Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Chapter 307 - Baishi City

“See what I did there?” Fireball maintained his pose as he asked Gu Fei this.

Gu Fei was totally speechless.

“This only works for this particular style of robe, though. Such coat-style mage robe with buttons isn’t easy to find, you know?” Fireball bragged. Checking Gu Fei’s robe, he exclaimed, “Turns out Drunk bro’s mage robe has a similar style, too! That makes things simpler!” Fireball unbuttoned the front of Gu Fei’s mage robe for him before taking several steps backward to examine his handiwork. In the end, he shook his head with remorse, “Drunk bro, your mage robe is really outstanding but your inner shirt is just too drab. I know a player who picked up the Tailor crafting profession with decent proficiency; he’s already able to create inner shirts and such. He’s actually a tailor in reality, so he’s truly a professional in that field. Look at what I’m wearing.” Fireball approached Gu Fei once more and showed him his undershirt, “See this? It’s a casual tee! This isn’t an article of clothes that players can learn to sew in-game without actually knowing how to do so in reality!”

Gu Fei was still at a loss for words.

“Unfortunately, my man is currently in Yunduan City. But don’t worry; I’ll bring you to meet him when we get back. With my introduction, I’m sure you’ll get 30% off of his products. Relax Drunk bro, I’ll take care of this for you.” Fireball returned to his mercenary group after he had said all this, leaving Gu Fei standing by the roadside like an idiot. This lasted until the five men of Young Master’s Elite came by to pick him up.

“So how was it? What reward did the Werewolves give you?” they asked.

Gu Fei took off Mark of the Wolf and showed it to them. He then adjusted his robe properly and fastened his original leather belt.

“WOW!” A string of exclamations sounded as the men passed Mark of the Wolf among them.

Young Master Han was the last one to take it in hand. Tossing it back to Gu Fei, he asked, “Is this quest for Traversing Four Seas or for you? We haven’t been on this expedition for long, yet you’ve already gotten so much phat lootz.”

Gu Fei shrugged his shoulders as he stuffed the belt inside his dimensional pocket.

“You’re not using it?” War Without Wounds asked with a clear glint in his eyes. Given how casual Gu Fei treated the game, getting him to gift the items he did not need was easy.

Easily figuring out War Without Wounds’ intention, everyone eyed him with disdain, “That expression on your face makes you look like a real cheapskate.”

Gu Fei commented, “The belt is actually pretty good... It’s just that the design is ugly.”

“No way! It’s really cool-looking!” Royal God Call and War Without Wounds disagreed. These two were the obscene sort, after all. War Without Wounds mentally slapped his mouth when he said that. It’s rare for Miles to dislike something, so why am I trying to convince him otherwise?!

“The design isn’t the issue here!” Brother Assist said to Gu Fei, “Players who are skilled in the Tailor crafting profession should be able to alter its look according to your liking. Of course, those who are unskilled will only make it look worse, so it is better to find someone who knows how to design clothes even in reality. I know a person in Yunduan City who is a proficient Tailor, and he happens to be a skilled tailor in reality. Look at what I’m currently wearing; it’s something he has specially tailored for me. I’ll introduce you to this guy once we return to Yunduan City. I’m sure he’ll give you a 30% discount on my account. Don’t worry; leave this matter to me.”

Gu Fei did not know whether to laugh or cry when he heard this. Looking Brother Assist squarely in the face, he asked, “Do you know Fireball?” Following this, Gu Fei lashed out his sword to cleave the newly formed Fireball. This was one disadvantage of being a Mage; as long as what a Mage spoke contained the words for an incantation, the spell would instantly be cast. Any time any two Mages conversed about the spells they knew, the scene would always blaze in flames, with countless balls of fire surrounding their frames, fire wheels rotating above their heads, or raging infernos growing in intensity from beneath their feet. Fireball, Repeating Fireball, and such would appear before them, looking glorious and dangerous.

Brother Assist did not know that a player had the IGN ‘Fireball’, so he failed to comprehend Gu Fei’s meaning. Looking at Gu Fei’s departing back, Brother Assist felt fear grip his heart as he asked the other four men, “Was he threatening me?”

War Without Wounds solemnly patted his arm, “You better be careful.”

Brother Assist’s legs wobbled.

The throng of players continued on their journey. An expansive road and vast plains ahead reassured them of their safety from ambushers. However, this sort of uninterrupted journey was the most boring. Dully moving forward for three hours, they finally saw the outline of another city in the horizon.

Oathless Sword took out the map that the system had specifically issued for this guild quest and checked their current coordinates, “Ahead is Baishi City.”

Everyone sighed in relief. After leaving Yueye City’s Werewolves behind, they did not come across any other dangerous situation. As such, the Werewolves remained everyone’s number one conversation topic along the way. Only a few of these players had actually seen the Werewolves, as mostly Young Master’s Elite had had dealings with them. Therefore, these players barely experienced anything during their travel from Yueye City to Baishi City.

The players from Yunduan City could already spot several players hailing from Baishi City. In comparison, their army numbering over a thousand easily caught the locals’ eyes, and plenty of the locals stopped what they were doing to watch their expedition advance onward.

"Take care and maintain a low profile here!” Those who had suffered losses in Yueye City reminded their companions and even themselves of this. Combat was essentially the main allure in MMOs, so it was very easy to nurture a reckless and wild mentality like what was prevalent in Yueye City. These players were worried that players from Baishi City would have the same character here.

In contrast, Oathless Sword and the rest of Traversing Four Seas were far more relaxed here. They had made ample preparations before coming here and had checked the forums of Baishi City. Baishi City was the typical peaceful city and was nothing like the chaotic Yueye City.

Everyone began to ease up when the expedition managed to make its way into the city without trouble. The mercenaries headed straight to the spawn points to register their characters, while all the Traversing Four Seas’ members accompanied Oathless Sword in delivering the prisoner to Baishi City’s prison for safekeeping. Most of them proceeded to log off after.

Although they had no direct confrontations with Yueye City’s players, three Traversing Four Seas’ members still regrettably lost their lives while grinding and questing, largely due to their unfamiliarity with the local quests’ difficulty and monsters’ respawn rate. While their return to Yunduan City was not particularly troublesome, the system still tagged their guild quest as failed and subsequently removed it from their quest log.

The players of Traversing Four Seas only had one life for this guild quest. That was why when they arrived at Baishi City, no one dared to take any chances and immediately logged off at the safe zones.

The six men of Young Master’s Elite were sneakier here. As they neared Baishi City, they began searching through the marching troops for a particular player: Silver Moon.

According to Dusky Cloud’s plan, his group would only move to repeatedly kill Silver Moon once he registered his character’s spawn point to Baishi City. While Dusky Cloud did not ask for their help on the matter, the six men did not really mind joining in on the fun. There was no love lost between Silver Moon and them, after all.

Silver Moon was naturally surrounded by his men from Silver Moon mercenary group. Gu Fei and company followed behind them from quite the distance, even as they searched for traces of Dusky Cloud and his men.

Since Yunduan City’s players had spent another night in Yueye City, Dusky Cloud had managed to bring a bunch of hitmen with him to Baishi City ahead. Neighboring cities often had quests that required players to go back and forth between them, just like the quest that had brought June’s Rain to Yueye City. Although most people were too lazy to bother with this sort of quests, there was no lack of Yueye City players who would take up such quests. These players who had obtained quests requiring them to go to Baishi City naturally knew of the way there.

Gu Fei and company watched Silver Moon and his group walk past an intersection. The six men continued to trail after them while laughing inside. Dusky Cloud and his men seemed to already be in position and had probably assigned men to ambush Silver Moon at the spawn point for Knights as well. They were probably not making a move on Silver Moon because they were waiting for him to register his character in Baishi City.

This was the first time that Silver Moon and his men’s party of over thirty came to Baishi City. As they made their way to the city, they found out that the nearest spawn point was the Thieves’ Union. Players only needed to speak with the NPC in charge of registration by a safe zone and they would successfully transfer their spawn location over. Of course, there was a fee for this service as well. The NPCs in Parallel World were like a host of machines that ate coins, much to the loathing of the players.

Silver Moon did not rush to log off after registering his character over. Leaving the spawn point, Silver Moon was not particularly surprised to see Gu Fei and the rest of Young Master’s Elite enter the Thieves’ Union after him. Most players from Yunduan City that had inquired about the spawn points headed to the Thieves’ Union as well, with hundreds of people streaming into the place at their pace.

The eyes of both parties met momentarily. Despite knowing that the other party had already seen through his duplicitous act, Silver Moon still persisted with his hypocritical ways and squeezed a smile to them. Young Master Han smiled back at him as Gu Fei and Sword Demon maintained a poker face. Brother Assist looked somewhat worried. Meanwhile, War Without Wounds and Royal God Call sniggered as they brushed past Silver Moon. The two darted over to the NPC and registered their characters before hurrying back to watch the fun.

“They are about leave!” The two of them were extremely elated. Dusky Cloud must have already set up his formation over by this spawn point’s entrance, unleashing a concerted attack that would utterly devastate Silver Moon the moment he stepped out. Everyone was just uncertain how many men Dusky Cloud had actually brought for this; would there be all four thousand of them in Baishi City? How spectacular would it look if all four thousand players simultaneously unleashed attacks! Who knew when any players from Yunduan City would witness such a grand show of force like this?

As these two men anxiously waited for this, Silver Moon and his men finally took their final step out of the spawn point. Royal God Call excitedly clenched his fists, “It’s coming!”

In the end... The entrance to the Thieves’ Union remained devoid of any sweeping changes to transform it into a fighting field. Besides players making their way in and out of this safe zone, nothing else happened.

“Eh?! What’s happening?! Did Old Cloud and company not make it?” The two men were perplexed. Gu Fei and the others, who had just finished registering their characters, were equally at a loss.