Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

“It is impossible under normal circumstances, but what if Thousand Miles Drunk’s around?” Flame Singed Clothes asked.

Southern Lone Blade glanced at him. Out of the seven, he was the one who was most afraid of Gu Fei. It was most likely because he shared the same job class as that man, so just from comparing himself to the man, he already had a hard time figuratively lifting his head off the ground. Southern Lone Blade patted him and said, “Thousand Miles Drunk is but one man.”

“Just one of him is able to match with all seven of us!” Flame Singed Clothes countered.

“No, what I mean to say is that… We can split up and flee…” Southern Lone Blade felt that he should retract what he had thought moments before; Flame Singed Clothes was not as frightened of Gu Fei as he had thought, for he was still thinking about taking him on! It was Southern Lone Blade himself whose first thought was to swiftly make their separate escapes.

“But they still have other strengths. There’s a good possibility that we fail to escape by splitting up,” Glue said.

“Which is why we need to make some sacrifices to stall Thousand Miles Drunk,” Southern Lone Blade said.

Blackwater and Flame Singed Clothes stood out with decisive resolve. The two of them were not even level 40, so the loss from their sacrifice would be relatively small. Southern Lone Blade’s party of seven was a true team in every sense of the word. Each of them had absolute faith in the team, and only the strength of the team as a whole mattered.

The other five were not about to be courteous with the two, but they still expressed their gratitude and were moved by the two’s action. Deep down, they could not bear with this reality, but this was something they had no choice over. If it were not for the necessity, would any of them need to do something as brutal as sacrificing themselves?

The seven were solemn, as if they were observing a memorial service in advance for Blackwater and Flame Singed Clothes before they made their move. That was when Glue suddenly thought of something, and that expression of distress abruptly gave way for one of glee as he happily cried out, “I’ve got an idea!”

“What idea?”

“A marvelous idea.” Glue was elated.

—————————————–

The topic of the magic staff continued to dominate the conversation of Baishi City, even as it made its rounds over to the forums. Priests from other cities even made the long trek over to Baishi City for it. The very fact that they braved the distance alone was a testament to the determination these Priests had to acquire the item. This dealt quite a blow to the Priests in Baishi City, as what had been a city-wide competition for the Utopian Magic Staff instantaneously became a worldwide struggle…

The price for the magic staff climbed unceasingly to dizzying heights as time passed. Vast Lushness and the rest went to have a look at the Auction House after an overnight grinding session, only to find out that the price had risen up to 3424 gold, 58 silver, and 40 copper coins, and the increment bid limit had risen to 50 gold coins.

For an item’s price to reach such levels, there was no doubt that this was a never-before-seen bidding war to purchase this item. After all, the period when the real bidding would begin had yet to arrive; these were nothing more than the bids that were tossed out in passing, yet all this probing had already raised it to such a sum. All this only made the final price all the more unimaginable.

“M*th*rf*ck*r. Now that’s what I call a piece of real top-grade equipment!” Sakurazaka Moony exclaimed in awe. As the self-proclaimed number-one trap expert of Yunduan City, he called plenty of the Hunter gear he had on him as top-grade equipment, yet there was no way they could compete with the Utopian Magic Staff. To give the simplest example: if anyone searched for the Utopian Magic Staff in the auction panel available on the premise, only a single result would be shown, but if anybody keyed any of the names of the pieces of ‘top-grade equipment’ Sakurazaka Moony had on him, the results would fill many pages.

“We should not call it ‘top-grade equipment’, it should be called exceptional equipment’, instead,” Fireball commented.

“That’s a good way to put it,” Sakurazaka Moony agreed. The man glanced over to Vast Lushness, who had been standing beside him, only to see the lady’s eyes looking somewhat vacant. He reached out and waved his hands before her eyes. “Hey, you’re not tempted to really sell it off, are you?”

Selling such exceptional and peerless top-grade equipment and using the profits to outfit herself with more typical top-grade equipment would surely see a significant boost to a character’s combat power. Plenty of players who emphasized on maximizing their experience gain would definitely make such a choice. However, such exceptional equipment would represent a sort of individuality, and in a world where it was easy for someone to own something others already have in their possession, individuality was something that was hard to pursue. Vast Lushness happened to have something that could achieve this individuality, and it was apparent she did not wish to let this go. While she was frightened by just how this price was steadily rising, she was indeed guilty of toying with the idea of selling her staff off for real. Sakurazaka Moony’s question, however, caused her to drop such a thought abruptly, shaking her head in response.

“Looking at how quickly it’s going, it seems that we may have to raise more money. We need to set a price at the last minute that no one will dare to even touch. Otherwise, at the rate of this surging price, we may be unable to snatch it back for ourselves,” Sakurazaka Moony said.

“Would it kill you to say fewer words?!” Blue Ease blurted out.

“Did I say something wrong?” Sakurazaka Moony was nonplussed.

Blue Ease swept his gaze around the crowd vehemently. Sakurazaka Moony looked around and realized his folly; discussing this out in the open like this was definitely inappropriate. Thankfully, most of their men were swarming this auction panel, so no one should have caught what he had said. Nevertheless, Sakurazaka Moony did not wish to risk it as he swiftly stopped talking.

“Let’s leave,” Vast Lushness said. The crowd nodded and left the Auction House together, discussing this matter over their private channel as they each went their separate ways.

———————————-

That night, when Gu Fei got online, the first thing he received was a message from Eternal Dominion. “I’m here!”

“Okay,” Gu Fei answered. Asking Eternal Dominion where he was, it turned out that the man had also gotten online not too long ago and was not too far off from the designated log-off zone himself. Thus, Gu Fei went over to fetch him before finding out where everyone would be gathered today. It was still the same tavern as yesterday, so he brought Eternal Dominion along there.

It was about ten past six at this point, and it was still at least 20 minutes away from the time Young Master Han had told everyone to meet up. However, a good half of the players were already in the tavern; it seemed that everybody was rather enthusiastic regarding this matter here.

“That’s almost everyone!” Young Master Han said when he saw Gu Fei and Eternal Dominion enter.

Everybody exchanged greetings with one another. Blue Ease had not met Eternal Dominion before, so he peppered the usual praises and expressions of admiration after they were properly introduced. Eternal Dominion smiled genially, “You’re being far too polite. I’ve never met you before, brother. Are you someone from Baishi City? Do you have any concerns?”

“Ah? Concerns?” Blue Ease was confused.

“Is there anyone that has made you unhappy or such?” Eternal Dominion gave one such example.

“Oh!” Blue Ease finally caught on, making the link back when Gu Fei recommended him to kill someone. It sounded as if he were a hitman! Someone that had made me unhappy… As Blue Ease pondered on this, his eyes involuntarily went to Sakurazaka Moony.

“F*ck! What are you looking at me for?” Sakurazaka Moony was also very astute.

“Hey, it seems that the relationship between you two aren’t exactly on the best terms.” Eternal Dominion appeared to be very eager.

Everyone stared at the man.

“Whoever can pay a higher fee, I’ll help take care of the other person,” Eternal Dominion declared.

Everybody exchanged glances.

“Hey, are you for real? You’re gonna do business like this?” Gu Fei asked.

“What’s the problem?” Eternal Dominion asked back.

“You need to be a little principled! You gotta at least go by a first come, first served basis! If Blue Ease approached you first to beat up Moony, then you’d go ahead and beat him up! To actually off your services to the highest bidder like this, how’s that even appropriate? In the long run, who’s gonna trust and recommend you?” Gu Fei asked.

“Drunk bro…” Sakurazaka Moony was in tears. He knew just how indomitable Eternal Dominion was as a Fighter, so he was very unhappy about being used as an example.

“I understand what you mean,” Eternal Dominion laughingly said, “but since they are right before my eyes, and you’ve seen how much they hate each other so openly, don’t you think doing this sort of auction will be giving them a chance for a fair competition?”

“Hmm… What you said makes sense as well.” Gu Fei nodded. Thus, he turned to Blue Ease and Sakurazaka Moony before he waved his hand. “Carry on, you guys!”

Blue Ease and Sakurazaka Moony immediately reacted as if they were engaging with their adversary. They were uncertain if this was for real or not, but they were afraid that the other party would open with a bid, and Eternal Dominion’s fist would go swinging to whichever direction. Their eyes met in this fierce confrontation, and their lips trembled.

“I’ll buy it!” Svelte Dancer suddenly tossed out a coin pouch right on the table.

“Oh? Which one?” Eternal Dominion opened the pouch even as he asked. Quickly seeing the large sum inside, he immediately exclaimed, “So much! You can kill them both.” Eternal Dominion even rolled up his sleeves the moment he finished his statement.

Blue Ease and Sakurazaka Moony were both shocked, uncertain just when they had offended the lady before them.

“Not the two of them!” Svelte Dancer quickly corrected. “It’s Southern Lone Blade. Do you know him?”

“Oh! Of course, I do. It’s him again,” Eternal Dominion remarked.

“Yup. Him again.” Gu Fei nodded.

“But she’s paid plenty more than last time!” Eternal Dominion locked eyes with Young Master Han. He had only earned a bottle of liquor after running all around the place with them the last time.

“Yeah. Now that your business is booming, and your reputation precedes you, the price you command increases as well. Well done. My eyes weren’t wrong picking you!” Young Master Han praised.

Eternal Dominion was delighted, keeping the coin pouch as he rubbed his fists together. “All right. Where’s Southern Lone Blade?”

“We’re going to lure him out tonight,” Gu Fei said.

“Very good.” Eternal Dominion returned to his seat, his posture straight like a javelin.

That was when Young Master Han led the conversation into the main topic at hand. “All right. it’s now time for us to make our preparations!”

“How are we gonna set up?” Blue Ease was a little excited. It had been quite some time since he had participated in a large-scale PK.

“Set up?” Young Master Han questioned and nodded his head soon after. He cleared the table first before he began. “Well, if it’s convenient for everyone, pass over 200 gold coins over here each; that should save us in having to remember individual contributions.”

Blue Ease was stunned. “When you said preparation, that’s what you meant?”

“What else would there be? There’s still over an hour before the auction ends. Is there anything more critical than gathering the money we need?” Young Master Han asked.

Blue Ease was in a daze, turning his head back stiffly. “Everyone, pool your coins.”

“200 gold coins!” Young Master Han shouted once more.

“Why?” Someone could not stand but ask.

“Didn’t I say before? To spare us the trouble of remembering individual contributions.”

“Why do we need to remember it?”

“Well, if you don’t wanna get your money back, you don’t have to remember the amount.” Young Master Han did not even turn his head, not even bothering to spare a glance to the idiot asking this question.

“Take note of who paid up to prevent people from fishing in troubled waters,” Young Master Han said to Blue Ease.

“F*ck me! You should’ve said that sooner!” Blue Ease was flustered. Quite a few players did not even walk over, yet a few coin pouches were already piling up on the table; how was he supposed to know who paid up?

“Why don’t you just get all your men to hand over the money. That way, you won’t have to remember anything,” Young Master Han suggested.

“Everyone, pay up!” Blue Ease waved his hand. He was far too lazy to remember such minutiae.

“What if we don’t have 200 gold coins?” There were quite a few who voiced this out.

“Then, your boss is gonna really hate you because he’ll have to record your name and the exact sum you’ve contributed on a piece of paper,” Young Master Han replied drolly.

Sure enough, Blue Ease was very demoralized. Rolling his eyes, he shouted, “Those without 200 gold coins, come over to me!”