Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

The sword Moonlit Nightfalls and the Midnight Spirit Robe was returned to Gu Fei under a round of beratement from the crowd. Everybody was very unhappy to see Fireball act so superior. If he acted so cool, all the ladies would flock to him, and the rest would have no one left! Even though there was no other woman aside from Vast Lushness around, the fact was that these skeevy men lived to chase skirts. Even if there were no ladies in the streets, they still existed in their hearts!

Nobody seemed to care about that gang of robbers any longer, and they did not dare to harbor any sort of ill intent anymore, hurrying to escape with their lives. Just as they were about to leave the other end of the street, bouts of surprised cries were heard. Gu Fei and the other men turned their attention back and saw the remaining survivors of that gang being sent flying about. Soon, the whole bunch of them were scattered all over, as a single Fighter could be seen dishing out punches and kicks all over the place.

Those survivors did not really care for any sort of unity either, each escaping in whatever direction they could. Eternal Dominion did not bother to chase them, as he glanced down the street and made his way over.

“He’s friendly!” Gu Fei hurriedly called out when he saw that some of the Archers appeared to have the intention to fire.

The Archers all lowered their bows and watched as Eternal Dominion came jogging over, asking Gu Fei, “Where’s Southern Lone Blade?”

“He escaped,” Gu Fei helplessly answered.

“Then let’s hurry and chase him!” Eternal Dominion said.

“I’ve no idea where he went,” Gu Fei said as he turned his gaze over to the members of Forever in Flowers, wondering if any of them had any information to this end.

“We didn’t see him, either!” the crowd shook their head. They had rushed over after receiving the final report from their compatriot from before, but they had arrived quite a while after Southern Lone Blade had left, so nobody managed to bump into him.

Finding someone in a foreign place was not easy. They were considered quite lucky to have caught sight of him the first time around, but now that they had no idea where Southern Lone Blade had snuck off to, even Gu Fei had no clue what else they could do.

It was instead Sakurazaka Moony and his band of brothers that seemed entirely unfazed by this, probably thanks to that unbowed spirit they had tempered from their perseverance when picking up chicks. Gu Fei was already sorry about troubling them any further, but they had already rallied themselves, “Let’s go, everyone! Time to search for that guy.”

“You alright?” Gu Fei asked Eternal Dominion, obviously referring to the incident that had sent him flying over to the other street.

“I’m fine,” Eternal Dominion said. “It was just that the wall over there was a little high.” He was quite embarrassed about the matter. While he had not sustained much damage after being sent flying over to the other street after colliding with that Cyclone, he had thought to quickly continue his hunt, but he had not expected for the buildings in the next street to be of a different height. While the Fourteenth Street was filled with single-story houses, the other street had houses with garrets.

No matter how skilled Eternal Dominion was, there was no way he could make his way up that high unassisted. He had no choice but to go down the street and come around like a normal citizen. Southern Lone Blade might have gotten away, but at least he was able to vent some of his frustration on the remaining robbers when he got in their way.

---

Those men from Forever in Flowers had already split up looking for Southern Lone Blade during the time those two were talking. Fireball was the only one left that was walking beside Gu Fei, “Drunk bro, where did you get those two equipment from?”

Naturally Gu Fei saw no reason to hide the fact. Actually, they were all just strolling around casually while they searched for their target, so the three of them continued to walk about as Gu Fei narrated the entire Chain Quest to Fireball in great detail.

“Chain quest, huh...” Fireball was a little defeated when he heard this. This was something that the officials had described as a series of plots that were randomly assembled. The chance for the same two exact Chain quests to occur was extremely low, so there was no way Fireball could gain anything from what he had learned.

And so, it was Gu Fei’s turn to show his concern for Fireball, “How many PK points have you gotten?”

Fireball took a look and almost gave himself a fright, “18!” Fireball was neither worthy nor had the ability to deal with this! Not even in his dreams would he have thought he would have such a close encounter with PK Value.

Gu Fei patted him on his back, “I wish you all the best!”

“Drunk bro, you’ve played me yet again!” Fireball felt like crying, yet no tears came.

Right now, he regretted experiencing that moment of cool. A PK value of 18 would take upwards of 36 in-game hours to naturally fall off. As for Bounty Missions, Fireball was not some top-tier expert, so he did not have even the guts to attempt them. Look for his brothers to lend a hand? Given how wretched those comrades of his were, it was more likely for them to kick him while he was down and add insult to injury, rather than aid him. After thinking through all this, all Fireball could do was look at Gu Fei pitifully.

Gu Fei was of course not someone without a sense of justice, so he patted the terrified Fireball on his back and said, “When this matter is settled, I’ll make sure to help you clear your points.”

Fireball was extremely touched by this, barely holding it in him as he leaned in close to Gu Fei, “Then shall I follow you first?”

Given Fireball’s movement speed, he would just be a burden if he followed Gu Fei. But Gu Fei also knew just how dangerous it was to walk around with 18 PK points, letting Fireball tag along would ensure his safety. Besides, there was still no word about where Southern Lone Blade was. He figured it was better to wait until he received further news before hurrying on.

Just as he was thinking about news, Young Master Han had just so happened to send a message over the mercenary channel. “Murderer, how are things on your end?”

“He escaped,” Gu Fei was gloomy.

It had been quite some time since Gu Fei had discovered Southern Lone Blade, and seeing that Southern Lone Blade had yet to spawn in the Warriors’ Encampment, Young Master Han reckoned Gu Fei must have failed to succeed, but it was far more shocking to find out that Gu Fei had slipped up than him succeeding. So Young Master Han hurriedly asked, “What happened?”

“Another gang of robbers that appeared. I can’t tell if they were Southern Lone Blade’s comrades, but their sudden intervention messed things up.”

“Oh... So what are you doing right now?”

“Continuing the search,” Gu Fei replied.

“Then I’ll leave you to it!” Young Master Han ended their conversation. The others from Young Master’s Elites were naturally able to read their conversation and they were all amazed that Gu Fei had actually failed at slaying Southern Lone Blade.

Royal God Call came running out of the position he had taken up and glanced at Young Master Han, “How long are we gonna be here?”

Young Master Han ignored him, glancing at the time as he muttered, “Brother Assist...”

Just as he uttered the name, a familiar figure came walking out from a cluster of white light from within the Warriors’ Encampment.

“... you’re finally back!” Young Master Han quickly added.

Brother Assist, however, did not reply or greet him, as he quickly took his booklet of information out from his dimensional pocket and began writing at a furious speed while standing there.

The four of them seemed to know what he was doing, and none of them went forward to disturb the man. By the time Brother Assist was done, he let out a big sigh of relief and stowed the quill he had. He skimmed through his little booklet before smiling at the four men before him. “I think it should be all that.”

Brother Assist had logged off to collect information, but the information that he had gathered in reality was naturally unable to be transferred into the game. He could only memorize it as best as he could and enter the game while it was still fresh in his mind, then jot it all down in his booklet.

“Did you get everything?” Young Master Han asked.

“Yup!” Brother Assist nodded happily. This was his moment. He raised the booklet in his hand right in front to the rest of his mercenaries, waving it as he said, “The general information about the top 20 guilds in Linshui City are all here!”

“Woah, you memorized the information about 20 guilds? Brother Assist, you’re a genius!” Royal God Call praised Brother Assist’s success.

“Oh, it was nothing,” Brother Assist quickly became modest.

“Tell me the names of each guild leader,” Young Master Han said.

Brother Assist read it all out once, as Young Master Han quickly tested each and every one. He barked fittingly once he was done, “Not a single one of them granted access to their friends list.”

Everybody shrugged. It took an expert to be able to establish a guild in a city, so naturally they would not leave their friends list open for access so casually, otherwise there would have been tons of noobs adding them, begging for money or to be carried, or something!

“Let’s head to the mailbox!” Young Master Han waved everybody onward.

“Get ready...” Nobody had any idea why Young Master Han needed so much information when he asked for it. This sort of information could usually be gathered by just randomly asking people on the street, but the amount that Young Master Han had required was huge. The average player would at most be able to give a simple summary of the top two or three guilds in the city, so how many could actually remember upwards of twenty guilds?

Sword Demon suggested they head over to the local Hall of Mercenaries to find out, but heading over to the building itself took time. Brother Assist decided to just log off and gather it from the forums instead. After all, they were at a designated log off zone, so it was rather convenient to be able to log in and out like that.

Brother Assist was already extremely efficient, seeing how he was able to gather information about twenty guilds in such a short time. When Young Master Han was unable to add any of these guild leaders as a friend and wanted to head to the mailbox, everyone wondered just what could he be planning that would require him to communicate with all twenty of them.

Arriving right by the mailbox, Young Master Han hastily wrote down a letter and casually passed it to the person beside him. “Copy!”

The four came forward and read it, immediately exclaiming, “Woah, that’s so vicious! How are they gonna survive?”

The contents of the letter informed the twenty guilds that the Priest from Southern Lone Blade’s squad, who were currently in Linshui City, was in possession of a sort of resurrection skill. But more importantly, Young Master Han informed them that the Blue Umbra Guild was currently looking to obtain this particular equipment.

If the first part of this message was not enticing enough, the final portion of the letter would essentially cut right into the tendon of each guild.

The power of any guild was sure to increase upon acquiring such a top-tier piece of equipment. While none of the guilds had the ill intention of stealing another players’ equipment, none of these guilds would be willing to let their competitors become stronger now that it was possible for such an item to fall into a competitors’ hands; They essentially had no choice but to prevent this from happening. After such a fashion, the crux of the matter still resided on the acquisition of that particular staff.

“Are you trying to eliminate all the members from the guilds in Linshui City!” everybody blurted out in shock after they read what Young Master Han had written.

“I have no idea how the guilds will turn out, but it would truly be a travesty of heavenly proportions if Southern Lone Blade and his men survive this!” Young Master Han smiled warmly. With that, he hurried everybody present. “All of you, copy a few more. I’m not only sending this news to the guild leaders themselves, but the core members of each guild, as well!”

The document was incomparable to a direct message, so few would come running to their mailbox immediately once they got the system prompt. Young Master Han had already come prepared for this, which was why he had asked Brother Assist to gather so much information about the guilds. If they only sent it to two guilds, there was no guarantee they might do the deed. But now that they had a total of twenty guilds, as well as the top ten core members of each guild receiving the message, Young Master Han refused to believe that not one of them would be near a mailbox to check on the letter.

Furthermore, he had stuffed a single gold coin into each of the letters. The fact that an item was inside the letter would be mentioned in the system prompt upon mail arrival, and better yet was how it would mention the presence of the currency in the letter... but it would not tell them how much was in it!