Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Silver Moon did not take it to heart the first time Broken Water Arrow contacted him, because it was not the first time he had received such a message. Before, he eagerly got in touch with the other party, only to realize soon that it was nothing but an attempt to trick him into leaving the spawn point. Thankfully, the tempered Silver Moon was quick-witted and cautious enough, so he managed to scramble back into the safety of the spawn point at the last minute. That was why when he first received Broken Water Arrow’s letter, Silver Moon did not particularly put much importance to it despite him reading and replying to it. He had yet to eliminate it as another attempt to entrap him.

Even when he received the second correspondence, Silver Moon remained on guard like before.

He did not receive a third letter from Broken Water Arrow, and just as he was commending himself for his good judgement, thinking that he had seen through the other party’s trick and made him give it up, he received another letter from someone else by the name of Fleeting Smile, who claimed to be Broken Water Arrow’s companion. This new correspondent said that he would personally make his way over to Baishi City and assist Silver Moon in his escape.

Silver Moon was not jumping for joy yet because this was not the first time someone had asked him to meet face to face either. He had met others many times before. Nonetheless, Silver Moon, who was a master of sophistry, was no small fry that could easily be duped him into leaving the spawn point.

“To actually continue corresponding with me for more than three times, how unprecedented…” Silver Moon muttered under his breath. This time, the man suddenly felt a bit of hope toward this, so he made sure to be online at the appointed time.

Not long after, he received the system prompt for a friend request from Fleeting Smile, and they officially made contact with each other upon confirmation. The other party straightforwardly stated that he was on his way to Baishi City’s Knights’ Barracks right now.

“I’ll be waiting,” Silver Moon replied passively. It was not a lie that this ignited hope, but it was no more than 10%. The other 90% was still wariness.

“I’m here!” Silver Moon, who was waiting patiently inside the spawn point, received this message from Fleeting Smile. He immediately got up and gazed over to the entrance of the Knights’ Barracks.

“Which one is you?” Silver Moon asked. This was a designated safe zone, a spawn point, and a designated log-off point. There was always plenty of foot-traffic here, so the entrance would never be empty.

“I’m waving at you,” the person replied.

Silver Moon immediately spotted a player that looked to be a Priest, frantically waving his hand. Silver Moon quickly used Appraisal on the player.

Level 36, Priest.

“F*ck!” Silver Moon cursed. He did not even bother judging his equipment and just quickly stopped his Appraisal. In MMOs, a high-level player was not necessarily someone powerful, but a powerful player had to be high-level. While there was not a significant difference between levels in Parallel World, Silver Moon simply did not believe that a noob that had yet to even advance his job class would be capable of any sort of greatness. He could no longer be bothered to pay attention to this person and was prepared to log off by now.

“Do you see me? Where are you?” Just as Silver Moon was about to leave when he actually received a message from this man.

Silver Moon glanced at this person once more and saw that he was waving his hand as he searched through the crowd. The moment his gaze locked onto where he was, he suddenly stopped.

Their eyes met, and Silver Moon did not avoid it. This person stopped waving his hand as he walked over toward him.

“Are you Silver Moon?” this man asked now that they were face-to-face with each other.

Silver Moon nodded. Since he already got recognized by this Priest, he figured that it would not hurt to see what tricks this man had up his sleeves.

“Your situation looks pretty grim, yeah?” Ye Xiaowu looked around and saw that quite a lot of players were glaring at Silver Moon with scorn. Silver Moon was already used to this by now, so he was able to completely ignore all these looks, appearing entirely unconcerned.

“No, sh*t.” If Silver Moon could still be feeling good about any of this, then he had probably lost his marbles. He did not even have the heart to fake a good mood right now.

“I’m here to help,” Ye Xiaowu said.

“Oh? And what do you intend to do?” Silver Moon calmly asked. The person who had come to meet him face-to-face before had painted a beautiful picture with his words, but the gist of his words were: ‘Step outside for me first.’ Once bitten twice shy; when Silver Moon heard these words a second time, he immediately cursed the ancestors of that man right in front of his face. Right now, he was ready. The moment this noob said something similar, he would gladly release a litany of curses.

“Given the current situation you’re in, I don’t think anyone can get you out of this place by killing their way through,” Ye Xiaowu said.

“Is that so?” Silver Moon said.

“Yeah. Probably…” Just as Silver Moon expressed his doubts, Ye Xiaowu paused as well. That was because, at this very moment, both men had subconsciously thought of the same person at the same time, and a sort of indignant and sour look was shared by the two.

Anyone will have trouble fighting their way through, but if it’s that guy, he just might be able to do it…

He’s just too imbalanced! Ye Xiaowu thought.

That m*th*rf*ck*r! Silver Moon first delivered the swear words and expletives he had previously prepared for Gu Fei’s ancestors in his mind before he quietly waited for this person to say a word.

But Ye Xiaowu did not say anything else. Quietly taking out a scroll from his dimensional pocket, he passed it over to Silver Moon.

“What’s this scroll for?” Silver Moon could not help asking.

“Teleportation Scroll,” Ye Xiaowu answered.

Silver Moon was stunned, and his mind quickly put two and two together. This was a method that he had not yet come across since he got trapped in here. Could there be a trap already set up in the destination of this Teleportation Scroll? G*d*mm*t. This must be someone Dusky Cloud has sent. To think that guy is willing to spend such an outrageous amount just to kill me…

Silver Moon was in deep thought even as he saw Ye Xiaowu unfurl the scroll for him. “Look carefully: it’s blank. There’re no coordinates here.”

“Ah—” Silver Moon was stunned.

“I’m sure you know; a Teleportation Scroll without coordinates written on it, to put it bluntly, means that it will randomly send you off. As such, there’s no way for me to set up any sort of ambush after teleporting,” Ye Xiaowu said.

Silver Moon was stupefied. He had indeed heard about this rule. In order for Ye Xiaowu to dispel his doubts, he had displayed the blank scroll right before his eyes. Silver Moon carefully pored over the paper and saw that it was indeed a blank spell scroll without even a single word written on it.

This is the real deal! His original shred of hope was now in full bloom, and Silver Moon, who had been quiet for the longest time, got very excited. He wished he could just hug this scroll and have a good cry on the spot.

“If you’re still not at ease, perhaps you can provide me with a set of coordinates, and I’ll write them down for you, then we can both teleport out of here together,” Ye Xiaowu proposed.

Silver Moon thought about this proposition.

“However, I do suggest for these coordinates you provide to be somewhere far away – even better if it’s outside Baishi City. I dare say that you’ll very likely still be in danger no matter where you end up in this city,” Ye Xiaowu said this even as he observed the stares Silver Moon were eliciting. Meanwhile, the fact that he was conversing with Silver Moon had caused these players to regard him strangely as well.

“Not within the area of Baishi City?” Silver Moon became skeptical when he heard this. “Isn’t the Teleportation Scroll incapable of teleporting the user beyond the confines of the city it is used in?”

“Eh? Don’t you know about the rule? While it’s true that a random teleport will not materialize the user anywhere beyond the range of the city, but there won’t be any limitations if you personally fill in the scroll with a set of coordinates and teleport,” Ye Xiaowu explained.

Silver Moon was indeed unaware of this rule, and it was precisely his lack of knowledge of it that raised his suspicions. He was afraid that this person before him was attempting to take advantage of him because he was unfamiliar with the rules when it came to the usage of Teleportation Scrolls. Perhaps the moment he applied a set of coordinates that he could not teleport to, and the scroll failed in doing what it was supposed to do, causing the teleportation not to work, it could somehow create a situation where he would be sent back to the spawn point or something. This could possibly be another entrapment attempt his enemies could control.

Ye Xiaowu could tell that Silver Moon was hesitating and chuckled. “You don’t seem to trust me. Then, just use the method from before and subject yourself to a random teleport… But let me remind you; there’s a huge risk to attempting a random teleport. Ignoring the possibility of it sending you directly outside this very building, it can still very well teleport you to a location a mere yard from your current coordinates. Or it might also send you straight into a group of monsters in some high-level grinding map, killing you as a result. That’s as good as not teleporting at all. Who knows? Maybe that’s the only Teleportation Scroll I have on me.”

“Can I fill in a set of coordinates somewhere here in this city?” Silver Moon asked.

“Of course, you can, but I really hope you can confirm the safety of the location you fill in. Teleporting right out of the frying pan and into the fire, I doubt you wanna play with that possibility, huh?” Ye Xiaowu asked back.

Silver Moon was pained. He was not completely familiar with Baishi City, so that meant there was no way he would know a set of coordinates to fill the scroll with to materialize somewhere with no one around. Considering his infamy in this city, he suspected that he would be in grave danger as long as he teleported over to any location where even a single player was present. All this person had to do was shout, “Look; there’s Silver Moon!” and a team of eager PKers would be quickly assembled to get him.

“No, I can’t choose any coordinates here in Baishi City!” Silver Moon gritted his teeth. He agreed with Ye Xiaowu’s assessment that teleporting anywhere within Baishi City would be fraught with grim possibilities. Teleporting in such a fashion would most likely be sending himself to death. If he was going to take a gamble, he believed that, given what this man had explained about the rules when it came to teleporting, it was better to target another city!

“All right. I accept your suggestion,” Silver Moon said finally.

“In that case, I suggest you teleport yourself over to Linyin City,” Ye Xiaowu said.

“Linyin City? Why Linyin City?” Silver Moon was immediately anxious. He felt that the likelihood of this being a trap increased as long as the decision making was not in his hands.

“Bro, you actually haven’t asked me yet why I am here to help you,” Ye Xiaowu said.

Silver Moon was instantly embarrassed when he heard this. Someone like him that always placed his own benefits before his word had actually forgotten to ask about the intentions this other player had for lending him a hand. He had truly let slip the strength of his character.

“I need the power of your King’s Blade. Of course, I don’t want the equipment itself. I merely wish that you can work with us to take down a bunch of players. As for their names, I believe you’ve heard of them and won’t refuse,” Ye Xiaowu said.

“Young Master’s Elite!” Silver Moon blurted out.

Ye Xiaowu nodded.

“You’re an ally!” Silver Moon was excited. The enemy of an enemy could very well be his friend.

“You should know the prowess that group possesses, especially that man known as ‘Thousand Miles Drunk’ among them.”

Silver Moon repeatedly nodded and instantly became a lot more cordial with Ye Xiaowu. “Did those guys terrorize you as well?”

“Terrorize?”

“Well… your level…” Silver Moon vaguely mumbled. He suddenly understood that this Priest before him was no noob. He probably got targeted by that group of hooligans and was slain until he dropped to this level just like him.

“Oh. That has got nothing to do with them. I simply haven’t been playing too much previously. My goal is to cripple Thousand Miles Drunk now that I’m in this game,” Ye Xiaowu explained.

“Oh. Then, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Silver Moon hurried.

“Don’t be in such a rush. We’re still waiting for another player. We’ll leave together when that time comes,” Ye Xiaowu said.