Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

“So what do we do now?” War Without Wounds asked Young Master Han what he had planned.

“Warriors’ Encampment,” Young Master Han answered.

“Oh. Are we going to ride the gravy train and wait for them to serve themselves up? That’s one way of going about it,” Brother Assist nodded.

“But those guys might not be a match for Southern Lone Blade,” Sword Demon said. After all, he had exchanged blows with four of the seven-man squad, so he had a rather good understanding as to the strength of Southern Lone Blade and his comrades.

“It’s fine if you don’t have faith in them, but you gotta at least believe that Miles would!” Young Master Han said.

“Oh, that’s right!” Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Aren’t we sending anyone over to the Priest Academy?” War Without Wounds suddenly asked after they had traveled a distance away.

Young Master Han immediately cast a look of scorn at the man, embarrassing War Without Wounds yet again. It was clear that his thoughts had been seen through by Young Master Han.

Unexpectedly, Young Master Han actually sighed and said, “Tanzanite Shade’s men would most likely prioritize that Priest, so I’m certain he had already sent his men to surround the Academy by now. We won’t be able to snatch that kill away from them even if we leave anyone there, so it’s best if we just leave it!”

War Without Wounds was still embarrassed, only this time because he had actually mistakenly thought that Young Master Han would act honestly.

There was nothing left to discuss then, so the five men headed towards the Warriors’ Encampment together. Just as they were about to reach their destination, Royal God Call’s Eagle Eyes immediately fixed on the two figures standing by the wall right beside the entrance, “Hey, the two guys there look real familiar.”

The two men standing there were a Mage and a Fighter. Even though the Mage was not dressed in a black robe, he nevertheless looked like their old friend from his build. These men all looked at one another before going forward, and those people slowly came into view. Of course, who else could they be, but Gu Fei and Eternal Dominion.

The two had also spotted the five men and were equally astonished.

The gears in Young Master Han’s head ground quick as he instantly realized what happened. He did not know whether to laugh or cry in the moment as he pointed at Gu Fei and swore, “You b*st*rd!”

Gu Fei was not slow on the uptake either, and quickly realized what happened. He too could only grimace at the situation they were now in.

The others slowly made sense of what had happened at their own pace as well, exchanging glances with one another before finally succumbing to fits of laughter when they could no longer hold it in.

Young Master Han was the only one who was unamused by all this, saying with a blackened face, “We’re here to check on how you guys are doing your jobs. Is this what an employee should be doing?”

Wow! How Shameless!, Brother Assist and the others sighed deeply to themselves. Young Master Han sure was a head above the average men to be able to turn indignant in a flash like this.

Eternal Dominion was momentarily affected by this atmosphere and felt his actions were truly unseemly. He felt it was improper for them to eschew challenging the difficult task despite it being what they were hired to do.

But it was Gu Fei who shot back, “Where’s Southern Lone Blade? Where is he now?”

That was even more shameless! Brother Assist and the others were all overwhelmed once more. Gu Fei had actually ignored the tone of self-righteous admonishment that Young Master Han had adopted, and simply cut right to the chase to change the topic. Gu Fei was quite possibly the only person that could assert such dominance so thoroughly in this scenario!

Where was Southern Lone Blade? That was what everybody was concerned about, yet nobody present knew the answer.

It was really unfortunate, too. Both parties were clearly anxious to search for one another, yet they just did not have the chance to bump into one another in this big city. They were just not star-crossed lovers, lacking that sort of chance encounter that only kindred hearts beating as one could experience.

“Are we gonna wait for Southern Lone Blade together, then?” War Without Wounds asked.

Sword Demon shook his head, “I doubt that those guys have the skill to send Southern Lone Blade our way at this rate.”

“Hear that? If you heard, then what are you guys still standing here for? Go look for Southern Lone Blade!” Young Master Han chastised Gu Fei.

Young Master Han was their employer, their boss! It was only natural for him to press his employees to do their jobs. But the thing was, only Eternal Dominion could be considered to be the employee they hired, so he should really be shouting at Eternal Dominion. But since Gu Fei had decided to sandwich himself into this matter, it made sense for Young Master Han to vent his frustration on someone who he was more familiar with instead.

Eternal Dominion was already embarrassed that he was attempting to ride the gravy train by waiting for Southern Lone Blade to show up at the Warriors’ Encampment. Now that Young Master Han was scolding Gu Fei for his actions, he was of course within earshot and felt all the more humiliated, and he hurried to set off immediately. However, he had no idea where to go either, so all he could do was randomly pick a street and look around.

Gu Fei sighed. Waiting for the enemy to serve himself up was great; twice, thrice, they could kill Southern Lone Blade as many times as they wanted. But now, they had no choice but to let Young Master Han and the rest take this gravy train. They had no choice in this. At the end of the day, they were the employers and this was just how the typical capitalist was able to exploit labor through monopolizing the surplus value!

Gu Fei could only helplessly follow Eternal Dominion and leave. But no sooner did they take their leave, a message from Fireball came streaking in, “Drunk bro, did something happen?”

------

Sakurazaka Moony and his men, having exhausted almost all the liquor from the bar, were in no hurry to leave and had inquired after the matter from the other nearby bars. The news they gathered was of course no different from what Young Master Han and the others had found out, and they were immediately able to find out the entirety of the situation after piecing the information together.

“Southern Lone Blade, huh...” Sakurazaka Moony muttered. “That guy seems to have only recently dropped out from the position of the Five Unyielding Experts, seems like that must have been at the hands of Drunk bro and those guys.”

Everybody present nodded and agreed on this conclusion. As reprehensible and shameless as these men were, they were nevertheless MMO veterans to their very core, so their ability to evaluate and analyze the matter was not too far off that of the experts from Young Master’s Elite. This was especially true for Vast Lushness, who could be considered a specialist when it came to PvP conflicts.

“So that guy must have been sent to hunt Southern Lone Blade down,” Vast Lushness said.

“Woe be to him!” Everyone sighed and shook their head in unison. By now, everybody from Yunduan City had knew the No Smile incident during the closed beta was Gu Fei’s handiwork. From there, it was clear just what sort of end his victims would meet once they were targeted by Gu Fei.

“I wonder if they need our help?” Sakurazaka Moony asked.

“I’ll ask!” Fireball could be considered the one among them who knew Gu Fei the best, so he took the initiative to send a message to Gu Fei.

----

“Something? What something?” Gu Fei asked Fireball. Young Master Han was correct; Gu Fei considered the act of slaying players to be a piece of cake. Whether his target was a noob that just left a designated safety zone at level 11 or someone who hailed from the ranks of the Five Unyielding Experts, Gu Fei would never consider it to be anything worth noting.

“The thing between you and Southern Lone Blade!” Fireball said.

“Oh...” Only then did Gu Fei understand what he was referring to. “It’s nothing. I just slew him. How did you learn this?”

“We’re all in Linshui City right now, do you need any help?” Fireball replied.

Gu Fei was just about to say “no” when he suddenly thought about this in detail. While he did not need their help in killing the man, but now he was faced with the dilemma of locating Southern Lone Blade! Having more manpower right now would really help move things along! Thus he quickly confirmed, “You’re all here?”

“Oh yeah! We’re ready and awaiting Drunk bro’s orders!” Fireball replied enthusiastically.

“Great! Do you guys know what Southern Lone Blade looks like?” Gu Fei asked.

Gu Fei hurriedly checked with all his comrades before answering Gu Fei, “Nope!”

“Mmm... In that case, let’s first meet up before we discuss this matter!”

------

The two parties picked a coordinate and met inside the city.

“Eternal Dominion?” Everyone had found out that Gu Fei was working with a Fighter from the matter by the bar, but Vast Lushness never expected that the player would actually be Eternal Dominion. She was extremely shocked when she saw them together.

“Hello, how do you do?” When Eternal Dominion saw that this person knew his name, he quickly greeted her, before quietly whispering to Gu Fei, “Who’s this?”

“A woman.” Saying Gu Fei’s answer was vague would be an understatement.

“Drunk bro, tell us, how are we gonna take care of Southern Lone Blade?” Sakurazaka Moony was standing right in front of Vast Lushness. He would have looked really dashing and righteous if his face were covered.

“Hey!” Eternal Dominion was still whispering to Gu Fei as he asked, “Why are there so many people lending us a hand? How are we gonna split the reward so many ways?”

“Why don’t you speak up louder if you really wanna split your rewards with the others?” Gu Fei replied in equally hushed tones.

Eternal Dominion immediately shut up.

“What are you two mumbling about over there?” Vast Lushness asked.

“Right now, the problem we are facing is locating Southern Lone Blade,” Gu Fei used the same tactic of ignoring that question and diving straight into the issue at hand. If even Young Master Han was helpless to do anything about it, Vast Lushness was of course easily crushed in her attempt to find out more.

“Oh, so Drunk bro has no idea where he went?” someone asked.

“What nonsense you’re spouting. If Drunk bro knew where that guy was hiding, why would he even still be alive?” Fireball handily slapped that smart*ss.

“Yeah, we’ve still got no idea,” Gu Fei laughed sheepishly. “That is why we need everybody’s help to locate him. Not everybody has to go out and search, just remember to inform me the moment you spot him.”

“There’s no need for you to be courteous with us, Drunk bro. Just look for us whenever you need help to take him down,” everyone offered a hand grandly.

“Oh, there’s no need for that. Really,” Gu Fei hurriedly interjected.

“But the problem is that we won’t recognize him at all!” Sakurazaka Moony said.

“He’s not alone. He’s together with six other men of his. Aside from the Warrior Southern Lone Blade, there’s a Mage, a Thief, an Archer, a Knight, and two Priests!” Gu Fei gave a general description of the job class composition of his seven-man squad. “Finding just one man would be difficult, but it should be easier to locate the group as a whole, right?”

Everybody nodded.

“Then we will have to depend on your hard work, everyone. Does anyone have any further question?” Gu Fei asked.

“I do!” A man had raised his hand. Everybody turned to look at him as he gazed at Gu Fei expectantly, “Drunk bro, is there any babes among the seven?”

“OHHHH!!” Everybody exhaled, as they looked forward to Gu Fei’s answer.

But this expectant look they showed only made Gu Fei feel like he had let everyone down, since the answer would leave them all disappointed, “Nope. They are all men.”

“Whew!” He did not expect everyone to instead reveal a look of relief, as they all heaved a sigh, “That’s good. That means we don’t have to hold anything back when we deal with them.”

Gu Fei wiped away his imaginary cold sweat.

“Alright alright, let’s all split up and go look! Don’t mess around and attack when you spot the man, remember to send a message to inform everybody first,” Sakurazaka Moony gave a single command as the group of men dispersed in every direction, starting their search for Southern Lone Blade throughout Linshui City.

“The other guys from your mercenary group have already arrived. Have you seen them?” Vast Lushness asked Gu Fei.

“Yep,” Gu Fei said.

When she saw no traces of the five men anywhere near, she boldly ventured a guess, “Are they in the Warriors’ Encampment?”

“You’re clever!” Gu Fei complimented her.

“I’m just familiar with how such hunts go,” Vast Lushness explained plainly.

Gu Fei smiled and patted Eternal Dominion, “Let’s go search, as well!”

“Do you need my help?” Vast Lushness asked.

“Nope,” Gu Fei chuckled. “The target is just Southern Lone Blade alone, so my mana is more than enough.”

Vast Lushness nodded, and randomly chose a direction to look for traces of Southern Lone Blade’s squad.

At the same time, the ferry that went to the level 40 grinding map slowly drifted into Linshui City’s harbor. A huge group of players disembarked and hurried over to the city.