Chapter 140 - Monetary a.s.sault

Royal G.o.d Call had the habit of freezing up whenever he saw a lady, especially a top-notch beauty like Xi Xiaotian. At this moment in time, his two legs turned jelly as he fell upon the stool behind him with a pull.

"Aren't you doing your quest?" Gu Fei asked him.

"There's no hurry. None at all," Royal G.o.d Call calmly answered, adding, "There are only a few left, and I still have two more days."

"What quest is it?" the ladies asked curiously.

"'Bounty Mission'. Consecutively completing it for one hundred times will award you with a pair of pretty good boots. Miles, take yours off and let them have a look," Royal G.o.d Call ordered.

Gu Fei was enraged! Royal G.o.d Call acted snappishly whenever there was a lady present. He was salivating non-stop when he saw his Windchaser's Boots, yet it was reduced to nothing more than 'pretty good' right now. He even commanded Gu Fei to take off his boots.

Gu Fei knew that Royal G.o.d Call considered it a fate worse than death to lose face in front of ladies, so he swallowed his anger and took off his boots to show them to everyone.

"Are you selling them?" was Svelte Dancer's question when she saw the Windchaser's Boots.

Gu Fei stared at her as he slowly wore the boots once more, using his action to signify his answer to her question.

"Hmph!" Svelte Dancer pettily turned her head away, saying, "They are just a bit better than what I have, anyway." With that, she took off her boots and showed them to everyone.

Boots of the Nimble Cloud: movement +58, increase movement speed by 35%.

"He he! Nuh-uh! It's worse than mine by +2 movement!" Gu Fei remarked in an aggravating tone. Despite knowing that '+2 movement' was largely insignificant by all counts, the bickering nature of the two parties involved made this '+2 movement' seem so perfectly oppressive.

Svelte Dancer could of course not swallow this bitter pill. Nudging her Boots of the Nimble Cloud closer to Gu Fei, she said, "Why don't you sell the boots to me at market price; I will even gift you this pair once our transaction is completed." No market price existed for equipment as rare and as precious as the Windchaser's Boots, which naturally meant that Gu Fei could quote a high price for them. Svelte Dancer even promised to gift Gu Fei the Boots of Nimble Cloud in return. This was as good as spending an exorbitant amount in exchange for '+2 movement', clearly proving her moniker as the Mightiest Pay-to-Win Warrior. She had money to spend, after all.

The transaction was as good as a windfall from heavens even to someone like Gu Fei who had low desire with regard money, so he was momentarily moved by the offer. However, it was as good as him losing to Svelte Dancer's monetary a.s.sault if he agreed to it. I can't give her this chance to beat me, even if it is something this superficial, Gu Fei thought to himself as he immediately rejected her offer.

Svelte Dancer was visibly disappointed by his answer, yet she did not pester him further. Gu Fei more or less had an understanding of her personality. She was not exactly flushed with cash to the point of spending it arbitrarily on a pair of boots better than hers by a measly '+2 movement'. Only, her desire to win against Gu Fei was stronger than his desire to win against her, so she felt indignant that her boots were not as good as Gu Fei's, causing her to clobber up a foolhardy plan of buying them from him outright. Sadly, that plan failed.

Sigh. Bickering with her over such a small matter... How immature of me. Gu Fei was thinking this and was just about to agree to her proposition when Royal G.o.d Call, who was beside him, quipped, "I'm about to get this pair of boots from my quest, too. I'll sell them to you."

Svelte Dancer was elated, "I'm holding you to your word!"

"Of course!" Royal G.o.d Call nodded his head vigorously. Since Gu Fei did not want to pick up this sudden windfall from the heavens, Royal G.o.d Call would naturally swoop in to get it instead. He reckoned today would be so exciting that he would not be able to fall asleep later.

Gu Fei heaved a long sigh. A monetary a.s.sault was truly a frightening thing; even an innocent youngster like Royal G.o.d Call was easily corrupted by it.

To prevent the matter from getting dragged further, Royal G.o.d Call actually abandoned these ladies before him and got up, "I shall hurry and finish my quest, then."

"Don't you dare ask for my help!" Seeing Royal G.o.d Call's elated expression over the turn of events, Gu Fei felt obliged to sober him up a little.

Royal G.o.d Call immediately exclaimed, "Big bro, don't do that to me!"

That's more like it! As Gu Fei was feeling pleased with himself, Svelte Dancer suddenly jumped in, "I'll help you with what he's supposed to do."

Royal G.o.d Call was beside himself. Which G.o.d was it that was s.h.i.+ning favorably upon him today? Not only did he make such a profitable deal, he also managed to get a beauty like Svelte Dancer to help him in his quest; it was truly a dream come true. What more could a man want if there were beauty and money? Thus, Royal G.o.d Call dismissively waved at Gu Fei, "Alright. I'll leave you to your business, then!" With that, he left together with Svelte Dancer. Before leaving, Svelte Dancer threw a provocative glance at Gu Fei.

"What's happening?" Xi Xiaotian was at a loss.

"That brat is bickering with Miles," Luo Luo chuckled.

"Why's that?" Xi Xiaotian asked, curious.

"Miles pushed her down," Luo Luo said without elaborating any further.

Xi Xiaotian was slightly shocked, "That's too much!"

"Nah," Gu Fei explained, "She tried to ambush me, so I pushed her over."

"Sure! You pinned her down to the ground and did not let her get up," Luo Luo added, snickering.

"That's legit defense," Gu Fei protested.

"Ha ha! I'm not so sure about that," Luo Luo gazed appreciatively at Gu Fei's embarra.s.sment. Xi Xiaotian's eyes were already wide like saucers.

"Come to think of it… Why did she ambush me?" Gu Fei suddenly asked.

"I've got something on, so I'll take my leave first! Have fun chatting!" Luo Luo quickly got up and started to head out the door.

"Stay right there! Did you sic her into doing that?!" Gu Fei was hot on Luo Luo's heels and the two headed out the door just like that.

Xi Xiaotian was left all alone in her seat. She was now more clueless of everything that that had unfolded before her, "Just what is going on? Why did she even ask me to meet her here?"

The weekend pa.s.sed by very quickly, and the PvP tournament officially began on Monday at 7 P.M. Because many players joined a mercenary group as well as a guild, the mercenary PvP tournament and the guild versus guild tournament would be conducted alternately. On Monday, the first event would be the mercenary PvP tournament. The six members of Young Master's Elite mercenary group were currently gathered at Ray's Bar, engaging in their final round of strategy meeting.

"The rules for the tournament have been announced," Brother a.s.sist said, elaborating, "There's one point to note: Based on the total number of partic.i.p.ants in this contest, a suitable map will be chosen from a selection of twelve maps available. This means that the maps are all fixed. Studying these maps should improve our odds of victory."

"Furthermore," Brother a.s.sist continued, saying, "The limitations for a Thief's Stealth skill are announced: There is a time limit of thirty seconds and a cool-down period of three minutes for the skill, so it is impossible to play a game of hide and seek."

"Let others worry about this matter! Our goal is total victory," Young Master Han declared.

"Keep a low profile. We are just a mercenary group of six men against a group of one hundred men, how do you think what you said makes sense?" Brother a.s.sist asked.

"With my battle strategies, this sort of problem isn't a big deal. HA HA HA HA HA!" Young Master Han laughed uproariously, looking at the time once he was done. "There's still half an hour left; is everyone good and ready?"

Before anyone could answer, the room's curtain was shoved to the side by someone rus.h.i.+ng inside like a gale of wind. A right leg suddenly crashed upon the table as a person pointed at it, "Look what I've got!"

"Ray, what's going on?" Young Master Han gazed at Ray, who was still picking at the curtain by the room entrance.

Ray shrugged his shoulders, "Can't help it. The price she paid me to leak your position is better than your hush money."

"Who are you looking for?" Young Master Han wrinkled his brows and asked.

Svelte Dancer's leg was right in front of Gu Fei, yet his lowered head did not elicit any reaction. She gave him a shove, "Oi! Are you playing dead?"

Gu Fei suddenly started, his whole body perking up, "Is the meeting over?"

Young Master Han was enraged, "You're asleep again! You're always sleeping in our meetings lately!"

Gu Fei showed a bitter expression on his face, "I'm so tired at hearing you all talk about rules and whatnots."

"Ah! That's right. It's so unbearable!" Svelte Dancer expressed her agreement.

It was only now that Gu Fei realized that someone had her foot on the table in front of him, "You! What are you doing here?!"

"Look. My boots!" Svelte Dancer answered by pointing her boots to Gu Fei.

"I know. Royal G.o.d Call already told me," Gu Fei answered monotonously.

All their gazes turned to Royal G.o.d Call. Young Master Han's face had already darkened to a shade beyond black.

Brother a.s.sist nudged Royal G.o.d Call, "Royal, wake up."

"Ah? Are we done with the meeting?" Royal G.o.d Call perked up as he straightened his body. His reaction was just like Gu Fei's.

"Are you all pieces of sh*t sleeping?!" Young Master Han bellowed this question.

"Sleep. Who's asleep? Not me!" War Without Wounds quickly answered. His eyes suddenly lingered at one spot as he abruptly got up, "Beautiful woman, how may I address you?" For him to just register Svelte Dancer's presence now, who would believe him in his claim of not sleeping?

Brother a.s.sist swept his gaze around and counted the people in this room, "Wait a minute. Where's Sword Demon?" There were only six players in the room including Svelte Dancer.

"He came! I remember that he came!" Brother a.s.sist insisted.

"Mhm-mhm. He was beside me just now. When did he leave?" Royal G.o.d Call said as he patted the empty seat next to him. "OH!" Royal G.o.d Call exclaimed in shock the next instant.

With that, a figure slowly appeared from the seat as Sword Demon calmly said, "I'm here."

"Sleeping while on Stealth! That's too cunning!" The three other men berated Sword Demon as Young Master Han sent a death stare their way.

Actually, they could not prove that Sword Demon had been sleeping while on Stealth. But given Sword Demon's honest personality, he did not make an excuse for himself and just asked, "Is the meeting over?"

Young Master Han's gla.s.s of alcohol had already been drained, while Brother a.s.sist's face was helplessly affixed with a wry smile.

"Is this your mercenary group?" Svelte Dancer asked Gu Fei.

Gu Fei nodded his head.

"They are all over the place; you should just join our guild's mercenary group, instead!" Although she was discontented with and harbored resentment toward Gu Fei, she evidently still considered him as a talented individual. As for the other members of Young Master's Elite, she treated them as a bunch of rabbles.

The reactions of these five experts were worth relis.h.i.+ng.

Brother a.s.sist simply smiled without uttering a word. Royal G.o.d Call would usually go up and boast about his prowess in such moments, yet he opted to act mysterious instead since the person who had said this was a female. War Without Wounds adopted a congenial expression similar to Royal G.o.d Call's. Sword Demon merely stared at Svelte Dancer, not saying a word. As for Young Master Han, he actually stilled his expression of rage moments before and smiled amiably, "How should I address you, miss beautiful? Which mercenary group are you from?"

"Svelte Dancer; Amethyst mercenary group," Svelte Dancer answered.

"Oh. I guess we'll meet in the tournament, then!" Young Master Han said cheerfully.

"Oh…" Svelte Dancer suddenly felt that the atmosphere was very odd. She originally wanted to persuade Gu Fei some more, but she decided to keep her mouth shut and reply to Young Master Han with just one word before taking her leave.

Chapter 141 - Slow or Fast?

The players partic.i.p.ating in the mercenary PvP tournament gathered at the square outside the Hall of Mercenaries' entrance with ten minutes left before 7 P.M. Official statement stated that a teleportation array would send these players into their respective PvP arenas.

Players who had the partic.i.p.ation-was-more-important-than-the-result mindset showed their high level of responsibility at this point and, as long as they were part of mercenary groups, made sure to partic.i.p.ate in the PvP tournament. As such, the square was crowded with players like canned sardines and even the many roads leading to the square were filled with people.

The current scene naturally made the game company of Parallel World extremely exhilarated. At this moment, the game officials sent an emergency system announcement: [With this being the first round of the mercenary PvP tournament on the first day of the event, the amount of players partic.i.p.ating has. .h.i.t the maximum limit and exceeded our estimation. There will hereby be an extension to the time each player will take to enter his or her PvP arena. Can the players please hurry?]

The players, including the six members of Young Master's Elite mercenary group, voiced their complaints when they heard this. The six had gotten separated from one another on their way to this square. Gu Fei discovered that the crowd had somehow been divided based on the players' Strength, with the stronger ones being able to squeeze their way to the front and the weaker ones like himself naturally being pushed to the back of the line to wait for much longer. Before he knew it, all the players around him were now made up of weak Mages that looked as if they could be killed with just a lift of a finger. "Where are you guys?!" Throwing this question on the mercenary channel, Gu Fei saw that the other five men were also asking this same question.

In the blink of an eye, it was already 7 P.M., yet Gu Fei had not even advanced one step forward. It was at this point that the game officials finally permitted the players to enter their respective maps.

The human traffic started to flow. The players within the square started disappearing one by one in bright lights as they went through the teleportation array, allowing the players at the back to move forward and take the vacated s.p.a.ces in front. Ten minutes later, the system sent another announcement: [Due to the current special circ.u.mstance in this first round, there will not be any time limit to entering the maps. All players may take their time to enter the teleportation array.]

"I'm in." The first one among Young Master's Elite to arrive at the teleportation array was actually Young Master Han.

"How's that possible?!" Gu Fei exclaimed in shock. "Logically speaking, War Without Wounds should get there first!"

"It's seduction! Seduction!" Royal G.o.d Call resolutely stated, making Gu Fei wonder if he had been the victim of seduction himself.

Gu Fei went into deep thought. Given Young Master Han's astonis.h.i.+ngly beautiful looks, pretending to be a woman would be far too easy for him. He reckoned that the other players must have mistaken Young Master Han as a beautiful lady and demonstrated their chivalrous spirit by effortlessly allowing him to afford of their 'ladies first' practice.

"The opposing mercenary group seems to have finished with its preparation." Having entered the map, Young Master Han reported accordingly, "It's just one man!"

This was not a rarity. Quite a number of players enjoyed playing the game by themselves, so quite a number of mercenary groups had only one member. Thus, b.u.mping into this sort of mercenary groups in the first round was a common occurrence.

The ensuing messages sent by Young Master Han's fellow members on the mercenary channel had the same content: "I'm not going, then."

"B*st*rds!" Young Master Han cursed on the mercenary channel. No matter how much of an expert he was as a Priest, he did not possess the necessary power to kill off his opponents, even if said opponent was alone. Upon closer inspection, he realized that only four messages of "I'm not going, then" had arrived on the mercenary channel. This meant that someone among the members had not said a word about this matter.

"Miles?" Young Master Han gingerly probed. The matter at hand was precarious; although Young Master Han was the leader on paper, everyone was of equal standing in the mercenary group. Therefore, Young Master Han could not oblige anyone to do his bidding. Since four had already declined to go and were nowhere to be seen, the Priest Young Master Han would have to face the opponent by himself if Gu Fei declined as well.

Thankfully, Gu Fei was someone who would not pa.s.s up any chance to PvP and immediately sent a positive reply, "I'll go!"

Young Master Han exhaled hugely in relief. With fear still lingering in his heart, he coldly said to the others, "I'm gonna remember what you four did here."

"TSK!" The four scoffed at his empty threat.

Gu Fei had no way of squeezing through the crowd, so he could only follow the motion of the people and move closer bit by bit to the teleportation portal. Half an hour had pa.s.sed by the time he finally got to the teleportation array and entered the respective map.

A blue sky, white clouds, an unending field, and Young Master Han were what greeted Gu Fei when he entered the map.

"Let's begin!" Young Master Han said impatiently.

Originally, the match would automatically begin at the appointed time for the mercenary PvP tournament. Due to the removal of the time restriction for players to enter their respective PvP arenas, the official time for the PvP tournament to start was canceled as a corollary. Each match would now begin once the system received the application of both parties stating that they were done with their preparations.

Once Gu Fei nodded his head, Young Master Han promptly handed in their group's application and the system immediately began a five-second countdown. When the timer reached zero, white lights flashed as the two were sent to their real PvP arena.

Compared to the plain and simple field from before, the map they were in was much more lush and abundant. Since only three people were partic.i.p.ating in this battle, this arena was the smallest yet sufficient map of the tournament. The terrain had highs and lows, water and trees, and birds flying among the many clouds in the sky. High hills were designated as the boundary for this map, reaching steepness of ninety degrees.

"Over there," Young Master Han pointed somewhere in front of him as he observed the map.

As this map was very small, the two could clearly see the four sides of the boundary surrounding them and their opponent standing no more than 200 meters away from them.

Originally, this sort of solo mercenary groups had the strongest partic.i.p.ation-was-more-important-than-the-result mentality. They essentially stood no chance of victory unless they met other single-member mercenary groups like themselves, after all. When Gu Fei and Young Master Han's opponent saw that he was facing only two players in this match, he felt that he still stood a fighting chance. Rus.h.i.+ng forward with steady steps, he arrived at a land depression in the blink of an eye and disappeared from the two's line of sight.

"Let's go!" Gu Fei pulled out his sword.

"Mhm!" Young Master Han agreed, following behind him.

The two immediately caught sight of the player hiding in the depression. Gu Fei and Young Master Han were dressed in their respective job cla.s.ses, allowing others to tell at a glance that one was a Mage and the other was a Priest.

The opposing player was a Warrior. After identifying the two's job cla.s.ses, the hopeful thought he had in his mind strengthened. If the opponents had melee job cla.s.ses with a Priest in tow, the Warrior might as well forget his hopes of winning. Since it was a Mage and a Priest, he only needed to engage them in melee. With the Mage's low HP, even the Priest beside him could not sustain his life for long.

Gu Fei walked very slowly as he kept in pace with Young Master Han's speed. Halfway there, Young Master Han suddenly said, "Go ahead and finish him off; I'll head up that hill and take a look around."

"What's there to see?" Gu Fei asked, not understanding why the other would do that.

"I'm heading up to see the topological terrain. The official website did not release information about any of the PvP arenas. Although this is the smallest one, I think certain things will be proportionate to the other eleven maps. It's higher over there, so I can get a better read of the whole place," Young Master Han said as he headed toward the spot he had previously indicated.

"Go on, then!" Gu Fei said, completely not understanding what Young Master Han was on about.

The Warrior, who was still hiding in the pit, became elated when he discovered that the two players had split up. Seeing Young Master Han head off, he a.s.sumed that the two could not find him. Thus, the Priest left to a higher ground to take a look. One going to look on a higher ground and the other one continuing to search on leveled ground was a fatal mistake. The Warrior quietly ridiculed the two noobs as he retracted his neck. He had already ascertained which higher ground Young Master Han was heading and decided to eliminate the Priest first, retreating from his current position and using a different route to go to the Priest's intended destination.

To prevent himself from getting discovered, the Warrior crouched so low that he was almost crawling on the ground as he made his way toward the location.

Everything was going very smoothly. Taking a different route, the Warrior arrived somewhere on the other side of the higher ground. He stretched his head to take a look and spotted Young Master Han sitting at a vantage point and looking left and right from time to time.

"Don't turn around. Don't turn around. Definitely do not turn around!" The Warrior repeated this mantra in his head as he carefully made his way up the hill.

It was a pity that he was a Warrior and not a Thief, so he could not help but make loud, clanking sounds with his heavy armor no matter how careful he walked forward. It was quiet all around him, so the armor's clanking sound was extremely piercing. The Warrior felt it was impossible for him to quietly make his way into melee range at this rate. Now that he thought about it, he was only dealing with a Priest, so why would he need protection? Thus, he immediately took off his armor, pulled out his claymore, and continued toward Young Master Han topless.

No more sound could be heard now and the Warrior proceeded forward with ease. As the Warrior advanced alone, his heart could not help but sing in elation.

Thirty meters, twenty meters, ten meters… The Warrior got closer to Young Master Han with every step he took. This is great! After dealing with this fella, I'll find another pit to hide in. Then, I can easily deal with that Mage, too! The Warrior was beside himself with happiness when he was just five meters away from the Priest, as if victory was well within his grasp. Three meters! I can begin my attack at this distance! The Warrior licked his lips as he raised his claymore with both hands toward Young Master Han. Just as he was about to use Charge, someone suddenly tapped him on his shoulder.

The Warrior was instantly petrified as he turned around half a beat later.

A Mage in black robe stood behind him.

The Warrior's mouth was agape, but no sound came out of it. He was still trying to maintain his silence to initiate his ambus.h.!.+

"You… How did you…" The Warrior finally realized that his ambush would not likely succeed.

"I'm your opponent," Gu Fei said plainly.

"Is… Is… this a trap?" the Warrior asked rigidly.

"Of course not," Gu Fei said as he shouted at Young Master Han, asking, "Are you done with your map research?"

"Almost," Young Master Han replied.

"He's about to finish; quickly put on your armor!" Gu Fei said to the Warrior.

"What?" The Warrior was absolutely flabbergasted at this point.

"The fight will be better if you're wearing equipment. Look at you now; what sort of defense do you have?" Gu Fei patiently explained.

At this moment, Young Master Han stood up and turned around with wrinkled brows, "Stop nagging already and just finish this quickly."

"You're the one who wanted me to slow down; now, you want me to move things faster; why is it so difficult to please you?!" Gu Fei muttered to himself.

"What do you two mean?" the Warrior asked, still rooted to the spot in his shock.

"Oh. He wanted to take a look at the map, so he asked me to take it easy beating you. That's why I followed you all the way without doing anything. Sorry about that!" Gu Fei explained.

You've been behind me all this time?" the Warrior asked, shocked.

Gu Fei nodded his head, "All this time."

The Warrior looked at Gu Fei and then at Young Master Han. One had a look of expectation, while the other was simply impatient. "What is this?" the Warrior asked as his hands dropped to his sides, losing his will to fight.

"Twin Incineration! Incinerate!" Gu Fei suddenly struck, the ensuing flame glowed for a moment and the Warrior was instkilled.

"Why must you use Cyclone?!"  Mistaking the Warrior's movement as preparation to use Cyclone, Gu Fei dejectedly casted the spell. He asked, "Aren't you forcing me to instkill you by using Cyclone? Wouldn't it be nice if we could fight slowly?"

White lights came and sent the two outside of the PvP arena.

Round 1 winner: Young Master's Elite mercenary group.