Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

“If we’re dealing with a workshop, they would be more than capable of giving benefits that normal casual guilds won’t be able to provide,” Xi Xiaotian said.

“I understand.” Coco nodded. A workshop and a guild were two entirely different organizations. Simply put, a guild was a group where players gathered in pursuit of entertainment – a fellowship of sorts. Even if a guild reached the top of its game like Deep Freeze, it would only provide a mental satisfaction, and the resources and benefits it could provide would just be limited to within the game world itself.

Meanwhile, a workshop was completely different. As an organization that focused on profit, there were clear and defined roles and groups for the players, with members earning actual income in real life. As such, it was easy for them to recruit members temporarily to their side with something more tangible like actual real-world currency. Few people would not be tempted in the face of such naked profits.

“Oi. Have you come up with a solution after all your analysis?” Gu Fei asked.

“It’s gotta be perfect. You know what I mean by perfection, right?” Coco added.

Xi Xiaotian smiled gaily. “Wait.”

“What are we waiting for?” Both Coco and Gu Fei were puzzled.

“Since you guys said that this person is the real deal, why not make use of his talents and find people to disguise as players from other guilds, who are supposedly seeking revenge by ambushing and hunting down core members of Deep Freeze, after he helped the guild achieve victory in the upcoming City War? Of course, these men can pretend to mess up assassinating your hubby and the other targets as they viciously go all out against Broken Water Arrow, swiftly dropping his levels. By that time, no matter how outstanding his skill is, without the level to supplement it, there’s no way he can convince the rest of the guild of his capabilities. I do believe not even an imbecile will accept a level 35 player as a guild leader, right? As long as those men you send do not reveal their true intention, I do believe that your hubby won’t suspect your hand in this. What do you think?” Xi Xiaotian was staring at the two once she was done speaking.

Gu Fei and Coco were speechless. While they were contemplating on how to prevent Broken Water Arrow from succeeding in his schemes, they had never once thought of going with the flow and using the man a little before throwing him out of the guild heartlessly like the mongrel he was.

“That’d truly be a very pleasurable idea.” Coco nodded.

“Still, that won’t reveal Broken Water Arrow’s evil intention to Deep Waters, so it’s not going to be of use in patching things up between you guys.” Gu Fei was a little skeptical toward Xi Xiaotian’s suggestion and was always thinking of details to nitpick.

“The perfect resolution you previously mentioned doesn’t seem to include the need to repair the relationship between the involved parties, though,” Xi Xiaotian countered.

“True, but it’ll be all the more perfect if that can be achieved.” After picking at the bones of the problem, Gu Fei intentionally created further complications for her. If they wished to repair the cracks in the friendship between Deep Waters and Sword Demon, they would have to show Deep Waters convincing evidence about Broken Water Arrow’s real character. But since they were unable to tail the target, further investigation and evidence of the man’s intention would be extremely difficult to obtain. This made it significantly more troublesome than simply causing Broken Water Arrow to lose several levels.

“Ah, that’s right. Lady, do you have any ideas about this? Emerging victorious in the City War isn’t particularly important, so there’s no need to bother with that,” Coco said.

“If that’s the case, how far do we have to go before we can convince your man of Broken Water Arrow’s scheme?” Xi Xiaotian asked.

“Well… He’s occasionally very clever, but a real blockhead in certain matters. Honestly, no matter how much evidence we uncover, we don’t have any choice if he insists on not believing them,” Coco replied helplessly.

“Don’t tell me that when the whole things come to light, he will act like this—” Xi Xiaotian proceeded to grab Gu Fei’s collar as she yelled, “Bro, tell me it’s not true! You probably just have some sort of hardship, right?!’ Will he be like that?”

“Hey!” Gu Fei slapped her hands off himself.

The sullen Coco let out a rare laugh as she shook her head. “I don’t know about that, but I doubt it would be that cliché!”

“Still, it’s really difficult to get to such a point, and there’s a large amount of risk involved with it,” Xi Xiaotian said.

“Do you mean to say you’ve come up with an idea?” Coco was elated.

“Broken Water Arrow should be from some workshop, so if we pass ourselves off as someone from another workshop looking to poach his talent, we may be able to test the waters in the process. We might even be able to find out if there’s any flaw we can exploit,” Xi Xiaotian said.

“Yes, and somehow arrange for Deep Waters to be somewhere nearby to overhear the conversation?” Coco asked. She believed that this solution might work if they could get Deep Waters to ‘accidentally’ stumble into the exchange.

“I’m just worried that this man will be too cautious by choosing a location that makes it impossible for anyone to eavesdrop,” Xi Xiaotian said.

“Then, what should we do? Won’t it be all for naught if Deep Waters isn’t able to witness it?” Gu Fei asked.

“Have you guys heard of this spell called ‘Memory Blackbox’?” Xi Xiaotian asked.

The gaming noob Gu Fei naturally shook his head, whereas Coco’s eyes shone. “I know it! It’s a spell that can record everything in a certain area, be it sight or sound, and seal it in a scroll. The moment the scroll is unsealed, the user will be able to watch the recording! Are you suggesting that we use this spell to record the conversation with Broken Water Arrow?”

“Is there really such a thing? How come I’ve never heard of it?” Gu Fei was confused.

“Hmph. All you boys know is bloodshed and slaughter. Such skills and spells are useless when it comes to combat, so how would you know?” Coco disparaged.

“That should only be a backup plan; It would be for the best if we can get your hubby to watch it live, but if that proves to be impossible, we can always use this other method,” Xi Xiaotian said.

“But the problem is that I’ve never heard of anyone having such a spell in Parallel World!” Coco said.

“It won’t work even if you do know someone since only I and Broken Water Arrow will be present at the location. We will have to obtain a usable skill scroll to advance our plan,” Xi Xiaotian said.

“I’ll go find out,” Gu Fei volunteered.

The two stared at Gu Fei strangely when they heard the tone of confidence in his voice, wondering if he had some amazing method. In no more than 20 seconds, they heard him say, “Nope.”

“That’s too fast!” The two ladies were perplexed.

“Yeah. I asked Svelte Dancer, and since she doesn’t have it, then no one else should have it,” Gu Fei explained.

“No one would really care for such an item, so even if someone happens to get one, they will likely use it without a thought. They might not even be up for sale on the market,” Xi Xiaotian surmised.

“So, what monsters drop such a scroll?” Coco asked.

“I’ll go find out.” Gu Fei was at it again.

“Who are you asking now?” The ladies already figured out how he operated.

“Brother Assist!” Gu Fei answered unhurriedly. The man was the best candidate for such information. Sure enough, the two ladies did not make a noise after hearing that name. Brother Assist was a man who had all sorts of information at his fingertips, so even he had his time to shine.

“Memory Blackbox? What is the use of that spell?” Brother Assist wanted to know about everything.

“It’s really useful, just tell me where it drops!” Gu Fei prompted.

“I’ve never paid attention to this item before, so I gotta go do my own inquiries,” Brother Assist said.

“Hurry!” Gu Fei urged.

“Sure!” Brother Assist was not in the least bit annoyed by such a request, since this was the joy that he got from gaming. He delighted in the gathering and searching of information, especially if it was something that other players needed. Having a player like Gu Fei ask something like this was something very satisfying to Brother Assist.

“Sit tight; I need to log off and inquire about an item that Miles is requesting information for,” Brother Assist said to Young Master Han after his exchange with Gu Fei as the two men were sharing the same table at the tavern.

“That guy? What is he inquiring about this time?” Young Master Han knitted his eyebrows.

“Memory Blackbox. He must be working to solve that matter you mentioned earlier,” Brother Assist answered.

“Memory Blackbox?” Young Master Han seemed to have heard of this before as well. “Is that guy trying to lure the snake out of its hole?”

“I’m taking my leave first.” Brother Assist waved at him.

“Go on!” Young Master Han bobbed that glass of liquor in his hand, a gesture of sending him off.

“Brother Assist is on it; I believe we will get an answer very soon.” Gu Fei announced to the two ladies. If even Brother Assist was unable to find information about this, then it would truly be a little problematic. Nonetheless, since Coco was aware of such an item’s existence and Brother Assist have apparently heard of it before, it seems like this skill scroll was not some secret item, so acquiring it should not be too difficult.

“Well, while we wait for that information to arrive, why don’t you two tell me in detail about this Broken Water Arrow person!” Xi Xiaotian suggested.

“Before we go on, Isn’t there an even more pressing issue we need to attend to?” Gu Fei asked.

“Eh?” They stared at him.

“Has Sword Demon made his move yet?” Gu Fei asked Coco.

“AH!” Coco covered her mouth in horror. Sword Demon had indeed left for the jungle. After sending a message to Sword Demon and going back and forth a few times, Coco was angry to the point that she was stamping her feet. “That dullard thought I’m trying to trick him! I wouldn’t even give a d*mn if he’s dead or alive if we didn’t come up with a real solution here!”

“Where is he?” Gu Fei asked.

“He entered the jungle, but since no one told him of Broken Water Arrow’s coordinates, he should be unable to locate him fast, right?” Coco asked.

“The area you guys have cordoned off isn’t exactly huge, so it’s hard to say for sure. Forget it; I’ll go search for him myself. You two carry on,” Gu Fei turned and ran.

“I’ll help you get Broken Water Arrow’s coordinates!” Coco shouted after his departing figure.

“Okay!” Gu Fei answered as his figure continued to recede in the distance.

“Ah, crap!” Coco suddenly slapped her forehead. “I didn’t add him as a friend!”

“Do it now!” Xi Xiaotian said.

“He’s turned off permissions for invites!”

“I’ll inform him.” Xi Xiaotian sent a message to Gu Fei.

Coco’s friends list was indeed full, but she could no longer spend too much time thinking about this and just casually picked a few names to delete to add Gu Fei. She sighed in relief only after the deed was done. Turning to look at Xi Xiaotian, she was momentarily dazed as she thought of something. “Lady, what’s your name?”

“Xi Xiaotian.”

“I must really thank you for all this!” Coco was very grateful.

“You’re mistaken. I’m not doing this out of the kindness of my heart. Rather, I just find this whole situation to be very interesting. I’m looking forward to swindling that Broken Water Arrow. This is my hobby, after all,” Xi Xiaotian said.

“You have quite the unique hobby there… ha…” Nobody liked swindlers, but Coco found it difficult to hate this self-proclaimed lady swindler, especially since she was helping them with the current circumstance.

Still. To actually treat a crime as a hobby, is she insane? Coco wondered this to herself even as she asked, “What do you wish to know about Broken Water Arrow?”