Virtual World: Close Combat Mage
chapter-341

Chapter 341 - A Temporary Truce

Brother Assist’s shock was nothing compared to Sword Demon’s excitement, as his eyes literally lit up when he heard this. “Are you for real?”

“It’s just a rumor,” Deep Waters replied and everybody settled down.

“That’s wonderful.” It was rare for Sword Demon to get so excited. In actuality, Parallel World was an extremely challenging affair for the heavy smokers out there. Plenty of players looking melancholic and irate were entirely due to their addiction to smoking, which the MMO had been unable to help stem. This sort of suffering was something non-smokers would never understand.

Not smoking for twenty-four hours straight was a lot harder for Sword Demon than grinding on monsters for twenty-four hours straight. His old IGN ‘Smoking Addict’ was not just for show. Rumors had it that two pounds of cigarette ash could be found in the keyboard he often used, and that was only the ash that accidentally fell between the crevices.

Actually, a big reason why the all-powerful Sword Demon in other MMOs was looking more sullen in Parallel World was precisely because this craving of his could not be fulfilled. “Give me a cigarette” was already an unattainable dream for Sword Demon, so anyone could imagine just how huge this news that Deep Waters had shared with him was.

“I’ll help you ask around,” Brother Assist told Sword Demon.

Sword Demon nodded his head vigorously.

With this topic concluded as well as the introduction and small talk out of the way, Deep Waters took his identity as a local seriously and asked with a wave of his hand, “Gentlemen, what are your plans for tonight?”

The mercenaries looked at one another before answering, “This city seems to be more dangerous than Yueye City, so we think it’s better to keep a low profile.”

“Let me give you all a casual tour around the city, then. This way, when someone asks you guys what Linyin City is like, you will at least have something good to say about this place,” Deep Waters offered.

“Is there a need for this?” They clearly had no interest in sightseeing.

“You guys have nothing to do anyway, right?” Deep Waters chuckled before asking this.

“Why don’t we go erase our PK value?” Royal God Call suggested. He had originally wanted to do some questing, but the first quest he had come across needed him to head into the jungle and look for a certain NPC there. As such, Royal God Call unhesitatingly abandoned the said quest. Arriving at a foreign city like this, for someone who would even lose his way when walking down the main avenue in a city, it would probably take him a lifetime to find his way out if he were to wander in the jungle by himself.

This suggestion caused Deep Waters’ eyebrow to twitch. These mercenaries’ PK value was undoubtedly earned at the expense of his guildmates’ lives. Deep Waters knew that these experts before him were the reason why his guild had incurred quite a heavy loss this time around. That Drifting fellow also killed quite a handful by himself. Deep Waters had previously received intel about a female Thief with superb killing prowess; he had no idea on who it was at first, but after that earlier incident at the spawn point, he now knew that the female Thief who had torn into his guild like wet paper was none other than the top level player in Parallel World, Svelte Dancer.

“What do you guys think? Let’s go do it. Since Deep Waters is offering to tour us, he can lead the way for us!” Royal God Call suggested in earnest.

“Aren’t you the only one who needs someone to lead the way?” Young Master Han had already seen through Royal God Call’s intention. Given how directionally challenged he was, how would he manage to do something like ‘Bounty Mission’ in a city he was unfamiliar with when it required him to know how to read coordinates? As such, he was trying to get Deep Waters to guide him – a truly crafty request, indeed.

“This guy here is helpless when it comes to directions,” Sword Demon explained Royal God Call’s dilemma to Deep Waters. “Royal doing this sort of mission alone will only end with him getting lost, instead.”

“But you all can’t possibly pick the same target for the ‘Bounty Mission’!” Deep Waters exclaimed.

“You don’t need to guide all of us. Just help Royal out. We can easily manage on our own,” Sword Demon and the rest said.

With this discussion settled, everyone readied their gear and then set off. Only Young Master Han remained seated.

“What about you?” Deep Waters cast him a sidelong glance. He was aware of this man’s quirks and knew for certain that Young Master Han did not have a PK point to his name.

Standing up, Young Master Han answered, “I’m going to discuss how to take care of your d*mn guild tomorrow.”

Deep Waters’ eyes shone when he heard this, but Young Master Han’s next words effectively put a stop to his budding plan. “Don’t bother sending Thieves to follow me. Look.” Young Master Han brought two pouches up Deep Waters’ eye level.

Deep Waters naturally recognized those pouches to be the same as what the players of Linyin City used to store Whitestone Dust.

“I’ve bought two pouches of that dust while strolling along the streets; I’d recommend you guys to do the same,” Young Master Han said.

Deep Waters was speechless. There was indeed such a business thriving in Linyin City; after all, not every player was willing or even diligent enough to make the long trip between the two cities just for the Whitestone Dust. Therefore, with this sort of thinking, some players sold this item to the locals. Realistically, players would not earn much from such transactions, so mainly the poor newbies would sell this stuff.

These men chatted until the tavern entrance and then split up, with Young Master Han walking off alone, while Deep Waters brought the others over to Linyin City’s Bounty Assignment Hall. This was Brother Assist’s first time doing ‘Bounty Mission’, so he was the most excited among these men. Knights and Priests were merely support job classes before level 40. Upon reaching level 40, they could choose between the two paths of Light and Darkness. The Priest job class possibly had the most diverging paths as far as Job Class Advancement went.

Holy Knights would continue to focus on blessings and even gaining access to some healing spells from the Priest job class. This was also when they would gain access to the highly anticipated group buff: party-wide skill. As for the other job classes, they could only learn a few basic tactical skills.

Meanwhile, the Dark Knights would go down the path of slaughter. Instead of blessings, this job class’s skills would be filled with death and malice, allowing players who advanced into this to become a proper combat job class. Having chosen to be a Dark Knight, Brother Assist would no longer have to hang back in every fight they came across. The recent large-scale battle they just participated in Linyin City was the first time Brother Assist had tainted himself with PK points.

Although this was an entirely violent event, since it was his first time killing another player, Brother Assist considered it as a wonderful experience. Right now, he could not help but be a little excited at the prospect of doing ‘Bounty Mission’.

When they arrived at a certain corner of the street, Deep Waters suddenly halted his steps. Straining his neck and peeking over a wall, he then raised his hand and pointed to a direction. “It’s over there.”

The men looked at the direction he was pointing and saw a huge hall about five hundred meters away. Based on his action, Deep Waters did not seem to have any intention of accompanying them directly to it.

“So there it is. Let’s go!” These men urged Deep Waters to hurry.

“You guys go there by yourselves. I’ll just wait here for your return,” Deep Waters told them.

“What’s the matter?” The four men were perplexed.

“Right now… It’s a little inappropriate for me to be seen with you guys. It’s best if I don’t show up. You guys should be careful yourselves,” Deep Waters warned.

“What’s the matter?” The four men were even more confused.

“There’s our quest, right?” Deep Waters laughed bitterly.

The four of them instantly realized what he meant. After such a huge battle, many players involved in it should have accumulated PK value. Everyone would be striving to clear off this PK value with the battle on hold. Who knew when the next engagement would occur? Therefore, clearing their PK value now would at least lessen the burden if or when the fighting resumed.

At this time, Deep Waters was currently the commander of one of the parties involved. Assisting the enemies to erase their PK value would make it awkward for either party involved. Although Deep Waters had made it clear that his connection to Sword Demon and Young Master Han would not come into play, this only made it more inappropriate for them to be seen together.

If the Linyin City’s players saw their boss helping the enemies, they would surely feel discontented with him. If it was Yunduan City’s players who saw Young Master’s Elite receiving aid from the enemy commander, given how Oathless Sword and his men were treating them, such an act would only deepen their suspicions over their loyalty. While Young Master's Elite might have a clear conscience about this and did not really care about Oathless Sword and the others’ opinion, Deep Waters was the leader of his guild, and that position of power meant that he could not treat this matter lightly. Thus, he made the conscious decision of stopping five hundred meters away from the Bounty Assignment Hall and letting them pick up their bounties alone.

“It’s only five hundred meters. You can’t possibly lose your way, right?” Deep Waters smiled as he said this to Royal God Call.

“I should be fine… No problem!” Royal God Call stared fixedly at the Bounty Assignment Hall five hundred meters in front of him. He was still not 100% certain that he would not get lost despite having the place in his line of sight.

“Hey. You’re not going there alone. We’ll be going with you to pick up our bounties, too.” Waving his hand toward Deep Waters, Sword Demon dragged Royal God Call toward the Bounty Assignment Hall with the others.

“I’ll be waiting.” Deep Waters shrunk back to a corner of the wall and leaned on it. He seemed to be in deep thought. Suddenly, his shoulders seized up and he distanced himself from the base of the wall as though he had been seized and tossed away from it. It was unknown when his hand got a hold of a pouch of Whitestone Dust, but he scattered a handful of it in the next instant. A red figure appeared behind him, but before Deep Waters could make out the entire person, the figure disappeared once more.

“Why is it you again?!” Deep Waters spat.

Plenty of players were walking on the street, and when they saw Deep Waters leap and shout while tossing out a handful of Whitestone Dust, they instantly realized what was happening. A Thief in Stealth was over in that corner! Everyone vigilantly eyed that particular corner of the street, with a few even preparing to flee at any moment’s notice. Someone quickly rushed to Deep Waters’ side and warily asked, “What’s going on?”

Deep Waters recognized this man as someone from his guild. Dragging him to a side, he was about to explain the situation to the person when the red figure that was now covered with Whitestone Dust once more appeared and dashed toward them at an unbelievable speed. Before the man could react, the rushing figure was already next to him. In the following moment, the man was turned into a beam of white light by the figure’s attack that he had been unable to defend himself against.

Of course, the person who had appeared was none other than Svelte Dancer. She kept her dagger, swept her gaze over to Deep Waters, and said derisively, “What are you crying out for? It’s not like you’re my target here.”

Deep Waters’ mouth hung agape. He had indeed thought Svelte Dancer was targeting him, so he had evaded so nimbly and had not considered warning his comrade of a looming danger. Sadly, it was already too late to say anything to the man by the time Deep Waters wised up on Svelte Dancer’s real target.

Watching his comrade get eliminated by another, Deep Waters would naturally not just stand there without doing anything. However, before he could strike, he saw Svelte Dancer engulf herself in a white glow and disappear in an instant.

Deep Waters was dumbfounded, impressed over the number one pay-to-win player’s willingness of using a teleportation scroll without a moment’s hesitation!