Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Southern Lone Blade, Glue, and Unrivaled Lucky Star waited until everyone was long gone before climbing out of their hiding spot behind the tall grass. They exchanged glances.

“Uhm… Those kids don’t seem to be anyone with any sort of backing,” Unrivaled Lucky Star remarked.

“I think I heard them call Thousand Miles Drunk a teacher,” Glue added.

“Teacher? Students?” Southern Lone Blade was stunned and thought the same thing as Dusky Cloud. Bringing students to play MMOs, is this a subject that schools organize as extra-curricular activities nowadays?

“It was a false alarm.” Glue began dusting himself off from the dirt and mud. Despite the entire ordeal being quite tiring, he was feeling rather contented with what had happened. At the very least, they were not in danger in any sense this time.

“Blackwater, the group that made their way over isn’t a threat. Stay over in Yueye City temporarily and continue to monitor Dusky Cloud and his men’s actions.” As their leader, Southern Lone Blade always thought one step ahead of everyone else.

“Dusky Cloud’s gang seems to be preparing to log out.” At the moment, those nocturnal gamers in the locality were starting to call it a night and were returning to the city to log out.

“Okay, then. You can call it a night as well,” Southern Lone Blade said.

“All right. Let’s head back to the city.” After messaging Blackwater, Southern Lone Blade called out to Glue and Unrivaled Lucky Star so they could all return to the city. In the meantime, the two were in the middle of retelling what they had seen and heard to Flame Singed Clothes and the others, as if it were all a joke. Of course, some of the more embarrassing deeds they did in the process were glossed over.

“Ha ha! To think there’s such a thing. What is Thousand Miles Drunk trying to do? Open a kindergarten? Treat the kids as kings?” Flame Singed Clothes guffawed upon hearing everything. Even though it was hardly a hilarious matter, as long as it could be a source of ridicule toward Thousand Miles Drunk, he would surely find it extremely funny.

“Has Silver Moon shown his face yet?” Southern Lone Blade asked the two that were still camping out both spawn points.

“Nope.” The same answer came from both ends.

“Silver Moon’s no longer online.” Glue, who had Silver Moon on his friends list, told the others this.

“That scum’s really lucky to actually not make his way to either safe zone.” Everyone sighed.

“All right. We’re all tired. Let’s get some rest first! We’ll talk about everything else when we next get online,” Southern Lone Blade said.

“Big South, that Utopian Magic Staff…” Everybody reminded him vaguely, just what were they going to do about the magic staff? Should they continue and persist or abandon it? They were all hoping for a message of certainty; otherwise, their hearts would be weighed down by this huge burden.

“Let me think about it first to see if there’s any solution to this!” Southern Lone Blade replied.

Everybody sighed. Southern Lone Blade was truly persistent.

“A whole night spent without keeping watch, perhaps, the magic staff has already picked up by now…”

“Relax; it’s still there.” Southern Lone Blade laughed.

“What?” Everybody was shocked.

“I discovered our peers when I was staking out the place for the staff today,” Southern Lone Blade shared.

“Do you mean to say that there’s another team out there targeting this staff, too?”

“That’s right. They were there as well when Unrivaled Lucky Star went over to the Auction House before, so that means that the staff has yet to be retrieved,” Southern Lone Blade explained.

“What next?”

“You guys should get some rest. I’ll keep watch first,” Unrivaled Lucky Star volunteered. It was apparent that Southern Lone Blade had already privately messaged him about this.

“Okay!” the rest replied. Since the three players were already in a designated safe zone, they just logged out there and then. Southern Lone Blade and the other two deliberately passed by the Auction House as they headed back to the city. Evidently, Southern Lone Blade and Glue would be in danger if they were to show their faces here; keeping their faces covered would attract suspicion on them as they would be deemed as potential criminals. Thus, the three did not get too near the place. Southern Lone Blade and Glue and hid themselves behind a wall while Unrivaled Lucky Star went in and circled around once before swiftly running out, nodding. “They are still there!”

Southern Lone Blade laughed. This was indeed a good discovery. They no longer had to be the mantis stalking the cicada but the oriole, instead. They might even have a chance to hoodwink Thousand Miles Drunk easily as well.

“Then, I’ll let you keep an eye on them first. We’re gonna log out and come by to relieve you when it’s time.” Southern Lone Blade said this to Unrivaled Lucky Star.

“Yeah. Go ahead!” Unrivaled Lucky Star nodded. They had been up all night, yet he still had work to do right now. Larceny could be a tiring job that went from dawn to dusk, and it was far more exhausting than how most players played the game. It was all because looting equipment from players was far more troublesome than robbing someone in real life!

Southern Lone Blade and the others quickly went offline soon after. Young Master’s Elite, Svelte Dancer, Vast Lushness, Fireball, and the other characters all logged out one after another after busying themselves the entire day as well; meanwhile, Gu Fei, who was known for his short sessions in Parallel World, had yet to find a chance to call it a night. His students had just arrived at Baishi City and had all just witnessed their teacher instantly killing dozens of players at one fell swoop. Each of them was excited, pestering him with all sorts of questions, annoying him to the point that he felt himself about to have a breakdown.

Furthermore, the six rascals that had only joined the game today were all the more insistent as they asked him for equipment, having learned from their peers about their teacher giving away equipment when they started playing the game. They believed that he should treat everyone impartially and play no favorites to this end. However, Gu Fei’s warehouse had practically been emptied out after that last gifting session, and his last grind on monsters had been before he left with Traversing Four Seas for their guild quest. Why would he have any sort of collection this time?

“Stop with your clamoring!” Gu Fei bellowed at those students. “Do you take your teacher as a shop? I’ve already given away all my equipment last time; I don’t have anything now.”

“If you don’t have equipment, give us some coins so we can buy equipment ourselves!” These kids were not giving up so easily.

“I’m out of coins as well!” Gu Fei replied. All his money was on Sword Demon’s tab!

“Teacher’s a liar.” Someone pouted. “It said on the forums that you had sold your sword for 20,000 gold coins; why would you be out of coins.”

“That’s right,” the whole lot of them echoed.

Gu Fei was in tears; he was really a mover and shaker in this game! He made the forum headlines even just from selling a sword, and the ensuing hype became known to all. In order to prove his innocence, he pulled out his Moonlit Nightfalls and showed it to everybody. “Look here. The sword is still with me. Your teacher was merely pulling a joke with his friend; I didn’t really sell it.”

“Ahhh! What a beautiful sword. Sir, why don’t you give that sword for me to collect?” a student cried out.

Collect… No matter how of little importance equipment in this game was to Gu Fei, there was no way he would give someone any gear for his or her collection. Looking at this student’s yearning look, he hinted. “Do you intend to change schools next semester?”

“No!” That student was stunned. Realizing the underlying threat in Gu Fei’s words the next moment, he bawled, “Sir, spare me!”

A teacher might be unable to kill someone outright, but a P.E. teacher definitely had the means to leave his or students wishing that they were dead.

“Everyone, behave and stop making a racket. It’s already late; head back and rest up first! This is your growth period; how can you lot not have a good night’s sleep?” Gu Fei questioned.

“Tsk!” All the students snorted in contempt, openly showing their scorn for being admonished while playing a game.

“Are you all thinking of changing schools?!” Gu Fei demanded.

The students were crying even as they lined up to head toward the nearest safe zone.

“You guys need to allocate your time wisely. This is only the first day of your holiday; you can’t go crazy like this.” Gu Fei continued lecturing them. “You may study less since it’s the holidays, but how can you forgo your physical exercise? Make sure to maintain a certain level of outdoor activity every day.”

Indeed, to dare say something like ‘study less’, Gu Fei was truly a P.E. teacher. All the students sighed.

“Teacher, what do you do in-game every day?” The student asked him this as they made their way to a designated safe zone.

“I fight with the forces of evil,” Gu Fei answered.

A barrel of laughter ensued.

“What’s the forces of evil? Sir, bring us to fight them, too!” someone else quipped.

“You guys? You were all about to be extinguished by the forces of evil yourselves just moments ago; what are you going to fight them with?” Gu Fei asked.

“Then, can you bring us to do some level grinding, sir?”

“What’s the use of grinding?” he questioned.

“What would you rather we learn, then?” All his students were confused.

“Kung fu, of course,” Gu Fei stated.

“Teacher’s gone crazy again.” The students discussed this with each other before logging out.

———————————————-

After sleeping to recover his vigor, given how Gu Fei’s sensitivity was well beyond an average person’s, he distinctly felt that this sleep had not completely eliminated his lethargy from playing all night last time. People would often disregard this, but Gu Fei, who was accustomed to intense sports, could clearly tell just what sort of effects burning the midnight oil playing a game brought. Simply put, since he had not enough sleep to recover from fatigue, his body was not back to its peak state yet.

I can’t go on like this. While there’s no problem with playing more right now since it’s the winter holidays, I can’t keep pulling all-nighters like this. Besides, with twenty or so students of mine tagging along, I’ll need to be a role model to them; I must let them see what it means to have a sensible time management. That was the thought Gu Fei had in mind as he quickly logged into the game.

“Sir, why are you only logging on now?”

“Sir, why are you so late?”

“Sir, why did you sleep so long?”

His messages went off endlessly right off the bat to the point Gu Fei’s hands were shaking from the effect. Sending messages like this was truly a young man’s game!

“Why are you all so early? Did any of you get a proper rest?!” Gu Fei repeated this same line twenty times.

“It’s fine, sir. Just quickly take us to level grind!” The same reply came back twenty times.

“We’ll talk about it when we meet.” Gu Fei could not stand messaging like this any longer.

——————————

Over at a certain city gate, the twenty or so students online were all ready to set off. They were very adept at using online resources, so they had already acquired the relevant information regarding grinding in Baishi City before they logged on today. At the moment, stocked with the necessary food and fruit, they were ready to head off toward the grinding maps.

When he came over, Gu Fei saw that those below level 10 had managed to scrounge up a full set of equipment from their fellow students. Upon seeing him walking up to them, the whole lot of kids cheered, all of them raring to set off.

“What’s the rush?” Gu Fei asked.

“Level grinding!” everyone shouted.

“Haven’t I told you guys that level grinding is useless?” Gu Fei questioned.

“Sir, are you gonna go insane after waking up so soon?” a student cried.

Gu Fei nearly twisted his nose in anger when he heard that. He had already demonstrated his skill and dexterity so many times in this game; how was it that these kids were still incapable of recognizing his kung fu for what it was?

“Whether levels have any use or otherwise, I sure wish I can grab the game’s Five Unyielding Experts over to tell you all about it,” Gu Fei remarked dryly.

The students whispered to one another before one of them raised their hand after a good moment. “Sir, what’s the Five Unyielding Experts?”

“Stupid! How could you not know who the Five Unyielding Experts are?” Ah Fa derided. “They are the top five players on Parallel World’s overall experience leaderboard, colloquially referred to as the Five Unyielding Experts. Do any of you know who they are?”

“I do!” Another student leaped out. “I had a look at the overall experience leaderboard yesterday and the five names from the top were Drifting, Eternal Dominion, Brave Surge, Slyris, and Dusky Cloud.”

“Dusky Cloud?” Gu Fei was surprised. Did the leaderboard change once more? I didn’t do anything, though! However, he soon recalled that Svelte Dancer had died from being squashed under Southern Lone Blade’s foot.

“Dusky Cloud is that uncle from Yueye City! Ohhh. So he’s one of the Five Unyielding Experts? That’s so awesome!” All the students showed awe as they discussed this, and Gu Fei could tell at a glance that these kids were about to treat Dusky Cloud as their idol; was this not what it meant to be led astray? Just as he was about to say something, Ah Fa was already clicking his tongue for a stretch.

“This why you are all not up to par,” Ah Fa gloated. “For those Five Unyielding Experts that depend on the experience leaderboards’ ranking, true strength is when someone can maintain their position throughout. Ever since the start of the game up to now, the only ones that are able to maintain their ranks are Drifting and Eternal Dominion. As for all the other players that have once been among the ranks, you all won’t even recognize them if I tell you. All you guys gotta know is that it is our teacher here that kicked each of them down. Everyone, applause!” Ah Fa took the lead by clapping with fervent earnest.

There was no doubt that what he just did was a little foolish. None of the students moved. All they did was stare at Gu Fei, as if they were hoping to search for the truth from him.

“Ah Fa isn’t entirely correct; I didn’t kill Svelte Dancer,” Gu Fei clarified.

Ah Fa swiftly started proudly schooling his fellow students. “Do you guys even know who this Svelte Dancer is? She’s mentioned on the forums that had bought teacher’s sword; the number one pay-to-win gamer in MMOs.” Ah Fa might not be particularly capable, skill-wise,when it came to the MMO community, but he could also be considered as a veteran in the area. Everything he had said about those things were all clear and logical.

“Then, there’s also Uncle Dusky Cloud. Heh… I bet none of you guys know that he can be so powerful today all because teacher went over to Yueye City back in the days and helped him defeat the evil guild, Past Deeds, helping him become the boss of the city,” Ah Fa divulged further. These events were no longer a secret, and the other students were unaware of it purely because they did not have as much of a fanatical enthusiasm toward Parallel World as him. There were even some of those other students whom he had initially pulled into the game that had no idea what the term ‘pay-to-win gamer’ meant.

“Sir, so what’s your rank in Parallel World?” The students finally understood what was being said after all of Ah Fa’s endorsement. This was all done to tell them that their teacher Gu was a really indomitable character in-game.

“Dummy, didn’t teacher already tell us that levels aren’t important? Rankings on the leaderboard are meaningless. If our teacher wants to be number 1, he can just slay everyone and become it; am I right, sir?” Ah Fa fawned.

“That’s enough out of you!” Gu Fei was peeved. Even though he knew that Ah Fa was trying to show support for him, why was it that he still felt uncomfortable all over? What Ah Fa had said did not seem to be things that he would have said, but just what did he want to be said?

“If level isn’t important, then what is?” Someone happened to ask this question, and Gu Fei’s eyes glinted. “That’s a good question. What’s important? Kung fu, of course!” Gu Fei clenched his fists.

His students exchanged glances.

Ah Fa leaped out at once. “Everyone, don’t dismiss what teacher has just said. Actually, he’s been saying the truth this whole time; he really does know kung fu, and he’s super awesome at it. You’ve already seen what he did this morning. Teacher could cleanly take care of that dozen or so hale men at one fell swoop.”

“Wasn’t it just his Magic Attack Power that let him insta-kill others?” His classmates were not totally noobs when it came to gaming, so they knew that there was no way their teacher could have achieved such clean kills without a supremely powerful Magic Attack Power.

“Why don’t you insta-kill one for me to see?” Ah Fa snapped back.

No one cared to answer Ah Fa, choosing to look right at Gu Fei, waiting for him to shed light on the truth.

“Regarding this, Ah Fa isn’t exaggerating one bit. Your teacher really does have a superb understanding toward kung fu,” Gu Fei said. “Actually, it’s not just me, even one of the Five Unyielding Experts you’ve just mentioned, Eternal Dominion, knows kung fu, too.”

“If that’s the case, why was teacher beaten to such a poor state by an old man in the past?” Someone mentioned the famous footage of that incident on the school grounds. Any students that had access to the computer lab would have seen this footage; Gu Fei was actually quite the celebrity in school because of this.

“Because that old man’s your teacher’s father.” Gu Fei had always wanted to explain this matter, but he never had the opportunity to do so until now. It was as if everybody had made an agreement never to express their uncertainty over this issue. Speaking of which, Old Man Gu had truly been unruly and tyrannical in that video. Plenty of people had judged that they would be no match for the old man themselves, which was why nobody had much contention over that problem.

“Is that so?” The students began to whisper quietly with one another again. Truly, this matter with Gu Fei had influenced them all deeply. The entire school, even the principal, deeply thought that he was very shameless. The students ruminated, Is our shameless teacher, Gu Fei, intending to confuse us into randomly believing that the old man is his father in an attempt to cast off this problem that has plagued him for so long?

Satisfied with getting the chance to tell the truth of that incident, he did not really care two hoots whether the students believed him or otherwise and merely continued. “Because of how close this game simulates real life, possessing powerful equipment or superior levels is nothing compared to possessing true strength that comes with actually knowing wondrous fighting techniques.”

“Teacher’s equipment is indeed very strong, but if you guys don’t believe me, I won’t use any weapon or spells. Who wish to give it a shot?” Gu Fei asked.

Dumbfounded, his students’ eyes were wide with disbelief. Their teacher seemed to be serious.

“Can I try?” one of the students volunteered.

Gu Fei glanced at this student once and chuckled.

“Teacher, you’re not gonna punish me if you lose, right?” The student was still rather hesitant.

“I’ll punish you if I win, so you’d better make me lose.” Gu Fei beamed.

“Then, here I come!” This youngster was a Warrior. Against a Mage that would not use any weapon at all, especially one that would not cast any spell, it was already a near guarantee of a win for him. A Mage without spells had no Attack Power to speak of, so how could he lose?

Holding the longsword in his hand, the student leveled it to his chest and cleaved; Gu Fei dodged past it with a single sidestep and reminded the kid. “You can use your skills.”

“Then, you’d better be careful, sir!” the boy shouted, backhanding his longsword as he came slashing through.

Gu Fei could already tell that he was about to use Cyclone as that was the mistake most newbies would often make. He reached into his dimensional pocket and got out an apple. Weighing it in his hand for a moment as he looked intently at it, he then threw it abruptly.

The damage from Cyclone did not come from the weapon alone; even the gust in the torque motion would similarly deal damage. Throwing an apple with such a small Verdict would be impossible to interrupt the Cyclone, but Gu Fei’s target was never just that, and that apple he had thrown accurately righted on the tip of that student’s longsword. Instantly splitting it into two as it went flying up and down respectively, the top half spun along with the Cyclone and was instantly shredded to the point that juice spurted all over the boy’s face, while the bottom half fell exactly where the boy was about to step on as he spun. This immediately caused that youngster to slip and fall backward.