Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Gu Fei and Eternal Dominion were strolling about in Linshui City, hoping to coincidentally bump into Southern Lone Blade in such a manner, but it was clear that was impossible.

Over by Southern Lone Blade’s side, they could not find any trace of Gu Fei and Eternal Dominion when they arrived at the Warrior’s Encampment, which resulted in both parties losing track of the other. In comparison, it was instead Southern Lone Blade who was pressed, for his business rested on him being able to take Gu Fei’s head squarely off his shoulders! But now that he understood Gu Fei had came searching for him, he was not exactly anxious. At the very least, Gu Fei should not be in a rush to leave Linshui City. It was just that he felt quite troubled as he currently had no idea where to locate the man, nor had he thought of a plan to deal with the duo.

---

While these men were all uncertain about how to carry on from this point, the five other experts from Young Master's Elites were finally nearing the coast on that little wooden boat they had commandeered.

“Where are we leaving the boat?” War Without Wounds asked.

“Anywhere would do.” Young Master Han was entirely unconcerned. In the end, it was the honest Sword Demon, aided by War Without Wounds, who dragged the boat ashore, leaving it at a most conspicuous spot before informing some of the players nearby who were tending to an open-air bar of the matter. Their voices were loud when they did this, allowing plenty of the players around them to hear their conversation. At that rate, they figured there would not be anyone out there who would try to attempt anything fishy in public view of everybody present!

Soon after, the two men chased after the others, who had already set off. Young Master Han and Brother Assist were near the harbor trying to gather some news from the players passing time nearby.

Sure enough, as they had expected, whenever Gu Fei acted, he was bound to attract the attention of others, and they found out what had happened. But more importantly, they were able to learn about how Southern Lone Blade was resurrected, as well.

“To think there really is a resurrection skill!” Brother Assist mused, pulling out his booklet to make a note of it, even as he attempted to learn from the person they had inquired from what this person looked like.

“He was a Priest…” Those were the only four words they could extract from the man after asking repeatedly.

Brother Assist left to find out more about this Priest. He believed that given the fact there were so many people in the crowd, he was positive that quite a lot must have attempted to use their Appraisal skill on him. Fortunately, none of those players around held back, allowing Brother Assist to jot down the following, “The man had the usual equipment one would see from experts, but no one was able to glean any information about that magic staff he was holding. It looks like that must be a top grade item. A powerful skill like resurrection would most likely be something that originated from that magic staff.”

The others nodded in agreement. By now, they had already attracted another group’s attention with what they were doing. A Thief dressed in blue was already approaching the five experts with a group of men in tow.

“Gentlemen,” this man had came forward and greeted the five. All of them glanced over at him in unison.

“My name’s Tanzanite Shade, the guild leader of Linshui City’s Blue Umbra Guild,” the man introduced himself.

“Hello,” the five men greeted him, even as Brother Assist provided greater detail from the sidelines.

“Tanzanite Shade is one of the Ten Great Adepts from the Thief leaderboard, currently ranked sixth.”

“I’ve made a fool of myself,” Tanzanite Shade chuckled. The moment Brother Assist pointed out his rank, he had no choice but to acknowledge his fame. Being placed so highly on the leaderboard could be considered an honorable achievement, so of course he would be more than happy for others to mention this. Tanzanite Shade instantly met Brother Assists’ gaze, feeling that the man looked far more pleasing to the eye than before.

Brother Assists’ vast array of friendships he had made with players in the game was not coincidental. He often gave others a good impression as a result of similar situations.

“How should I address everyone here?” Tanzanite Shade stopped smiling as he changed the topic to find out where these five men came from.

However, he could not help but feel smaller in comparison as the five men introduced themselves. By the time they were all done, he felt he was no taller than a dwarf.

Out of these five, four were also part of the Ten Adepts themselves, while each of their IGNs were famous in the gaming community. Tanzanite Shade was merely just one of the top Ten in Parallel World, the pride he had in his sixth place no longer relevant in the face of these men.

At least he quickly recalled his reason for presenting himself like so and hastily said “I’ve heard so much about you,” as he got to the crux of his question. “I heard that you guys were all inquiring after a certain matter?”

The five experts saw no reason to conceal this fact now that they had been actively asking so many questions all this while, so they nodded.

Tanzanite Shade proceeded to ask, “I wonder if you five gentlemen are related to the two from before?”

Young Master Han saw no reason to lie, “We’re hunting them.”

“Oh, I wonder just who are you guys looking to kill?”

Young Master Han’s answer was even more brazen, “Everyone, of course.”

It was now Young Master Han’s turn to ask the questions after he answered. “Are they friends with Blue Umbra?” The truth was, Young Master Han knew that was not the case. He knew the rules of the open-air bar by the beach like the back of his hand, and easily surmised that they must have needed to take a course of action now that the two parties had decided to clash on their turf. Had they been friends with either side, there would not have been a need for him to appear.

“Oh no. They simply broke the rules when they fought here by our bar, so we gotta mete out punishment for them.” The answer that Tanzanite Shade gave was entirely what Young Master Han had expected.

“Ah, so that’s how it is! In that case, I hope guild leader Shade would be willing to share any information if you have anything regarding these men,” Young Master Han smiled pleasantly.

“Of course!” There was no reason for Tanzanite Shade to reject aid from experts like them, so he was quick to accept the offer, adding each other to their respective friends’ list with great affection.

“Hmph…” That was when a cold snort could be heard, causing all these men to turn and spot Sakurazaka Moony and his men. That snort actually came from the only lady in this party: Vast Lushness.

“Back to your old tricks again!” Vast Lushness commented with disdain when she saw them staring at her.

Most had not seen this scene before, but Young Master Han had essentially used the same method to trick Vast Lushness in Yueye City back then. While the situation with Tanzanite Shade might be a little different, the implication of his actions remained the same. The men of Young Master's Elites all felt a little awkward now that the previous victim of Young Master Han’s schemes had actually watched it unfold again.

It was only the perpetrator himself who revealed nary a change of emotion, and merely smiled, “Ah, what a coincidence.”

That statement held a double meaning to it, pointing out how coincidental it was for them to bump into Vast Lushness and the men from The Great Hunting, while also pointing out how coincidental it was that the victim Vast Lushness who once more saw the scheme at work. Ultimately, Young Master Han seemed entirely unperturbed by all of this.

Vast Lushness pouted, yet she did not say another word.

“Friends of yours?” Tanzanite Shade did not seem to have found anything suspicious from this exchange between the two.

“We’re both from Yunduan City,” Young Master Han replied.

“Barkeep, let’s have an open bar! The drinks are all on me!” Tanzanite Shade attempted to curry favor with such a grand gesture.

A huge crowd of players cheered at this. There were quite a lot of players who were with Sakurazaka Moony, totalling forty at the moment. Not a single one of them had dropped the quest, so they had all gathered to make their way back to their home city. They were quite possibly one of the most united mercenary groups around. Even the six men from Young Master's Elites` could not be compared to them, since the nonconformist Gu Fei would often be off doing his own thing.

“That’s a lot of you…” Tanzanite Shade’s lips trembled.

“Hehehe…” Young Master Han laughed dryly. “Guild leader Shade, why don’t you just tell us what you’ve found out thus far!”

It was apparent they were not intending to stay around to share a drink, talking as they made their way towards Linshui City.

---

“What’s the matter? Those guys seem to be in trouble.” Sakurazaka Moony and his men had begun discussing the matter.

“Did Drunk Bro slay someone again?” Fireball had made the correct assumption, as expected from the person who first met Gu Fei. They had all taken a tour around the city before they ended up at the bar by the beach, so they had not seen Gu Fei fighting.

“If it’s Drunk bro then we gotta lend him a hand!” Sakurazaka Moony said.

“Yeah, but we won’t interfere if it’s that guy,” Fireball quipped.

Vast Lushness followed his gaze and saw he was pointing towards Young Master Han, and felt a slight release in her heart, “Why do you guys hate that guy?”

“Look at just how he looks, but turned out to be a man... It's like a slap to our naked passion!” Fireball angrily blurted out.

“Well said, Fireball!” Everyone clapped, and someone even wolf-whistled.

F*ck*ng h*ll!, Vast Lushness cursed in her heart. She knew just how lewd these men were, so why did she even expect to be able to discuss any sort of thoughtful questions.

“Let’s follow and take a look!” Sakurazaka Moony got up.

“But those guys said they are treating us to drinks! That man looked to be the owner of this bar!” Some of them were somewhat unwilling to leave.

“Take it to go!” Sakurazaka Moony ordered.

Considering how shameless and skeevy these men were, was there anything they would not dare to do? Of course they were unabashed as they took their drinks to go. Because their guild leader had already given the order, the barkeep and staff had no choice but to take the losses from this “trade”. Thankfully they came with the idea of telling them they were out of liquor to sell, so at least these men did not end up taking their whole stock with them.

Tanzanite Shade nearly spat out blood when he got the message.

“Eh, is something the matter, guild leader Shade?” The observant Brother Assist saw that Tanzanite Shade looked ill.

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” Tanzanite Shade hurriedly waved his hand. Through this, Tanzanite Shade swore to never curry favor randomly again.

“Guild leader Shade, why don’t you tell us your planned formation?” Tanzanite Shade had been interrupted when he received that blood vomiting news.

“Oh, oh right. I’ll continue,” Tanzanite Shade said. “Those two guys have both entered the city. On the basis that they are off to hunt down their target, the Mage and Fighter are sure to head over to the Warriors’ Encampment after slaying Southern Lone Blade, because they are unaware that the man has actually been resurrected by his comrades.”

Everybody nodded.

“Southern Lone Blade was likely to have shared the same thought as they did, so if he intends to take revenge, he will surely have made his way over there, as well.

“However, according to the info my men had gathered over there, there was apparently a small kerfuffle over by the Warriors’ Encampment that the Fighter and Mage caused, yet Southern Lone Blade was nowhere in sight,” Tanzanite Shade narrated.

“So where did they go?” Young Master Han asked.

“We’re not too sure either, but I’ve already given their description to all of our men, so someone is sure to report in the moment they are spotted,” Tanzanite Shade said.

“Yeah,” Young Master Han nodded even as he fired off a message to Gu Fei.

------

“Change your clothes.”

“What for?”

“There’s a guild hot on both your trail. Keep a low profile!”

“Oh…” The main reason Gu Fei had come here was to help Eternal Dominion find a way to make a living out of Parallel World. While he would have loved to take on a guild, he felt that tagging on the new problem they had just encountered would only further complicate things, so he decided to take Young Master Han’s advice and changed his robes.

“Also,” Young Master Han said, “Tell Eternal Dominion that Southern Lone Blade has not died, so he has not actually earned a single cent at the moment.”