Virtual World: Close Combat Mage
chapter-79

Chapter 79 - The Consequences of Being Impulsive

The Past Deeds’ guild members were at a loss. Those standing on the rooftop even lowered their heads and started searching the ground for their fellow Archer, assuming that he had just fallen down.

However, they all lost it in the next instant, as they finally accepted the reality that the Archer had truly been insta-killed.

Being insta-killed by the Fireball spell... This was unheard of ever since Parallel World’s first day of open beta.

The Mages most basic spell, Fireball, had the fastest casting time, consumed the least mana, and could trace the opponent’s movement; however, it was the weakest offensive spell available to Mages as well.

Just how high was this Mage’s Magic Attack Power for him to insta-kill someone with just Fireball? Since most of the players were currently at level 30, all were already very aware of how much Magic Attack Power one could attain with the proper allocation of stat points. Therefore, they could only attribute Gu Fei’s monstrous damage output to his current equipment.

And yet, Gu Fei was clearly holding a sword! How could there be a boost for Magic Attack Power by equipping a melee weapon such as a sword?

Those present could not wrap their heads around what they had just witnessed.

Actually, the situation was not that unfathomable. Gu Fei’s current pieces of equipment were not abnormal by any means and were just high grades – gold-tier and purple-tier to be exact. This was similar to comparing the firepower possessed by a AK47 holder versus a machete or spear wielder; the stark contrast between the two was glaring.

While Gu Fei did not fully meet Moonlit Nightfalls’ Sword Aptitude requirement that prevented him from unleashing its maximum physical damage, he was able to meet its Spell Aptitude requirement, despite never adding points to Intelligence.

Gu Fei was not aware of this at all. Frankly speaking, he could only meet the sword’s Spell Aptitude requirement through his Mage job class’ innate bonus for Spell Aptitude and his Midnight Spirit Robe’s ‘Spell Mastery +1’ trait.

One fireball was all it took to blow his opponent to death... Even Gu Fei was shocked by this.

Da*n it! The power of spells is truly great. In contrast, the damage caused by my kung fu is just too weak! Gu Fei felt aggrieved, thinking of how his kung fu was being unfairly treated.

He pointed his sword toward the sky in the next moment....

A Mage on the rooftop reacted very quickly at this sight, yelling, “Oh, sh*t! It’s Descending Wheel of Flames! Everybody, run!”

The few fellows on the rooftop immediately fled in panic.

Gu Fei was astounded, What the....

Descending Wheel of Flames was a level 24 Mage spell. It was an AOE1 spell that Mages could summon to make flaming wheels descend from the sky, which would then scorch the earth by spinning around a battlefield. This particular spell would deal damage to a large number of targets and was currently the main offensive spell of Mages when they were grinding.

And yet, Gu Fei was utterly confused. Having not heard of the Descending Wheel of Flames spell before, he naturally had yet to learn it!

Gu Fei’s repertoire of spells only consisted of three: Level 0 Fireball, level 6 Ring of Fire, and level 30 Repeating Fireball.

As for the level 12, level 18, and level 24 spells… Gu Fei did not even know of their existence, so how could he cast them?

Those on the rooftop continued to flee in terror. If Gu Fei had instead casted Descending Wheel of Flames on them back then, they would have surely died. They had previously been squeezing onto a corner of the rooftop to ambush Gu Fei who was down below; that sight of them crowding together was simply too perfect for unleashing Descending Wheel of Flames. He’s probably wary of raising his PK value, so he sent a fireball as a warning first!

The players of Past Deeds felt that Gu Fei was being merciful to them. They had accumulated a large amount of experience points and were about to reach level 31. Obviously, none of them would want to die at this point in time.

Gu Fei dully withdrew his sword, turning his head around to glare threateningly at the other Past Deeds’ guild members on the street.

For the Past Deeds’ guild members, Gu Fei’s sword was akin to an illusory existence that was about to swallow them up.

“Let’s get out of here!” someone shouted, causing everyone to flee in every direction.

The faster Thieves activated Fleetfoot, and the slower Thieves activated Stealth. Meanwhile, the slowest among the Warriors cried out, “Wait for me!” He then wiped away the tears on his face and chased frantically after the disappearing figures of his fellow guild members.

“Why’s everybody running away?” Gu Fei was utterly disappointed, as he had just finished mentally preparing himself to rack up more PK points. How spiteful… Don’t they know that ignoring the feelings of others is a shameless thing to do?

“Master!” Coward’s Savior, who had run like a dog until his body ached all over, approached Gu Fei.

“Stop saying that nonsense!” Gu Fei was currently in a foul mood. Though, it was not so foul that he would take it out on Coward’s Savior.

“Are you alright?” Gu Fei asked.

“Yes!”

“Let’s go!” Gu Fei made a beckoning gesture toward Coward’s Savior.

“Where to?” Coward’s Savior asked, as he followed closely behind Gu Fei.

“Clearing off PK value,” Gu Fei’s expression was mournful.

After a hot-headed decision, there would naturally be a consequence. For Gu Fei, it was the increase of his PK value. What made him even more depressed was how his newly bought equipment for concealing his identity had been exposed as well.

Since the ‘Bounty Mission’ Gu Fei had previously accepted was not gone yet, he headed straight toward the target’s location after checking the coordinates. His current PK value was at 11 points once more.

Meanwhile, a lot of Past Deeds’ guild members had gathered in Yueye City’s Bounty Assignment Hall.

Blue Ease, the Past Deeds’ second-in-command, asked, “Are you guys sure that he’s our guild leader’s killer?”

Several people quickly nodded their heads, with one saying “I recognized his equipment.”

“And he’s a Mage?” Blue Ease felt very surprised by that fact.

Vast Lushness, who was by his side, felt that it was inconceivable as well. She did not find out the job class of that person while they were fighting previously because he had never unleashed any skills or spells; her attempt to use Appraisal on him ended in failure as well. Only when Vast Lushness had heard the reports of the fleeing guild members about that person unleashing Fireball did she learn that the guy was a Mage.

Blue Ease went through the ‘Bounty Mission’ targeting Yueye City’s players and said perplexedly, “No one with 4 PK points or higher is on the list… He really killed four of you guys?”

“There’re four including me...” an Archer said, feeling ashamed of himself. He was the one killed by Gu Fei with the Fireball spell. If he had attempted to dodge back then, he would not have died. Unfortunately, he was too confident of himself.

“It seems he’s not a local player,” Vast Lushness said assuredly.

Her words made everyone think of something absurd. With a slight shudder, Blue Ease asked, “Is there a chance of him being that Close Combat Mage of Yunduan City?”

Everyone entered the venue where the Wanted Players list was located and saw that serial number 27149 was still listed on top of it with 11 PK points written in bright red color. He was the sole fugitive with a two-digit PK value in the entire gaming server.

At present, the hype on the forums was no longer about the Close Combat Mage’s weird stat point distribution, equipment with additional fire attack, or fighting prowess; instead, it was about the Close Combat Mage’s fearless attitude.

In the entire game, no matter how keen a person was toward PvP, he or she would still maintain below 10 or even 5 PK points. A high PK value would easily attract the bounty hunters and would take a long time to clear. Not everyone could handle the pressure of knowing that they would drop by two levels or more upon dying.

Therefore, Fugitive 27149’s 15 PK points had become a sort of legend among the players, as it was a record that nobody would dare challenge.

“What do we do now?” Blue Ease asked Vast Lushness. She was neither a high official nor a core member of Past Deeds. Still, her status as the guild leader’s wife made everyone hold her in high esteem. She belonged to a category of people that held authority despite not having an official title. In addition, Vast Lushness was a real expert. Possessing skills and looks, she would of course be considered a gem in the online gaming world. Thus, she was a popular figure in Past Deeds.

“Do you even have to ask? We’ll take the ‘Bounty Mission’, of course!” Vast Lushness said, adding, “Call everyone currently online over.”

Since Yueye was an in-game city where PvP was the norm, the guilds were naturally more united compared to those in a normal in-game city like Yunduan. While players relied on themselves for grinding, they depended on their friends for PvP fights. How could one come across dependable friends? By joining a guild, of course!

In fact, those who had joined Past Deeds enjoyed the benefit of being protected by their guild’s reputation in Yueye City. With such obvious benefits, the orders of the guild’s top brasses would naturally hold a lot of weight to the members. Hence, Blue Ease and Vast Lushness only summoned the members once, and all those who were online had grudgingly or willingly flocked toward the Bounty Assignment Hall.

“Accept the ‘Bounty Mission’ for Fugitive 27149. Find him, but avoid alerting him. Track his movements carefully once you see him,” Vast Lushness commanded concisely on the private guild channel.

The members of Past Deeds obediently queued to accept the ‘Bounty Mission’. The other surrounding players felt terrified upon witnessing such a sight, Just what is Past Deeds up to this time? Which guild are they after now?

“The coordinates refreshed!” a bunch of Past Deeds’ players that had just accepted the mission suddenly yelled.

“Those who have his coordinates can proceed ahead,” Vast Lushness dismissively waved her hand.

Those of Past Deeds, who had no ongoing ‘Bounty Mission’, accepted the mission for Fugitive 27149 and quickly set off toward the coordinates shown.

Vast Lushness looked around her and suddenly said loudly, “Everyone, Fugitive 27149 worth 11 PK points on the Wanted Players list is currently in this city! Hurry up and accept the mission!”

An uproar immediately occurred over at the Bounty Assignment Hall, with many players asking, “Really?”

Vast Lushness nodded her head firmly. And yet, the current uproar was nothing compared to that one in Yunduan City back then.

After all, those who had not witnessed Gu Fei’s hunt of No Smile would be less curious of him. By simply analyzing the issue from a mission’s point of view, the reward for a ‘Bounty Mission’ with 11 PK points must be very grand. However, a majority of the players still had to consider whether the benefit outweighed the risk. Just who was it that they were planning to go up against? Judging from the PK value alone, it would be discourteous to label the Close Combat Mage as a one-in-ten-thousand rare talent. With the current amount of players playing Parallel World, he was definitely a one-in-a-million expert.

Moreover, Yueye City’s Bounty Assignment Hall was usually crowded because a lot of players needed to clear off their own PK points. Players whose sole purpose was to clear off their PK points, especially those with just 1 or 2, would never dare touch such a difficult obstacle. Why challenged a fiend with 11 PK points just to clear off a few PK points? Failing to kill him would mean getting killed themselves and dropping two levels as a corollary.

In the end, the players that had accepted the ‘Bounty Mission’ were either yearning for the huge hunting reward or brimming with curiosity over the Close Combat Mage’s identity.

“Seems like not many people took the mission!” Blue Ease remarked to Vast Lushness as he watched the scene unfolding in front.

Vast Lushness simply smiled, “It’s better this way. I was initially worried that that guy won’t be able to handle many people hunting him.”

“What do you mean?” Blue Ease asked, puzzled.

“Well, I’m merely hoping that he would accumulate more PK points… That way, it would be much more satisfying when we slay him!” Vast Lushness answered with conviction.

Blue Ease could only gape at her words, This woman is far too sinister.

Chapter Notes:

[1] AOE stands for Area of Effect. It's a term used to describe abilities that deal damage to all enemies in a certain area.