Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Translator: Exodus Tales  Editor: Exodus Tales

“Thousand Miles Drunk called for reinforcement…” Southern Lone Blade felt that this was a very serious problem. Having done a detailed research and an in-depth investigation of Gu Fei, they were aware that, besides him being extremely powerful, he actually had quite the past. Just that mercenary group he ran around with had hard-to-handle veteran experts. There were indomitable players like Svelte Dancer and Eternal Dominion, but all of them were just a handful of heroes at the end of the day. They might be incapable of being everywhere at once, but the truly frightening aspect of Thousand Miles Drunk’s past was his connection to Yueye City’s Ten Guild Alliance.

The Ten Guild Alliance was a song of the common folks overthrowing and asserting control over a city – an organization that came into existence as a result of specific conditions. Other cities were only capable of forming such a huge organization in structure, but they would never be able to replicate that level of cohesion they had. The Ten Guild Alliance was really a single entity that had been split into ten different guilds due to the system’s restriction.

Meanwhile, Thousand Miles Drunk was rumored to have been the pillar of strength and initiator back then that had caused the revolution in Yueye City, forging a deep friendship with the men from the Ten Guild Alliance in the process, even going as far as to have an unshakable bond with the alliance’s boss, Dusky Cloud. If Thousand Miles Drunk had sent out a rallying cry…

It’s too fearsome! Southern Lone Blade did not even dare to dwell on this further. It would be a tidal wave of support, and they only numbered a paltry seven. Be it a direct confrontation, an ambush, or guerrilla warfare, there was no way that they would survive. It really seemed that their game would really be over if such an eventuality came to be.

F*CK! How did such an entity like the Ten Guild Alliance even exist… Southern Lone Blade thought hatefully the moment he realized that Silver Moon no doubt deserved the first merit for the formation of the Ten Guild Alliance.

“Silver Moon, has he shown himself yet?!” Rage was etched on Southern Lone Blade’s face as he asked his comrades that were split into two teams about this. He had reservations about making a move against Silver Moon to begin with and was only feeling particularly buoyant when he saw how all his comrades were so enthused about going through with it. However, he could no longer restrain himself any further right now, for the moment he realized that Silver Moon was unequivocally the bane of everything; there was nothing unpalatable that he was not a part of.

“Not yet. By the looks of things, I reckon that he’ll only appear in the morning,” Paddy Scent Pastures answered.

“What are we gonna do about the things on Thousand Miles Drunk’s side? Big South, he may very well call on the Ten Guild Alliance’s aid if that’s what he is doing.” Glue obviously had a good grasp of Gu Fei’s past as well.

“Let’s confirm the validity of this before discussing further. Blackwater, go check things out over by Yueye City. I’m sure it will be easy to find out if any large-scale movements occur,” Southern Lone Blade said.

“All right!” Blackwater, who was currently doing his best to salvage his level as best as he could, immediately headed to Yueye City once he got his orders.

“Meanwhile, everyone else will go back and busy yourself with your affairs for the time being,” Southern Lone Blade said.

Their emotions and thoughts were all over the place even as they carried their own activities. Glue and the two others were no longer in the mood for card games. Sitting around in a circle together, they discussed worryingly over their unpredictable future.

—————————————————-

At the moment, Gu Fei was wondering if he should really hail the de facto tyrant of Yueye City, Dusky Cloud. Even though he had greatly exaggerated when describing the perils in Yueye City, it was really an unruly region. Those children were immature and enjoyed indulging in their reckless impulses; there really was no telling that they might run into trouble of their creation. Thinking about this for quite some time, he felt that it was best if he bore some responsibility to his students and pulled up his friends list to contact Dusky Cloud.

“You there, Boss Dusky?” Gu Fei greeted Dusky Cloud like a normal player.

Dusky Cloud and Gu Fei had added each other as friends back when the latter was passing by Yueye City while helping Traversing Four Seas with their guild quest, yet neither had contacted each other ever since. It was in the wee hours of the day when Gu Fei messaged Dusky Cloud from out of the blue. The man was in the midst of leading his buddies in bullying another guild, so when he saw it was actually Thousand Miles Drunk that contacted him after clearing his head a little, Dusky Cloud instantly perked up and stopped his task at hand and concentrated on replying to the message.Thousand Miles Drunk’s name had become all the more prominent nowadays. After the sword-selling incident that had happened in Baishi City propagated the forums, even though the players had no means to take a screenshot of what they saw there, there were some who still managed to quote the stats of his Moonlit Nightfalls word for word. Plenty of players nearly pissed themselves when they saw just how fearsome the weapon was, but what made it all the more formidable was how this sword’s owner had sold it so readily. There were usually only two situations when such a piece of wondrous equipment would be sold in MMOs: one was that the owner was about to leave the game for good, and the second was that the owner had come into possession of another far mightier weapon and this sword was no longer of use.

Just thinking about the second possibility had already pushed many to the point of soiling themselves.

“Miles bro, what’s up?” Dusky Cloud immediately stopped what he was doing and focused on replying to Gu Fei, ready to ask about that sword’s whereabouts casually. According to the forums, it was sold to Svelte Dancer. But Dusky Cloud knew that the two were fairly well acquainted with each other, and that just made the situation a little strange.

“It’s like this. I have a class of students making their way from Yunduan City to Baishi City. Don’t bully them when they pass by Yueye City!” Gu Fei said.

A class of students… Dusky Cloud looked at the phrase used and found it to be even more bizarre than Moonlit Nightfalls.

“When you see a group passing through with a banner bearing the number ‘3’, that’s them.” Gu Fei continued.

“Okay…” Dusky Cloud answered, still unsure of what this was all about.

“Thanks a lot!” Gu Fei was already finished.

“Oh, hey!” Dusky Cloud quickly interrupted.

“Hmm?”

“I’ve been looking through the forums these past few days, and bro, that sword of yours is incredible!” Dusky Cloud quickly pried.

“Ha ha.”

“So, you sold it to Svelte Dancer?” Dusky Cloud asked.

“Nah. It’s all a joke. I still have it on me,” Gu Fei replied.

“Oh, then if you really do feel like selling it, I’ll grab it off you no matter the cost!” Dusky Cloud could also be considered as fairly rich, though that was not through a solo effort but more of a collective effort. The members of his alliance were all about honor and unity; the thousands of players were all close to one another like family, so if everyone chipped in a gold coin or two, anyone could easily acquire anything they urgently require.

“Sure.” Gu Fei did not really mind about such things.

“Thanks a lot! Also, just what is it about that class of students you have?” Dusky Cloud still had no idea what the whole matter was about!

“They’re my students, of course. There should be about twenty to thirty of them, and they will be coming through Yueye City soon. I’ve personally experienced just how powerful you guys are over there, and I’m afraid that the kids will be bullied because of their immaturity, so I really hope Boss Dusky will take care of them on my behalf,” Gu Fei explained.

“Ah, so that’s how it is. I understand. “Dusky Cloud actually still had no idea what he meant by calling some players ‘students’, but he was a little embarrassed to ask more questions, so he replied accordingly, “Why don’t Miles bro pass an IGN for me to add to my friends list, so it’ll be easier on my part to contact them?”

“That works, too. Sorry about the trouble.” Gu Fei immediately told him Ah Fa’s IGN before sending a message right to the boy. “Soon, a player called Dusky Cloud will be adding you as a friend. He’s someone I got from Yueye City to take care of you guys until all of you safely make your way out of their territory.”

“Got it!” Ah Fa immediately replied.

With everything in order, Gu Fei could not hold back his grimace and chuckled wryly. Just what sort of situation is this?

————————————————

Over in Yueye City, while there was not much to be said about Dusky Cloud, at the very least, he was someone who was a man of his word. Having agreed to help Gu Fei over this matter, the man immediately added Ah Fa as a friend.

Dusky Cloud asked Ah Fa where their group was, but since this was the first time Ah Fa had taken this route, his description of the area was vague at best. He tried to use coordinates, but Dusky Cloud had only passed through that road once, so how could he be familiar with what that meant? Comparing the numerical difference between his coordinates and the one given to him did not work, either, for he had no idea if that was too far or too near. Nevertheless, Dusky Cloud did not dare to dawdle and called several brothers-in-arms to head toward the road connecting Yunduan City to Yueye City, ready to receive the aforementioned group of students.

Dusky Cloud calculated that the distance between their coordinates should not be too far off, but that was only the horizontal distance between the two points; going through the mountain pass itself was another thing altogether. Besides, Ah Fa and the others had only left Yunduan City not too long ago, so Dusky Cloud ended up waiting for a whole three hours. Plenty of his comrades had gotten so bored that they laid down on the ground for a nap until, finally, Dusky Cloud saw a troop of players entered his field of vision, and the player at the forefront of this troop had a banner flying high.

“They are finally here.” Dusky Cloud got excited. Sending a swift kick to those unsightly men of his lying on the ground, he reminded everyone to perk themselves up so as not to let the approaching group have a poor impression of them.

By the time the other party drew near, Dusky Cloud’s eyes had already widened like saucers. Carefully glancing at each of these players before his eyes, he finally could not hold himself back and swore, “M*th*rf*ck*r. They’re really students!”

Even though Gu Fei used the term ‘student’, Dusky Cloud merely thought that was a special label he had reserved for his comrades or underlings, just like how he and his comrades would call one another ‘m*th*rf*ck*rs’. Having a good look at these players coming right up to them, Dusky Cloud realized that what Thousand Miles Drunk called ‘students’ were actual students.

After secretly throwing a few Appraisals their way, Dusky Cloud could really feel his eyeballs fall out of their sockets since it became apparent that the highest-level player among the group was the one holding that banner aloft and taking the lead at level 36. The rest were around 20s and 30s; even more shocking was how there were even players who had not even reached level 10.

In order to demonstrate his illustrious background, Dusky Cloud brought all his best experts for this meeting, and the moment they realized that they were here to receive and deal with a random bunch of kids, each of them all threw looks of disdain toward Dusky Cloud.

That troop of students noticed these men in front of them at this point, each of them looking fierce and murderous. All these students got a series of question marks when they tried using Appraisal on these men, so they could not help but began speculating in their hearts. Ah Fa was about to contact Dusky Cloud on his own when he saw a Thief walk right out from that formation of men, asking with a difficult expression, “Who’s Fatal Reckoning?”

All these students’ eyes went toward Ah Fa, the act itself an indication that there was no longer any need for them to answer the question directly.

“I am Dusky Cloud,” Dusky Cloud bore with the curious scrutiny of this bunch of kids at his introduction of himself.

“Ohhh, so it’s you. You gave me quite the scare.” Ah Fa gave a sigh of relief. He was terrified when this person asked who Fatal Reckoning was and did not even dare answer in response. Meanwhile, these classmates of his did not fail to disappoint him and swiftly betrayed him at the drop of a hat.

“Uhm… Miles told me to take care of you all.” Dusky Cloud was really bad with his words; All he did in this game was slay others and chase skirts. He had never once been asked to take care of kids. Thousand Miles Drunk, that m*th*rf*ck*r… To think he’d actually give yours truly such a task, Dusky Cloud was complaining deep in his heart.

“Thank you so much. We’re on our way to Baishi City,” Ah Fa said.

“Yes, this way… Keep your banner!” Dusky Cloud took the lead, grumpily barking this out when he turned around to find Ah Fa still valiantly holding up that banner with the number ‘3’ on it.

These students followed behind Dusky Cloud, chattering freely as they pointed out the difference between the view they saw in Yueye City and in Yunduan City. Dusky Cloud’s men accompanied this troop, each of them showing an astounded expression. They had all seen children in the game before, but they had never once seen such a large bunch of them together. Now what do we do? Do we have to go forward and chat with them? What will we talk about? What are the kids playing nowadays? Do they still like Transformers? Do they watch Black Cat Detective ¹ ? Do they know The Big Blue Mouse and the Big Faced Cat ² ?

Dusky Cloud and his comrades were only good at being violent and were lacking when it came to connecting to people with their words. Besides, there was a clear generation gap between them and these kids, so the whole lot of them walked along not knowing what to do with themselves, feeling as if the road itself seemed unendingly long.

They soon arrived at Yeguang Village, and there were no more grinding areas after getting past it, so there should not be anymore other players here aside from those heading to Baishi City. Dusky Cloud came to a halt and turned around, addressing Ah Fa, “Just follow along the main road after getting through this village, and it should be a straight path to Baishi City. There’re no grinding zones beyond here, so there should not be any sort of danger.”

“Ohhh. Thanks! We’ll be on our way, then,” Ah Fa quickly said.

“All right. Take it easy and take care.” Dusky Cloud had no idea what he was saying at this point.

These students began leaving even as they waved to these men whom they believed in their hearts to be good-hearted people.

“See you, uncle!” Some of the more warm-hearted students even shouted this to Dusky Cloud.

UNCLE!? Dusky Cloud was in shock. Is yours truly really that old? That guy, his d*mn moustache is even longer than mine, yet he dared to call me an Uncle?! Dusky Cloud really felt like crying at this moment, turning back to see his comrades already rolling on the floor laughing.

“Your students have left Yueye City,” Dusky Cloud was very proper when he did things, so he did not forget to keep Gu Fei informed as to the status of this task he had asked of him.

“Thanks a lot, Boss Dusky,” Gu Fei said.

“You’re a teacher?” Dusky Cloud asked.

“Yup.”

Do teachers bring their students to play MMOs now? Dusky Cloud was perplexed.Has society advanced to such a point already? I guess I’m really a little old…

“Old Cloud, there’s someone there.” Someone suddenly sent a message to Dusky Cloud, even as the man secretly pointed over in a certain direction.

The rest had already received this same message and were all winking at one another surreptitiously, acting as if nothing was going on even as they pretended to make their way unintentionally over in that direction.

However, the Stealthed Thief was apparently far more vigilant than they had imagined. Already realizing what they were doing, the guy suddenly dismissed that skill in favor of Fleetfoot as he made his escape.

“Coward, don’t you dare run away!” Dusky Cloud hollered as he gave chase, but it was already too late. The Archers beside him fired several arrows of theirs, but not one hindered the Thief. Very quickly, that unknown player was far away in the blink of an eye.

That’s the Ten Guild Alliance for you, all right. They have plenty of talented men and even with some that can counter Stealth. I was too careless. Naturally, that Thief Dusky Cloud and his men had discovered was Blackwater, and given how much quicker his movement speed was compared to Ah Fa and the others, he had managed to reach Yueye City region before that group of students even made it to the city. The man had been lying in wait over at Yeguang Village, looking to find out if there would be reinforcements coming their way since it was landmark players had to pass by when making their way to Baishi City.

At the moment, Blackwater was sending a message over to Southern Lone Blade and the others.

“Big South, Dusky Cloud just sent a troop of players over to Baishi City – a total of 26 players. They’re not too old in terms of age, and their equipment is terrible; I can’t make sense of their intentions at all. Dusky Cloud himself brought about twenty or so experts with him. I wanted to keep watch their movement, but I got discovered. They have means to counter Stealth,” Blackwater reported.

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