Virtual World: Close Combat Mage - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Difficult to Comprehend

Time flew by and one week has passed from the day that Parallel World started its beta test. Players tried their best to adapt to the changes of a new mode of gaming. As a teacher, Gu Fei was surrounded by chit-chats about the game. Of course, he would not join in the conversations. In response to Gu Fei’s request, Ah Fa did not tell anyone at school that Teacher Gu Fei also played the game.

Gu Fei, like many other young teachers, liked video games as well. However, most teachers chose to abide by the principle of setting an example for their students as teachers and expressed their disdain for anything students liked. Although Gu Fei was an unimportant gym teacher, he chose to comply as well.

Yet, Gu Fei still showed a significant change in the eyes of his colleagues and students: he no longer rambled on and on about his beloved Kung Fu!

Teacher Gu Fei was finally normal! That became a news item in school.

Gu Fei didn’t care for all those attention he gained in school. All his leisure time was spent in Parallel World. He loved this virtual world, the world where he could use his Kung Fu however he liked.

Still, Parallel World, as a game, required information to work best, and Gu Fei didn’t forget that. Whenever he rose a few levels, he would visit the official site so as to choose the levelling area for the next stage.

Gu Fei had three criteria when choosing monsters. They had to be human-shaped, attacked using close combat, and had higher level than oneself. Choosing a monster which was human-shaped and attacked using close combat was because of his Kung Fu. Gu Fei gamed not for the sake of gaming, but for his Kung Fu. He had never once thought that grinding mobs was boring and tedious. Instead, he could pour his heart and soul into the activity as he took the process as training for Kung Fu.

As for choosing monsters that had higher levels than him, it was a choice due to gaming reasons. The monsters in Parallel World gave set amounts of XP, so monsters of higher levels than the player obviously gave more points. Gu Fei would not give up on this avenue of gaining XP faster given that he had the ability to do so. Even so, there was still a limit to how much he could bypass the level difference when killing monsters with all his Kung Fu techniques. He wouldn’t be able to keep up with the monster’s speed or defence if it were around 20 or more levels higher than him.

This situation reminded Gu Fei about how his dad had taught him Kung Fu when he was young. “You are small and weak, so I have no need to care for your attacks,” Dad cheerfully flipped little Gu Fei onto the ground although he took a punch from him. “You can tell that I’m going to flip you from the movement of my shoulder, but you can’t avoid it. Why? Because your body still can’t keep up with your eyes. You still need training, kid. Loads of it.”

Gu Fei grew up in such challenges and he missed the fun he had then. Now, he had the opportunity to do it again. How could he not be excited?

Train, improve oneself and challenge stronger enemies. It was all so simple in the world of gaming.

Finally the day for Gu Fei to reach level 30 had come.

Every player who levelled up would take a quick look at the amount of XP needed for the next level. Gu Fei was no exception. However, what he saw made his jaw drop.

Am I seeing things? Is this really the amount of XP needed for level 30 to rise to level 31? Am I now level 30 or 300? Gu Fei thought with surprise.

The XP needed this time, instead of the usual 10% increment before, was a 10 times increment.

10 times!

There had been no online game that required such a vast increment of XP during levelling before.

And during this time, a great number of players in Parallel World had reached or were reaching this level.

Everyone was caught in the swirl of leveling up and getting shocked.

Thus forth, this was taken as a bug and the whole world was crazily reporting the problem to the game company. Almost no one was still training.

Soon, the game company came out with a public announcement.

It wasn’t a bug. As to why this had happened, the reason was that the game company had altered the amount of XP required for levelling up for the first 30 levels.

In order to avoid having a large number of acts of violence such as that on the first day of the beta test, the company could only tweak game settings as they could not interfere directly regarding these bullying incidents. And the final decision after discussion was to greatly cut the XP needed for a player to level up till level 30.

The company deemed level 30 as a level that all Classes would have formed a balance in all areas and have enough skills and ability to battle and protect themselves. Of course, this might not apply if you were a complete noob. But that would have nothing to do with the game company.

It was an explanation that everyone would accept readily, as they knew about those misdeeds which happened during the initial release of the game. When players learnt that no changes would be made, they flew back to the game to carry on with their levelling.

Gu Fei on the other hand, was completely unaware of this happening. After making sure that he wasn’t level 300, nor did he misread the XP needed, he dismissed the matter. He had wanted to ask Mortal Smile, but he gave it up since Mortal Smile wasn’t online. If there were any mistakes, the company would make adjustments accordingly. Gu Fei decided to get back to training and started travelling towards the levelling area he had chosen for his level 30 stage.

The area Gu Fei had selected for level 30 was one that others’ would view as a level 40 levelling area.

One could have still managed with even higher-levelled monsters, but those had exceptionally higher defense and HP, so it would be the most efficient to grind those which were level 40.

When Gu Fei unexpectedly met Sword Ghost at this leveling area, Sword Ghost gave the above theory in a tone of great minds think alike.

Gu Fei had, naturally, planned it that way too. The only difference was their attitude. Sword Ghost did it for the purpose of levelling up as fast as possible, but Gu Fei took it as polishing his Kung Fu skills, and gained satisfaction from levelling up. If he did it purely for the purpose of levelling up, Gu Fei definitely would not have the enthusiasm he had now.

By then, the XP Sword Ghost had gained was equivalent to level 30.5. It was obvious that he had reached level 30 earlier than anyone else, and although he had doubts, he had continued on just like Gu Fei did.

After exchanging greetings, Gu Fei turned to leave for another levelling area.

Both of them did not suggest teaming up for levelling.

For Sword Ghost, he knew his routine was specially devised for levelling alone. Overall, if someone joined in, although total XP gained would potentially increase, the efficiency would decrease.

Whereas for Gu Fei, he could tell that Sword Ghost didn’t need any help. Moreover, he fought monsters to practice Kung Fu, so he didn’t need help as well.

By tacit agreement they split up, each to one side.

Before they parted, Gu Fei took an envious glance at Sword Ghost’s Frost Memories. Xi Xiaotian was a real connoisseur. The dagger could have easily fetched even more than 50,000 Yuan.

The most valuable trait of the dagger was not its high attack damage nor the chance of causing a fatal blow, but its 25-point increment, which means that the player could be considered to have gained 5 levels since only 5 points were given per rise in level. No further explanation would be needed to explain this trait’s worth for a game that allowed players to gain XP the fastest by killing monsters of higher levels than oneself.

Even if it were just a rock and not a weapon, I would have gladly taken it to try it out in the higher-levelled areas! Gu Fei thought to himself. Still, though he coveted the dagger, he would never have second thoughts about the decision of returning it to Sword Ghost. It was a matter of principles.

The two had a patch of woods between them. They could not see each other, but only hear the screams of the monsters. The difference was that there were pauses on Sword Ghost’s side, whereas shrieks of agony persisted on Gu Fei’s side.

Sword Ghost needed rest to regain HP. In Parallel World, under the situation that the player is being attacked or attacking, items like Potions could not be used to restore HP. Potions can only be used when the player is not in battle, and during battle, only skills or special equipment could be used to restore HP.

Thus it could be said that in Parallel World, it was tough to train by oneself all alone.

Of course, Gu Fei was a different case. He needed no high-levelled skills and relied mostly on just normal attacks, yet he achieved a much more efficient result than Sword Ghost, who had made use of every Rogue’s skill within level 30 to the maximum.

However, Gu Fei had a job and still needed to spend large amounts of time on training of Kung Fu in real life, which gaming could never replace, resulting in the huge disparity in XP between him and Sword Ghost.

As for Sword Ghost, Gu Fei didn’t know what he did for a living. As long as Gu Fei was online, Sword Ghost’s name had never darkened. He was probably a so-called professional gamer, thought Gu Fei as he fought a monster.

And Sword Ghost, as well, was thinking about Gu Fei at the other side of the woods.

It was days before meeting again. And this chap is now level 30 too.

Sword Ghost would have regarded getting to level 30 in a week as a really unworthy result. But since he was online for long periods of time everyday and paid close attention to Gu Fei, he was clear about Gu Fei’s short gaming time.

Taking these factors into consideration, all that Sword Ghost had left for Gu Fei was shock and admiration. What astounding efficiency!

At the same time, he was perplexed regarding Gu Fei’s attire.

A level-30 mage with such ridiculous clothes! He still wore the beginner mage robe and had a bulge at his waist which probably would turn out to be a dagger again. That straw hat on his head was meant for warriors and his boots were for us rogues!

Oh gosh! What on earth is with this combination?