Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

The other six experts that formed Young Master’s Elites had gathered in full force, and quite a few of them were bore a look of distaste.

“Why are you instructing him to kill him as much as possible!?” Royal God Call asked Young Master Han, his expression showing much sorrow. Everybody could not help but recall that time back in the game’s beta period. No Smile was considered to be a character of certain repute, who ended up losing a whole eight levels because no one had specified how many times they wanted him dead!

To think Young Master Han had actually said “as much as you can”, everyone imagined a scene where Southern Lone Blade would be standing stark naked on the spawn point, standing with just his shadow as company, as hateful tears rolled down his cheeks.

Actually, everybody would gladly witness such a scene, but they would have to pay an exorbitant price for this show of force. Under Young Master Han’s strong encouragement, Southern Lone Blade was sure to drop by twenty or even thirty levels, and they would be the ones paying for it. Thinking of this, the few of them clutched their money pouches tightly, even as their hate towards Young Master Han deepened further.

“Why would Southern Lone Blade be as foolish as No Smile?” Cynicism dripped in Young Master Han’s words.

To be fair, No Smile was not dumb, either. But it was still early in the game’s infancy, so he was entirely unaware of Gu Fei’s game-breaking level of prowess, which resulted in his fall from grace. There was no reason for Southern Lone Blade to make the same mistake, especially now that he had just lost a level, there was no way he would be just like No Smile back then and inadvertently attempt to seek revenge.

“Mmm, Southern Lone Blade is a conscientious man. It is very likely that Miles just caught him off guard with how quickly he was taken down. Once bitten, twice shy; I doubt he will give him another chance.” Brother Assist was ultimately a friend of Southern Lone Blade, so he at least had some understanding of how he worked. However, this friendship of theirs was probably dead in the water by now.

“That’s why we gotta hurry! Southern Lone Blade must have originally set up a trap for us, but Miles will most likely have made a mess of things for him. What else are we waiting for if we don’t capitalize on it now?” Young Master Han lifted his Priest robes the moment he said this and began to make his way out of Luori City.

“Ah...” Only then did the other four came to a start. It turned out that Young Master Han had not hired Eternal Dominion just to watch the ensuing spectacle, but his intention was to draw Southern Lone Blade’s attention away from them, allowing them to disembark without any trouble. It seemed as if this grievance between the two parties would still be settled by their own hands, after all!

These men were all invigorated now that they had such thoughts in mind. Royal God Call slung on his three bows as he bolted out of Luori City. This was how he dressed now; during battle, these bows would be stashed in his dimensional pocket, since retrieving them from his dimensional pocket was a lot easier than from his back.

“Let’s go!” Sword Demon and War Without Wounds looked at one another, nodded and walked after them.

Brother Assist was now the last one hesitating. As he quickly tried to catch up, he shouted, “So where are we going now? Where’s the ferry?”

“I’ve already contacted them!” Walking in front of everyone, Young Master Han waved his hand as he replied.

“Contacted who?” Brother Assist was nonplussed.

The other three naturally had no idea as well, so all they could do was follow Young Master Han.

Approaching Luori City’s sparse pier, the four immediately spotted a small wooden boat half beached by the shore where the system ferry would be docked, with a player lying on it comfortably. That man immediately stood up when he saw the five of them approaching, clambering off the boat and quickly walking over to Young Master Han.

“Hello there!” Without confirming anyone’s identity, this man had confidently came forth to greet Young Master Han. Even though he had never met him before this very second, he was certain that this was the man he was waiting for... because the fellow looked far too outstanding.

Young Master Han merely nodded. The four men had rushed up by now asking, “What’s this?”

“A boat I hailed from Linshui City,” Young Master Han pointed.

“You can do that?!?!” They all stared at that wooden boat.

“How else did you think DW and the others got here?” Young Master Han retorted.

“Oh? Did he help you get in contact with this guy?”

“There’s no need for that. There was already a business set up over at Linshui City,” Young Master Han had noticed there were players selling their ferry services when he had been drinking by the beach, thus he already gotten the man’s contact information in preparation for hailing his services the moment they needed it.

“Let’s go!” Young Master Han gestured everyone to board the watercraft.

“Wait a minute!” the boatman suddenly interrupted. This boat can only take five players.”

The five men all froze. They halted in their steps as they regarded the size of the boat. They did not feel the man was making a false claim about the boat’s capacity.

“Oh, we’ll take care of it ourselves!” Young Master Han smiled. “Here, take the money first.”

Young Master Han handed the coin pouch over, much to the man’s surprise. They did not have the rule to pay for tickets prior to boarding, and most players would only pay up after they got to the destination.

Naturally, the boatman would not reject being paid first, so he took it and counted the coins within. He nodded once to make sure the amount was right, raising his head to find that the other four players were already onboard his boat and had even even pushed it off into the water.

“Aren’t you riding the boat?” The boatman was shocked. He never expected that the person being left out of this trip would be the person who had employed his services.

“Oh no!” Young Master Han smiled warmly. “You’re the one who’s not riding.”

“WHAT?” the boatman’s mouth hung agape.

Young Master Han had already turned and was walking towards the boat as he replied, “We’ll leave your boat by Linshui Harbour. You can take the system ferry service back yourself!”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” The boatman was pissed. He never expected this would be how the capacity issue would be settled. He rushed over wanting to pull Young Master Han, when he suddenly heard the sound of an arrow whistle right past his ear, and felt a sharp pain come from it. He turned his head over and saw that the Archer on the boat was now directing his arched bow at him.

“Do you wish to be sent back to Linshui City in the fastest way, instead? We don’t really mind,” Young Master Han turned to him and chuckled.

“You guys... You...” The boatman was really in tears! He never thought something like this would happen to him.

“We’re in a rush, so we’re not gonna stay here any longer. We’ll be leaving the boat over by Linshui City.” Sword Demon was far more sympathetic when he addressed the man, as War Without Wounds stifled a laugh. He was going to be in charge of rowing the boat, as this wooden boat was powered by paddles. With a strong push of his both arms, the little boat left the shore and drifting away.

“Thanks a lot!” The others on the boat who were not busy rowing waved their hands at the boatman, even as the man stood there by the shore.

------------

Linshui City...

Southern Lone Blade had expected Gu Fei and Eternal Dominion would head over to the Warriors’ Encampment to find him, yet the seven-man squad was not in a hurry to make their way over. Instead, he fired off a message instead.

Gu Fei had already offended quite a few people here in Linshui City, and these people just so happened to be in the same line of work as Southern Lone Blade. Right now, Southern Lone Blade very kindly revealed to these fellow colleagues, “Warriors’ Encampment. I think that Mage looked to be headed towards the Warriors’ Encampment!”

These groups of insiders did not just wish to slay Gu Fei in an effort to regain their pride, but they were also very interested in acquiring Gu Fei’s unknown equipment. Furthermore, the player that Southern Lone Blade had contacted knew he was not someone that would rob anyone like them, and was someone who would only act upon targets when they had a buyer, so they did not see a reason to doubt the veracity of the information he disclosed.

Just like that, these men were happily betrayed to the number one slayer of Parallel World by Southern Lone Blade’s own hands...

----

Gathering their manpower took some time. They could only get five players to reach the Warriors’ Encampment on short notice. Those men were naturally very familiar with what Gu Fei could do and simply did not dare to challenge Gu Fei lightly. However, these five men had now spotted the black robed Mage and a fellow Fighter striding over confidently towards the Warrior’s Encampment.

“G*d d*mm*t! How much longer till you guys get here!” The five were afraid of losing this rare opportunity. Finding a particular person across all of Parallel World was not an easy task!

Some replied with “soon”, while others said “in a minute”. Then there were those that could not make it because they had already taken the ferry out to their grinding zone far away. They would not be able to get back anytime soon, so they might as well not respond.

“That Mage is not alone. He has a Fighter with him.” The five men conveyed this information to the rest now that they had a clear understanding of the situation.

“How’s the equipment on this Fighter?” They were greedy despite not even being here yet! If they knew that the Fighter they were up against was Eternal Dominion, they would most likely have thought otherwise. That was the reason why Southern Lone Blade had kindly not told them about this, so they would not change their mind.

“I’ll check it out!” one of the five volunteered. Most of them had already seen Gu Fei, but there was no way Gu Fei would be able to recognize them all. Thus, this man was not really afraid that the Mage would be able to identify him. With that, the man walked down that street like he was just another player, and was soon walking past Eternal Dominion and Gu Fei. He deftly activated his Appraisal skill on Eternal Dominion.

Failed!

He did not give up, furtively following behind the two man as he tossed out his Appraisal skill once more.

Failed yet again!

What’s going on! That person mused to himself as he tried for the third time. He was very confident when it came to his proficiency at the Appraisal skill.

Nevertheless, he was still met with failure... The man was stunned. He could only come to a single conclusion at this point: this man’s level was higher than his. He was level 40, so would that not mean this Fighter was actually level 41???

Level 41 was not really a level that was worth getting excited over, but the problem was that it was a Fighter who was level 41!

There were not many who picked the Fighter job class in the game, so that naturally meant the number of experts in this particular subset were few as well. The level of those late adopters of Parallel World were still below average, so there were really just a handful of level 41 expert Fighters, with a grand total of four at the moment. Thus, the quality of the top ten Fighters was considered to be the lowest out of all the job classes, with quite a few players who were merely level 40 taking a spot.

To think he would actually bump into a level 41 Fighter! He had very good reasons to believe this man was Eternal Dominion, given how Luori City was adjacent to theirs. It made more sense for someone from a neighbouring city to appear here than someone else who hailed from who knew where else.

This player was just about to relay this information to his fellow men when he realized that both the Mage and Fighter had already turned around to stare at him.

“What are you following us for?” Eternal Dominion asked.

“Ah... You’re Eternal Dominion?” The man was at least quick-witted enough, suddenly asking the man a question directly.

“That’s right. You recognize me?”

It was indeed Eternal Dominion! That man was shocked, as his face faked a look of excitement, “It really is you! You are like my idol!” Saying such a line would explain why he had been secretly tracking them.