Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Sword Demon was still on that same street, and the breeze in the air was still blowing just the same. The leaves, too, were dancing along with the motion of the wind, just like before.

However, the feeling he had in him was different, and so the same scene looked different to him. The street looked as if it was filled with hope, and the light breeze about was refreshing. Even the falling leaves looked warm and inviting. There was not even a shade of melancholia in his heart right now.

Stowing away his daggers, Sword Demon pulled out a bun and munched on it to recover his lost HP. He glanced quickly across his character information and saw that his PK value had not increased after slaying Cool Apple. That was not too surprising as it was Cool Apple who had initiated an attack on him. Between the player initiating a PK and the one receiving it, the initiating player would oftentimes attack the recipient and would be deemed by the system as the aggressor; thus, the defender would not earn a PK point when they retaliated.

But how could the soulless system compete with humans? Once everybody had a good grasp of the PK rules, a style of faux-PK spread among the players. The first attack would often be a feint, just like the first arrow fired off might give the opponent a misconception as it flew past their ears, but the target for that shot was never the player themselves. The system would naturally be aware of this discrepancy, but a retaliation that stemmed from this failed attack would cause the recipient player to be tricked. The aggressor for this PK was now on the originally targeted player as a result, and the initiator could now slay the target with no fear of earning a PK point, leaving without any worries once the deed was done…

Of course, this method of engagement was not applicable for that duel Sword Demon had with Cool Apple. The first attack from Cool Apple had already dealt him damage; The system would deem the aggressor of any PvP to be the one who first dealt damage, so with regards to that faux-PK style mentioned before, in a situation where a player was targeting a tree in the first place, but the attack ended up dealing damage to another player that suddenly appeared from behind the tree… Even if it was all an accident, the role of the aggressor would still belong to the one who shot the arrow.

As such, a sort of reverse faux-PK style was born from this, and it was mostly Mages that suffered from this. While a Mage was using an AoE spell to grind monsters, a person with ill-intention might suddenly dash in and purposely take damage from it and proceed to slay the Mage without earning any PK point… These two sorts of faux PK-styles were often used in counteracting another and vice versa. All sorts of complex modifications and changes to the styles made it difficult to explain everything all at once, but it just went to show one thing: Players would forever be more cunning than the system, and the intelligence of the masses was unlimited.

Sword Demon could not help but think of this when he saw that he did not incur a PK point. However, he found such despicable styles of dodging earning PK point to be very distasteful and rarely ever used it himself. He knew, though, that among the members of Young Master’s Elite, War Without Wounds and Royal God Call were experts in that field. The two would even sometimes animatedly discuss about it, be it in person or on the mercenary channel, allowing Sword Demon to gain some second-hand knowledge toward it.

Cool Apple’s sudden sneak-attack in the end was no more than a little distraction. Having been gaming for such a long time, Sword Demon experienced his fair share of inexplicable sneak-attack, only this time there should be a reason for what had happened. Sword Demon did not wholly take it to heart and just proceeded into the jungle after he finished recovering his HP. Naturally, he did not forget to remind the others that the opposing party might attempt an ambush any time and told them to be a little more cautious.

The three players atop a roof were only at ease to leap off it when they saw that Sword Demon had safely departed from that street after killing Cool Apple. However, before they took two steps, each of them got Young Master Han’s one-word reply of ‘come’.

The three were a little confused by this. Exchanging glances with one another and seeing the same confusion in their eyes, they realized that the others had gotten the same message from the man. In the next moment, they were all given the same set of coordinates. The three men were about to depart for the destination when War Without Wounds laughed and Brother Assist sighed. The latter reached out and grabbed Royal God Call, who had turned in the opposite direction of the other two men, and said, “Royal, this way.”

“I know. You can circle around this way, too!” The man stubbornly quibbled, as though nobody was aware of how geographically challenged he was. Brother Assist shook his head repeatedly.

“Leave him be; let the man circle around,” War Without Wounds said.

Royal God Call got a little scared upon hearing that, so he did a one-eighty and changed his tone. “It’s still the same if I walk with you guys.”

Young Master Han was nowhere to be found when the three men finally arrived at the coordinates they were given. Just as they were about to send a message to ask, their vision dimmed. A shadow covered the sunlight above their heads as Young Master Han, who was standing up on the roof, got a bird’s eye view of the three.

The way Young Master Han stared at the three with derision, adding the angle he was doing so, immediately made them all feel uncomfortable. Since the house this time was taller than the other before, they looked to their left and right but still could not find a foothold, only to see Young Master Han point somewhere 300 meters away. “Over there.”

“F*ck. Tell us that earlier…”

The three climbed up the top of that house and stood next to Young Master Han. They were much higher up this time, but their line of sight was better, too. Young Master Han raised that spyglass again as if he were tracking something. The three followed where his spyglass was pointed to, looking and staring, until Young Master Han suddenly said, “You guys don’t have a spyglass. What are you looking at?”

“Then, why did you call us here?” The three were fuming.

“So, it will be convenient for us to act after,” Young Master Han answered.

“Act on what? What are you looking at again?” The three were almost dying from anxiety.

“Cool Apple,” Young Master Han replied.

The three stared at him incredulously.

“He’s the who ambushed Sword Demon just now,” Young Master Han said.

“How do you know that?” the three asked at the same time.

“When they fought earlier, Sword Demon quickly put his back against the wall, and it’s evident that he did that to prevent his assailant from making a sneak-attack on him from behind. Although the person he’s facing off is a Thief with Backstab, Bludgeon, and other similar skills that can be used from behind, that doesn’t mean he needed to take such drastic measures. There’s only one explanation for it, and that is that he’s facing off a person with access to a more powerful skill that can be used to attack from behind… All in all, besides Miles’ Blink and that what’s-the-name skill that Cool Apple possesses, who else has possession of such a skill?” Young Master Han asked.

“Shadowstep!” Brother Assist remembered such detail very clearly.

“Oh, yeah. That guy did seem to possess a really strange, high-speed movement skill.” Royal God Call had watched the fight through his Eagle Eye. While it might not afford him the same clear view as the spyglass, he could still see the fight better than War Without Wounds and Brother Assist.

Young Master Han shrugged, showing that the matter to be clear at a glance.

Clear at a glance, yet the three failed to make the necessary inference. They were momentarily left at a loss for words, because no one was willing to accept the validity of Young Master Han’s disdain. After a moment’s silence, Royal God Call changed the topic. “But he ended up getting slain by Sword Demon. He sure lives up to his name as Sword Demon!” Royal God Call praised.

“That’s nothing but the illusion you guys saw,” Young Master Han remarked.

“What?” The three were now confused.

“He’s not dead,” Young Master Han said.

“What? How can that be? I saw him disappear in a flash of white light!” Royal God Call exclaimed.

“Is a flash of white light a guarantee of death?” Royal God Call was still unable to escape the fate of being scorned. However, with a quick thought, he promptly realized what it meant. Disappearing in a flash of white light did not equate to death; they used the same trick before as well!

“Windchaser’s Emblem!” Brother Assist already shouted this out.

“That’s right.” Young Master Han continued with great surety. “Cool Apple is someone who has accumulated over 1600 PK points. Even if Miles deduced that the man didn’t achieve the next level of the emblem, that doesn’t mean that he did not obtain the basic emblem itself!”

“So, he completed a ‘Bounty Mission’ before, and when he realized that he couldn’t defeat Sword Demon, he utilized the teleportation function of the item to make his escape,” Royal God Call said.

“Perhaps this wasn’t a method he specifically used to deal with Sword Demon but a habit of his, instead. With such an item that grants this ability, he always makes sure that he has a completed ‘Bounty Mission’ first, so the moment he comes across any sort of danger, the man can immediately use it to flee,” Brother Assist said.

“That makes sense!” War Without Wounds nodded. “PKing over 1600 times and not even losing once will be an extremely indomitable feat, but it turns out that there’s such a reason behind it.”

Brother Assist nodded. “His actual counts of PK attempts might be even higher than that. It’s just that whenever he failed, he would use his emblem to teleport and escape, so even though he lost the fight, his level would remain unaffected.”

“Using the emblem in such a manner really isn’t too bad… I should get myself one.” War Without Wounds was tempted.

“I… Can I get it again…” Royal God Call was a little depressed. He had previously gotten himself a Windchaser’s Emblem, but he had sold it to Svelte Dancer. Given how the system would calculate such stats when it came to quests and missions, everyone would have a record of their own. Royal God Call had no idea if they would still be calculated if he continued to do a hundred or two hundred more.

Brother Assist patted Royal God Call consolingly, but the former was apparently not that bothered by it as he quickly turned to Young Master Han. “So, you actually came to such a place when you left us earlier because you’ve already determined that he’d make use of such a method to escape, and you are now waiting for him to leave the Bounty Assignment Hall?”

Young Master Han looked at him with an expression that seemed to say, ‘But of course.’

“So, what is he doing right now?” the three men asked.

“If this is a habit for Cool Apple, he’s bound to pick up a ‘Bounty Mission’ and complete it to prepare this teleportation method once more,” Brother Assist guessed.

“Wait a minute. If this is his habit, why did he die at the hands of Miles that time?” Royal God Call asked.

“Miles? The Thief was insta-killed with a slash of Miles’ sword when they clashed. If even a Priest like me couldn’t Heal him up at all, how else would he be able to teleport?” Young Master Han retorted.

“Where’s Cool Apple?” Royal God Call changed the topic once again.

“You won’t understand even if I give you the coordinates!” Young Master Han spat. “The point is, we are about to eliminate this man before he completes this ‘Bounty Mission’ he just got.”

“Then, what are standing around here waiting for?!” Royal God Call leaped to his feet.

“Idiot! I, at least, need to see if his bounty target is in or out of the city. If he ends up running straight into the jungle, what’s the point of us chasing after the man?” Young Master Han asked.

“So, is it inside or outside the city?” Royal God Call asked.

“I already said that we are going to eliminate the man, so of course he’s in the city. Quick get your butts down on the street and get to work. All of you!” Young Master Han barked this order at the three.

“Brother Assist, you’re with Royal. Wounds will be alone. Move according to the positions I relay to you, find a street to conduct a pincer movement,” Young Master Han said.

Royal God Call would always feel extremely ashamed during such times as he would have to follow a nanny due to him having no sense of direction. Actually, he had been working hard at getting better, but his improvement was miniscule. He did not dare to be too obstinate at this point, either, for it could really spoil things. The three nodded in agreement and each went in two different directions, following the coordinates Young Master Han had directed them in order to capture Cool Apple.