Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

The players who had left to scout out the guilds had also come back with the news. At the end of the day, given how the four large guilds were very conspicuous hordes, it was hardly difficult for them to inquire and find out just where they were located no matter where they ended up. Out of the four guilds, three had directly set up shop within the encampment, so the people in charge of contacting them would have to quit the guild. Xi Xiaotian and the other two were already prepared for such an eventuality, as each of them was kicked from the guild. Xi Xiaotian was in charge of approaching Brave Surge and Foe-herder, while Cirrus would be talking to Oathless Sword and Black Index Finger.

Xi Xiaotian searched through her dimensional pocket and pulled out a handful of guild emblems. She casually picked out two similar ones, giving one to Cirrus and the other on herself. Finally, she asked Cirrus, “What’s our guild called, how many are in it, who are some of our members... Have you memorized all of this potentially relevant information?”

“Yup,” Cirrus nodded.

“Great. We’ll approach two each, so let’s go for the farther ones first,” Xi Xiaotian said as the two ran in opposite directions. Meanwhile, the others were aware that the operation had already begun. Those who went to pick up the quest, or were doing the scouting had all returned back to their posts, seizing what time they had to discuss and coordinate their battle tactics.

Over in the northeast encampment, players were thronging in great numbers, including the Cloud Herder guild, whose guild leader was Foe-herder. The City Wars was still in a deadlock; after learning that there was a maximum number of deaths that each player could have for this event, plenty of guilds no longer dared to recklessly make their assaults. This was especially true for the guilds that harbored plenty of expectations toward this City Wars event. None of them dared to grind it out with the system any longer, with the various large guilds whole-heartedly focused on gaining an advantage through questing. Meanwhile, the more unique and vital quests were not exactly a dime a dozen. However, there were plenty of quests available to the players that were time sensitive available from the stationery NPCs found all over each encampment. All these players were swarming these locations at the moment, every one of them focusing their efforts on grinding out all these plain and boring quests so as to earn themselves a bit of contribution score.

While Foe-herder might be here at this encampment presently, he had very resourcefully sent his men to all the six encampments. Seeing that the outcome of the City War in Yunduan City was still undetermined, he no longer had any plans to waste his men in directly taking part in the war effort. Even though his decision had caused plenty of players to criticize and express their disdain toward him, Foe-herder was completely unmoved and he continued to send his men out to pursue all these minor quests, while delegating some of his manpower toward the search for the larger, more vital quests. At the same time, he had his men keep their ears to the ground and do reconnaissance on the other guilds for updates on their movement.

Everything proceeded smoothly and in an orderly fashion. There was nothing much Foe-herder needed to be anxious or stressed about. All he had was expectations, and that was precisely what walked right up to his doorstep at this time. Xi Xiaotian, slipping past all the guilds, arrived right before Cloud Herder.

“Is your guild leader around?” Xi Xiaotian smiled as she asked.

“There’s a babe searching for guild leader...” The guild members from Cloud Herder wagged their eyebrows as they gave each other ambiguous smiles. These men all replied that he was around as they sent a message to Foe-herder, “There’s a babe looking for you.”

Few would be displeased with meeting a beautiful lady, and Foe-herder was no exception; however, not many would act as shameless and inappropriate in front of a lady like the men from Forever In Flowers, and Foe-herder was no exception either. Hearing that a beautiful lady had come to see him, he did not foolishly let his imagination run wild, but simply made his way over once word was sent to him.

“Guild leader Herder, long time no see!” Xi Xiaotian greeted.

“You...” Foe-herder felt that this lady was a very familiar sight, and he soon quickly recalled who she was. Xi Xiaotian was someone whom he had falsely presumed to have cheated him out of 500 gold coins the last time they had dealings with one another, and he hunted her down afterward, all the way till they bumped into Thousand Miles Drunk. It was only at that point they realized it had all been a huge misunderstanding. However, he and his men were unwilling to swallow their pride there and then, so they proceeded to engage in PK combat with Gu Fei right by the entrance of the designated spawn point without using any skills or spell, and they ended up getting beaten black and blue by the man. Later, Sakurazaka Moony had suddenly appeared, and the man was not even well acquainted with either party, yet he ended up becoming the peacemaker, allowing the incident to be settled by being left unsettled. Back then, Foe-herder had originally wanted to recruit Thousand Miles Drunk into his guild, but Sakurazaka Moony’s meddling caused him to mistakenly believe that Thousand Miles Drunk was also like the reprehensible guild members from Forever In Flowers, and made the instant decision to give up on him when he thought that there was no way Thousand Miles Drunk would leave Amethyst Rebirth.

He had been rather enraged regarding the matter with Xi Xiaotian back then, but after it was verified to have been a misunderstanding, his anger toward the lady naturally went away as well. Nevertheless, he was a little remorseful that the 400 gold coins that he had spent did not end up with him recruiting Thousand Miles Drunk into his guild. But because he had been a willing and understanding party to the situation, and while he might have been fleeced quite a lot by her, what discontent Foe-herder had initially felt in him did not ferment into resentment given how much time had passed since that incident occurred.

“So it’s you. What do you want?” Foe-herder asked.

“Hehe, just like the last time, I have a bit of information that I intend to sell to guild leader Herder,” Xi Xiaotian expressed.

“Oh? What information is this?” Foe-herder was alert and vigilant when he heard this. But since the other party was not a lawyer who was charging for her services by the hour, he figured that he was not going to lose out hearing out what she had to say, so he casually probed her further about this information she had in her hands.

“It pertains to a quest,” Xi Xiaotian was casting the line.

“Quest?” Foe-herder jolted. “What about it?”

“There’s a quest that I intend to sell to guild leader Herder,” Xi Xiaotian answered enigmatically. The bait was set.

“I don’t understand what you’re getting at.”

“The logic behind this is simple. Our guild had gotten a hold of a quest, but we don’t have the means to accomplish it. However, we know that such a vital quest on the grand scale is precisely what a large guild like Cloud Herder intends to try their hands on, so we’ve decided to exchange this quest for a bit of gold,” Xi Xiaotian explained.

“Oh? What’s your guild’s name?” Foe-herder asked.

“Rise Above the Skyline,” Xi Xiaotian said.

“I’ve never heard of it.”

Xi Xiaotian chuckled, “That is why we’re a small guild. It’s a guild that a band of 20 close friends had formed together.”

Foe-herder did not show any change in his expression, though he had immediately inquired over his guild channel if anyone knew of such a guild existing. In the end, there was really someone who thought it sounded familiar.

“What do you know about the guild?” Foe-herder asked.

“I’ve got no idea. I have no clue when or where I heard or seen it from...” That person who claimed to have knowledge of the guild answered.

“Go and check it out!” Foe-herder ordered.

“We can’t enter the city, so there’s no way I can check it out in the Hall of Guild Creations!”

Foe-herder saw the sense in his words. Even if they were to log out, the official website only listed the top guilds in the various cities, so there was no chance that a guild with just 20 players could be found.

“Are you the guild leader?” Foe-herder asked Xi Xiaotian.

“No. It’s inconvenient for our guild leader to show herself right now,” Xi Xiaotian answered.

“Why is that?”

“Heh, it’s because she’s the one who holds the quest, and if she were to show herself and accidentally get killed, the quest would fail as a result, making it impossible for us to sell the quest that we have,” Xi Xiaotian said.

“Just what sort of quest is this?” Foe-herder asked.

“We’ve no idea what happens afterward, but we do know that the current quest we are on is impossible for a guild of our caliber and size to accomplish. We would not be resorting to selling the quest had we been confident that we could succeed.” Xi Xiaotian sighed.

“Then why are you thinking of selling it to me?” Foe-herder asked.

Xi Xiaotian laughed, “I think you’re mistaken, even though we are selling the quest now, it’s still not a given that you would be able to buy the quest off us.”

“What do you mean? Are you thinking of..” Foe-herder immediately recalled what Xi Xiaotian did the last time when she approached both him and Brave Surge. It appeared as if this lady was thinking of repeating that scenario once more. However, the information last time was shareable between the interested party; now that this time around was a quest, it would not be possible for it to be shared, so there’s no doubt that Xi Xiaotian will be finding several other guilds as well, before auctioning it off to the highest bidder.

“Guild leader Herder, I wonder if you’ve understood what I’m trying to do here?” Xi Xiaotian asked.

“I do...” Foe-herder found this to be a somewhat abhorrent practice. He knew that he was about to be fleeced yet again, just like the last time, yet he had no choice but to bear with it and let it happen. As the only guilds that would be able to compete with his own, there was no doubt the other four level 6 guilds would be invited. However, this time, it was not a contest of strength between them, but of their financial resources, as well as how bold were they willing to brave the uncertain when it came to this quest. No matter the case, Foe-herder felt that he must get himself a seat on this table. He would surely profit from the purchase of the quest, and failing to succeed was not really a loss on his end. With such a thought in mind, Foe-herder nodded his head and very calmly answered, “Fine. I’ll participate in this auction. Offer me a quoting bid when the time comes.”

Xi Xiaotian was slightly startled when he heard this. Does this guy actually intend to take part in this auction only through messaging? This was not the outcome they wanted. While that was the thought that crossed her mind, she simply paused momentarily, showing the slightest hint of surprise before happily smiling, “Oh? Then I will have to trouble guild leader Cloud to add me as a friend. I’ll send you the bid quotation when the time comes.”

Foe-herder had been keeping a close eye on the lady, so he had noticed how Xi Xiaotian’s expression flashed just the barest of astonishment. Just as he was about to add her as a friend when he heard her answer, someone in the guild reminded him, “Guild Leader, this is basically an auction, so wouldn’t it be possible for them to be up to some dirty tricks behind the scenes if we don’t participate in person?”

Foe-herder realized that this was a valid criticism when he thought about it! If I can’t hear the bids being called out by the other competitors in real-time; Won’t I be making a fool of himself if Brave Surge calls out with a 1000 gold coins, but the lady decides to report it as 2000 gold coins to me instead? It would not work even if he were to contact Brave Surge directly about this matter either, since that might create a situation where Brave Surge called out 1000 gold coins as his bid, but privately told him it was only 500 gold coins; Foe-herder’s response to that with a perfectly safe 800 gold coins bid would be lower than the actual bid. Ultimately, since this auction required everybody to be present for it, there was no reason for Foe-herder to hide behind in the background anyway, as that would only work if he had complete trust with the various parties participating.

Naturally, Foe-herder had issues trusting the lady organizing auction this as much as the other guild leaders from the various large guilds participating. He secretly sighed to himself over how foolish he had been, almost becoming the arrogant fool that was being taken advantage of in this situation. Foe-herder quickly corrected himself, “It’s only right that we add each other as friends, but we can forget about the matter with the bid quotations. I think I’ll send one of my men over to participate when it happens! By the way, how are you going to conduct this auction?”

“It’s like this. This quest seems like it could only be acquired by someone who is a guild leader. Because that NPC is rather conspicuous, none of our men managed to get anything when they interacted with it before. Finally, we were only given this quest after our guild leader spoke with it. That’s the reason why our guild leader cannot appear out in the open. She’s currently somewhere safe, and I’m the one organizing the auction for our guild. When it’s over and the winning guild is announced, our guild leader will go according to his or her wishes and get herself killed, causing the quest to fail. This way, the winning guild leader like yourself would directly get the quest from the NPC in question. Does guild leader Herder have any question about how we’re doing this?” Xi Xiaotian asked.

“Everything seems alright,” Foe-herder nodded. “So where is this NPC you got your quest from?”

“Yunjiao Sawmill. If guild leader Herder has no issues with it, you can send someone you trust to go and participate in the auction. Once that is over, you can hand us the gold coins after you get the quest. Heh, the trustworthiness of a large guild is something that we all have confidence in, after all.” Xi Xiaotian said.

Not all large guilds would mean they were professional and proper in how they conduct themselves. It was only that the few large guilds in Yunduan City were all of good repute in this aspect, and no one would opt not to trust them. That was why Xi Xiaotian was not at all concerned with arguing over handing over the quest or being given the money first.

After Foe-herder heard all this, he felt that the arrangements made were all satisfactory, so he nodded, “Then I’ll send someone over as soon as I can. How will I contact you when the time comes?”

“Oh, if everything is fine on your end, do you mind waiting for a bit? I still have to head over and talk to Carouse. We’ll head over together when that’s done,” Xi Xiaotian said.

Foe-herder quietly cursed when he heard this, but a thought flashed into his mind as he suddenly blurted out, “How much? How much are you willing to sell this quest to us right now?”

Xi Xiaotian smiled, “This isn’t something with a distinct price tag. We’ll let the market decide its price.”

How very cunning... Foe-herder was grinding his teeth as he responded, “Okay, what’s your name? I’ll add you as a friend and we can keep in touch later.”

“Xi Xiaotian,” Xi Xiaotian exchanged her name with Foe-herder and they added each other before she departed to where Carouse was currently situated.

Over with Cirrus, the man had already finished relaying all the information to Black Index Finger. As someone who originally started a mercenary group, he was far more experienced than the usual guild leaders when it came to dealing with such transactions, so everything had gone very smoothly with him. The moment that Cirrus told Black Index Finger about the situation, the guild leader very quickly understood plenty of the underlying details toward the matter. He did not make a fool out of himself by even considering participating in this auction remotely, only caring about inquiring about the details related to the quest and other such questions. Since these answers were all part of the script that he had previously prepared together with Xi Xiaotian, Cirrus was not in the least bit flustered, and he managed to perform his part very perfectly, answering them one after another as how they had prepared. Ultimately, Black Index Finger had also very gladly accepted their invitation to participate in the auction.

Both Xi Xiaotian and Cirrus left to make contact with their next targets respectively. There had not been a need for Will-low, who had been specially prepared to be their guild leader for this scheme, to make her appearance, as both players from the two guilds they had approached thus far had not asked to speak to their guild leader. To either of these men, questions pertaining to the quest alone were enough to satisfy their curiosity, and there was no need for them to even be in contact with said guild leader.

Xi Xiaotian left Cloud Herder and arrived at the site where Carouse had set up camp. Carouse had slain Thousand Miles Drunk earlier in the day, so their morale surged high. It was only that the kill itself had been for naught, having not affected their guild quest in the least, so that had been quite a damper on their spirits. At the moment, aside from sending their men all over searching for quests like what Foe-herder had done with his guild, Brave Surge had also ordered the guild members of Carouse to keep an eye out for any trace of Sword Demon, as they had already viewed that man as their quest target.

Having met Xi Xiaotian in a similar situation last time, Brave Surge was evidently a lot more quick-witted than Foe-herder, and he was not in any rush to make a fool out of himself by suggesting his wish to remotely participate in the auction either. The same questions asked were met with the same explanations as answers, but the only difference was when Brave Surge asked which of the guilds were participating in this bidding for the quest.

“Carouse, Cloud Herder and Traversing Four Seas.”

“Oh? You’re not approaching Colored Clouds about this?” Brave Surge asked.

“Knowing how guild leader Gu from Colored Clouds acts, we do not think she would be interested in this sort of activity,” Xi Xiaotian said.

“Hehe, I think there’s a 50% chance that she would not participate in a fair and unbiased auction like this. However, even if you aren’t asking her along, her guild would end up being there. Actually, the winner of this auction will be her as well, so Carouse will not be participating,” Brave Surge concluded.

“Oh? Why is that so? I’m a little confused,” Xi Xiaotian asked, surprised.

“Hehe, it’s because you’ve invited Oathless Sword, and that man would surely hail Gu Xiaoshang. Even though she has not been invited, the moment she hears there is such news, and with Oathless Sword persuading her, the chances of her turning up increases. If she were to join in as part of this auction, I’m afraid Oathless Sword would only symbolically compete with her, and would even lend her a hand in the final moment. But if Gu Xiaoshang has no intention of competing, then Oathless Sword would in turn ask for her to help. That guy, be it owing Gu Xiaoshang a favor, or attempting to curry favor with her, he would always give it his all. Thus, there’s absolutely no way that we would be able to compete with those two,” Brave Surge shrugged.

“Oh, by what you’ve said, Gu Xiaoshang might not end up coming. Are you sure you don’t want to come and take a look, guild leader Surge?” Xi Xiaotian asked.

“Heh, I’m quite confident with my assessment,” Brave Surge smiled, and no longer said another word after.

Xi Xiaotian was a little flustered. She had calculated all the potential scenarios that could happen, yet she had overlooked the g*dd*mn power of love, the very power that was rumored to be able to conquer all... Would the player Oathless Sword actually abandon the greed of obtaining a quest during this City Wars event in the face of this power?

That was when Xi Xiaotian received a message from Cirrus, “That Oathless Sword actually asked me if we’ve called Colored Clouds or not. I said we didn’t so he asked me why we didn’t, and proceeded to help us inform her about it. What are we going to do if people from Colored Cloud came?”

Because Xi Xiaotian had assumed that Colored Cloud’s Gu Xiaoshang would not be interested in this auction, she had not considered any scenario to account for her appearance, but Sword Demon and the others also had another reason for not wanting Colored Clouds to join them: Young Master Han! Young Master Han was currently mixing around with Colored Clouds. Forget about the possibility of Young Master Han potentially having insights about this scheme, just from the fact that he and Gu Xiaoshang would be present, there was a high chance that they would not be able to fool them regarding the identity of Gu Fei, Sword Demon and the others, even despite the fact they had their faces covered! The moment that happens, the gig would most definitely be up, and the moment the five large guilds contacted each other, not even eight Thousand Miles Drunks would be able to escape their clutches.

“Don’t panic and act your part as best as you can,” Xi Xiaotian reminded Cirrus, before turning back to face Brave Surge, “If that’s the case, then I’ll be off now.”

“We’re not sending you off!” Brave Surge was unperturbed, allowing Xi Xiaotian to leave just like that.

“The situation has changed.” The players hiding out by Yunjiao Sawmill had already received the news, “Brave Surge will not be participating in this auction, but Colored Clouds will be taking its place instead.”

“What are we going to do?” The whole lot of them were panicking.

“What do you mean what are we going to do? It’s still four targets. We can kill them all!” Gu Fei declared.

“Well, what if Young Master is together with them? I sincerely doubt we could hide from him.” Brother Assist began to worry again.

“Brother Assist, are you speaking to me?” Gu Fei asked.

“That’s right!”

“Then where are you looking at?”

Brother Assist reluctantly turned his head round, but that one glance actually caused him to see Gu Fei’s teapot lid haircut!

Don’t you dare laugh! Laughter means death! Brother Assist severely chided himself as he continued to speak, “Young Master and Colored Clouds have been together for quite some time during this City Wars event.”

“Why is Brother Assist speaking so strange all of a sudden?” Gu Fei asked.

“Am I?”

“Of course you are!” many of his guildmates shouted.

“B*lsh*t, how can I not sound strange? I’m biting my tongue while speaking! If I’m not in pain, how can I hold my laughter!?” Brother Assist was suffering.