Virtual World: Close Combat Mage
chapter-172

Chapter 172 - An Epiphany

The sun was already shining brightly, be it in-game or in reality, so a vibrant morning greeted everyone today.

A soft breeze gently carried several flyers away like string-less kites above Brave Surge’s head. Sadly, Brave Surge was not in a bright and cheery mood today. With a wave of his hand, a ball of fire formed and shot toward the scattered posters on the ground, burning them into fine ash that the wind blew away.

Brave Surge’s search for a certain Mage still came up with nothing even though it was already daytime, ruining his mood immensely. Furthermore, the men he had asked to investigate this Xi Xiaotian person discovered that she was quite a popular character in the trading community. Many claimed that the prices she put forth for any kinds of in-game goods were always fair and that she had a good grasp of the pricing of items in Yunduan City.

“Is she a professional trader, then?” Brave Surge wrinkled his brows in distaste. He had always hated this sort of gamers. He viewed any player who would rather do business online instead of play the game seriously as extremely distasteful.

Brave Surge had never considered this sort of players as having any value. Even if I die, I won’t let that Xi Xiaotian lady earn 1000 gold coins from me, he resolved to himself. And yet, he could not help but worry about Foe-herder’s side. If Xi Xiaotian sought Foe-herder next, he would probably pay the stated price… After all, Foe-herder did not show enough restraint back when they were leaving the tavern.

Seeing that Foe-herder was still showing as online on his friends list, Brave Surge sent him a message: “What are you up to?”

“I just finished clearing off my PK value, so I’m about to log off.” Foe-herder exhaled deeply in relief.

“Any leads on your end?” Brave Surge asked.

“Nope… I’ll wait till midday before deciding on what to do next. Few people are online at night,” Foe-herder replied.

“Did that lady from the tavern look for you again?” Brave Surge was not in the mood to beat around the bush, so he promptly asked him this question.

“Nah,” Foe-herder replied, saying, “Are you still thinking about her? You’re insane! 1000 gold coins? I believe 100 gold coins will more than suffice to loosen the lips of those from Amethyst Rebirth. It’s just a name, and it’s not even a guarantee that he can be poached even if his name is revealed to others. Surely, they wouldn’t be too cautious and discreet just to refrain themselves from revealing a name, right?”

“Mmm... You’re right,” Brave Surge answered. This was indeed another method he had been thinking about.

“Okay, that’s enough for now. I’m really tired, so I’m logging off,” With that last line, Foe-herder promptly went offline.

Brave Surge was also feeling extremely tired at the moment. He immediately sent out a notice on the guild channel for the players who were online in the day to continue the matter. The guild would reward the person accordingly as long as he or she had information on the target.

After making all the necessary arrangements, Brave Surge and his friends were about to head off toward the nearest log-off point, the Mage Academy, as well when a bellow came from behind them: “‘Bounty Mission’! Please leave if you’re not involved!”

Brave Surge froze. He had PK value on him. Although he was not as crazy as Foe-herder with his 28 PK points, he had still killed off quite a few of those shameless swindlers hours ago.

Brave Surge had accumulated 6 PK points overnight. He had even reminded Foe-herder who was crazily erasing his PK points about it, so that he would not accidentally pick up the ‘Bounty Mission’ targeting him. Who would have guessed that someone else would still target him in the end? This doesn’t make sense at all! Besides that anomaly Foe-herder, who would actually pick up a ‘Bounty Mission’ with 6 PK points? Oh, it’s now 5 PK points; not too far off from 4 PK points, in fact.

Brave Surge and his friends slowly turned around to look at the illogical person and instantly felt tears welling up in their eyes.

It was truly a matter of searching repeatedly among the crowd, as the person that they were looking for was currently standing before them.

Brave Surge was overcome with emotions, so he stuttered for the longest time as he pointed at the Mage, “You – You – You....”

Right before him was Gu Fei in the flesh. As a physical education teacher, he usually did not have classes in the morning. Still, he also usually did not get online to play games at this time of the day. It just so happened that Gu Fei had managed to reach level 40 after the two matches last night, so he was hoping to do his Job Class Advancement now to experiment with it in the upcoming PvP tournament tonight. This was why he had hurriedly rushed back to play the game after his morning exercises.

After getting online, he immediately made his way to the Mage Academy, coincidentally passing by the Bounty Assignment Hall.

Checking the Wanted Players list must have become a habit of his after spending over a month doing ‘Bounty Mission’. As if Gu Fei was guided by the Grim Reaper, he entered the hall and took a glance at the Wanted Players list. Discovering a rarely seen, lovely fat lamb worth of 5 PK points in Yunduan City, Gu Fei delightfully laughed. By the time he finished laughing, he was already out of the hall with that ‘Bounty Mission’ on his mission log.

Gu Fei was very experienced when it came to doing ‘Bounty Mission’ and immediately confirmed that the target was within the city with a glance at the coordinates. He resolved to do this ‘Bounty Mission’ first before starting off his day.

Royal God Call who had completed his one hundred consecutive ‘Bounty Mission’ received a Windchaser’s Emblem of his own, so he returned Gu Fei’s Windchaser’s Emblem right away. With the minute-long refresh rate of the coordinates, Gu Fei quickly determined the direction that his target was heading: the Mage Academy.

Gu Fei felt extremely gratified. He would be able to advance his job class after slaying his target; how very convenient this was! Passing through an alley on his way toward the Mage Academy, he spotted his ‘Bounty Mission’ target just ahead him and abruptly shouted his signature warning: “‘Bounty Mission’! Please leave if you’re not involved!”

The target and several men beside him slowly turned around, suddenly looking extremely emotional. His target even pointed at him while incessantly stuttering, “You – You – You—”

Gu Fei finished his line for his target, “That’s right, it’s you. The rest of you, make way!” Fearing that his target would run off, he quickened his pace for a few steps. When he got close enough to his target, he realized that the person looked quite familiar. Pondering for a moment, he blurted out, “Oh, it’s you! Carouse’s guild leader!”

“Ah, that’s right! It’s me! We’ve met before.” Brave Surge felt pleased that the Mage had recognized him, making it a lot easier to talk to him!

In the end, Gu Fei excitedly rubbed his hands, “So my target is an expert! How exciting!” With that, he took out his Moonlit Nightfalls from his dimensional pocket, gazed at the other men beside Brave Surge, and asked, “Are you guys going to join in?”

The men looked at one another before gazing at Brave Surge.

“Wait a minute!” Brave Surge hurriedly shouted, “We’ve actually been looking for you the entire night!”

“He he... I know,” Gu Fei casually shot his hand out and grabbed hold of a piece of paper flying in the air. Taking a look at it, he recited aloud, “‘Looking for a male Mage who found his way into Amethyst Rebirth Guild. Please contact me if anyone has information about this man. HUGE CASH REWARD AWAITING YOU!’ Mmm... Did you guys distribute all these flyers?”

Brave Surge shook his head, “What you’re holding isn’t ours.” He then used his foot to indicate the posters littering the pavement, “These are ours.”

“Must be tough distributing all that…” Gu Fei remarked sincerely. He had seen quite a lot of these posters on his way here, which meant that these people had put a lot of effort into doing this stuff. Had he not been in a rush, he would have been very willing to entertain these people by following the instructions to contact the person stated on those posters.

“No. It’s all worth it,” Brave Surge humbly replied.

Gu Fei took two steps forward and crooked his head to look at the posters on the ground, “Mmm… This says ‘huge cash reward awaiting you’ as well. How much is that? Now that I’ve delivered myself to you, shouldn’t I have double the reward or something?”

Brave Surge felt stunned before quickly saying, “Yes, that makes sense. Name your price!” In order to show how much he valued this person, Brave Surge decided to please him as best as he could. Handing even 1000 gold coins to him is definitely better than giving it to that Xi Xiaotian. Even if I fail to poach him over, he will at least think highly of me.

However, Gu Fei merely laughed, “What price? I was just pulling your leg.” He then swung his sword about, creating a dark purple streak as it flashed by. “Come!” Gu Fei became focused as he assumed a fighting stance.

“Come what?” Brave Surge asked, shocked.

“‘Bounty Mission’! You’re my target,” Gu Fei replied.

After wasting half a day getting nowhere, Brave Surge almost wanted to faint when he heard Gu Fei’s words. He hurriedly said, “Don’t be in such a rush. Listen to why I’m looking for you first.”

“I know why you’re looking for me. You want to recruit me into your guild! No need to. I’m satisfied with my current guild,” Gu Fei said.

Gu Fei was holed up in the room at the back when Brave Surge went to Ray’s Bar to inquire about him. Naturally, he would have an inkling of why Brave Surge was looking for him.

Brave Surge already knew that it would not be that easy. Even taking the perspective of secular players into consideration, successfully joining an all-female guild could be considered as a dream fulfilled for many of them.

Gu Fei had already attained what he wanted in a guild based on this viewpoint alone, so even a bigger guild would not change his mind. Unless it’s an all-female guild with even more beauties in it.

“Amethyst Rebirth… What’s the point of being in a small guild like that?” Brave Surge decided to emphasize on the all-female guild’s mediocrity to change Gu Fei’s mind.

“You’re right, there’s no particular meaning whatsoever,” Gu Fei nodded his head in agreement.

“So come join our large guild!” Brave Surge was almost jumping out of his skin. Could it be that he had unlocked a special magical power that could change people’s minds with a few simple words?

“A bigger guild would also have no meaning whatsoever,” Gu Fei continued.

Brave Surge woke up to reality as the realization that he had been thinking nonsense hit him, “What do you mean?”

Gu Fei waved the sword in his hand, “Come, already!”

“Oh…” Brave Surge furrowed his brows as he finally saw Gu Fei for what he was: a PvP maniac!

This sort of talent should definitely not stay in that female guild! Brave Surge felt that this was even more so. Staring at Gu Fei with hurried gaze, he said, “Hmm. Since that’s the case, let’s make a wager. We’ll have a duel. If you lose, join my guild; if you win, I’ll—”

“If I win, you’ll head to jail, as simple as that. No need to come up with extra penalty of our own,” Gu Fei interrupted.

“If you win, I’ll give this magic staff to you,” Brave Surge continued as he took out his blue magic staff.