Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Eternal Dominion, who had finally made it over to the 9527 rocky outcrop, could barely contain his excitement when facing this ever burgeoning and thronging crowd. He did not even show a bit of resistance like what Gu Fei had done and just grabbed hold of a monster on his way through. Eternal Dominion leaped right up the rocky outcrop, rolled up his sleeves, and yelled, “Tag me in!”

Gu Fei, who had just finished a round of lessons at this time, heaved a sigh of relief. Taking two steps backward, he collapsed directly on the ground. Eternal Dominion was perpetually bursting with vibrant energy as he took over Gu Fei’s seemingly endless lessons. The players below received a jolt to their senses as well, and their impression toward Gu Fei and his bunch deepened. To think that they actually have two instructors to do shifts! How impressive! With such an established and profound teaching source to tap from, adding on the lowest price of 99 gold coins, everyone present willingly helped Gu Fei’s group advertise. “Cheap price and sufficiently staffed; we like it all!”

“You guys like it, huh! I’m just gonna lie here for a bit…” Gu Fei mumbled to himself even as he heard the cheers from below.

As the sounds from the 9527 outcrop grew louder and louder, their presence slowly became like an assault to the bootleg industry. For an authentic product to be half the price of the bootleg version, imagine just how competitive this would be! As a result, plenty of people willingly waited and only offered the word ‘scram; to those bootleggers that were looking to offer their lessons to them.

Slowly but surely, the number of potential students on the bootleggers’ end dwindled, and only players who were looking to save time and did not mind the higher prices were willing to patronize their business. This was hardly satisfactory to these bootleggers. They missed that earlier period when business was booming, and they were all being pestered like gurus. But now? Not only did they have to take the initiative to hawk their services to potential clients, many of those they approached ended up sending them off with a single ‘scram’.

“What’s going on?” These people had been competing with one another before, but when they realized how the situation had gone awry, they could not help but gather for a discussion. Actually, after working for quite some time, these players’ pockets were lined deep enough with gold coins that they could figuratively jingle as they ran. However, money was just the sort of thing no one would complain about earning more, and these bootleggers were feeling particularly discontented when they saw how there was more money to be made, yet all of it found their way into someone else’s pockets.

“It’s that 9527 rocky outcrop. Their price is still the same as ever: 99 gold coins.” One of them had already gone over and gotten a good grasp of the situation.

“Thousand Miles Drunk’s bunch is back again!” Someone moaned. The newer players might have no idea, but these bootleggers were all participants of the initial demonstration, so they absolutely knew the entire situation, including the existence of that third routine of the Agility long weapon Gu Fei had shown.

These people were thinking rather simple and plainly at first conception. Figuring that Gu Fei would have no way of instructing like he did for twenty-four hours straight, their initial plan was simply to feed off the table scraps while he was away. But the moment they started their business, they quickly realized just how succulent and sizeable this meat they had bitten into was. It was so big that Gu Fei and his gang would have no way of eating the entire piece all by themselves, even if they were to run their venture twenty-four seven. Thus, they no longer satisfied themselves with mere table scraps and openly vied for a slice of the proverbial pie now, becoming more and more delighted as they fought. It was almost to the point of them forgetting about the existence of the founder, Gu Fei.

As a result, now that Gu Fei had reappeared from his hiatus, even though these bootleggers could still get some business, it devolved from the prime cut to the rump meat. It was truly excruciating.

“That guy! Look at how great things are right now, why is he still adamant on that 99-gold-coin price tag of his? What a d*mb*ss!” These pirates each criticized.

“If this is how he’ll do business, how are we going to do ours?” another person complained miserably.

In fact, these bootleggers’ prices were all at the same range. Even though they seemed to be competing, none of them were truly entangling with one another. In the beginning, they were all competing by keeping their prices low, forcing the others to see no business if they do not follow suit, which was why they fought like dogs and ruined their bottom lines. Later, when the business boomed, someone tried increasing their price and saw that it barely affected the demand. Naturally, the others were more avid about following closely when there was money to be made, and slowly, everybody increased their prices to the point that it reached somewhere around 200 gold coins. Some greedier individuals were even getting ready to increase their prices right into the 300s, but the sudden intrusion of Gu Fei’s 99 gold coins stopped them dead in their tracks, causing all of them to feel even more dejected.

“We don’t have a choice. We just gotta lower our prices again!” Someone sighed despondently. He had only managed to get himself four clients all this while. Thus, even though each of them was willing to fork out 200 gold coins, all he managed to make was 800 gold coins with him being limited to four at a time. Anyone else would be laughing their way to the bank if they got such a high rate of earnings, but because this man had experienced that bout of prosperity hours ago, this 800 gold coins now felt a little underwhelming. Perhaps, if he reduced to 99 gold coins, he could gain more students and ultimately average out to earn more.

“Don’t panic!” Another waved his hand dismissively. “I think that Thousand Miles Drunk should have a good idea what’s going on by now, yeah? Could he perhaps be thinking that this business has the potential to last? Take us for example; didn’t we pivot toward making a quick buck instead of grinding our levels after we learned the routines? There are only going to be more and more players like us as more and more people are taught of this routine, which means that the competition will become even stiffer at that point. It is only a matter of time until this business is picked clean to its bones. Now is the best time to make a killing and leave before it all goes to sh*t. At this time, for this routine to get to 200, even if it goes 300 or 400 gold coins per person, why won’t the players be interested? Thousand Miles Drunk must surely be making such a huge blunder to insist on that fixed rate of 99 gold coins. Isn’t he trying to make things difficult for us? Come; let’s go and have a talk with him.”

The man led the way once he gave his speech, but none of the people behind him moved. This person looked back at the others he had been conversing with, only to see them all staring at him. Someone voiced out, “Do you have any idea what the situation you’re in? That guy’s Thousand Miles Drunk, and you’re looking to negotiate with him? Are you thinking of using your lips or your sword, huh?”

That person smiled. “What’s there to be afraid of? Isn’t he looking to earn some gold as well by setting up this business? I’ll give him a cost-benefit analysis, which he can benefit from, as well as help him earn more. Why should I be afraid?”

These people found what he had said to be reasonable and thus nodded. “Let’s go, then.”

Still, someone hesitated. “I still have three players awaiting me to reach them!”

“Who gives a rat’s *ss about those three?! Once we’re done with our chat, there’s going to be a whole bunch of players lining up to be taught. Let those guys wait awhile.” The man who had said this was spirited, evident showing just how confident and deeply knowledgeable he was regarding the situation at hand.

——————–

Over at the 9527 rocky outcrop, the players were obediently lining on the left and right respectively, leaving a path open right in the middle. This path was used for luring monsters, so everybody made sure not to stand in the way. When these bootleg vendors made their way over, Sword Demon and the lot were still too confused and disoriented collecting the crowd’s fees. There were simply too many people for the three to deal with everything that was happening, and it was very likely for many players to have made it past them without paying as they worked their way through the crowd, but none of these three men cared for those that got away. Seeing another group of men directly barreling through the crowd the moment they arrived, the three could hardly be bothered to head over and accost them.

These bootleggers followed along that path used for pulling the monsters and strode forth. The surrounding players wrinkled their brows when they saw their impropriety, yet no one said a word about it. When this handful of bootleggers made their way to the base of the 9527 outcrop and moved to climb up it, they saw Eternal Dominion teaching above. They were, after all, looking to discuss this in private. The crowd was sure to skin them alive if they were to shout everything in front of them amid their lesson.

The crowd burst into a thunderous applause when they saw those bootleggers climb up, giving them such a fright that three of the bunch slipped down the rocky outcrop.

Discussions ran wild among the crowd. “How indomitable! To think they have so many instructors; they truly are pricing this cheaply while being sufficiently staffed!” When the players saw those people began their ascent to the outcrop the moment they got there, the crowd instantly made the mental correlation between how Gu Fei and Eternal Dominion had arrived before and automatically assumed they were also instructors coming to lend a hand as a result.

Of course, these bootleggers were clueless on what was happening right now, so when they turned to see the crowd’s cheers and hopeful gazes, they were all baffled. What they were about to do should garner the hate of the masses, instead! What were they all looking at them so happily for? With this question bouncing about in their minds, these men finally reached the top of the rocky outcrop.

Up on 9527, Eternal Dominion was conscientiously teaching the masses, while Young Master Han was taking swigs from his bottle of liquor two meters behind him, looking absolutely at ease as he sat there drinking. Several steps away from the man was a black-robed Mage sprawled on the surface, looking utterly unseemly.

A good portion of Young Master Han’s focus was on that bottle he was holding, not even paying much attention to the situation below the rocky outcrop. He only realized what was happening when those men completed their climb. Eternal Dominion, who had already spotted the men while they were making their climb up, merely popped a question once they made it all the way to this spot. “What are you guys up here for? Can’t you see things clearly from below?”

The leader smiled. “Oh, no. We’re not here to learn. We have something to discuss with you guys.”

“What’s the matter?” Young Master Han opened his mouth to ask.

When Eternal Dominion heard Young Master Han take this conversation, he no longer bothered with these newcomers and devoted his full attention to the lesson he was giving.

“May I know which one of you is Thousand Miles Drunk?” the man asked, his eyes already locked on to Gu Fe’s prone body. Everybody knew that Thousand Miles Drunk was a Mage; it was obvious by the attires Eternal Dominion and Young Master Han had respectively just what their job classes were.

Gu Fei had already raised his head to look at these men when they first spoke, so when he heard them say that they were looking for him, he hurriedly gathered himself from his messy state and stood before them looking as prim and proper as he could. “I’m Thousand Miles Drunk. What business do you have with me?”

The other party was delighted at how he had responded, taking it as if Thousand Miles Drunk was showing them respect by addressing them so formally. The person at the front took the initiative once more to speak for his group. “Ha ha! Excuse us, but we’re simply those people teaching this thing here over yonder.” He pointed to the distant grounds even as he gestured at Eternal Dominion’s demonstration.

Hearing the man use the word ‘thing’ made Gu Fei feel extremely unhappy. Even though this routine was hardly considered as kung fu, it would nevertheless still utilize the knowledge that came from it; otherwise, would most gamers not have discovered it before? Thus, hearing others casually referring to it as a ‘thing’ really ribbed Gu Fei wrongly.

“Well, speak your mind!” Aside from this, Gu Fei really did not mind these men earning money by pirating this routine.

“It’s like this; you guys seem to still be pricing this at 99 gold coins.” The person began.

“That’s right.”

That man flashed an awkward smile. “You guys don’t actually have to do that. Given how things stand now, not many people have a good grasp of this grinding method, so it’s very clearly still a seller’s market. Despite us pricing it at over 200 gold coins, there’s still a clear demand for this routine, but now that you guys are selling it at 99 gold coins… He he! Actually, we can all still be earning quite a tidy sum if we price it at 200, 300, or even 400 gold coins. However, this situation isn’t gonna last for long, so what we ought to do now is to hurry and capitalize on this as best as we can, while we can. Bro, seeing how many people are here, I gather that there are about three to five thousand players, yeah? Think about it; if each of them pays 99 gold coins, just how much more can you make when it’s at 299 gold coins, instead?”

The man himself salivated at his description. He even got quite the scare as he did a mental calculation. Several thousand players! His business had yet to reach such heights. Even though he was a forerunning bootlegger in this business, the truth was that the area of his operation was not exactly ideal. It was no way comparable to the scale of the 9527 outcrop.

It was unknown when Young Master Han had surreptitiously inserted himself into this conversation, but before Gu Fei could even respond, Young Master Han was already beside this speaker and was patting his shoulder. “You sure know how to talk, bro!”

The man noted the devilish looks of Young Master Han when he came forward. Were it not for his very masculine voice when he spoke, the man would never believe that Young Master Han was a man. After he collected himself, he finally responded, “Surely you jest.”

“However, gentlemen, do any of you know this routine’s origin?” Young Master Han asked.

“Eh?” That man was stunned for a good moment before answering, “According to what we know, it was comrade Thousand Miles Drunk who begun teaching this routine with his deft skills.”

“Not ‘teach’ but ‘develop’. This fighting routine is entirely our friend, Thousand Miles Drunk’s creation,” Young Master Han corrected.

Eternal Dominion turned around. “The two most basic forms of this fighting routine were developed by me.”

Silence. Everything was still.

“Ahem!” Eternal Dominion coughed once before resuming the lesson.

Young Master Han looked entirely unperturbed by this interruption, continuing. “That is to say, Thousand Miles Drunk has merely forgotten to establish any sort of rules, such as ‘Everything is copyrighted, and any imitators will be dealt with accordingly.’ In the end, you guys stole what you’re teaching now and began profiting off it. We’re kind enough not to pursue you all for your infringement, but with you all coming forward to question this fighting routine’s creator regarding his pricing, honestly, I simply can’t accept how you are going about doing this,” Young Master Han said.

“Who are you?”

“I’m the official distributor of the real deal.” Young Master Han smiled as he gave his reply.

The other party scoffed. “While there’s no doubt that Thousand Miles Drunk developed this, is this sort of thing something so complicated? Is there really a lot of techniques behind this? Isn’t it simply a method to fight monsters by getting a read of how it fights and countering it accordingly? What is this talk about copyrights? Have you gamed before, man? How is this fighting style considered authentic when he was the one teaching it, but we’re considered the bootleggers for doing the same?”

Young Master Han shrugged and then turned to address Gu Fei. “It’s your turn.” Once he was done, he stepped away.

The man began sweating. After being disdainfully regarded by Young Master Han as bootleggers, disqualified from earning anything off of this venture, he got a little impulsive and completely forgot that they were in front of the most fearsome slayer in Parallel World.

When Young Master Han said, “It’s your turn,” these men already felt that their deaths were imminent.

Thus, none of them expected Gu Fei to ignore them. Nodding when he saw that the conversation was over, he merely said, “Leave if there’s nothing else!”

Once these men knew for sure that negotiations had ended in a stalemate and with how none of them dared to be too forceful with their words against Thousand Miles Drunk, the only thing that they could do was leap right off the rocky outcrop. Young Master Han, on the other hand, was astonished. “Are you kidding me? Those guys just said that there’s no technique in your kung fu!”

“How can this be considered as kung fu? It’s only useful against a bunch of AIs; there’s nothing technical about this,” Gu Fei reasoned.

“F*ck! I really can’t make sense of the way you kung fu practitioners think!” Young Master Han chided.

Gu Fei grimaced. “This is something we’ve worked hard practicing for over twenty odd years, yet all we’ve achieved thus far is enhance everyone’s gameplay in this lousy game. How can I summon the energy to get angry about this when something as tragic as this had already happened?”

“It’s not tragic. I feel it’s pretty good. How many people is that today?” Eternal Dominion suddenly twisted his head back with a look of enthusiasm.

“Listen to how woke this man is! And you’re still looking around back there. Are you hoping to protect world peace or something?” Young Master Han asked.

Gu Fei was depressed. Eternal Dominion had trouble with making a living to survive, so he already felt very fortunate being able to use his kung fu to supplement his daily needs. Meanwhile, Gu Fei was discomfited with merely eking out a living through kung fu. He was hoping for it to be able to have an earthshaking, heaven-shattering usefulness, yet now it was only good for killing monsters and other players, developing some efficient grinding methods, in a game. Gu Fei, without a shred of doubt, truly considered this travesty to be a real tragedy.

It was as the saying went: ‘When the belly is full, the mind wanders.’ Eternal Dominion in a state where his daily necessities were his immediate concern, while Gu Fei, who was hardly troubled by such matters, was seeking to put everything he had learned into practice. Originally, they were both in tragic states, except that they were each facing tragedy in different aspects of their lives. Alas, now that there was a market for kung fu in Parallel World, and that it was at least possible to earn a good living from it, Eternal Dominion’s tragedy was as good as resolved, while Gu Fei was still mired deep in tragedy.

Those men did not dare to throw down the gauntlet rashly against Thousand Miles Drunk, so they had all beaten a hasty retreat after being scorned, only flashing their middle fingers at the men atop the rocky outcrop once they were a good distance away.

“What do we do now?” one of them asked.

“F*ck*ng hell. Acting the fool got us struck by lightning. If that’s the case, we’ll struggle with them till the end. They won’t have a good end, either. I’m prepared to drop my price down to 80 gold coins; you guys can do as you see fit!” The de facto leader of the bootleggers declared his stance.

“If that’s the case… I’ll just lower it down to 99 gold coins,” someone said.

“Hmph. Are you afraid that Gu Fei will come and cause you trouble?” The leader scoffed.

The man did not give an answer. This was precisely what he was worried about. Right now, the one with the lowest price floor for this was Thousand Miles Drunk. Who would dare to offend the number one slayer?

“Well, that’s what I’m precisely going to do; he may come if he wishes! I’ve already earned myself a hefty sum, anyway; I’m not about to complain about losing a level.” The leader already deadened his resolve. This was mainly because he had been brimming with confidence when he first brought everyone over to persuade Thousand Miles Drunk, but he ended up barely speaking any words with that man, and ended up on the sharp end of that androgynous guy sarcastic jabs. Unable to stomach this any longer, he was determined to begin a price war with them – a despicable means by which to drag them down to his level since he could not beat them at their own game.

“I’ll reduce my price, too; make as much as I can while I’m still able! Honestly, I doubt that we can compete if we match his price. Look at the area they are holding; he’s more than capable of taking almost 2000 players at one go. As for us, I doubt we can even reach 1000 at once,” another said.

“Then, I’ll drop my price, too. I’m not afraid of sh*t!” Yet another one decided.

In the end, only one person remained hesitant after collaboratively talking this through. The others ignored this one person and, after a good discussion, felt that they had to give a more forceful show of strength, so they lowered it down to 50 gold coins to compete with Gu Fei’s gang ruthlessly, consequences be damned.

News of the 50 gold coins lessons began to spread, and a majority of the players could not be bothered with authenticity of the routine; all that mattered to them was how cheap it was, and so the huge mass of players by the 9527 outcrop began to thin out. Besides those who had already paid, most of the players left.

“Leaving is good! Leaving is great!” Sword Demon and the other two happily climbed up the 9527 rocky outcrop to rest once they saw that there were hardly any players coming. This was the first time in their lives that they collected money to the point of wanting to vomit; it was truly peculiar feeling they are experiencing.

Meanwhile, Young Master Han, who had heard of how the bootleggers started lowering their prices i to lure in customers, laughed mirthlessly. “That idiotic bunch is truly useless, not even able to see the trap card we’ve set; Aren’t they the ones who are unclear of the situation? Master Miles, how goes the development for the White Mill?”

“The fighting routine’s already been established, but I do think that we have manpower issue,” Gu Fei replied.