Chapter 198 - Call for Merit
In the end, the match with Silver Moon mercenary group was one that was thrilling yet not life threatening, and Gu Fei's repeated usage of Blink was enough to turn Silver Moon and his gang into a mess.
If Gu Fei were a normal Mage, Blink would be something easy to deal with. Unfortunately for his past and would-be opponents, Gu Fei had been using his spells quite differently from the average Mages in Parallel World. His use of Blink to instantly appear before his targets to cleave them in halves was akin to a Warrior gaining access to a teleportation skill - a fact that many found disconcerting.
When the system finished tallying the score of Young Master's Elite for this round of match and teleported the six out of the PvP arena, the first individuals they saw were actually Silver Moon and his mercenaries.
"Good fight!" Seeing the six men appear, Silver Moon swiftly flashed them a broad grin.
The six were quite surprised by this. Honestly speaking, most competitors would still exchange a few words outside the PvP arenas after concluding their respective matches. After all, the tournaments were something that the game company had organized, so no vendetta existed between parties. Sometimes, even goodwill would be generated from these exchanges! Losing only meant that their opponents were skilled individuals, so most players would be more than happy to befriend such talented people.
However, Young Master Han reminded everyone that Silver Moon was no stranger to Young Master's Elite since they had clashed with him before in Yueye City. Not to mention that they had just eliminated his mercenary group just now, and he might probably recognize a few familiar faces… With everything that had happened, the six men were merely hoping that he would not ambush them once they exited the PvP arena. Who would have guessed that he would warmly greet them, instead?
Silver Moon wore a fawning expression on his face as he shook hands with the six men, "How should I address you guys?" Excluding Gu Fei whom he already knew, Silver Moon proceeded to ask the rest for their IGNs.
Given that these men had well-known names in the online gaming community, Silver Moon could not help but exclaim, "I've always been a fan!" upon hearing their IGNs.
This was done until he got to Young Master Han. Silver Moon inclined his head to think for quite some time, but he could not recall the name as anyone of prominence, eventually treating him as a newly minted expert like Gu Fei. "To think Yunduan City has congregated so many epic level players!" Silver Moon could not help but sigh in awe.
Epic level! A few of these experts felt ten feet taller upon hearing such a wonderful praise. Royal God Call's expert usage of Mage, War Without Wounds' skills as a Warrior, Brother Assist's gaming knowledge, Sword Demon's kingly temperament… Silver Moon continued to stroke these experts' ego one by one for quite some time by praising them for the aspects that these individuals were famous for in past MMOs.
He launched his offensive using candied words and rich praises! Gu Fei saw how elated Royal God Call, War Without Wounds, and even Brother Assist were upon being placed up high on a pedestal.
Only Sword Demon lived up to his name as a seasoned veteran, showing resilience to Silver Moon's sycophantic and ass-kissing behavior. Because Silver Moon did not know about Young Master Han's original identity, he could only compliment his physical appearance, "This bro here is too good-looking!"
"I know," Young Master Han lightly answered, immediately causing Silver Moon to feel stunned for a good three seconds. He firmly shut his mouth to prevent himself from blurting this out, "Too shameless!"
And lastly, he looked toward Gu Fei. Unlike the others whom he had complimented with excessive flattery, Silver Moon merely said this, "Bro, you're very strong!"
Gu Fei humbly smiled. When Silver Moon properly greeted all, he showed reluctance to part as he bade them farewell, "We're all mercenaries here, so I hope we get a chance to work together in the future."
Silver Moon was indeed an expert… at flattering others. His flattery was filled with technical and in-depth gaming terms, and Gu Fei did not even know about some of the things that Silver Moon had mentioned. But seeing Royal God Call and War Without Wounds' ecstatic reaction, he knew that Silver Moon's praises had touched on the truth.
Following this, they headed to Ray's Bar to celebrate their success at making it through another round. As for Royal God Call and War Without Wounds, the two insisted that they were just pretending moments ago and openly expressed their disdain toward Silver Moon now.
"Hmph! That trash is not even in my sight," Royal God Call disdained as he fixed his gaze straight ahead.
"It seems like he is no longer taking that matter in Yueye City to heart. If that's the case, then that man is rather magnanimous," Brother Assist said.
Young Master Han laughed coldly, "Magnanimous? It's more like he's a shrewd person. He tried to entrap us many times in today's match, but Miles fortunately has the Blink skill. Otherwise, the match might not have ended well for us."
"Entrap us? How so?" Royal God Call asked.
"By luring us into engaging them in melee," Young Master Han replied, adding, "Attacking them from afar was useless, as their defense was too strong. That's why I said it was a situation where you know you are at a disadvantage, but you still have to purposely fall for their trap."
"Tsk! We could have dragged the match on to see who had more patience," Royal God Call said.
"I don't really mind," Young Master Han stretched himself languidly, "It's just that someone might grow impatient and start acting recklessly once he found out that dragging the match would cause him to be late for the upcoming guild match at 9 P.M."
"Ahh..." Royal God Call was stunned, instantly remembering that he still had a guild match to participate later.
"And if we really dragged on for another two or three hours, there was still somebody else who might grow anxious since he only stays online for a short time everyday." Young Master Han gazed over at Gu Fei.
"That's why I hurried to kill them all!" Gu Fei clenched his fists.
Everyone grew dispirited once he said this. Almost all the enemies this match were handily defeated by Gu Fei. Even if they provided assistance from the sidelines, it was still nothing in comparison to Gu Fei's achievements.
Royal God Call cried out in agony when he saw Sword Demon taking out the booklet for the record of their contributions.
"Actually, the biggest harvest we have gained from this match is that we managed to find out everything about Silver Moon's skill, don't you all think so?" Young Master Han remarked.
The others immediately agreed that the most important contribution for this match was information collection as they demanded for it to be assigned high points.
"It was through my strategic planning that let us uncover the secret behind Silver Moon's skill. Give me some points for that," Young Master Han told Sword Demon.
"That was quite the complicated equation I had to calculate. I should get more points for that," Brother Assist patted Sword Demon.
"I bore that attack to get the data needed to make the calculation," War Without Wounds reported his contribution, as well.
Sword Demon nodded his head, "I got attacked to gather that bit of data, too!"
"Me? What about me?!" Royal God Call was flustered. In that moment, he could not think of what he had contributed in this last match.
"You lent me the booklet and quill I used," Brother Assist waved that booklet he had used to do the calculation.
"That's right!" Royal God Call's agony turned into joy.
"Miles did not even contribute a bit to this. He he he!" Everyone gloatingly regarded Gu Fei.
Gu Fei originally did not wish to squabble for the contribution points with the others, as unlike them, he was not very particular about this small stuff in a game. But seeing their gloating expression, Gu Fei knew that they were deliberately making things bad for him and that he should not let them succeed, so he asked, "I will be awarded many points if I manage to get concrete information about that skill, right?"
"Of course! You will get lots of points for that, too!" Royal God Call automatically answered.
"Give me a quill and paper," Gu Fei reached out his hand.
"What for?"
"I have information," Gu Fei replied.
Everyone was suspicious. Brother Assist tore out a page from the booklet and passed it to Gu Fei along with a quill.
Gu Fei huddled over the table and began writing on the paper. When he was done, he lifted the paper up, "This is a 100% accurate and detailed report."
All regarded Gu Fei suspiciously as they took the paper from him.
[King's Blade
Additional skill: Activates the battlefield aura 'King's Command'.
Effect: Party members within the area of effect will have all their stats increased by 15%. Consumes 4% of mana every second it remains active.
Skill cool-down time: 10 minutes]
Not only did Gu Fei state the skill description, he even wrote down the figures for basic attack of King's Blade as well as the 'additional +8 to all stats' trait of it.
"You've fabricated something quite believable," Royal God Call scoffed at it.
"It's real," Gu Fei slightly smiled.
"How do you know all this, then?" Royal God Call asked.
"I asked Vast Lushness about it," Gu Fei replied.
They all froze on the spot. Brother Assist, who was doing the math in his head, almost exploded from anguish and he weakly slumped down on the sofa.
"How many points will I get for this?" Gu Fei asked Sword Demon.
Sword Demon sympathetically glanced at the others who had previously put their lives on the line for this information as he replied, "Most of the points will go to you."
"Sword Demon, whose side are you on?!" Royal God Call demanded in his frustration.
"Are you complaining to the person who's keeping track of your contributions? That's very bold of you," Sword Demon lightly chided. He was well-versed in all sorts of rules and regulations in online games, so he naturally was not just a goody two-shoes.
"Ha ha ha… Sword Demon big bro, do you have enough liquor? How about another one on me?" Royal God Call backtracked.
Sword Demon waved him off. He then shredded the page with the record for today's match and began writing anew. Gu Fei had killed the most - if not all - and had also provided the most detailed information, so almost 75% of the contribution points for this match would go to him.
All emerged pale-faced when they came around to look.
"Dear students, you will only end up hurting yourself when you hurt others! Remember this well! I'm taking my leave now!" Gu Fei stood up and made his way out of the room.
"Hey, wait!" Recalling something, Brother Assist hurriedly chased after the departing Gu Fei.
"What's the matter?" Gu Fei appeared before Brother Assist with a swish, giving the latter a fright.
"There's something I need your help for once today's guild match is over. Are you going offline now?" Brother Assist asked.
"It's still early so I won't go offline yet. What's up?"
Brother Assist patted him on the arm, saying, "I'll tell you when the time comes. You do your thing first!"
Everyone in the room stared at Brother Assist after Gu Fei left.
Brother Assist's smile right now was particularly wretched, "Our business is doing well! We will have quite a few clienteles coming tonight to negotiate."
"Alright! Let's properly earn a pile of money from him as revenge!" Royal God Call bellowed.
Chapter 199 - Gu Fei's Meet and Greet: The Prelude
Royal God Call was the only member of Young Master's Elite that still had to participate in the guild versus guild tournament after the mercenary PvP tournament.
With Gu Fei's departure, Brother Assist started making preparations at Ray's Bar. Royal God Call was afraid to be left out, so he repeatedly told the others to wait for his return before beginning the event.
"Don't worry! We will wait for you!" Brother Assist thumped his chest. Only after he said this did Royal God Call feel assured enough to take his leave and participate in the guild versus guild tournament.
Brother Assist had long made plans for this business venture and had even roped in the bar owner, Ray. At Ray's arrangement, the left side of the bar was assigned to the tavern patrons, whereas the right was assigned to the clients coming over tonight. Brother Assist tasked War Without Wounds with arranging the benches and tables and tidying up the space until it resembled a press conference venue.
The present patrons in the bar naturally became curious of all these activities and inquired about the matter, but Brother Assist merely smiled mysteriously at them.
War Without Wounds, who had been doing all the hard work of rearranging the furniture to create the desired scene, asked, "Must we make it into such a big deal?"
"This is a marketing strategy," Brother Assist replied, "Only when you put value to your product that you'll be able to create a desire in others to buy it."
Young Master Han poked his head out of their room while holding a glass of liquor and said, "Marketing? More like you're playing a trick! Making it so grand… Are you trying to tease Miles to death or get him to kill us all?!"
"That's right!" War Without Wounds agreed, "You should've just arranged for them to meet Miles individually. Gathering so many people together, let alone Miles, even the clients will feel displeased!"
"Everyone will definitely like it more if they can meet Miles singly, but how are we gonna fool Miles into doing that? I think it's only possible to trick Miles this one time, so we might as well reveal his identity as 27149 to others in one go," Brother Assist reasoned.
"You better be careful, then. You're currently playing with fire by negotiating with almost all the major forces here in Yunduan City. All it takes is for a handful of them to feel dissatisfied by your actions and your peaceful days in this city are as good as over," Young Master Han cautioned.
"Don't worry." Brother Assist smiled craftily, "I've already spoken to them. In a way, making a grand gathering like this is to let the others understand that it isn't easy to meet this mysterious Mage of ours, so they'll be more than happy to part with their money once they realize that it's a once-in-lifetime opportunity."
"How much are you charging them?" Young Master Han asked.
"Just 100 gold coins per person. It's pretty cheap, eh?" Brother Assist replied.
"Indeed, 100 gold coins is just loose change to these influential players," Young Master Han nodded his head.
"So how much can we earn from this whole thing?" This was actually what War Without Wounds was most concerned about.
"Ha ha!" Brother Assist laughed heartily, "One hundred twenty-two guilds and twenty-seven mercenary groups have expressed their interest in this. How much do you think that gives us?"
"14900 gold coins!" War Without Wounds exclaimed.
"You've attracted that many people this soon? Your efficiency is pretty high!" Young Master Han commended.
"It's all thanks to Carouse and Cloud Herder causing so much ruckus in these past two days. Their flyers littering the streets really helped us by quite a lot," Brother Assist chuckled softly.
"Then, why today? Wouldn't we earn more if we waited for a few more days?" Young Master Han asked.
"Now is the time. Carouse's and Cloud Herder's advertisement has successfully piqued everyone's curiosity. When this moment of interest passes, I'm certain many people will just look on in this. This kind of business is a one-time thing. How much we can earn out of this is all that matters. Let's not fuss over how much more we can earn by biding our time; otherwise, we risk losing the entire pot," Brother Assist answered.
As Young Master Han and Brother Assist continued to debate over the matter, War Without Wounds counted how much they could earn with his fingers.
So how much will I get from that 14900 gold coins? War Without Wounds calculated it in his mind as he threw a sidelong glance at Sword Demon, "This is a windfall gifted by the heavens! Are you sure you're not gonna join us?"
Sword Demon chuckled, "Count me out of this! I'm leaving now."
"I won't be sending you off, then!" War Without Wounds absolutely did not plan to persuade him otherwise. One less person involved meant one less portion to share the pot with. Meaning, he could take more for himself. This was the simple thought he had. Hearing such a large sum involved, he even wished that everyone had no part in this and that he had organized the matter alone.
Thinking of this, he could not help but feel grateful that Brother Assist had actually involved them in this big venture. Accomplishing this task evidently did not require fighting, so Brother Assist only needed himself to do this. To have involved us in this, what a brother he is! War Without Wounds was in awe of how generous Brother Assist was. He then decided to send Royal God Call this message: "Oi. Are you still coming? We're about to begin; we ain't got the time to wait for you!"
"What, what, what?! It's only been five minutes and you guys are already starting? You're all doing this intentionally!" Royal God Call felt alarmed as he was still fighting in the guild match.
"Can't be help! Customer is always right. Some things are just out of our control," War Without Wounds continued to spout nonsense. His goal was really to get Royal God Call so flustered that the latter would yell out, "Fine! Do what you guys want, then! I'm out!"
Unfortunately for him, the runt Royal God Call was not that rash. He calmly pondered the pros and cons of the matter and finally decided to abandon the guild versus guild tournament. Using the excuse that he needed to visit the latrine due to a bout of diarrhea, he volunteered to be killed off. Once he was out of the PvP arena, he sprinted toward Ray's Bar.
When Royal God Call entered the establishment, he immediately saw that the left side was filled with people while the right side was empty save for Brother Assist and Young Master Han who were drinking and chatting together. The two were very surprised to see him be back at the bar this fast.
Brother Assist looked at the time, "Done so soon? Has Traversing Four Seas gotten that strong? I recall that you guys are matched up against a level 4 guild today. Surely, it shouldn't have been that quick?"
Royal God Call spotted War Without Wounds laughing uproariously in his peripheral view. Knowing that he had been had, Royal God Call furiously fired off arrows at War Without Wounds.
"I'm not healing either of you!" Young Master Han told the two firmly.
The two promptly did not go overboard with their attacks in fear of accidentally killing the other. Although they were hoping for the other to die, they did not want to be the killer themselves. They were merely hoping that the other would get surrounded by monsters and killed off, get ambushed to death by random players, or accidentally die from friendly fire.
Royal God Call shelved his anger for the moment as he looked around to see how the bar was arranged, asking just like the clueless players over by the left side. "Just what's going on?"
"We're gathering all of the clients for one meet and greet," Brother Assist answered, turning to War Without Wounds after, "You have a very important job, and that is to keep an eye on Miles and make sure he doesn't escape. Once he realizes that something is off and tries to leave, it's your duty to hold him down even if he kills you. Now that we're at this point, we will have to ignore his wishes on this matter!"
War Without Wounds' expression darkened, "That's a very dangerous task!"
Brother Assist nodded his head solemnly, "Don't worry. You'll properly be compensated for this, monetary-wise."
"If I'm really killed, no amount of money will make up for it."
"Whenever there's an opportunity to earn a large sum, you guys must keep in mind that a certain amount risk is always involved," Brother Assist said.
"Why do I feel that all the danger involved in this is placed on my shoulders?" War Without Wounds wailed.
"You're the only one with Strength capable of holding Miles down! As a precaution, we've gathered some equipment with magic defense for you to wear. If that ever happens, I'll grant you Blessing of Vitality, while Young Master will be ready to bestow Heal on you. Relax!" Brother Assist reassured.
With that said, the rest handed over their magic defense equipment to War Without Wounds. Temporarily taking off his heavy armor as well as his accessories, he put on the set of mismatched trinkets and gear. The equipment that everyone had provided him was surprisingly form-fitting, so it tightly hugged War Without Wounds' brawny frame, giving birth to the most unique Warrior anyone could ever lay eyes on.
"This is a stain to my very existence!" War Without Wounds lowered his head in absolute shame. His feeling toward the Warrior job class was similar to Royal God Call's love for the Mage job class. Such an oddly dressed Warrior was something that he could not accept. What was worse was the fact that the said Warrior was him.
"Just hang in there. Safety should be your first priority," Brother Assist said solemnly, trying his best to stifle his laughter.
The four men then proceeded to go over the particulars of today's operation, while Boss Ray maintained order in the pub.
When it was time for the operation to commence, Brother Assist mumbled to himself, "People should be arriving now."
Just as he finished muttering this, someone kicked in the door of Ray's Bar open, "M*th*rf*ck*r, I've finally found the place. I'm on the verge of dying just from searching for this place."
Brother Assist and the lot turned their heads over and were stunned.
Three men entered the bar together. The one at the head was the present big boss of Yueye City and was rumored to be the head of the Ten Guild Alliance: Dusky Cloud.
Dusky Cloud also spotted the four men and he cheerfully approached them, "I knew that you guys are behind this. Pretty shrewd of you guys to think of such a method to earn money." Placing his hand inside his pocket, he tossed a coin pouch on the table, "I heard it's 100 gold coins? There you go! You can count the content for yourselves!" He wrung his hands as he said this, casually finding a seat over by a corner as he looked all around, "I've long wanted to get to know this eminent bro… So where is he? Is he coming soon?"
Brother Assist and the rest were still in a daze, not one of them moving to the coin pouch on the table. Royal God Call recovered himself first and looked over to Brother Assist, "D*mn! To think that this matter has even spread outside of the city!"
Brother Assist was evidently very surprised, "Those who are coming have contacted me first, yet this lot actually ran all the way over without saying a word to me."
"This means that they may not be the only one like that," Young Master Han proffered.
"Ah. Looks like we won't just earn 14900 gold coins! No wait, it should be 15000 gold coins now," War Without Wounds said as he stared at the coin pouch on the table with greed-filled eyes.