Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

“Come on!” Deep Waters, the deeply enthused middleman, beckoned Old Broken over as he did the same to Gu Fei and Sword Demon; the eagerness he was currently showing rivaled that of a professional matchmaker.

“This is comrade Old Broken; he’s the man I’ve been telling you about the whole way here.” Deep Waters first introduced Broken Water Arrow to Gu Fei and Sword Demon.

“Hello.” Broken Water Arrow shook Sword Demon’s hand first before reaching for Gu Fei’s. “How do you do?”

“Hello…” Gu Fei’s gaze shifted from the person’s hand onto the latter’s face and managed to catch a glimpse of Broken Water Arrow doing the same with his eyes. Gu Fei smiled before letting go.

“Now, it’s these two’s turn!” Deep Waters’ voice suddenly rose an octave, which startled the three men present.

“This man is Sword Demon. Old Broken, if you’ve been playing games for a time before, there’s no way you wouldn’t know of his name. This is the widely acknowledged no.1 MMO expert, and he happens to be a good friend of mine for many years.” Deep Waters proudly introduced his friend.

Sword Demon was quick to show his modesty by saying that it was all in the past.

“This one here is Thousand Miles Drunk! What do you think, Old Broken? Know who that is?” Deep Waters asked.

“Oh… Of course, I do. I’ve long admired your work,” Old Broken replied while looking at Gu Fei. Evidently, Gu Fei was far more renowned than Sword Demon in Parallel World, and as time went by, his IGN became less and less of a secret.

Seeing Deep Waters’ delight, Gu Fei now know that Deep Waters had introduced Old Broken to the two like a child flaunting his favorite toy. At the same time, introducing them to Old Broken was another way of bragging. This man really…

Having his fill of enjoyment, Deep Waters finally returned to normal and turned his gaze on to the two. “Oh, yeah. What made you two specifically come all the way out here to look for me?”

“Nothing much. We just happened to be passing by Linyin City and wanted to see you in hopes of catching up and hanging out if you’re not busy. Too bad you seem quite busy,” Sword Demon replied.

“Oh, yeah. We have no idea what this City War is going to be like, so we’re using all the time we have to research and drill. Wait till we become the masters of this city, and I’ll throw a proper reception for the you two when you swing by again,” Deep Waters happily declared, draping his arm around Sword Demon’s shoulders.

“All right. You do your thing; we’ll be taking our leave now.” Sword Demon bade Deep Waters farewell.

“I won’t be sending you off.” Deep Waters waved goodbye at them as he plunged back into the foliage to continue learning more about jungle warfare with his men.

“That Broken Water Arrow isn’t just your average gamer,” Gu Fei said this to Sword Demon after walking a good distance away.

“What?”

“He’s got a strong body, thick fingers, and coarse skin,” Gu Fei replied.

“What… What does that mean?” Sword Demon asked back.

“It means that he’s undergone kung fu training, and it’s not just about the basics, either,” Gu Fei answered.

“I think those characteristics are common for people engaged in hard labor as well, like a construction worker,” Sword Demon disagreed.

“The key is in his grip,” Gu Fei reasoned. “The strength he used was neither too much nor too little. It was a handshake that was just right, which means the man is someone who has practice controlling his strength. This is definitely a quality that only someone who has undergone specialized training can develop.”

“Is that so? Why have I not noticed it?” Sword Demon looked at his right hand, the very same one he had used to shake Broken Water Arrow’s hand. Earlier, he did not feel anything different about Broken Water Arrow’s hand shake to those of others.

“Naturally, that’s also because only people who have undergone specialized training as well can discern it,” Gu Fei said.

“Does that mean he’s a rather formidable person when it comes to PvP?” Sword Demon had a look of disappointment as he thought of Eternal Dominion and Gu Xian. Those men that had undergone rigorous training were on a different level from the common player.

“That may not be the case,” Gu Fei disagreed. “I saw that his waist, thighs, and neck are rather thick – the man is probably the brawny type. He would’ve been difficult to handle had he chosen the Warrior job class, but since he’s an Archer and his specialty lies in the Agility trait, it’s quite incompatible with his style of fighting and built!” Having spent such a long time being baptized by the game, Gu Fei no longer simply focused on plain kung fu. Rather, he was now quite acclimated to the game setting and had became proficient when it came to the rules of the game as well. How kung fu could be integrated into the various job classes, stats, and skills found in Parallel World was the current focus of his research.

“Oh, you know how to use Appraisal on players now, too!” Sword Demon was astonished.

“Oh, no. I didn’t use that,” Gu Fei said.

“Then, how did you know he’s an Archer?” Sword Demon asked.

“From his name, of course. Broken Water Arrow; he must be an Archer…” Gu Fei replied.

“That’s not how things work!” Sword Demon figuratively wiped his sweat.

“But he is indeed an Archer, right?” Gu Fei smiled.

“That’s right. He’s a Sharpshooter even. Still, the way you came to that conclusion…”

“He he he! I was just pulling your leg. I saw the bow slung across his back,” Gu Fei said.

Sword Demon was speechless.

“Are you sure you’re abandoning the ‘Daily Mission’?” Gu Fei confirmed one last time.

“I’m positive!” Sword Demon sighed. “He’s a friend of Deep Waters; besides, this is a personal mission.”

“Have you ever wondered why the League of Assassins has that man as your assassination target?” Gu Fei asked.

“What do you mean?” Sword Demon asked back.

“Isn’t there a saying, ‘Heaven is watching when a man acts’? While it is disputable if such a ‘heaven’ exists in real life, the system can be regarded as this entity in Parallel World. So while one may get away with their action from other players, but there’s no way they can hoodwink the system,” Gu Fei reasoned.

“So what you’re saying is… that this person might be just like Cool Apple and is a PK maniac who has slain a lot he’s pretty much numb to it?” supposed Sword Demon.

“I don’t profess knowing what exactly that man did, but I feel that the quests or missions that the system put forth are not simply a random target on the streets for you to kill. While PKing was something the system condone sparingly, it simply would not manipulate and actively encourage such activities from behind the scenes, especially once we consider the heavy penalties the game imposes on PKers,” Gu Fei said.

“You’re getting better at understanding this game’s design and rules,” Sword Demon commended. Sometimes, Gu Fei’s noobish actions really made the experts feel nauseated.

“No. I just bore witness to the pain many players experienced after being PKed…” Gu Fei said.

Sword Demon was silent for quite some time before he said, “What you said makes sense. Take competitive quests for example, this sort of PK that the system orchestrated will have lowered penalties for dying. We can have a clear idea the attitude that the system has adopted toward PK, and the understanding they have toward this sort of activities. Besides, the penalty of losing a whole level upon death is truly hefty, and this was an implementation they must configure into the game. Parallel World is unlike the other games, where new servers can be added every month or week, and the players can create a new account and start from scratch with the other players. In Parallel World, everybody is placed in the same server that encompasses the entire Parallel World. New players will always be behind the older players by the amount of game time they put in. I think this sort of heavy-handed death penalty is done to suppress the older players and ensure that the gap between the new players and them won’t get out of hand. It is most likely that the reason players face increasing difficulty in leveling stems from the same intent, too. Plus, I dare say that this game has an eventual level cap and won’t allow players to keep leveling indefinitely.”

There was no doubt that Sword Demon was a veteran when it came to MMOs, so besides the content expected from MMOs, he was also well-versed when it came to discussing how MMO games operated.

“A level cap? Wouldn’t that make the level leaderboards meaningless?” Gu Fei asked.

“That?” Sword Demon laughed. “That’s nothing but something that this game has during this period of development to motivate players in spending more time online. Once the majority of the players reach the cap and the current leaderboards lose their purpose, other leaderboards will surely spring up to once more motivate players in competing with one another. Don’t worry about it!” Sword Demon gave this answer.

Gu Fei sighed as he looked at Sword Demon. It was apparent how much the man understood the operation of MMOs and how cognizant he was of the many ways the gaming company used to entice players, yet in spite of all this, he continued to indulge in it as much as he did to the point he could not even quit it… Was he not the epitome of what it meant to love something to death?

“Okay, we’ve digressed enough. Back on the topic, just what do you intend to do with your mission with Broken Water Arrow?” Gu Fei asked.

“Uhmmm…” Sword Demon thought about it before looking at Gu Fei. “Speak truthfully; are you encouraging me to such a degree because you’ve discovered a potentially strong opponent and wish to fight him?”

“What nonsense! Am I really that sort of person?!” Gu Fei severely castigated with indignance.

Sword Demon held his gaze on Gu Fei before finally spitting out, “It’s hard to say…”

“It is as what you’ve said; I obviously have to lend a hand if you can’t handle the man!” Gu Fei said.

“Let’s go look up his background first. We’ll act if there’s really something fishy.” Sword Demon finally decided.

“Are we off to find Brother Assist?” Gu Fei shuddered slightly. A new mission that no one had experienced; Brother Assist was sure to completely devote himself to track, interview, and report everything he learned if they approached him… It was not an issue of bringing that man to fight, but it was a form of torture to bring him along for a quest. This was because Brother Assist had too many queries, and his thirst to learn and know things was a little overwhelming; a single quest would be butchered by the man’s need to research every aspect of it. In a game where it would not be slow to grind levels through questing, this was most likely the reason Brother Assist had not broken through the ranks on the leaderboard despite possibly possessing the most knowledge about the game and spending copious time being online!

“It might be a little difficult for Brother Assist to find much about a player just from a name,” Sword Demon rejected.

“You have a point. It would be a lot simple if this person belonged to the Ten Great Adepts.” Gu Fei agreed with his assessment.

“Unfortunately, he isn’t…” added Sword Demon.

“That’s true…” Gu Fei nodded.

If Broken Water Arrow were an Archer among the Ten Great Adepts, there was no way that the fellow Adept Royal God Call would not recognize his name, for he would surely strongly request Sword Demon to kill off the man just to remove a potential competitor.

“Where shall we look for information, then?” Gu Fei looked at the MMO veteran for guidance.

“Of course, we’ll begin with someone who knows the man in question,” Sword Demon replied. “Let’s go find Coco!”

“Who’s that?” Gu Fei asked.

“Deep Waters’ wifey, of course. Have you forgotten?” Sword Demon questioned in return.

“Have I met her before?” Gu Fei merely wondered about this.

Sword Demon thought about it, and he too could not remember if he had introduced Gu Fei to the lady directly. (Author’s note: Okay, I’ll admit. I myself can’t remember if they have met.) (Translator’s note: They have heard of each other’s name and seen each other, but they haven’t been formally introduced to each other.)

“What’s the difference between asking her about Broken Water Arrow and directly asking Deep Waters about him?” Gu Fei asked.

“The difference is that they are two different people…” Sword Demon answered.

“Would she keep anything from Deep Waters?” Gu Fei asked.

“That depends on what it is, and this should not be something she’ll tell him,” Sword Demon replied.