Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

“A very strange guy, along with Broken Water Arrow, said something like Miles’ existence is destroying the game balance, and it should be rectified accordingly.” Sword Demon gave a brief rundown of the situation as he set off toward their place of rendezvous.

“AH! TOTALLY AGREE!” These words had just left Sword Demon’s mouth when Royal God Call and War Without Wounds quickly rescinded their stance. Their reaction proved to Sword Demon that the Priest’s claim about the majority of players agreeing to his view was true. The world simply had too many people who would cry out sour grapes, and jealousy was but human nature.

“What, then?” Young Master Han ignored the two men’s interruption.

“I argued with the man a little, and when we couldn’t see eye to eye, they finally made their move,” Sword Demon shared.

“The issue is, what’s the point of looking for you if they are looking to rectify Miles’ action?” Young Master Han asked.

“He feels that I’ve managed to profit from Miles’ indomitability, so since I am not on that Priest’s side, I will have to be rectified as well,” Sword Demon answered.

“F*ck me. Who the hell does he think he is? A god descending down to the mortal realm?” Everyone was taken aback.

“I don’t know,” said Sword Demon, “that mere level 36 Priest.”

“Priest? There’s no way Miles can ever offend a Priest!” Young Master Han was stunned.

The others knew what he meant. Gu Fei was sure to have garnered the ire of many players due to his enthusiasm toward ‘Bounty Mission’, but the Priest was a job class that would rarely ever get any PK point to their name, so even if Gu Fei hunted down tens of thousands of players, it was unlikely for any one of them to be a Priest. Even if there was a Priest that had died by his hands, it would most likely happen during a chaotic battle because of a quest or a mission. Just what sort of situation and mentality should one be in before such a deep-seated resentment would actually be manifested?!

“I’m really puzzled, too. It’s far too nonsensical!” Sword Demon said.

“So, it seems like the rectification he speaks of includes Sword Demon, who has profited from being around Miles. This doesn’t seem to be a personal grudge if you consider the flag he’s sitting under,” Brother Assist said.

“You can’t use common sense to make this conjecture,” Young Master Han countered.

“Why not?” Brother Assist asked.

“My initial deduction is that there’s a high chance of that person being mentally deranged,” Young Master Han replied.

“Are you being serious right now?” Brother Assist sweated.

“Given my intellect, even I think that that is the most logical explanation; why are you guys even doubting this?” Young Master Han asked.

Nobody said a word to this.

“Speaking of which, if he’s talking about rectifying game-breaking things, he should come to look for yours truly; why did he end up targeting Miles?” Young Master Han wondered aloud.

“You can mull over that yourself; don’t send that message out on this mercenary channel. It’s an affront to our eyes!” The rest had enough, so they soon found themselves restricted from sending messages on the mercenary channel after that outcry. As the mercenary leader, Young Master Han had full control of the channel’s settings. Everyone was in tears at this outrage.

Unable to send any messages, these guys could only hurry to the meeting place. Sword Demon had more to inform these people, and since he was also restricted on the chat, he could only send private messages out. “Be careful. If they can locate me, they can surely find any one of you.”

The moment the others received this message, these men all coincidentally turned to look behind them at the same time. As a chill ran down their spines, each of them began to subconsciously quickened their paces considerably.

Sword Demon was the first to arrive at the tavern, with Brother Assist, War Without Wounds, and Young Master Han arriving in succession. Royal God Call only arrived half an hour later. He was originally with War Without Wounds, but after no more than two days here, he personally believed that he was already familiar with Linyin City and began to operate on his own. In the end, even though he was given a location and despite possessing fast movement speed, he still spent 15 more minutes than the others to reach the place. But when the man came, he had the look of someone who had just accomplished a great feat with his face positively aglow with satisfaction.

“Did everyone arrive not too long ago, too?” Royal God Call really believed that the time he had spent reaching this place was rather fast, and none of these men bothered to say otherwise.

“All right. Give us the situation in full, Sword Demon!” Brother Assist could not wait another moment and had his record book at the ready.

“The situation is that you are all surrounded,” someone suddenly answered from a nearby table. The five were all surprised and looked around them. Sure enough, quite a number of players from the tables around them had stood up and were now staring straight at them. The one who had spoken took off the cloth covering his face, and Sword Demon instantly recognized the person. “It’s you!”

Sitting right next to Sword Demon and the five others’ table was actually the Priest he had met in the oak forest from before.

“It seems that the champion mercenary group of Yunduan City isn’t very efficiency when it comes to getting things done, hm? Do the five of you need so much time to meet up like this?” Ye Xiaowu asked.

The five were a little confused as to how they had unknowingly gotten themselves trapped in this encirclement. On the mercenary channel, Young Master Han messaged: “Anyone here got followed on their way here?”

Everyone hurried to answer, but the system replied: [Your messaging privileges on this channel have been restricted…]

Just as they were feeling irked over this, Young Master Han once more messaged: “The restriction has been lifted.”

“I believe Sword Demon here has already given you guys a rundown of what has just happened. We’re just here to confirm the opinions you all have toward Miles’ game-breaking existence,” Ye Xiaowu said.

“How did this happen?” They were all anxiously discussing this over the mercenary channel.

“There’s no way he’d be aware that we would convene here ahead of us, so the only possibility is that one of us got followed, and the others converged over here,” Young Master Han said. “Arranging an ambush here is easy. It’s hard to realize what is happening when you consider how many players are coming in and out of the place.”

“I didn’t even realize that the Priest has managed to sit so near us with his face covered…”

“It’s not really strange to see players covering their faces anymore,” Sword Demon said. “I’ve only gotten a quick look of this person once before, so I really wasn’t able to recognize him with his face covered like that. He even conscientiously made an effort to change his equipment.” The clothes in the game were rather drab, style-wise. It was not too strange to bump into someone dressed similarly along the street. Even if Ye Xiaowu wore the same Priest attire as before, Sword Demon still might not have noticed his presence, much less now that Ye Xiaowu had a different attire on.

“So, what do we do now? Can we kill our way out?” Brother Assist asked. He did not have much experience when it came to fights, so he was not good at judging their current situation like the others.

“There’s limited space in this tavern, so having more players present may not be an advantage. I’m just worried that there are more of them waiting for us outside,” War Without Wounds mentioned.

“No matter what’s outside, we’ll worry about that after charging our way out!” Royal God Call had just arrived, so he had not even warmed his seat yet.

“Hey, are you guys listening to what I’m saying?” Ye Xiaowu saw these men exchanging glances with one another but not saying a single word. It was obvious that had all turned a deaf ear to his question to them and were just privately chatting with one another on their mercenary channel.

“Concentrate on the right door. I don’t have to teach you guys how to coordinate, yeah? Wait for my direction,” Young Master Han said over the channel even as his eyes shifted over to Ye Xiaowu. “Is there anything you wish to talk about?”

“I would like to hear what the opinions you guys have toward balance,” Ye Xiaowu answered.

“Balance? Is there such a thing in this world?” Young Master Han asked the crowd.

The others quickly synchronized and answered in one voice. “Nope.”

“That’s right!” Young Master Han gazed back at Ye Xiaowu. “I’m so good looking, yet you’re really ugly. Tell me; where’s the balance in that?”

Brother Assist, War Without Wounds, and Royal God Call all wiped off their imaginary sweat as they sneaked a glance at Sword Demon. Would Sword Demon mind what Young Master Han had just said? After all, Sword Demon’s ugliness was a rather sensitive topic, and while this Priest standing before them was not particularly handsome, his looks could not necessarily qualify as ugly. Hearing Young Master Han’s snide remark, it actually seemed more applicable to Sword Demon.

Ultimately, Sword Demon was unbothered by this. Similarly, Ye Xiaowu ignored this insult and merely chuckled. “So, what you’re saying is that you consider Thousand Miles Drunk as a completely reasonable existence?”

“Of course,” Young Master Han affirmed. He even added, “I’m the one who’s an unreasonable existence here.”

“AHHHHH! Stop talking to him. Let’s just slay our way out!” The others were already going crazy on the mercenary channel.

Ye Xiaowu shook his head. His eyes moved away from Young Master Han and regarded the remaining three men. “What about the rest of you?”

“I don’t know what exactly it is that made you single out Miles as an unreasonable existence. If you say that it is because of his skill in kung fu, he’s not the only one skilled in that in this game. Take that guy Broken Water Arrow right next to you. Isn’t he the same?” The one who had answered him this time was Brother Assist.

Ye Xiaowu answered, “Balance naturally isn’t about absolute balance. It’s like an auncel ¹ . Any movement from either side will eventually return to a state of balance, but if one side is to gain a weight far heavier than the standard, the entire auncel will topple. That’s what it means to truly destroy any semblance of balance.”

“So, you consider Miles as a weight far heavier than the standard weight?” Brother Assist asked.

“That’s right.”

“Okay, I got it.” Brother Assist nodded.

“What’s your opinion, then?” Ye Xiaowu asked.

“I don’t have an opinion; I just want to understand what you mean. You may continue.” Brother Assist no longer focused on Ye Xiaowu as he patiently waited for Young Master Han’s command.

“And the two of you?” Ye Xiaowu turned to regard the final two men, War Without Wounds and Royal God Call.

“Uhm. My head hurts talking about such abstract things. I loathe it,” War Without Wounds replied.

“Yeah. We don’t care about all that. In short, hanging around Miles means I can get good equipment.” Royal God Call raised his leg and placed it on the table, showing off his boots to Ye Xiaowu.

“That’s not the pair you got from grinding ‘Bounty Mission’; that’s the one Svelte Dancer swapped for yours.” Sword Demon reminded Royal God Call that he was not wearing the Windchaser’s Boots.

“It’s for the symbolism.” Royal God Call lowered his leg down.

“Plus, there are ladies to flirt with…” War Without Wounds added.

Royal God Call’s mind immediately thought of the whole bevy of smiling ladies in Amethyst Rebirth with their sweet voices and could not help but leak out a very indecent ‘he he he’.

“Heh. If you’re only talking about benefits, I can help you guys with that as well. Plus, it will be beyond your wildest imagination and something even Thousand Miles Drunk can’t obtain,” Ye Xiaowu said.

Sword Demon suddenly tensed up. Royal God Call and War Without Wounds were two such men who did not seem to be the sort that would be unwavering in the face of temptation.

Sure enough, War Without Wounds’ eyes lit up. “That sounds great! What sort of benefits?”

“For example, any equipment that you wish to get a hold of, or any sort of skill you want to have. I can tell you how to go about getting them. Compared to what I know, Brother Assist, you’ve barely scraped the tip of the iceberg,” Ye Xiaowu confidently announced.

“Ohhh… In that case…” War Without Wounds looked to have been moved by this offer.

“But there’s one very important issue here,” Royal God Call said. “We’re not exactly familiar with you!”

“That’s right. We don’t know one another,” War Without Wounds said. “I still feel that I know Miles better.”

These guys… Sword Demon was both amused and piqued by their antics.

“Well. That’s how it is, so goodbye, auncel-loving Priest.” Young Master Han got up.