’ll come back to settle the matter between us after,” Gu Fei seriously addressed the seven men that that had just finished setting up their PvP formation.

The seven swept their gazes over at Will-low and saw that she indeed could barely stand on her feet. Some revealed hesitation, yet black-capped Warrior ruthlessly said, “That’s okay. We’ll help you get to the spawn point fast. By dying, that is. You two can go there without needing to walk, so treat this as us doing you a favor!”

The other six thought that this statement was an excellent excuse, so their previous hesitation instantly vanished.

“Get him!” the black-capped Warrior shouted. He took the lead by darting toward Gu Fei.

Gu Fei did not expect the Calabash Brothers to instantly start a fight right after saying that they would. This straightforward attitude of theirs could definitely let them accomplish big things. Many ambitious and heroic men would often hesitate and second-guess themselves at the decisive moments, allowing their opponents to counterattack or turn the tables on them.

Currently, however, Gu Fei saw them as nothing but a few pesky flies that needed to be swatted. Although Gu Fei wanted to fight with the six men back at the tavern, he did not intend to kill them off. PvP did not equate to a fight to the death, after all. It was similar to how one-on-one matches over grinding maps qualified as PvP despite them stopping short before any of the representatives got killed. Gu Fei also had this thought and only wanted to play around with them earlier. Drifting’s three-man team intervening and audaciously killing the six men was truly outside his expectation. When he recalled what had happened a while ago, Gu Fei could not help but feel somewhat sorry for the six.

If Gu Fei encountered the six at another time, he would probably treat them with leniency. The current circumstance was different, however. Gu Fei resolved to deal with the opposing party rather ruthlessly after seeing how the Archer and Fighter had the nerve to strike first at the worn out Will-low instead of coming at him. Not wanting to implicate the innocent Will-low any further, he hurriedly pulled her to the side to dodge the attacks.

It was one thing for him to carry Will-low down the street, it was another thing entirely for him to evade attacks with her in tow. Unfortunately, Gu Fei and Will-low failed to dodge fast enough, so although the Archer’s arrow missed Will-low, the Fighter’s punch managed to strike her side.

Will-low endured the blow without making a sound and told Gu Fei to not worry about her. Gritting her teeth, she drew out a dagger. Her fighting spirit was still raring to go!

Gu Fei felt relieved when he heard the black-capped Warrior suddenly say, “Don’t attack that woman.” Just as he was about to thank the Warrior for his leniency, the latter continued his words, “That woman would serve as a great handicap for him. We’ll deal with her after killing him.”

“Despicable!” Gu Fei felt utter contempt for the black-capped Warrior, causing his resolve to deal with them mercilessly to become firmer. After telling Will-low to “Hang in there!” he drew his sword from his dimensional pocket and weaved his way toward the black-capped Warrior.

These men had experienced Gu Fei’s speed before. Seeing Gu Fei close in on him, the black-capped Warrior did not try to move out of the way and instead chose to stick his sword out to unleash Cyclone. Unfortunately for the Warrior, Gu Fei was much more dexterous with his hands. A sword imbued with Twin Incineration arrived by the black-capped Warrior before he could start his Cyclone.

“You’re a Mage?!” the black-capped Warrior asked, shocked. He only learned of Gu Fei’s job class after hearing him chant. His surprise was only up to that, however. With his Cyclone about to commence, the black-capped Warrior wholly disregarded Gu Fei’s Twin Incineration. Unexpectedly, he felt a sense of fatigue accompanied by a burning sensation overcome him as he was engulfed by Twin Incineration.

“How is this possible?!” He had already been transported to the Warrior Encampment by the time he finished uttering his question.

When he was still the target of Royal God Call’s ‘Bounty Mission’ earlier, he could still withstand a Snipe and Double Shot before succumbing to Homing Projectile, so he found it inconceivable right now that just one mage spell could insta-kill him.

Gu Fei would probably find this matter unbelievable as well if he were still a newbie in this game. After all, Twin Incineration had low damage output.

As he had been playing Parallel World for over a month, he of course had long realized the source of his attack’s abnormally high damage output. His Twin Incineration’s locus would swing out a flame arc using the medium he had used to cast the spell; the entire arc would then become Twin Incineration. Since Gu Fei was using Moonlit Nightfalls to unleash this spell, the arc would be created using his sword. If the blade connected with the target, the damage dealt would not just come from the Twin Incineration spell but also from Moonlit Nightfalls itself.

This was not a problem that any average Mages would notice. Besides the fact that Mages rarely used Twin Incineration, the physical damage caused by magic staves was negligible.

Gu Fei was truly an anomaly among the Mages as his weapon of choice was a sword like Moonlit Nightfalls instead of a magic staff.

Moonlit Nightfalls’ Physical Damage was actually monstrously high, and it was only due to Gu Fei’s low Sword Aptitude that the weapon’s maximum damage could not be unleashed.

Luring monsters, gathering them into a group, and casting an AOE spell on the monsters were not how Gu Fei usually grinded. When he solo grinded, he always depended on his kung fu’s sword style to fight monsters at close range.

At present, Gu Fei would engage opponents by incorporating Twin Incineration into his sword style. He treated this move as a way to boost the attack power of his sword style.

If Gu Fei’s proficiency in most spells was much lower than the average Mages, then Twin Incineration would be the one spell in which he would have a higher proficiency compared to most Mages.

The damage of spells would naturally rise when the proficiency for them rose. When Gu Fei grinded his way from level 31 to 39, he noted a visible increase to the Physical Damage that his Moonlit Nightfalls could deal. This meant that his Sword Aptitude was also on the rise as he gained additional points for his stats with his every level up. Of course, adding points toward Agility could also have a certain relation to his Sword Aptitude, but that possibility was still uncertain.

Whatever the case might be, Twin Incineration was indubitably Gu Fei’s strongest move at present. Insta-killing any job classes was therefore not a problem for him.

The six men were stupefied upon seeing the black-capped Warrior get insta-killed. Nonetheless, they did not retreat with just that as they still held numerical superiority. They were currently thinking how their dead comrade should not have enraged Gu Fei by shouting out to remind them to keep the lady alive so that she could be a handicap to him. The shout caused their target to let go of the lady and go straight for the black-capped Warrior’s jugular instead.

With such a thought, the Fighter among them once more charged toward Will-low. He intended to let her become Gu Fei’s burden again.

“Fireball! Shoot!” Gu Fei hurled a ball of fire at the Fighter while he bounded toward the Knight.

Hearing Gu Fei summon out Fireball, the Fighter turned around and saw a ball of fire heading his way minus the spell-caster. He laughed inside him as he thought that Gu Fei had targeted the wrong person in his panic. The Fighter then ignored the ball of fire flying his way.

When searing heat overwhelmed his body next, he bewilderedly searched for the pain’s origin. “How is this possible?!” The Fighter had already been transported to the Fighters’ Dojo by the time he finished uttering this question.

Could one Fireball actually be packing so much power?! The Fighter was no longer seeking the answer to this question. Instead, he was now wondering about how Fireball hit him even though he did not see Gu Fei aiming the spell at him just now.

Far away, Gu Fei was laughing mirthlessly. Naturally, a little advanced calculation was in order for him to hit a moving target….

Since Gu Fei considered the Fireball spell as something like the hidden weapons that were commonly used during kung fu spars, he fired it off using the kung fu method for hurtling those hidden weapons. In reality, properly hitting someone with a hidden weapon was hard, as aiming correctly with his eyes and adjusting the proper force in his arms were required for a hidden weapon to successfully hit a target. In Parallel World, he did not need to waste effort into doing all that, since the game’s system itself would do the general targeting as long as he directed the ball of fire at a target beforehand. Gu Fei only had to note the movement speed of the target and the ball of fire before aiming at a point where both would most likely meet.

This was the knowledge people needed to have in order for them to hit a moving target with their hidden weapons.

The only regrettable thing in this game was the slow flying speed of Fireball. Dodging the spell was easy as long as a target was conscious of it. Fortunately, no one would consciously dodge it, as none suspected that the Fireball spell could be used the way Gu Fei had just used it. Since Fireball could track its target, most people would shoot it directly at their targets. In fact, it was a beginner spell that people usually used to interrupt others’ attacks, so who would actually use Fireball as a killing move? Gu Fei would, apparently.

The newly revived Fighter at his job class’ spawn point simply could not wrap his head around what had just happened. He finally chalked it all up to coincidence, with him accidentally running into the ball of fire’s flight path and bumping into it.

At this very moment, Gu Fei already made it to his third target: the Knight.

Knight and Priest were essentially support job classes. Knights had a higher fighting capability than Priests. But since both job classes had yet to gain any strong attack skills, they could not make any impact when it came to PvP.

Meanwhile, Gu Fei already dispatched two of his seven opponents, displaying the powerful impact he had in this current PvP.

Although the Knight promptly retreated, the faster Gu Fei was still able to launch an attack on him from three meters away. Raising the sword in his hand, Gu Fei stabbed it in the direction of the Knight.

“What’s going on?” the Knight mumbled to himself. He’s clearly three meters away from me, so how could his sword reach me from this distance? What sort of move is this? His heart trembled, thinking that he was about to get insta-killed.

The answer arrived very quickly.

Three meters away from the Knight, a Thief slowly appeared where Gu Fei had plunged his sword into.

“How is this possible?!” The Thief managed to voice out his disbelief at the actual PvP scene this time.

In their previous skirmish back at the tavern, the Thief assumed that he had accidentally bumped into something inside the crowded establishment, which canceled his Stealth and inadvertently allowed Gu Fei to see and launch a kick at him. Right now, they were in a wide, empty street, so how did this person penetrate his Stealth?

Regrettably, Gu Fei did not provide the Thief much time to think as he closed in on him while yelling, “Ring of Fire! Release!”

Gu Fei casted and dismissed the Ring of Fire spell in mere moments. Touching the Thief ever so slightly, the short-lived flame orb managed to make the Thief disappear along with it.

Using Twin Incineration would be much more efficient, but Gu Fei’s assault on the group was so fast that the spell had yet to finish its cool-down period.

Assuming that he was next in line to be killed by Gu Fei, the Knight readied himself to surrender. Unexpectedly, Gu Fei pointed his blade’s tip toward the Mage and Archer by the far end of the road that was still within his attacking range. “Blazing Tree of a Thousand Inferno! Arise!” he chanted.

These two with long-range job classes did not even manage to hit Gu Fei a while ago, and now they could only stand from afar and watch as their three comrades got eliminated by Gu Fei. Just as they were about to nock another arrow and cast another spell, Gu Fei had unexpectedly casted Blazing Tree of a Thousand Inferno toward their direction.

The Mage wanted to persist with his casting, yet he was slower than Gu Fei by a word. Hearing Gu Fei finish his incantation, the two pointlessly pranced around as they waited for the flames’ emergence beneath their feet. Blazing Tree of a Thousand Inferno was a spell that rose from the ground, and there was a rumor stating that the damage received from it would get reduced if the players pranced about while within its AOE.

Gu Fei shifted his attention away from the two as he darted toward Will-low who was swaying here and there. She looked as if she was about to bump on to a wall once more. Like before, Gu Fei managed to catch her falling body in the nick of time.

“F*ck! That liar didn’t actually cast a spell!” The Archer Mage started to make a run for it when they saw that no flames were rising from the ground.They looked back after running for a short distance and what should have been a street filled with raging inferno was instead tranquil and fire-free. Moreover, Gu Fei was already beside the girl and was supporting her upright.

After getting some distance away, they stopped running to ready up an arrow and chant the spell once more. Just then, the Archer and Mage suddenly felt searing heat from beneath their feet. Looking down, they saw the flames that steadily grew in ferocity had suddenly burgeoned from the ground. This was indeed the Blazing Tree of a Thousand Inferno spell.

“How is this possible?!” The two shrieked as they flew toward their respective respawn points.

“Idiots! Of course, I’ll always calculate my attacks in advance when dealing with moving targets,” Gu Fei mumbled to himself as he propped Will-low up beside him. He asked, “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine… Kung fu’s really amazing, I wanna learn it…” Will-low said in a soft voice.

“You’ll have the chance,” Gu Fei smiled. His gaze went toward the remaining two players: the Knight and the Priest.

The two’s hearts thumped as they each took a step backward.

“We’re in a hurry, so we’re gonna leave first,” Gu Fei nodded his head toward the two as he carried Will-low off step by step. Their figures disappeared after taking a turning in a corner further down the road.

“How is this possible?!” the Knight and Priest asked as they looked at each other, only finding their voices just then.

“Are we not killing those two?” Will-low asked Gu Fei.

“Nope,” Gu Fei nodded his head, “They didn’t attack us.”

“Oh…” Will-low answered. That was actually not a valid reason since Knights and Priests would not be the ones attacking when there was a PvP. Thus, suspicion lingered in her gaze.

“Uhm. Actually, we’re about to head to the Priest Academy to log off. If I kill him, he may hinder us once he respawns,” Gu Fei explained.

“You’re afraid of a Priest blocking you?” Will-low asked, surprised.

“Okay, fine! I admit it!” Gu Fei could no longer stand her probing. He sheepishly whispered into Will-low’s ear, “I ran out of mana.…”

Will-low was speechless once she heard the real reason.

“Rest up well!” Gu Fei told Will-low once they arrived at the log-off point and prepared to get offline.

The next day, Royal God Call’s moaning was the first thing that greeted him when Gu Fei got online: “You’re finally here, big bro. I’ve waited for you so long till my heart is now in pieces.”

Gu Fei waved his hand grandly, “Go pick up your ‘Bounty Mission’!”

“Okay!” Royal God Call happily went to the Quest Assignment Hub to obtain a new ‘Bounty Mission’.

Gu Fei limbered up and looked at his friends list. His newly added friend, Drifting, was indeed a gaming expert, as he was still online even now. Gu Fei wondered when such a talented gamer like him would get offline.

Gu Fei greeted Drifting and asked if his team was going to grind levels together with them like yesterday.

“We’re starting now? That’s a lot earlier than yesterday!” Drifting was in shock. As an experienced expert, he naturally realized that Gu Fei, Luo Luo, and the rest of the ladies would only grind at a specific time. These so-called white-collar gamers would usually have a set time in which they would grind daily.

“No. Not yet.” Seeing that Luo Luo, Will-low, and Ice Glaze were not online yet, he asked, “It should be around 7 P.M. or so. Are you guys coming, then?”

“Of course, we are. We found a good place where the grinding efficiency would surely be higher,” Drifting offered.

What an expert indeed, Gu Fei sighed in admiration. Despite being a foreign player and arriving in Yunduan City not too long ago, Drifting still managed to find an amazing grinding spot.

“I’ll see you later, then,” Gu Fei replied.

“See you later.”

After setting a time and place, Gu Fei decided to walk down the street in a carefree way as he had nothing to do at the moment. He was hoping to run into some trouble once more.

Reality remained the same for him, though. When he needed something, it never appeared. Gu Fei wandered all over the city, from the east streets to the west streets and from the south streets to the north streets. He even wandered around the trading main street and the four trading side streets, which were crowded with people. Unfortunately, not one person rushed to Gu Fei with a blade in hand, so he left despondently.

Just as he got bored of walking around and looked for a place to rest, Royal God Call sent him message. “HELP!” Royal God Call called out in English again.

Gu Fei was elated. There would surely be a fight when Royal God Call called out. He quickly replied, “Where is it? Is the target a man or a woman? How many people around? How arrogant and how evil is this person?”

Royal God Call replied, “I have yet to see the target.”

“What?” Gu Fei asked, perplexed.

“This person’s raving mad. The coordinates that are updated every minute indicate that the target never stops moving inside the city. I have no idea where he or she is going. I’ve been chasing the target but I’ve yet to see him or her even now. I reckon I got near this person’s coordinates twice. But this person’s moving so fast that he or she might even be faster than me! Lend me your boots for a while. Else, I can’t catch up to the target,” Royal God Call explained in length.

“Oh. Where are you?”

They set up a meeting spot. Gu Fei arrived first. After waiting for two minutes, Royal God Call suddenly sent a message, “Mhm. This noob doesn’t seem to be moving anymore.”

“Is that so? Guess I’m not needed anymore? I’m leaving, then.”

“Go ahead!” In truth, Royal God Call felt somewhat embarrassed to bother Gu Fei like so. A good blade should only be used with a good handle; meaning, Gu Fei should only be asked to help resolve difficulties only at the most crucial moments.

Unexpectedly, the new coordinates that that had refreshed in the next minute were a different set once more. Royal God Call controlled himself and observed everything for a few more minutes, and the coordinates once again began to become erratic and unpredictable.

Royal God Call felt absolutely helpless right now, so he could only send another call for help toward Gu Fei.

“I’ll wait for you to come over and take my boots.” Gu Fei felt pissed as well, offering, “I can help you slay that person, too.”

With the location set once more, Gu Fei was the first to reach the location again. Two minutes later, Royal God Call discovered that the coordinates had refreshed at the same spot twice. He began to realize that something was not quite right.

When he got to the place, he raised his head and looked. He then blinked his eyes rapidly as he felt like fainting.

Gu Fei quickly stepped toward Royal God Call and passed the Windchaser’s Boots over. He said, “Take it.”

Royal God Call expressionlessly said, “You should commit suicide!”

“What?”

“I said you should commit suicide!” Royal God Call repeated himself.

“What are you talking about?!”

Royal God Call finally let the cat out of the bag, “Oh, g*dd*mn you – you PK maniac! Killing people left and right when you’re bored. Did you not slay five people yesterday?”

“How did you know?” Gu Fei asked, blinking his eyes.

“Fugitive 31548; PK value: 5 points. F*ck! Yunduan City’s number one PKer is always you! Big bro, I beg of you, find something new to do! Can’t you give others a chance? Stop occupying that spot!” Royal God Call was in tears as he pleaded.

Gu Fei finally understood what was happening and he laughed in amusement, “You got me?”

“Yup. You’ve already said you will help me slay the target. Go ahead and commit suicide!” Royal God Call exclaimed in frustration.

“Calm down, young man!” Gu Fei patted Royal God Call’s head.

“At this rate, when will I be able to consecutively complete a hundred ‘Bounty Mission’! I’ve already lost quite a lot of experience points over these past two days bounty hunting; now, I gotta start all over again!” Royal God Call groaned.

“I said calm down!” Gu Fei told him, adding, “Wait until my PK value drops to 1 point, and then send me to jail!”

“What?!” Royal God Call asked, shocked. He never imagined that Gu Fei would be willing to sacrifice himself like this.

“Isn’t it just two hours? That’s no big deal,” Gu Fei said generously.

“That’s….”

“It’s settled, then,” Gu Fei patted him. He said, “Pass me that emblem and I’ll drop my PK value down to 1 point.”

Royal God Call stiffly passed Gu Fei back his emblem.

“Follow me and you just might learn something!” Gu Fei said. Killing two ‘Bounty Mission’ targets was easy for him, after all.

Royal God Call glanced at the time, “Aren’t you and the girls about to begin grinding?”

Gu Fei looked at his friends list. The names of all the ladies were already lit, indicating that they were all online.

“Go ahead! Your PK value will be 1 point by the time your level grinding ends,” Royal God Call said. Gu Fei was already a big help to him, so how could Royal God Call shamelessly say something like: “Don’t go grinding. Keep on killing targets till you reach 1 PK point, so I can send you directly to jail”? Proposing something like that was truly awkward. Even if Gu Fei himself thought of doing such thing, Royal God Call would definitely be compelled to stop him. Therefore, he urged Gu Fei to grind levels.

“Mhm-mhm. So wait for me till then!” Gu Fei also felt that it was inappropriate for him to not show up after making arrangements to grind levels with Drifting.

“Wait!” Royal God Call suddenly cried out, saying, “Won’t this mean that I will have nothing to do? I’ll come along with you, then!”

“Oh, that’s cool,” Gu Fei nodded his head.