Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Chapter 107 - Cat Playing with a Rat

Gu Fei left the PvP field by the north gate and hurried over to the Thieves’ Union. On his way there, he took the chance to thank the two kind-hearted ladies who had assisted him with the matter at hand. Although Lie Lie’s purpose for coming over was to gossip, she still helped Gu Fei a bit by dispatching the two Archers.

He had originally planned to thank them on the guild channel. But when he pulled up the conversation window and saw the rows upon rows of messages constantly getting updated, Gu Fei ended up reflexively closing it as he swore in his heart to never ever open the guild channel again. He then added Lie Lie as a friend and sent the two ladies an identical message, “Thanks for your help! It’s fine to leave the rest to those guys.”

“You’re welcome,” Ice Glaze replied.

“Where are you off to now?” Lie Lie asked.

“Thieves’ Union,” Gu Fei answered.

“Oh...” Lie Lie seemed to have understood why he was heading there and only uttered this.

Gu Fei switched over to the mercenary channel. He then started reading the chat logs from the others and finally understood the situation.

They arranged for him to head over at the Thieves’ Union because Nightmare of Death was a Thief. Since the enemy Thief was used to stealing equipment from other players, he should be very familiar with squatting in the spawn point. If he took precautions against setups at the Thieves’ Union, he would definite make his way out of the place using Stealth. Although the other members of Young Master’s Elite mercenary group did not know how he did it, Gu Fei could detect a player even when on Stealth. Thus, they delegated the task of ambushing Nightmare of Death at the spawn point to him.

“They truly don’t get it,” Gu Fei grimaced. While ‘killing intent’ was the fancy term used to describe how he detected a player on Stealth, it was actually more like Gu Fei sensing it when a person focused his or her gaze on him. The logic behind this method of perception lay in the collision of auras between people. Since martial artists like Gu Fei had been training their qi for years, the energy flowing within them had of course become more robust than non-martial artists. Thereby, martial arts practitioners could perceive the slightest collision to their auras.

(Author’s note: Don’t take this too seriously. After all, this is a YY1 so it must be treated as fantasy and not science. Please note as well: Expert martial arts practitioners are supposedly able to sense when others are looking at them to the point where they will awaken when asleep. This is in accordance to the several books and magazines that discuss about kung fu. Of course, the validity of these claims is up in the air. Hence, there is no need to focus on this passage much. Hey! If there are any outstanding martial artists who are reading this, do reach out to me regarding the veracity of this information. I will definitely be eternally grateful!)

Whatever the case might be, this method of perception needed one condition to work: A person had to focus his or her gaze on to Gu Fei. If this condition was not met, no amount of aura would allow him to detect a player on Stealth.

Young Master Han and the rest of course did not know about all this. Completely assuming that Gu Fei had a sort of high detection skill, they left the task of ambushing Nightmare of Death over at the spawn point for Thieves to him.

The pressure they had put him on was just too great. Too much pressure on oneself could easily lead to hormonal imbalances that would cause an individual’s body aura to go awry. This could also lead to a person having difficulty in sensing another’s focused gaze on him or her. Mhm! Looks like I can use that as reason if I fail to accomplish this task, Gu Fei thought to himself.

He was never someone who easily backed away from a challenge, yet this group of misguided people had actually placed all their hopes on his aura. Is my aura that great? Gu Fei thought that this was highly unlikely. He sighed to himself as he hastened his pace. Anyway, this matter could be set aside as a future discussion.

Meanwhile, at the mailbox by the north gate, Nightmare of Death, who was sporting three large foot imprints on his face, was currently being surrounded by four men.

Brother Assist blessed his fellow mercenaries with Blessing of Health. Following this, Brother Assist, Royal God Call, and War Without Wounds motionlessly watched Young Master Han summon Holy Ball, the weakest offensive skill to date in Parallel World, and throw it at Nightmare of Death.

This weak and slow skill’s only merit was its piercing glow. But in order for Young Master Han to keep up the act and buy time for Gu Fei, his Holy Ball would even miss to hit its target from time to time.

Nightmare of Death flurried his dagger madly at each of them, looking for a gap to escape. Unfortunately for him, the four coordinated with one another well and maintained the tight encirclement. With Young Master Han’s Heal perfectly landing on each when the need arose, Nightmare of Death’s efforts were for naught.

In this situation, the four seemed like cats playing with a rat. How cruel a sight it was!

The ever curious Lie Lie and Ice Glaze stayed in the location to see what would happen next. However, the scene currently unfolding before their eyes was something even their gossiping nature could not bear to watch. Holding each other’s hands for support, they left the place in a hurry.

“Where are you off to next?” Ice Glaze asked Lie Lie once they reached the end of the street.

“I’m off to find Miles!” Lie Lie answered.

“What for?” Ice Glaze asked, puzzled.

“My intuition is telling me that I can engage in a lot of PvPs if I follow him,” Lie Lie explained.

“You PvP fanatic!” Ice Glaze could not think of any other words more apt to describe her than these.

Lie Lie laughed sheepishly. Besides her who was passionate about PvPing, all the Amethyst Rebirth’s ladies were pacifists. When all headed out to grind levels, they would occasionally rub some people the wrong way. But every time Lie Lie stamped her feet in fury and tried to settle the matter with her fists, the other ladies would stop her and resolve the altercation with those people through negotiations and discussions.

Players had collected quite a lot of experience points now that almost all of them were at level 30. If they could avoid PvPing, they would gladly do so. Seeing that it was a group of female players, others would more often than not be willing to make concessions. Sometimes, they would even make compromises in favor of the ladies. Hence, altercations with them never escalated into fights.

Although Lie Lie was ill-tempered, she was not the type to provoke people senselessly. Thus, it was difficult for her to find a chance to PvP. Seeing that Gu Fei was currently doing a big show of hunting a target until the person dropped to level 0, she could barely hold herself back from giving him a hand.

Ice Glaze, who was more sensible than Lie Lie, tried her hardest to dissuade the latter from doing her plan, “Don’t give Miles more trouble than there is. Be good and let’s grind our levels instead!”

Lie Lie was not swayed and said, “I’ll just go over there and watch. If there’s an urgent situation that needs assistance, I’ll be able to give him a hand. THAT’LL BE REALLY COOL!”

“You just want to fight!” Ice Glaze exclaimed.

Lie Lie gently pinched Ice Glaze’s cheeks, saying, “If I hadn’t rushed over at the north gate in time, those two Archers would’ve killed you!”

Ice Glaze was speechless since Lie Lie was right. Archers were the job class Mages were weak against. Just one of the two Archers back then would be enough to deal with Ice Glaze. Besides this, she had no PvP experience since she was a real pacifist. Ice Glaze still blamed herself for casting Descending Wheel of Flames to help Gu Fei earlier, as she only ended up hurting him. She criticized herself for messing things up with her lack of PvP experience.

In conclusion, she would definitely not be able to match the Archers with her skill alone. Even going against a Warrior, whom a Mage was known for being advantageous against, might not be a guaranteed win for Ice Glaze. If it was not for Lie Lie’s timely arrival, things would definitely take a turn for the worse.

“Heh. I bet you’re speechless! Go grind your level! I’m off to Miles’ location,” Lie Lie turned around and ran.

“Be careful!” Ice Glaze shouted after her. Lie Lie waved her hand in acknowledgement as she continued running onward.

Nightmare of Death’ HP was being grinded down dangerously close to zero by Young Master Han’s Holy Ball, but his reinforcement had yet to make an appearance. Since the opposing Mages did not possess Gu Fei’s all-Agility build, coming here from the Mage Academy would definitely take them quite a while. Meanwhile, the two Archers’ deaths were not in vain. Realizing that their fighting capabilities were not sufficient to deal with the enemies, they were now gathering more players to prepare for a group assault.

Naturally, Young Master Han and the others, who were also experienced combatants, were well aware that Nightmare of Death’s reinforcement was on its way. According to the information Brother Assist had collected, this gang had many members, decent equipment, great fighting capabilities, and great unity. Young Master’s Elite mercenary group only had six members. It was impossible for the mercenary group to match against such a team, so every second counted.

“All-Agility Mage, have you arrived?” Young Master Han asked Gu Fei.

“Almost. I can see the entrance from my position. You guys can act now,” Gu Fei answered.

Young Master Han immediately gave the order on the mercenary channel, “Finish him!”

However, the three only stood there dumbly, asking one another on the channel, “ Who did this guy attack at the start?”

“I forgot...” all three collectively answered.

Young Master Han was pissed, “Look at how far we’ve come, yet you’re still arguing over 1 PK point!”

The three stared at Young Master Han as they said on the mercenary channel, “Aren’t you the same? His HP is so low; even your Holy Ball can kill him. So why ain’t you doing anything?”

“I’m a pure and noble Priest. How can I allow such a dirty thing like PK value taints me?” Young Master Han asked disdainfully.

Everyone exhaled in disbelief.

“You f*ck*r!” Gu Fei, who was lying in wait at the Thieves’ Union, had reason to be angered by his statement. Would that not make him similar to Super Mario, the plumber who was always going through big and small sewers?

Gu Fei did not know where Sword Demon was hiding, but his emotionless voice came through the mercenary channel, “Stop arguing. He truly hasn’t dipped into something like PK value before.”

“Oh? My information on him hasn’t covered that!” Brother Assist exclaimed.

“What? Is he a clean freak?” Royal God Call asked.

“Tsk!” Gu Fei clucked his tongue in displeasure.

“You guys planning to dawdle till the opponents realize we’re dragging for time to set up an ambush, so that they can make their preparations?” Young Master Han asked.

Since Sword Demon was most familiar with him, he could already visualize that amiable expression decorating his face right now. As for the other three mercenaries, they were seeing this friendly smile in real time. War Without Wounds showed the decisiveness of a grown man right there and then, cleaving into Nightmare of Death without another word.

“Miles, he’s dead!” Young Master Han informed him.

“Got it!” Gu Fei, who was situated right at the entrance of the Thieves’ Union, peeked inside and spotted the newly respawned Nightmare of Death without the three footprints on his face. Immediately after respawning, Nightmare of Death headed outside.

“That saves me time!” Gu Fei delightedly remarked. It seemed that Nightmare of Death did not intend to activate his Stealth. He retracted his body back and watched Nightmare of Death rush toward the Thieves’ Union’s entrance. Just as the Thief passed through the entrance, Gu Fei jumped out of his hiding place and shouted, “Hello!”

All the nearby players, including Nightmare of Death, looked at the origin of the shout. “It’s you!” Nightmare of Death said, stunned. He finally figured out what was happening.

Nightmare of Death was quite familiar with such a ploy of camping at a spawn point. It was just that Gu Fei’s ‘superb’ sword skill and Young Master Han’s convincing act had thoroughly fooled him a short while ago.

In fact, Gu Fei’s ‘superb’ sword skill still affected Nightmare of Death, causing him to not be afraid of confronting Gu Fei. He’s just someone who can kick me but can’t cause damage on me; someone who holds a weapon yet can’t kill me, Nightmare of Death thoroughly believed this.

With all that in his mind, he calmly watched Gu Fei rush toward him and stab his sword forward. Nightmare of Death happily wielded his dagger to parry Gu Fei’s attack...

Chapter Notes:

[1] YY s - What does YY mean? This post explains what the various Chinese classifications mean