Virtual World: Close Combat Mage Chapter 27-28

Chapter 27 – A Misunderstanding Caused by a Burlap Sack

Ye Xiaowu did not idle around when he went offline; his mind was still mulling over the oddity that was Gu Fei. After pondering for a while, he sprang up in an instant, leaving his office and heading straight to the Game Administration Department of the company. The gaming company behind Parallel World was in fact a company that handled their own R&D1 and game administration. Ye Xiaowu was someone from the R&D Department, and the department which was in charge of the daily activities and maintenance of the game was actually the Game Administration Department.

In the Game Administration Department, there was a small group of people in charge of monitoring the various in-game data. Once an anomaly was detected, they would keep track of and analyze it further to check if the anomaly matched the settings of the in-game data. In short, it was a checkup to see if the players hacked the game.

There was an old saying that went: “While the priest climbs a foot, the devil climbs ten.” No matter how advanced the technology used, being hacked was almost inevitable, even for a game like Parallel World that had achieved the full-immersion technology. For online games, it was only natural to prioritize the elimination of hackers, as the benefits of having zero hackers outweighed the risks by far. Even though Parallel Word was implemented with cutting-edge technology, which was impossible to be cracked by the work of individuals or rogue hacker groups, the company did not dare to be sloppy in this particular aspect.

Some employees of the monitoring team were so shocked that they leaped from their seats when the office door was shoved open by Ye Xiaowu. It was not until they saw clearly who it was that they breathed a sigh of relief, “Oh, it’s Chief Ye. Have you noticed yet another bug that needs fixing?”

As a core member of the R&D Department, Ye Xiaowu constantly pointed out the bugs for the game designs before going to the monitoring team to make adjustment for the in-game data. They often collaborated for work, and since it was usually Ye Xiaowu who noticed the bugs before the monitoring team could fix it, everyone on the team usually addressed him as “Chief Ye”.

“Gaming account’s name is ‘Thousand Miles Drunk.’ Do a checkup on the data of this account,” Ye Xiaowu said.

“That’s…” the members of the monitoring team looked one another in the eyes, before one of them blurted out, “That’s against the rules!”

Normally, anything that involved the in-game data for the game was out of bounds for someone from the R&D Department like Ye Xiaowu.

“There’s something fishy about this player,” Ye Xiaowu said.

All were alerted by what Ye Xiaowu just said, as this was exactly something that they were in charge of. They stopped their on-hand tasks immediately to direct every data monitoring system at Gu Fei, who was currently grinding inside the game. Someone could be heard mumbling, “Nothing unusual could be detected at all!”

To be frank, if someone like Ye Xiaowu had to remind them personally to check on a suspicious looking gaming account, it meant that the monitoring team had not been doing their job well. The entire team felt on edge right now.

Ye Xiaowu did not even care about how they felt. He fixed his gaze on the screen, as he wanted to confirm something with Gu Fei’s data. In the end, all the data monitoring systems had confirmed something for Ye Xiaowu; what he presumed before was right all along.

The rest of the employees had their eyes fixed on the screen as well. After staring at the screen for a while, they all looked at one another to confirm before breathing a sigh of relief. The result from the monitoring system was apparent: This account did not rely on any external applications.

However, Ye Xiaowu was still paying attention to the screen. Everyone followed along as they looked at one another once more. After observing for a while, everyone wore a surprised look.

“Just who is he?” one of them asked.

Ye Xiaowu remained silent. He had his reasons, of course. As stated by his boss before, all the employees were prohibited from playing the game directly. Even though his boss had turned a blind eye over this matter, he was still required to keep this a secret.

The employees took a closer look, and one of them muttered, “This person manages to deliver maximum damage output with every single attack… Is that really not a result of hacking?” Gu Fei’s remarkable performance had left these professional game employees skeptical of their judgment.

But after another round of checking with all the monitoring systems, the result was still the same: There was zero hacking involved.

“Goodness! Is he even human? Chief Ye, how did you find him?” one of them asked, astounded.

“I heard it from the others,” Ye Xiaowu spoke in an offhand manner before he changed the subject, “There’s nothing wrong with this account, right?”

“None at all!” everyone answered firmly.

“And the thing he’s doing is permitted, right?”

“Of course,” an employee smiled, “Maximum damage output can be delivered by the precision of attack and power. This is the concept which was designed by you and the rest of the R&D. You must be pleased seeing that someone is actually capable of doing this.”

“Yes, very pleased,” Ye Xiaowu nodded.

“Conventionally speaking, this person is the top expert of control for Parallel World already,” one of them said.

Ye Xiaowu laughed and waved his hand, “Alright, there’s no issue now that we are sure that the account isn’t hacked. I am leaving; carry on everyone.”

On his way back to his office, Ye Xiaowu was still pondering on a question, “Thousand Miles Drunk, can he be considered as a game balance breaker?”

At this moment, the suspected game balance breaker Gu Fei was heartily practicing his kung fu in the map. All of a sudden, he received a message from Fireball, who was eagerly trying to invite Gu Fei for a drink.

Gu Fei considered Fireball to be the first person he befriended inside the game. Even if they did not grind together, they would still meet each other once in a while. Recently, he had not been keeping in touch with Fireball. Gu Fei packed his stuff instantly and embarked on the road back to the city.

The amount of weight Gu Fei could handle was actually very low. Unfortunately for him, he was very efficient during grinding, so there were heaps of items to loot every time he finished grinding. For this reason, he had to make a sack for himself to store all the miscellaneous loots. Unlike those items stored inside the pocket, Gu Fei could clearly feel the weights of these items when he carried them with his hands. At the same time, these items were not protected by the system.

As of right now, Gu Fei was actually walking with much difficulty as he carried the burlap sack with him. He got a boost of Strength from the emblem that he acquired today. That boost of Strength meant he was able to grind at a faster rate and he managed to loot more items. Nothing really changed as his increase in Strength was evened out by the heavier loot that he had to carry.

As he passed by another map for grinding, his footsteps had gotten even heavier. He forced himself to walk two more steps before dropping the sack on the ground. He planned to rest for a few minutes as he leaned on a tree and gasped for air.

The players grinding in this map had noticed this weird occurrence. A few players’ eyes were glowing as they saw this, and the next second they could be seen scrambling over to where Gu Fei was.

“Do you need help? Let me carry that for you!” Several people rushed to the front of Gu Fei, and were yelling the same thing at him as they tried to push one another aside.

“Oh, there’s no need for that. I am actually—”

“Oh, you are too modest! Just let me help you!” one of the players barged onward without waiting for him to finish his sentence. He grabbed Gu Fei’s sack and swung it across his shoulder. His eyes were already looking afar as he said, “Tell me! Where are you headed to?”

“Yunduan City,” Gu Fei answered, “But I—”

“Let’s go, then!” the person said nothing more, and just dashed forward ardently. The others players around them all revealed looks of jealousy and unwillingness at what had transpired.

“But I am not a NPC! I am a player, too!” Gu Fei said after a while. However, the person, who was already way ahead, failed to hear what he just said. As for those who were still surrounding Gu Fei, they had certainly heard him loud and clear. After being dumbstruck for a moment, they proceeded to sneer at the person who had stormed ahead. All of them stifled their laughters so as to not alert that person. They all gave Gu Fei a big thumbs-up, “Dude, you did that on purpose, right? Solid move man; top notch!”

Due to the influence of trashy webnovels, many players were itching to find hidden quests that could be set into motion by all kinds of mysterious events. All were looking forward to a day when they could have their own amazing encounter. Gu Fei’s weird attire and the fact a burlap sack item was not available at the moment made people doubt he was a fellow player.

Misunderstandings were inevitable these days whenever Gu Fei dragged along his huge sack back to the city and passed by the grinding players in different maps. But every time that happened, Gu Fei would explain himself and the other players would leave dejectedly after using Appraisal on him. Unlike the others, this particular player he met today was exceptional. He craved a hidden quest so much that he did not even bother to listen to what Gu Fei had to say and just snatched the burlap sack away.

“Hey, you!” Gu Fei chased after him and yelled.

The other person simply waved gracefully and said, “Nothing is stopping me from helping you carry this back to your destination today!”

Gu Fei kept his mouth shut. Considering that person had made such a firm decision already, he might as well just let him do as he pleased. Gu Fei was never one to force others to do things his way. Carry it then if you are so eager to do it! Gu Fei was happy with his new-found easiness, and he walked leisurely behind the person. The person was equipped with heavy armor all over, and Gu Fei’s burlap sack which was rested on that person’s shoulder seemed very light by the way he was carrying it. It was obvious that his job class was a Warrior, the one with the most impressive physical abilities. But the person seemed to be very skinny judging from his stature.

Of course, a fat or skinny stature did not indicate how strong a player was in the game. A good example would be Gu Fei, who was as frail as paper in the game even though he had been honing his body for more than twenty years.

From their current location, they still needed a few more minutes to reach Yunduan City. Gu Fei noticed that the player helping him with the sack was standing proud and tall along the way. And this had him in anguish again as he thought, A Warrior would have been a great choice as well if not a Fighter! The physique of a Mage is just too weak.

Finally, the two reached the city, and the person put down the burlap sack from his shoulder as he gazed warmly at Gu Fei’s eyes.

“Thanks a lot!” Gu Fei patted the person’s shoulder, lowered himself to lift the burlap sack up, and proceeded to stagger forward.

The other person was confused for a moment, but he snapped right back the next second and chased after Gu Fei as he said affectionately, “Where are you carrying all these to? I’ll help you!”

“Oh, that won’t be necessary. The warehouse is just in front of us, right?” Gu Fei said.

“Warehouse?” The person was stunned. The warehouse was truly a short distance away from them, but it was something that was reserved for players. The person sensed that something was not right, and said to Gu Fei, “Are you….”

“Hello, I am Thousand Miles Drunk,” Gu Fei said.

“Are – Aren’t you a NPC?” The other person had a dumbfounded expression.

With a deep sigh, Gu Fei said, “I am not.”

Chapter 28 – Fireball joins a guild?

“The heck! Who the hell are you?!” the person yelled while rushing at Gu Fei.

“I just told you, I’m Thousand Miles Drunk,” Gu Fei calmly replied, and then he realized something. The person’s shout just now sounded rather high pitched and the voice clearly contained a hint of sharpness. Gu Fei carefully examined the person’s face once more and was instantly taken aback, “You’re a woman?”

The person was wearing a full-body, heavy armor, but under the helmet was clearly a woman’s face. Her beauty was apparent, even though she was currently gnashing her teeth. The woman reached into her side pocket upon hearing his words. Gu Fei heard a whooshing sound and then a huge axe materialized in front of his very eyes. However, the truly terrifying fact was that she was holding it with only one hand, while her other hand was poised like a panther ready to strike. It was as if she could reach out and grab Gu Fei’s neck at any given time, hoisting him up and cleaving him into pieces with her weapon.

“Got a problem with that?” the lady produced a low growl. She had a versatile voice, allowing her to change pitch from high to low and vice versa.

“None at all!” Gu Fei blinked. It was undeniable that the woman looked powerful and intimidating.

“What do you mean, then?” The lady lifted the huge axe and hung it right above Gu Fei’s forehead.

“That I’m very thankful! Grateful that you helped carry my sack up to here. Honestly, carrying it takes a lot of effort for me,” Gu Fei said.

The woman showed some degree of shock at his statement.

“You know what? Take this as a gift! I don’t really need it anyway,” Gu Fei tossed the burlap sack over by the lady’s feet.

“Who wants your stuff?” the woman asked sarcastically.

“I’ve got something on, so I’ll take my leave,” Gu Fei waved his hand and hurriedly walked away.

“Hey… You!” Gu Fei had long since disappeared from the corner of the street that they were in by the time she shouted these words. The speed that the level 30 Mage Gu Fei had after pumping all his stat points into Agility was nothing to scoff at.

The lady mulled something over for a bit before she lowered her head. Finally, she could no longer resist the temptation and picked up the sack.

Her curiosity got the better of her and she opened it. “I’m only taking a look. It’s not like I want any of his stuff,” the lady mumbled to herself. Her decision turned into firm resolve after seeing what was actually inside.

“What?!”

“What the?!”

“What are these things?!”

As the woman searched through the sack, she could not stop herself from muttering the same words. While Gu Fei’s sack contained many things, their value was actually very little. Gu Fei was not an idiot after all; the items with worth were already placed into his dimensional pocket.

The lady spent quite some time searching through the burlap sack, finding only countless useless loots, such as a pile of bricks, a bunch of rocks, a single glass ball, and a rotten wooden stick. The items that the players had deemed worthless could all be found inside Gu Fei’s burlap sack.

In the end, the lady came to the conclusion that she had been trolled. Perhaps someone had recorded the humorous manner in which she stuck her head into the sack and searched through the items. She might find herself as the butt of everyone’s jokes in a few days once the video got uploaded on to the forums. Thinking of that possibility, she heavily slammed her huge axe onto the ground, causing pieces of concrete to fly all over. A brutal Warrior paired with an equally savage weapon. That strike just now was carried out with extreme graveness.

Thousand Miles Drunk is it? You better not let me see you again, the lady thought with fury.

“What a real pity about my sack! Achooo!” Gu Fei suddenly sneezed as he was thinking of how much he missed having his self-made burlap sack. At the same moment, he arrived outside the tavern. He quickly rubbed his nose and pushed open the wooden door.

There were numerous system-operated taverns in Yunduan City except for Ray’s Bar. Since it was a sprawling city, many bars were spread all over it to accommodate all the players, as well as to better earn their money.

The tavern Gu Fei had just entered was one of the most popular establishments in the area. Since it was the closest to the city gate most players were grinding, it was naturally everyone’s first choice to rest at. The tavern was open from day to night, so the sounds of players’ conversations filled the entire establishment twenty-four seven.

Fireball, who had already grabbed a good seat, stood up once he saw Gu Fei enter the tavern, “Drunk bro, over here!”

“Yo, What’s-His-Name!” Gu Fei cheerfully greeted back.

Fireball felt dejected. He had even taken the effort to address Gu Fei properly, yet here he was calling him What’s-His-Name. It was no wonder the players around them threw him a disdainful look, thinking that he was the sort of person who stuck around the pros to leech off them.

However, he could do nothing about this as it was all due to his gaming account name. He would still be a laughingstock had Gu Fei called him Fireball. Every time such a conundrum would pop up, the thought of dying would fill his heart.

“Sit! What’re you standing there for?” Gu Fei had already taken a seat and was patting the table to catch the attention of the momentarily frozen Fireball.

“How’s life? Found a guild yet?” Gu Fei understood what he was feeling right now, so he tried providing a new topic to snap him out of his depressing thoughts.

Fireball indeed sat down once he heard the question and replied, “Nope! Although I did find one I’m interested in, so I’m trying to find a way to get in.”

“Is that so?” Gu Fei lifted the glass off the table. The glass was filled with red wine that was sold for 50 copper coins and was largely considered as the cheapest in-game liquor available; the said wine made the most sales as well. Many players were obliged to order something since they were in a tavern, but almost no one was willing to purchase a drink except for the cheapest one. This was because many of them thought that their hard-earned coins should be spent on more important things. “What guild caught your eye?” Gu Fei asked as he took a big gulp of the drink as if it was nothing more than water.

“Amethyst Rebirth,” Fireball said.

Pfftttt! Gu Fei spat out half of the wine he originally had in his mouth. It was a blessing that he was a full Agility-based Mage, as he somehow managed to turn his neck and avoid spitting his drink all over Fireball at the last minute.

“What?” Fireball was surprised at Gu Fei’s strong reaction.

“Nothing. I choked,” Gu Fei coughed loudly as he asked, “What’s so special about this guild?”

“Drunk bro, have you not seen the forums?” Fireball replied with a question.

“Not recently, no,” Gu Fei answered.

“On the players’ interactive board, there’re various threads for each major city in-game. Right now, many guilds are busily recruiting players on these threads. That’s where I found this guild in our city’s thread,” Fireball spoke as his eyes glinted.

“Oh…” Gu Fei sounded, letting Fireball continue his narration.

Fireball shadily glanced around them before he moved his seat closer to the table as he whispered, “Drunk bro, you better not tell others what I’m about to tell you.”

“It’s already on the forums; why are you afraid others would find out?” Gu Fei asked.

“No no no!” Fireball anxiously responded, “That thread has long been buried. It took me quite a while to dig for it. It’s a post made not long after the game started. Guess what sort of guild it is?”

“What?” Gu Fei had pulled out the guild tab of Amethyst Rebirth and swept it a few times while he asked Fireball.

“It’s a guild of babes!” Fireball’s voice rose an octave in excitement, and his sentence ended up missing a key word.

Gu Fei did not give this much thought. He had already met a few ladies from Amethyst Rebirth. As for them being babes, it depended entirely on what a person considered as a “babe”. Using Xi Xiaotian as the standard, then none of them would make the cut. If someone was to be more specific in defining the term, then July, Lie Lie, and another whose name he could not recall could be considered as beauties.

Given how Parallel World projected the actual person’s figure and features, some of those ladies would be considered as dishonest, immodest, or even excessively narcissistic if they believed themselves to be “babes”.

“So Drunk bro, you interested?” Fireball asked.

Gu Fei smiled forcefully. Just how was he going to tell Fireball?

“Let me read you their requirements!” Fireball said as he took out a booklet from his pocket. He cleared his throat and began, “Number one: able to stand on their own and not be too dependent on others. How is it? I fit the criteria, yeah?” Fireball’s voice cracked in his excitement.

Gu Fei nodded. It was true that Fireball had not followed him and leeched off experience despite Gu Fei being such an efficient monster slayer. This showed clearly that he was capable of standing on his own and not depending on others.

Gu Fei’s nod stirred Fireball’s heart and he could not wait to continue listing the requirements. However, Gu Fei extended his hand and stopped him, “Although I think you probably fit the basic requirements listed, there’s one thing you don’t fit.”

“What?”

“Didn’t they mention they only recruit female players?” Gu Fei stated.

“Drunk bro, how did you know?” Fireball was stunned.

“Since you said it’s a guild full of babes, it’s obvious they only recruit female players,” Gu Fei said.

“I don’t think so,” Fireball scratched his head as he shared his opinion, “I think the requirements are just a pretense. The guild officials are attracting all the babes first. Then, they will use this bevy of babes to lure men in to create a first-rate guild. Once the leaders have recruited enough female players, they will definitely start accepting male players since they need people like me to be their knight in shining armor.”

Gu Fei sighed. He would have seen the merit of Fireball’s reasoning as well had he not interacted personally with the members of Amethyst Rebirth. Those people actually saw him like the plague. It was barely a day since he had joined in and they already wanted him to quit the guild of his accord. Was that the action of a guild that wanted a male player to join in?

Just as he was thinking of ways to explain things clearly to Fireball, Gu Fei suddenly heard someone nearby call him, “You’re here too, Thousand Miles Drunk.”

Gu Fei turned and saw a fellow member from Amethyst Rebirth. She was the one July referred to as Luo Luo and someone whom Gu Fei might consider as one of the three beauties, provided that the standard was lowered.

“Oh, hello,” Gu Fei got up and greeted her.

Fireball’s eyes were filled with admiration when he looked at Gu Fei. Would learning kung fu cause one to be gifted in such areas? Fireball started to ponder if perhaps he should take Gu Fei as his teacher.