Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

The guilds had gathered quickly, and parted ways even more swiftly. Oathless Sword and Brave Surge had not thought that after Black Index Finger had calmly given that little speech of his, most of the hundreds of guilds present would leave just like that, all of them informing the two before leaving, “We’re going to be wearing our guild emblems, but don’t expect us to help you in hunting Thousand Miles Drunk!”

“That rascal Black Index Finger, just what is that guy up to!?” Oathless Sword angrily cleaved a nearby tree sapling.

“Seeing the expression on his face during that whole time, it’s clear he intentionally wanted to make a mockery out of us,” Brave Surge said.

“I really hope Thousand Miles Drunk picks up a quest that specifically targets him and his guild. Let’s see if he still dares to say such things,” Oathless Sword spat.

Brave Surge heaved a deep sigh. It was rare for him to share the same sentiments as Oathless Sword. Looking all around, the guilds that remained were those guilds who had close ties with the two guilds. Actually, the good relationship that they had was all tacitly understood. Unsurprisingly, these were all the guilds that had been supported from behind the scenes by either Traversing Four Seas or Carouse in terms of their development. Because both of these large guilds had hit the limit in terms of the number of members that they could accept in their original guild, yet such a large city like Yunduan still had a near limitless supply of talent waiting for them to plunder, they evidently could not just kick and add new players to their respective guild every day. As such, they instead opted to establish such small guilds and have some of their experts housed within. These players would then join the main guild once Traversing Four Seas or Carouse raised their guild level and saw an increase to their guild capacity. Furthermore, these small guilds also had some newbies in them. Since they could tell that the game had great potential, they did not mind cultivating new talent in such a fashion.

The guild leaders of these small guilds were essentially reliable men that the two guilds had sent out in the first place, and they would, of course, be standing side by side with the two at this time. Meanwhile, the members from these smaller guilds could also clearly tell that they were, to put it bluntly, the reserve army for either Traversing Four Seas or Carouse. When these players saw that there was no way for them to join the two large guilds properly, they figured it was better to become their reserve members than joining some random trash guild, so they at least approve of their own identity. When the two guild leaders of their respective large guilds looked at the faces of the players who still remained, neither of them saw anyone in front of them that belonged to a guild unaffiliated to either of them aside from the reserve members from their own guilds, which was why the two indignantly cursed at those selfish guild leaders that lacked foresight. From the time these two men established their guilds in Yunduan City, never had these two men resonated so perfectly with each other’s hearts and minds.

“After wasting all that time, it is still our own men who were the ones involved in the end. Xiaoshang had been on the hunt for Thousand Miles Drunk for such a long time, I don’t even know if she has any leads as to his whereabouts. Let me ask her,” Oathless Sword was someone who would not miss a chance to converse with Gu Xiaoshang.

Brave Surge really wanted to tease him a little; after all, Oathless Sword was a guild leader for a large guild, yet he evidently lacked any sense of proportion when it came to Gu Xiaoshang. He might be delighted about being able to speak to the apple of his eye, but he should at least think on behalf of his own guildmates! Brave Surge simply could not understand this. Did none of his guild members find it awkward that their guild leader would keep fawning and preening over Gu Xiaoshang every time? Brave Surge felt just this point alone was sufficient for Oathless Sword’s reputation to plummet, yet he saw the same expressionless look on Gale Force, Youthful Reflection, and all the other men that Oathless Sword had brought with him when Oathless Sword declared that he was going to contact Gu Xiaoshang.

They are all actually used to it by now… D*mn, how did they even survive through it all… Brave Surge sighed. He was someone who paid special attention to his own image and reputation as a guild leader, and would never do something like what Oathless Sword was doing. That was the reason why Brave Surge simply could not understand how and why Oathless Sword acted the way he did. He was clueless as to how this person had been able to lead Traversing Four Seas to such a state, especially to the point where they had even managed to surpass his own guild, Carouse.

Gu Xiaoshang had not gotten too far, seeing as she was a Warrior herself. She received Oathless Sword’s message while making her way back to Yunjiao Lakeside, asking if she had any leads on Thousand Miles Drunk.

“You need clues as well?” Gu Xiaoshang was perplexed.

“Of course!” Oathless Sword said.

“Have you forgotten? Thousand Miles Drunk still has an assassination mission for you. You don’t have to look for him, he’ll be the one searching for you, sooner or later,” Gu Xiaoshang said.

“Ah… That…” Oathless Sword had indeed forgotten about that.

“That is why it is hard to say if he will end up appearing at our location, or at yours,” Gu Xiaoshang continued.

“Then we should all gather together, since that would mean that we can make this attempt entirely foolproof,” Oathless Sword fought hard for every chance.

“Oh? We’re over by Yunjiao Lakeside,” Gu Xiaoshang answered.

“Yunjiao Lakeside!” Oathless Sword was excited. That was a sacred land! His greatest dream was to hold hands with Gu Xiaoshang and take a romantic walk along the banks of Yunjiao Lakeside. He never would have thought that the opportunity would come so soon, and he was a little emotionally unprepared for it.

The look of delight on Oathless Sword’s face quickly appeared, and Youthful Reflection, Brave Surge, and the others all looked at him. Gale Force was a lot more straightforward, so he immediately asked, “What are you happy about?”

“Yunjiao Lakeside, we’re going to hold hand in hand with Xiaoshang. Wait, I mean work hand in hand!” Oathless Sword excitedly blurted out.

“Why are we going there?” Everyone was confused. It was very far away from the battlefield for the City Wars.

“Perhaps because there’s a good ambiance there?” Oathless Sword was about to drool, his thoughts going in a completely different direction than everyone else’s.

Youthful Reflection and the others all rolled their eyes.

Going back to Gu Fei, after he discovered that all the players participating in the City Wars event were starting to target him, even going so far as to change their equipment and outfit so that he would be only one wearing black, Gu Fei had very happily taken off his Midnight Spirit Robes along with everyone and continued to blend in with the crowd. But this did not last for long. Soon, everyone was inexplicably wearing their own equipment again, and more importantly, they carefully pinned their guild emblems back on.

“Bro, which guild are you from?” A kind-hearted player quickly approached Gu Fei when he saw him standing there in a daze.

“Ah?” Gu Fei turned to look at that person.

“Quick, pin on your guild emblem! You’re a Mage too, so you’ll surely be treated as Thousand Miles Drunk if you do not wear your guild emblem and end up dying without being able to bemoan at the injustice,” this player told him.

“But I am Thousand Miles Drunk,” Gu Fei answered.

The man stood there stunned, staring at Gu Fei, the hand that was pinning on his guild emblem freezing in place, before he softly opened his mouth, “Big bro…”

“What are you ‘big bro’-ing me for!?” Gu Fei was annoyed.

That person did not say another word but he slowly backed away, step by step. His eyes fixed on Gu Fei.

However, Gu Fei took two steps right up to him and asked, “Let me ask you something; you guys were taking off your equipment one moment, and putting them back on the next. Then there’s this idea that anyone not wearing any guild emblem would be identified as Thousand Miles Drunk. Just what is going on?”

“It’s none of my business!” The man was flustered.

“I know, I’m just asking you a question,” Gu Fei hurriedly pressed.

“It’s the idea that the two big guilds, Traversing Four Seas and Carouse, came up with. They planned to get everyone to go up against you, but none of us agreed. However, they still wanted our cooperation, and at first, they wanted us to remove our equipment, and the next they want us to wear our guild emblems. I believe they intend to sniff you out like this,” the man answered.

“Those guys are so baffling,” Gu Fei said. “I was just fighting with Carouse not too long ago, yet they were the ones who ran off. Why are they back now, trying to hunt me down? This is so strange.”

“It’s none of my business, truly,” That man pleaded.

“I know, I know. How should I address you?” Gu Fei asked.

“My— My name is Small Bottlecap. I’m from the guild Soy Sauce Pourer,” he answered.

“Small… Small Bottlecap?” Gu Fei was astonished when he heard it, he told the man to “wait a moment,” even as he quickly fired a message to Sword Demon, “Have you abandoned your Bounty Mission yet?”

“Yep. What about it?”

“How tragic. I just bumped into Small Bottlecap,” Gu Fei replied.

“Balls!!” Sword Demon was a very honest and upright person, but even he could not bear being played by fate thusly. “How did you meet him?”

“I came across the man while randomly walking around. You’re really unlucky, man.” Gu Fei said.

“Such is life,” Sword Demon had also accepted that his destiny was one of disappointment and misery.

“What are you up to?”

“After abandoning the quest, some time has to pass before I can pick up a new quest, so I’m waiting it out right now!” Sword Demon explained. “Aren’t you logging off soon?”

“Oh, right. Did you receive any sort of system prompt just now?” Gu Fei asked.

“System prompt? The one about occupying the enemy camp?” Sword Demon clarified.

“That’s the one. You saw it?” Gu Fei said.

“Yeah. Something must have happened again, I think?”

“It’s not something, it was me!” Gu Fei admitted.

“Ah?”

“I went to log out with both Slyris and Yan Xiaozhu together, right? The system prompt had appeared the moment I stepped onto the encampment,” Gu Fei said. “Oh, by the way, we can’t log out using the spawn point outside.”

“Hold up. You’re telling me that the system declared you to be occupying the encampment the moment you step onto the spawn point? That should not have been the case! We’ve both been into the encampments before, why did we not get such a prompt?” Sword Demon wondered.

“Do you think the reason is that there were NPC guards affiliated with the city assaulters populating around the camps back then?” Gu Fei asked.

“Oh? That’s very likely! That means that the encampments became conquerable when all the NPC guards were vanquished. Going by the prompt we saw before, as long as we can stay inside the spawn point for five minutes, that encampment would be dismantled…” Sword Demon was pondering over it.

“Right now, the neutral third party players are also using the spawn points outside, so if all seven were to be dismantled, how would people even log out? Is this a BUG?” Gu Fei was now an expert as well, being able to call out a BUG when he saw it.

“If they are all dismantled, doesn’t that mean that the city defenders would emerge victorious? Could this be one of the conditions that could determine the outcome of the City Wars?” Sword Demon was buzzing.

“Yes, that must surely be it!” Gu Fei very quickly connected the dots as well.

“I’m going to go and give it a try! If I can remain Stealthed, perhaps no one would even tell I am there in the five minutes required?” Sword Demon suggested.

“That makes sense! I am too conspicuous right now, but from what I had heard before, men from Traversing Four Seas as well as Carouse have decided that any Mage not wearing an emblem would be me, and they would kill them without any questions asked!” Gu Fei said.

“Not wearing an emblem? Do you mean guild emblem? But you have that as well!” Sword Demon blurted out.

“That’s right, which is why I find their decision very strange as well. Right now, I am hesitating over whether I should wear it or not. Wouldn’t it be very lonely if no one comes to kill me once I wear it?” Gu Fei mused.

“I’ll go out and take a look. Which encampment did you head to just now?” Sword Demon did not wish to accompany an expert like Gu Fei and stew in boredom together. He was convinced that he had not gotten to such a realm yet, so it was better to earnestly play the game for real.

“The one north of the city,” Gu Fei answered.

“Okay, I’ll go over and see for myself.”

“When we were stirring up trouble, it seemed like there were not many NPCs over by the northeast encampment as well, right?” Gu Fei asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t think I turned around to check,” Sword Demon said.

“How about Brother Assist? Let’s ask Brother Assist go take a look,” Gu Fei said.

“He’s still blocking private messages,” Sword Demon sighed.

“And we can’t use the mercenary channel to ask, or we would expose our intentions,” Gu Fei added.

“Yeah.”

“I’ll go there and have a look for myself!” Gu Fei decided.

“Then you should be careful,” Sword Demon cautioned.

“We still don’t know who should be the one who needs to be careful!” Gu Fei quipped.

Sword Demon had no idea how to follow up hearing such a statement.

Traversing Four Seas and Carouse both led their men and affiliated guilds in a great show of force toward Yunjiao Lakeside, while Gu Fei and Sword Demon were both furtively skulking their way over to the two encampments.

The encampments were in danger of being occupied, and the reveal of this particular feature in the City War to the players ought to have drawn the regard of the players to stay on their guard. But because they were only concerned with their own benefits and refused to collaborate together as a whole, there was actually no one who sought to explore this particular situation after their successful defense the first time around. After the discussion of Thousand Miles Drunk caused everyone to leave on a sour note, everybody left to continue with their own pursuits, and this feature that had once induced such a bout of heavy panic did not receive the deserving amount of attention any longer.

Sword Demon had always been the most patient and was always prudent. He went into Stealth the moment he stepped out of the north gate as he slowly made his way toward the north encampment. Gu Fei was as imperious as ever, wearing his Midnight Spirit Robes without his guild emblem once more, almost just swinging his limbs blatantly with much swagger as he made his way out. The people he met along the way each gave him a wide berth, the fear they felt toward Gu Fei was almost at its tipping point, where even teams were deathly afraid of him.

Gu Fei had thought that there would be people who would clash with him right out in the open as he made his way out, yet nobody, absolutely nobody, did that. Everyone who identified him did not even look him in the eye, and those who really wanted to vanquish him had all ran off to Yunjiao Lakeside. Of course, Gu Fei had no idea about this fact, and without caring about anything, he made his way in the shortest route possible toward that northeast encampment. The Stealthed Sword Demon was simply awed and beside himself with admiration when he saw how Gu Fei was striding so domineeringly to his destination.

With how quickly Gu Fei moved, he was the first to reach his encampment and after taking a stroll around the location, he was under the impression that there were no NPC guards on duty. However, the moment he took a step into the encampment, he heard that familiar yell, “There’s a spy!!”

Gu Fei followed the sound of the voice and still did not see any NPC guards. That was just how shameless the game was, being able to detect the presence of the player without even having a direct line of sight. There were quite a lot of players hanging around in this encampment, and with how Gu Fei was smug enough to walk right in without even attempting to conceal his presence, everyone already had their eyes set on him! Having so openly walked into this place, even the system had gotten mad, yet these players were all exchanging looks with each other, all of them actually uncertain if they should move to attack or otherwise.

The entire day, the orders that these players had regarding Thousand Miles Drunk kept changing as time passed. The man was placed in great importance, and an appropriate level of wariness naturally matched this perceived importance. Gu Fei had stepped right into their encampment right now, and the system had also prompted the players inside the place accordingly, but the players were actually still sticking to just observe him.

Gu Fei did not bother waiting too long as the NPC guards finally came sprinting right for him.

How pitiful! Such a large encampment, and there were only four NPC guards that remained. The rest had all died at the hands of the players from the guilds when Gu Fei and Sword Demon had stirred up trouble the last time. The players were all rather happy when they saw these NPCs step out and fight. This way, they could simply watch the spectacle and let the system take care of their problem. There was no way that Gu Fei could put the blame on any of the guilds in this way, right?

These NPC guards that were defending the encampment were much weaker in terms of their strength as compared to the NPC guards that regularly patrolled the cities to preserve the peace, and they were about equally strong as those city guards currently repelling the city assaulters. Players at the current stage of the game would have difficulties taking on these NPC guards fairly, but it was definitely not something impossible, otherwise, there was no way for anybody to even take part in this City Wars event.

Meanwhile, Gu Fei was naturally able to solo what would usually take a group of normal players to take down. But right now, he had to face off against four of these guards, and when Gu Fei went forward to try and test them out with a slash or two, he quickly realized to his dismay that things were hardly sanguine. Ignoring the strength of these NPC guards, just the HP that they had was plentiful, and Gu Fei could only slowly grind their HP down till they die. However, the players that were presently scattered around them watching the fight were enemies. They might not be taking any action at the moment, but who knew when they would come and surround them at the drop of a hat. By then, all the effort that Gu Fei had gone to would have been for naught, and Gu Fei had no intention of doing something so futile, so he feinted with a few more cuts before fleeing from the encampment.

The players belonging to the various guilds were still staring blankly. The NPC guards had very bravely given chase, and Gu Fei had planned to lure the four NPCs away, only to see them come to a halt, turn around and head back to their posts after luring them barely a dozen meters out of the encampment.

“D*mn, I can’t lure them out!” Gu Fei muttered to himself when he saw that there were several players looking at him awkwardly.

The players had no idea what to make of what they had just witnessed. Just what is going on? This man is our enemy! ENEMY! So why are we just watching and observing him tease the NPCs on our side right in front of us like this? Just what sort of logic is this?

With such a thought, several of the more impulsive and hot-blooded men could not stand this any longer, and suddenly made their move. Gu Fei was not in the least bit courteous to this abrupt assault as he very merrily retaliated. A roil of flames licked out, and the men all became no more. The others who were ready to join in on the action quickly stopped themselves. A good number of them were even madly celebrating in their hearts, It’s a good thing I didn’t attack him just then!

Gu Fei looked to his left and right and saw that there was no one else keen on fighting. Furthermore, he had no idea just how to take care of the four NPC guards inside this encampment. After pondering over this for just a moment, he turned away and began heading in the direction of the north encampment.

Sword Demon had almost reached the north encampment creeping his way up with his Stealth by this time. The north encampment was initially the location where plenty of the large guilds had set up their sites, but these large guilds were currently nowhere in sight at the moment, which made the whole place looked rather deserted. Sword Demon had gingerly negotiated through the crowd while Stealthed, slowly beginning to feel more at ease when he realized that there was nobody who sensed his presence. The encampment was right in front of his eyes, and he soon stepped past the threshold in no time.

The system prompt sounded: [You have successfully occupied the enemy encampment. Hold it for five minutes, and the encampment will be dismantled.]

Naturally, a similar system prompt like before had also appeared for all the players who were assaulting the city. The men from Traversing Four Seas and Carouse happened to be halfway on the road to Yunjiao Lakeside when they received this news. The moment they saw the prompt appear, they immediately realized that Thousand Miles Drunk had actually set his sights on their encampments, and they had actually utterly forgotten about this possibility! The guild channel was in a state of chaos as several men took it upon themselves and asked to head on back as fast as they could.

“We only have five minutes, we won’t make it,” Brave Surge sighed.

“Is there anybody there?” Oathless Sword asked.

“Who knows?” Youthful Reflection shrugged.

It just so happened that there was really no one of importance inside the north encampment. Both guilds had left, and Black Index Finger had brought his men away from the location as well. Foe-herder did not bother setting his guild up in this camp in the first place, so there was really not a single guild there that could take charge. The system prompt that appeared was so sudden that everyone went pale from the shock. All of them were frantic as they searched everywhere around the camp, but the difference between this time and the last, was that nobody had cared to pay attention when Gu Fei walked into the encampment so openly the last time. All their eyes were gathered on him and so when the system prompt appeared in the end, it was like they had all been given their attack orders, as everyone immediately hurtled over to where he was in unison.

This time, everyone ran in every direction searching, yet they simply could not find his figure at all.

Sword Demon was crestfallen. Completely inconsolable.

The moment the system prompt appeared, his Stealth state had been forcefully canceled. It was evident that the system had purposefully programmed this, not allowing the player to use such methods to play a game of hide and seek when it came to occupying the encampment. But the problem was that Sword Demon was presently standing by the edge of the encampment. No one was paying any attention to him as countless players came barreling through beside him in their panic. Not a single one of their eyes even stopped for a second to look at him, as everyone was only thinking to search for a figure wearing a set of black Mage robes. Sword Demon was experiencing what it was like to be treated like just a common passerby.

Three Mages wearing black robes were insta-killed one after the other by all these people searching for the intruder, just in case, yet the system’s alarm never ceased. Every minute that passed, the system would send a prompt again, and when it came to the final minute, it actually began its countdown by the seconds.

Sword Demon stood blankly by the edge of the encampment all by himself, counting down the seconds with the system.