Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Youye Valley. The only way in was via a cleft between two mountains. Surrounded by steep rock faces, the sun could hardly penetrate the valley. This was also why Dusky Cloud had chosen this location to be their grinding map.

They bought this efficient monster grinding routine solely for their guild’s exclusive use, so by grinding in such a secluded and easily sealed off location, it would not be out in the open for all to see like the White Mill or Wilderness Camp where any random players passing by could watch with their two eyes and secretly learn the routine. No matter how strong the Ten Guild Alliance was, there was no way they could ensure their capability to completely secure grinding maps out in the open. That was why Youye Valley, with the type of terrain it had and its proximity to their home turf, was currently the best option Dusky Cloud could think of. However, the moment Gu Fei mentioned about the Agility requirement to take on monsters ten levels above theirs, he could sense a shadow overcast his heart.

As a Thief, Dusky Cloud would of course have no lack of Agility, but out of the 4,000 comrades in his Ten Guild Alliance, about 3,000 of them lacked Agility. At this moment, Dusky Cloud was praying for his fellow guildmates, hoping that after Gu Fei had finished his experimentations, he could tell him that the monsters here did not require Agility.

There were three types of monsters found in Youye Valley. The majority that populated this map went by the name of Valley Keeper, and being a monster that engaged in melee fights, their occupation could be likened to a Warrior. Dusky Cloud and the others were thinking of getting an efficient monster grinding routine for this exact monster. The other monster was called the Valley Chieftain, and it was slightly stronger than the Valley Keeper; similarly, it could be likened to a Warrior, but unlike the Valley Keeper, the Valley Chieftain used a shield, which meant that it possessed an even greater defense. The Valley Chieftains roamed the Youye Valley together with the Valley Keepers, but with fewer number. Finally, there was the last monster called the Valley Stalker. It was a mix of both the Hunter and Thief, capable of setting traps and ambushes, exceptionally agile in its movement; it was a very difficult monster to contend with. Fortunately, this monster was relatively scarcer, and it was apparently specifically designed to be a hassle to the players grinding in the area.

At the moment, Gu Fei was engaged in combat with a Valley Keeper. He had mainly focused on taking refuge in this location back then, and the occasional monsters he fought back then was all to prevent them from pestering Coward’s Savior and him barbequing meat, so he did not really have much of an impression toward this monsters’ combat expertise. Thus, Gu Fei was probing and thoroughly reanalyzing its attack patterns once more, holding onto a simple sword which he used to slowly damage the monster with every attack.

The others had already found a location that did not attract any monster’s aggro and were silently watching this display of martial prowess, with Dusky Cloud being so nervous he did not even dare to exhale. After surviving through the entire process of Gu Fei whittling that monster’s HP to zero, Dusky Cloud could hardly wait as he dashed forward. “How was it?”

“It won’t be so quick!” Gu Fei had no idea if he should laugh or cry. “You guys should just head over to a corner and go grill some meat, sing a few songs, have a fun tea party, and such. I’ll call you once I’m done here.”

With that, Gu Fei left to grab another monster to fight with. Brother Assist and the others had tagged along with Gu Fei when he was developing a routine before, so they were already aware it would take about half an hour before everything would be completed, especially now that they were a legitimate business; they were no longer developing just a single routine for the entire grinding map, but a handful of them altogether. Hence, these people were no longer waiting by the sidelines for Gu Fei to be done, but had long since wandered off by themselves to begin their own grinds. After all, it was not every day that they found themselves in a level 50 grinding map.

Dusky Cloud and his comrades were all anxious! How would they be in the mood to do anything else? As such, they continued maintaining a good distance away from Gu Fei, their eyes unblinking as they watched. However, ever so slowly, all their attention shifted off from Gu Fei. Gu Fei was fighting the monsters with a lousy white-tier sword, shaving off its HP bit by bit. It was an absolutely monotonous and yawn-inducing affair. Instead, it was the party of experts over at the other side that were a lot more thrilling to watch. Every member of Young Master’s Elite was refreshingly unique, and their damage output together was explosive; as for Southern Lone Blade’s team of seven, they had far greater coordination with one another than Young Master’s Elite; Finally, there was Eternal Dominion. Bursting into flurries of punches as he randomly grabbed monsters, his performance was far more indomitable than any of these groups that left Dusky Cloud’s and his men dumbfounded.

That was how they spent about 40 minutes gaping. Gu Fei had polished off a good number of these monsters until he finally came to a halt before making his way over to Dusky Cloud.

Dusky Cloud could tell that Gu Fei was done with his development, so he steadied his nerves to receive the news. He carefully observed Gu Fei’s expression, hoping to get a glimpse of what to expect from it so that he could better mentally prepare himself.

Gu Fei looked no different from normal. Using his sleeve to wipe his forehead for a bit, he shook his head to Dusky Cloud. “Job classes that don’t have Agility won’t be able to solo them.”

Dusky Cloud’s spirits instantly flagged like a deflated football, only asking after a moment of pause, “How much Agility is needed?”

“12 levels’ worth!” Gu Fei said. “Hmm… and that’s the minimum requirement. I suggest 15 to better account for any margin of error.”

“Fifteen levels…” Dusky Cloud and the others exchanged looks. Aside from the two job classes of Archers and Thieves that heavily allocated points toward Agility, perhaps there would be some Fighters that could reach this stat requirement, while the other Warriors, Mages, Priests and Knights would all be useless.

“Is there no other way?” Dusky Cloud had not given up yet.

Gu Fei shook his head. “Ultimately, these are level 50 monsters we’re talking about. Actually, going by my standards, if we consider the current state of the Wilderness Camp and White Mill as examples, there’s no way for anyone to completely demonstrate the efficiency of my routine without allocating points to Agility. I only made further alterations to what I taught so as to better accommodate to the majority of players out there, but there’s a clear and obvious distinction between the efficiency you see with the no-Agility routines and those with Agility. Only the Agility-based routines truly qualify as the real efficient monster grinding style.”

“Then, what about here in Youye Valley? Is there any way you can adjust the routine here?” Dusky Cloud did not care that the no-Agility routines were half-arsed representation of the actual style. Right now, all he wanted was a routine he could use.

Unfortunately, Gu Fei shook his head firmly. “It’s really impossible.”

“Guess that means I’ll need to get my boys to collect equipment that adds to Agility.” Dusky Cloud said to the rest of his comrades present.

These men revealed pained expression. “Fifteen levels’ worth of Agility comes to about 75 points, and that isn’t easy to gather. Most equipment that increases base stats on the market is still really expensive…”

A round of sighs was shared among these men.

Even as they kept on sighing, Gu Fei added from behind them, “Agility is necessary for solo grinding, but if two players are to work together, there’s no need for Agility.”

These words sounded magical to Dusky Cloud the moment he heard Gu Fei say them, and he very deftly twisted around and hurriedly asked, “How do we do that?”

“Wait here for a moment,” Gu Fei said to him before turning to call Eternal Dominion over. He then left Dusky Cloud to one side as he brought Eternal Dominion to a monster and began explaining to the man. His hand was constantly gesturing about even as he broke out stances and postures from time to time.

Dusky Cloud and the others pricked their ears and tried listening to their conversation, but all they ended up hearing was Gu Fei using terms like single hook, double palm strike, palm thrust, spinning elbow, short step, shattered jade step, coiled wrist, et cetera. Eternal Dominion was nodding vigorously at his side, a look of understanding. Dusky Cloud and the others, for their part, got more and more confused as they continued to eavesdrop. Sincere fear and trepidation built up in them for having no idea what to make of the things the two were discussing.

This conversation went on for about twenty minutes before Gu Fei was done, and Eternal Dominion had this rather profound look on him. The man had his eyes closed, as if he were trying to digest what he had heard, before opening his eyes to say, “Let me try it for a round first.”

“Sure!” Gu Fei nodded.

What followed was Eternal Dominion rolling up his sleeves as he stepped forward. Pulling a monster over, he did what Gu Fei had done before and very slowly chipped away its HP punch after punch. Dusky Cloud and his comrades could not make sense of things, yet they did not dare to go up and clarify what was happening, so all they did was patiently wait. Finally, Eternal Dominion finished off that monster, and just as Dusky Cloud and the rest were about to come forward, they saw Eternal Dominion turned around to say, “Let me give it another go.” He then went on to slowly polish off another monster.

Eternal Dominion killed off three monsters in this fashion before he finally stopped. Dusky Cloud and the others were numbed by this point, uncertain if there was anything else those two would be doing, so they simply stood their ground. In the end, this was good news this time around as Gu Fei walked over to their group and began, “Watch carefully! Eternal Dominion and I will be demonstrating to you guys in a bit.”

Dusky Cloud and his comrades perked up, and a round of applause sounded as encouragement.

“I’ll demonstrating a Knight’s routine, and he will be a Fighter,” Gu Fei said.

With that, the two began to take on a monster together. Dusky Cloud and the others widened their eyes and watched every detail, but… They simply could not grasp the essence of what the pair was doing at the end of the day. All they understood was that the two were attacking and repositioning themselves purposefully against the monster, yet the duo really managed to defeat it while steadily taking turns to attack in an unhurried fashion.

“So how was it? Do you think you understand?” Gu Fei turned to ask them after the monster died.

“Honestly… not at all…” Dusky Cloud and his comrades answered.

“You saw how we fought it, right?” Gu Fei continued.

“We did… but…” Dusky Cloud was at a loss for words. This was because in their eyes, the routine they saw was very plain and simple, yet the fact that the level 50 Valley Keeper was slain just like that laid before their eyes. Dusky Cloud and his men were all utterly confused.

Gu Fei however, chuckled. “There’s no rush. Take a look at this other routine.” With that, he tossed the sword he had been holding to Eternal Dominion as he told the crowd, “He’s now a Warrior, and I’m a Mage.” He then proceeded to pull out a magic staff that Mages commonly used.

This time, the routine they demonstrated was far more exciting, because Gu Fei would be seen using his spells in the process of the fight. The trajectory of his staff was in harmony with the spells that he chanted – With a twist of his body and a wave of his hand, the flames conjured seemingly carved into the monster as it danced about its body, washing the Mage from Dusky Cloud’s group with a sense of delighted wonder. Only one word could describe what they witnessed: cool.

It was truly regrettable that, after a few rounds of this cool close-combat spell demonstration, Gu Fei turned his head to sheepishly inform them. “I ran out of mana, so just take note of my movement. You guys can fill in the gaps yourselves when it is the best time to use spells.”

Another monster collapsed to the ground, and Gu Fei came over with that same question. “So, how was it?”

“This looks quite difficult.” Now that Gu Fei was demonstrating with his job class, the Mage had a better understanding than before, and such a confirmation let this man realize just how demanding this routine was.

Gu Fei nodded. “Without Agility, all you can do is reinforce the control of the tempo. You guys must first spend a certain time familiarizing yourselves with the pace of the monster’s attacks and then spend more time synchronizing yourselves with your respective partners. The good thing about this is of course the fact that you won’t be wasting any stat point to Agility.”

“Oh, and one more thing…” Gu Fei continued. “Archers will have a bit more trouble than the other job classes when it comes to executing my efficient monster grinding routine; I don’t really know anything about bows, so I can’t help incorporate them into this melee style. As such, the routine I’ve thought up for Archers is very similar to the Thieves, except that they can choose to use a long weapon. However, the fact remains that whether they use a sword or a dagger, the Attack Power an Archer can demonstrate will be greatly reduced. In terms of efficiency, there’s no way that they can compete with an actual melee job class.”

Dusky Cloud nodded repeatedly as he listened.

“So, shall we begin our lesson now?” Gu Fei asked.

“Where should we begin?” Dusky Cloud asked.

“Let’s start with the solo routines for those players that have Agility. The duo grinding routines are more complicated, so let’s save that for later!”

Okay!” Dusky Cloud nodded. Solo routines for those with Agility naturally meant that he could personally step up and learn this. Dusky Cloud was now someone who belonged among the ranks of the dignified Five Unyielding Experts; his equipment and expertise were all exceptional – incomparable to the common player somebody might find off the street. Under Gu Fei’s personal tutelage, he very quickly grasped the routine and exiled himself to a corner of the map to practice.

During the process when Gu Fei was teaching the routine to Dusky Cloud, Sword Demon and Blackwater were also watching everything closely from the side. When Gu Fei told the pair before that peak experts like them would have no use for the efficient monster grinding routines he created, he was referring to monsters of the same level as them, but there was plenty of value to this routine now that it was for monsters ten levels above theirs. Unfortunately, Youye Valley was not a location that they would be staying for long, so there was no urgency for either man to learn this. At the moment, these two men were merely hoping to learn this for them to test out here. If it was really as effective for them, they could always look for Gu Fei at a later time and get him to teach them another routine for a grinding map of their choice.

Sword Demon and Blackwater were undoubtedly skilled individuals, so for Gu Fei to have successfully imparted the routine to Dusky Cloud, these two men grasped it as well, and the two drew their daggers and searched for monsters for them to try it on.

After that were the duo grinding routines. Gu Fei held a magic staff, while Eternal Dominion held a pair of identical claymores. It was obvious that they were a Mage and a Berserker respectively. Before Dusky Cloud and his men even came forward, Southern Lone Blade and Flame Singed Clothes were already in position to learn it. War Without Wounds was flustered at this time. The only Mage in their mercenary group was Miles, and he was currently the instructor! The man anxiously sought out Young Master Han and pleaded, “Pretend to be a Mage and let me practice with you.”

Young Master Han raised a middle finger in response, so War Without Wounds left to grab Brother Assist. Brother Assist wiped the sweat off his forehead. “I can’t do it.” Given Brother Assist’s caliber, he did not even have a good grasp of his job class yet, so why would he be able to pose as any other job class?

In the end, it was Paddy Scent Pastures who showed brotherly camaraderie. Seeing the state of distress War Without Wounds was in, the man came forward and offered to be his partner, willing to wield his magic staff and pretended to be a Mage for him.

When all these non-martial artists coming forward to learn this, they finally understood just how difficult it was for them to learn the duo grind routines as compared to the solo routines. As a Mage, they would be required to reposition themselves, and the coordination between their spellcasting and motion was extremely high. Paddy Scent Pastures was only a guest star, and he was unable to unleash any spells at all; all he could do was brandish the magic staff accordingly, not really having any trouble to speak of, but the actual Mage from Dusky Cloud’s group had it rough. This style of fighting he was currently learning was something he had never once tried in his life as a Mage, so he felt a sense of inexplicable oddness as he went along with it, extending his leg only to forget to wave his staff and waving his magic staff yet forgetting to reposition himself; there were even instances where he would position himself well, only to forget to chant a spell, and when he completed the incantation, he would realize the direction the spell was being unleashed was not at the monster he was fighting, and the spell would end up flying out carelessly, drawing out a bunch of monsters over as a result. Had it not been for everybody swiftly pitching in to slay all these monsters lured over, that pitiful pair might have been mobbed by those monsters and lynched.

“Be a little more careful!” The Warrior broken out into cold sweats all over after that scare.

“You don’t understand… This so f*ck*ng weird… It’s so hard to do…” The Mage struggled with his words as he attempted to express what he was feeling inside at the moment.

“How would I not know? Do you think I’m having a good time here, too?” The Warrior grimaced. Those two claymores in Eternal Dominion’s hands were also wielded in such great variety. The average player would only know how to stand firm and slash, stab or chop. How would they be able to execute so many different patterns like how Eternal Dominion had done? This Warrior mechanically mimicked these moves as best as he could for a while and soon found his arms and legs entangled together.

The two messily swung their weapons about unremarkably, and the monster that they were supposed to be practicing on reversed the roles they were in, causing the two men to fall into passivity as the monster took the initiative and began putting them through the paces, instead. This lasted until neither man could stand it any longer and reverted back to using that barbaric fighting style that players from Yueye City were adept at, wildly beating the monster to death. When they saw Gu Fei’s critical glare, the two men guiltily lowered their heads, looking very much like misbehaving students. The Warrior was cleverer. Looking all around, he spotted a fallen wooden post that was about as tall as a man lying on the ground, and he quickly ran over to carry it. He planted it into the ground upright and sheepishly said, “It’s too hard. Can we first use this wooden post to practice?”

Gu Fei knew how difficult it will be for the average player to try and master this routine, but was all this hassle not due to their reluctance to allocate stat points toward Agility? Thus, he did not say anything about it. He and Eternal Dominion continued to demonstrate with the monster, while the two men circled around the wooden post. They must first be able to execute all the attack moves that Gu Fei and Eternal Dominion had shown before they advanced further.

This class went on for quite some time. Normally, a single routine would at most take an hour for players to master, but an hour had already passed, yet the two men were still as clumsy as ever. Hopping around that stationary wooden post, they even occasionally bumped into each other as they practiced. Dusky Cloud had already become very adept with his solo Agility-based routine. From time to time, he would check his comrades’ progress, yet the foolish display of those two only made him feel thoroughly ashamed. Fortunately, the two instructors were still as patient as ever, to the point where it was Dusky Cloud who became honestly worried that the two masters would be provoked to simply throw in the towel in their consternation.

The whole lot of men spent their entire afternoon like that in this valley; the Mage-Warrior duo spent a whole three hours practicing and learning, yet they did not seem to have made any headway at all. Still, they had managed to laboriously memorize every move to the entire routine, and now, they were continuously fumbling about as they familiarized themselves with it. Gu Fei and Eternal Dominion had the time, so they proceeded to demonstrate the Knight-Priest duo grinding routine.

This Priest in the duo was referring to the Dark Priest job class. Light Priest completely lacked any sort of substantial damage output, so there was no way that they could take advantage of any routine no matter how miraculous they were. Unless there was some otherworldly Priest out there that dared to allocate stat points toward Strength, becoming a Strength Priest that at least had a modicum of physical damage output to their name. However, such a bold Priest had yet to appear as of date, which was why there were no Light Priests included among the disciples of the efficient monster grinding styles.

Meanwhile, aside from the Kiss of Death that Dark Priest would learn after their Job Class Advancement at level 40, the Attack Power of the offensive spell Holy Ball would also see an increase because it was no longer called a Holy Ball but a Darkness Ball, instead. Through these two skills, a Dark Priest would also have the capacity to solo grind.

Currently, Gu Fei was acting as a Dark Priest, but it was too bad that he was unable to use any Dark Priest spells, so all he could do was emptily gesture it. As such, the difficulty of learning this routine increased, and while there was indeed a Dark Priest among the posse that Dusky Cloud had brought, forget about just learning Gu Fei’s routine alone, it was all the more difficult when the Priest had to fill in the gaps himself for the parts when he was expected to unleash a spell.

Brother Assist was very despondent at about it this time as well. Unrivaled Lucky Star was someone who had been honed as a Knight, and he immediately grabbed their Priest Verdant Timber to stand in as a Dark Priest. Meanwhile, all Brother Assist did was glimpse at Young Master Han just once and that person had already seen through his intentions, and the latter’s middle finger was already raised and waiting. Brother Assist felt like crying, though no tears came to him. He had such a novelty before his eyes, yet he had no chance to try it out for himself, and this torture was akin to death for the man.

Gu Fei rotated between demonstrating these two routines the whole afternoon, and all he could do was shake his head repeatedly when he saw how little progress any of them had made in their mediocrity. Finally, he took a look at the time and said, “Hey, is it not time for us to hop off and grab a meal?”

“I’m skipping it.” To think that there would be a good number of them that gave this answer.

Gu Fei was sure to discipline his students had they been the ones who had said this, but he simply could not be bothered to do the same with these men.

“Then, I’ll log off and rest up first. I’ll come by and teach you guys later tonight,” Gu Fei said.

“Alright, alright!” Dusky Cloud quickly stopped what he was doing and came over to send off Gu Fei out the valley.