Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

As for the forum moderators, they were made up of the game company’s staff and hired professionals with experience in the aspect. But whichever category they belonged, they would always obtain this sort of insider information one step ahead of the average players.

Brother Assist managed to establish a lot of connections in the community of forum moderators owing to his active participation in many major online games’ forums. Parallel World’s moderators were no exception. A close forum moderator friend of Brother Assist in this game informed him that Parallel World had been currently doing well, so the official release of it to the market might begin soon.

“Oh? Will they introduce a new, huge feature or change during it?” Young Master Han asked. Game companies usually presented new, large features or changes during the official release of their games so as to maintain the attention of the current players as well as to attract new gamers.

Brother Assist smiled, “Given Parallel World’s monopoly of the VRMMO market, why does the game company need to do such gimmick?”

“True,” Young Master Han nodded his head in agreement.

“Officially releasing to the market only means that they won’t limit the amount of accounts available. The biggest change will just be the player influx in this game,” Brother Assist said, adding, “Besides all that, my friend didn’t say anything else.”

“Having more players is a good thing. As long as it doesn’t break the server,” Young Master Han muttered. Resistance to change was something ingrained into long-time MMO players. While players hoped that there would be more population in a game to create a bustling environment, they would also worry that too much population in it would result in lag and similar server problems. It seemed that players did not have it easy either, as they could only live on with these conflicting thoughts.

On the other side of the room, Gu Fei was being bodily held down by Royal God Call and War Without Wounds as they grilled him for details. “Information! Information!” both demanded.

“What information?!” Gu Fei was feeling annoyed at these two.

“The names of the babes; their personality!” the two persisted.

“I don’t know anything other than their IGNs right now; personality is even more out of the question,” Gu Fei told them. He could not help but think of Lie Lie with her volatile personality. He wondered how these two would react when faced with a lady that had such personality.

“You’re so useless! You’ve been in that guild for quite some time now, yet you don’t even have a bit of information about those beauties?” Royal God Call moaned.

“Miles, it’s not that this big bro here is mocking you, but you’re really too much of a goody-goody! Look at Royal. He’s young, yet his grasp on this stuff is already quite high,” War Without Wounds said.

Gu Fei’s idealized image of War Without Wounds had already been extinguished as he helplessly shrugged his shoulders.

“Forget it. Just tell us the names of those babes you know!” the two demanded.

Getting the ladies’ names was easy for Gu Fei, as he only had to read out every IGN listed on the guild tab to the two men. However, names in online games did not just function as such; they were equivalent to acquiring a person’s phone number in reality. Once a player found out the IGN of another, he or she could add that person as a friend, allowing the player to endlessly harass the other with messages. Thinking of that, Gu Fei was even more afraid to casually give these two the ladies’ IGNs, even if the name belonged to Lie Lie whom he did not like.

“What’s wrong? Spit it out!” Royal God Call asked with a puzzled look on his face. He had just fished out a booklet and a pen out of his pile of newly bought booklets and pens. A neat title was written on the booklet’s cover page: ‘Babes Information Booklet’. Flipping over to the first page, his pen was poised to write down anything Gu Fei would say. And yet, Gu Fei remained unforthcoming.

“What’s wrong Miles? Aren’t you even willing to help us a lil’ bit?!” War Without Wounds’ expression turned cold. It was obvious that in his and Royal God Call’s hearts, any information about the ladies should be shared and not be kept as a secret.

“Sigh... I’ll help you guys ask, I guess!” Gu Fei was really helpless. He had no wish to privately leak other people’s information, but he could not say no to Royal God Call and War Without Wounds, either. His only choice was to directly ask for the consent of those ladies.

The ladies in the next room did not simply idle. When Gu Fei left, they quickly began their discussion.

“Lie Lie, isn’t that guy the Priest at the north gate earlier?” Ice Glaze asked Lie Lie.

“You’re right!” Lie Lie nodded her head, “I’ve seen him before, too. He’s very arrogant, and he brought a Thief on Stealth with him. He’s insane! Sis Luo Luo, perhaps there’s a Thief on Stealth peeping behind Young Master Han when you ran after him earlier!”

“It’s possible,” Luo Luo nodded her head. She asked, “Did you see what he was doing over by the north gate?”

“He’s helping Miles along with a few other guys,” Lie Lie replied.

“You’re saying Young Master Han and his few companions were there?” Luo Luo’s eyes widened.

“No! I asked someone among them. He said he’s a friend of Miles. Isn’t that right, Xiao Bing?” Lie Lie asked Ice Glaze for confirmation.

Ice Glaze nodded her head, “It’s an Archer that said that.”

“Archer? Royal God Call?” Luo Luo asked.

“That’s the one!” Lie Lie and Ice Glaze exclaimed together, “Luo Luo, how did you know?”

“I briefly met someone with that IGN over at the tavern near the city gate. He’s someone Miles knows. He left with Miles, afterward,” Luo Luo explained.

“Royal God Call? Isn’t he supposed to be a Mage?” July asked in bafflement, asking, “Does his name have the same pronunciation?”

“Yes. Sis July, do you know someone who goes by that name?” Lie Lie and Ice Glaze asked.

“There’s a famous Mage in the online gaming community called Royal God Call,” July shared, “He’s considered as a top-class expert.”

“Could that Close Combat Mage be Royal God Call?” Lie Lie was visibly excited.

July and Luo Luo glanced at each other before replying in unison, “Impossible!”

“Why? Isn’t he an expert Mage?” Lie Lie was perplexed.

“Xiao Bing, did you see that name before on the experience leaderboard for Mage?” Luo Luo asked Ice Glaze.

“I don’t think so...” Ice Glaze replied.

“That’s not odd. His IGN got taken away by that Archer, right? Naturally, he had to change ID!” Lie Lie said.

“That’s not possible,” July was certain.

“Why?” Lie Lie did not understand.

July and Luo Luo looked at each other once more before finally saying, “Because rumor has it that that guy’s a total perv. He’ll hit on any female players as long as he can lay his eyes on them. His most famous line is: ‘Big sis, want lil bro here to grind with you?’ Do you think that Close Combat Mage is that sort of guy?”

Lie Lie shook her head frantically.

“That Archer Royal God Call, did he call you guys big sis when you met him?” July asked Luo Luo and the other two ladies.

“Nope,” the three answered.

“But... He’s indeed somewhat like that...” Ice Glaze offered, adding, “He came over on his accord to introduce himself, and he proceeded to stick around me and Lie Lie. He even tried to chat us up.”

Luo Luo nodded her head, “Now that we’re in a full-immersion environment, he can’t possibly chase after women and call them big sis, since that won’t be cute at all!”

“By the looks of things, that Royal God Call person is indeed the same one, except he changed his job class this time,” July said.

“That sounds about right,” Luo Luo nodded her head in agreement.

“Since they’re all friends of Miles, why would he need to employ them?” July said.

“That’s how it is with fighting! Since he didn’t have enough men after calling his friends, of course he’d hire some helpers. That still makes sense,” Luo Luo justified, believing what she said yet also withholding her suspicions.

“Do these men know one another?” July continued to ask Lie Lie.

Lie Lie only scratched her head in ignorance, and it was Ice Glaze who said, “Seems like it. I remember there’s a Warrior that came over and called Royal God Call by his name. That probably means they’re acquainted, right?”

“How many were there?” Luo Luo asked.

“Four. The Archer is Royal God Call, that Priest, and there’s also a Warrior and a Knight,” Ice Glaze recalled.

“If we include that Close Combat Mage and that Thief, there are exactly six people!” Luo Luo said, adding, “ And Young Master’s Elite mercenary group is also made up of six people!”

“So you’re saying they’re members of Young Master’s Elite?” July asked. As Luo Luo nodded her head in confirmation, July asked further, “So that means Miles actually knows the members of that group. Why did he say he didn’t?”

“If they’re friends, Miles is probably helping them hide their identity... Or perhaps, Miles is also a member of the mercenary group. If that’s the case, then Miles is definitely that Close Combat Mage!” Luo Luo could barely contain her excitement.

“Anything but that, please!” Lie Lie began to cry, saying, “With how he is giving me the cold shoulder right now—”

“Don’t be hasty. This is just a guess; we still need to confirm it!” Luo Luo consoled Lie Lie. Lie Lie had always been idolizing the Close Combat Mage.

“If we want to confirm this, it depends entirely on that Royal God Call person,” July said.

“That person. There shan’t be problems if we show ourselves to him, right?” Luo Luo wavered.

“Who’s willing to get close to that perverted guy?” July asked the floor.

None of the ladies volunteered.

“According to what I know, he’s not a big—” Just as Luo Luo began to say this, the other three promptly nominated her by saying: “Then, you go!”

“Oh, that’s right! That new member Will-low seems to know him,” Luo Luo quickly tried to nominate another lady.

“No. The fewer people who know about this, the better. They’ve painstakingly hidden their identity all this time. Just our inquiry is already unwanted; let’s not increase the number of people in the know,” July rejected.

“Looks like we can only draw lots for this,” Luo Luo swept her gaze around.

July also gazed around before finally sighing, “Let’s just draw among the three of us. Even if Xiao Bing draws it by chance, I’m afraid she won’t be able to ask anything.”

Ice Glaze blushed scarlet.

Just as they were about to pick out the paper slips, July suddenly happily said, “Wait a minute.”

“What?”

“‘I have two friends who found out that I’m a member of Amethyst Rebirth. They hope for me to introduce you ladies to them’,” July read out, “Miles sent this message.”

“Without even asking, I’m sure one of the two friends he mentioned is that Royal God Call,” Luo Luo was ecstatic.

“Looks like they’ve sent themselves to us,” July laughed.

“Call them over; we must grill them and make clear of everything this time!” Luo Luo said.

“What if Miles is indeed the Close Combat Mage, what will I do?!” Lie Lie started to cry once more.

“You’ll have no chance at all, then,” Luo Luo lowered her head and chuckled.