Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Chapter 119 - Grinding on Monsters beyond Their Levels

Gu Fei treated Moonlit Nightfalls as a teacher’s pointing stick and instructed his guildmates to run all over the grinding spot that they had claimed as their own. The bold and confident tone he used to address them and the aura his body emitted had convinced the ladies that he was a natural-born instructor who used it for a living.

That was truly the case, since Gu Fei’s job as a P.E. teacher had him instructing students to run around the academy grounds in reality. Compared to those lazy students that only put forth half-hearted effort in his P.E. classes, the Amethyst Rebirth’s ladies currently before him were way more diligent and obedient. For instance, none of them headed west if Gu Fei pointed at east; they also gave their all into running and luring the monsters in this grinding map.

After a few rounds of monster grinding, Gu Fei clutched his sword under his armpit, clapped his hands, and shouted, “Take five at your current position! Stop luring the monsters!”

No one was so obedient this time. Gathering around Gu Fei, they asked, “Why are we stopping? Why the need to rest right now?”

“Mana recovery,” Gu Fei sat on to the ground and took an apple from his dimensional pocket.

The ladies composed mostly of Mages became aware of the situation. It was faster to recover mana by eating fruit and, as expected, Gu Fei stood up not too long after. He waved at the crowd of ladies surrounding him and commanded, “Continue!”

The ladies became busy again... but only for a short while. Just as they were beginning to enjoy luring the monsters after a few rounds, Gu Fei clapped his hands once more, “Take five and recover your mana!”

“What?” The ladies questioningly looked at Gu Fei who had sat on to the ground to munch on fruit once more.

“He only casted the spell for five times, right?” everyone asked one another, bewildered.

“You are out of mana after casting Descending Wheel of Flames just for five times?!” the ladies clamored with widened eyes. They could understand why he had run out of mana the first time, as he had dueled with players before and lured and killed monsters after, but he only rested and ate an apple moments ago... He should have fully replenished his mana when they had resumed grinding, right? A fully replenished mana that was only capable of powering Descending Wheel of Flames for five times... Was this the competence that a Mage should be having?

Gu Fei sighed, “It can’t be helped! I don’t want this to happen as well.”

“How high is your spell proficiency?” Ice Glaze was more optimistic; she assumed that Gu Fei’s spell proficiency was so high that it caused his spells to consume a lot of mana.

Gu Fei did not intend to reveal his spell proficiency, as doing so would only cause him to be ridiculed by these ladies. He merely sighed and gave a general answer, “I don’t have high spell proficiency; it’s just that my mana is low.”

Luo Luo explained to the others, “Miles poured all his points into Agility, so his Intelligence is lower compared to others.”

Gu Fei nodded his head in confirmation.

The ladies kindly consoled Gu Fei, saying that he should not fret about it much since he could reallocate his stat points upon reaching level 40. After this segment, they very generously offered the variety of fruits that they had on them to Gu Fei. This gesture allowed Gu Fei to find out exactly what kind of fruit each lady liked: three liked apples, three liked bananas, two loved pears, and one loved peaches.

Gu Fei felt touched. He could not help but ask them a string of questions and request: “Where did you buy these bananas? Where can I get peaches? Give me some more pears!” His low mana forced him to buy and eat fruit all the time, yet he only knew where to buy apples. Munching on apples day after day had naturally caused him to grow tired of them that he now felt like puking whenever he had to eat one.

Fortunately, the game was not so uptight that it required players to finish a whole apple. As long as they took a bite, the system would consider them as having eaten an apple and would recover their mana after three seconds. While keeping a once-bitten apple for later consumption was possible, it would not be able to replenish mana again.

After Gu Fei ate one banana, the grinding party resumed their activities. Five casted spells later, the ladies stopped running on their own before Gu Fei could say something and waited for him to consume another fruit.

Although it was somewhat grating to halt their level grinding after every five casted spells, their current grinding method’s efficiency was undeniably something that the usual grinding methods could not hold a candle to. Fortunately, Gu Fei’s mana recovery was fast so the ladies did not have to wait long for him to fully replenish it. This was a reprieve – if it could be considered as such – in Gu Fei’s otherwise frustrating situation.

While the ladies felt satisfied with the rapid rate that their experience points were increasing, Gu Fei thought differently. After a few more rounds of monster grinding, Gu Fei could not help but suggest during his latest mana recovery session, “Grinding here is too slow. Let’s switch to another map.”

“How is grinding here slow?” the ladies asked.

Gu Fei counted with his fingers, “There are ten of us and this grinding spot has a respawn rate of nine monsters at a time; if we consider everything, it’s almost like you all are only standing by for one monster each to respawn before luring them back. While killing them doesn’t take much time, leveling up through this process is very slow!”

Luo Luo smiled wryly and said, “That may be the case. But the way things are in the game right now, a grinding spot is already considered as good if it can provide one monster for every player in a grinding party. Look around us; every grinding party is more or less in the same situation.”

Gu Fei nodded his head, “So I suggest we switch to another map.”

“Where else can we go?!” the ladies asked, baffled. They added, “Every level 40 grinding map is crowded with people.”

Gu Fei smiled, “To a level 50 grinding map. There should be fewer people in it.”

“Grinding on monsters beyond our levels!” all the ladies exclaimed with wide eyes. Everyone knew the significance of grinding on higher level monsters in Parallel World. But with their mediocre abilities, the Amethyst Rebirth’s ladies were simply not capable of challenging higher level monsters and merely envied those who could. Thus, the idea of grinding at a map populated by higher level monsters never crossed their minds.

Gu Fei’s Spell Damage was indubitably strong. Thinking that level grinding was a piece of cake with the assistance of such a powerhouse, these amateurish female players enthusiastically agreed to the idea of grinding on monsters beyond their current levels.

In this case, Luo Luo could be regarded as among the players with higher level of understanding of the game’s mechanics. She could not help but consider Gu Fei’s incorrect stat point allocation and Spell Damage that was enhanced by top-grade equipment. His superb irregularity as a player allowed him to insta-kill level 40 monsters, but could it still do the same with level 50 monsters?

Gu Fei did not notice her hesitation, though. Upon seeing the majority of the ladies agree to his idea, he packed up the variety of fruits given to him by them and prepared to leave. His limited Strength made carrying everything himself impossible, so he could only ask some of the ladies to carry a few for him.

“Hey. Can you really deal with level 50 monsters?” Luo Luo asked when he handed out some bananas to her.

“I can try,” Gu Fei replied confidently.

Luo Luo could not bring herself to dampen the spirits of the others, so she decided to go along with them. The entire team left Yunxia Valley energetically.

At a distance of two mountains, Geyun Mountain Ridge was the nearest level 50 grinding map to Yunxia Valley. Yunxia Valley was a grinding map located by the foot of the mountains, while Geyun Mountain Ridge was one that was situated on a mountain top.

Only a few parties were level grinding at Geyun Mountain Ridge just as Gu Fei had said, so dividing the map into several grinding spots like in a level 40 grinding map was not required. Looking from atop the mountain, the sight of the monsters wandering all over the place made the ladies very excited. Each of them resolved to listen well to Gu Fei’s arrangement.

Luo Luo immediately discovered the oddity within this map. The players grinding over here all had melee job classes, such as Warriors and Thieves, and were accompanied by Knights or Priests. Parties consisting mostly of Mages that she could usually see in level 40 grinding maps were nowhere to be seen here.

Since Parallel World did not exempt players from friendly fire, Mages and melee job classes, like Warriors, could not attack at the same time during level grinding. Mages mainly attacked with AOE spells, so if melee job classes, such as Warriors and Thieves, hurled themselves toward the monsters at the same time, it went without saying what the consequences would be for them.

This was why grinding parties in Parallel World were usually divided into two sorts: Mage party and no Mage party. Obviously, the Amethyst Rebirth’s grinding party handled by Royal God Call belonged to a Mage party, where a large number of Mages gathered together to strengthen the long-range damage that they could deal on monsters. As for the other party handled by War Without Wounds, it was a no Mage party that focused on dealing close-range damage.

In this current level 50 grinding map, the lack of a Mage party made Luo Luo feel somewhat apprehensive. As she expressed her doubts to everyone, Gu Fei simply laughed it off and said, “These level 50 monsters are resistant to fire magic, so dealing with them is a bit tough for Mages.”

Gu Fei previously experienced the might of level 50 monsters when he was hiding in Youye Valley with the whole ‘Bounty Mission’ matter in Yueye City. At that time, killing one monster required him to cast the Repeating Fireball spell first before following it up with the simple Fireball spell. Although Gu Fei was eight levels higher than his previous self, his Magic Attack Power did not actually increase much as he had not added points to Intelligence. Thus, his competence at dealing with level 50 monsters more or less remained at the same level.

It was weird that the AOE spell Descending Wheel Flames could insta-kill level 40 monsters, yet the concentrated spell Repeating Fireball with its higher damage output could not insta-kill even one level 50 monster. The monsters’ level was only increased by ten levels, after all. Judging by the previous stat growth rate for every ten levels, Gu Fei’s Repeating Fireball should be capable of insta-killing level 50 monsters.

It was only after a joint analysis with the experts of Young Master’s Elite mercenary group that they had reached a conclusion: the level 50 monsters had higher fire magic resistance, which caused the damage dealt by the Mages’ fire-based spells to be severely lessened against these monsters.

The ladies gawked at Gu Fei, asking, “Then, how do you plan to grind on them?”

“The usual way!” Gu Fei answered thoughtlessly.

“You can insta-kill these level 50 monsters?!” the ladies asked, astonished. They estimated that Gu Fei’s Spell Damage was just enough to insta-kill level 40 monsters.

Gu Fei shook his head, “Nope.”

“Then, what do we do?”

“Who among you all has the highest Spell Damage? I should be able to get by with an assistant,” Gu Fei inquired. He followed the ladies’ gazes to Ice Glaze and clapped his hands, “Let’s give it a shot! Off to monster luring!”

The ladies hesitantly went to lure monsters. Just how high is Miles’ Spell Damage? All had this same question in their minds.

“So fast!” all the ladies exclaimed upon seeing the fast approaching speed of the monsters to them when they each casted Fireball at the monsters. They were so shocked that they forgot their previous question of whether Gu Fei could insta-kill these level 50 monsters or not.

Luo Luo was the one caught in the most difficult situation. Holy Ball’s attack range, which was smaller than Fireball’s, and her movement speed, which was slower than a Mage, allowed the monster that she was luring to close in on her halfway in the blink of an eye. She retreated a few steps but the monster still managed to arrive right behind her, scratching her with its claws. Luo Luo instantly panicked. She did not know whether to stop and heal herself or to keep on running and bring the monster to Gu Fei.

The rest of the ladies could barely fend for themselves, so nobody noticed her predicament.

“Sis Luo Luo!” Ice Glaze, who was overseeing their grinding area after getting promoted as Gu Fei’s assistant, immediately saw Luo Luo’s perilous situation. But besides drawing attention to the problem, she was at her wits’ end on what she should do to actually help. That was when she recalled that Gu Fei was beside her. As she turned her head to ask Gu Fei for help, she saw that he was no longer beside her. She helplessly looked at Luo Luo’s direction once more, only to see that Gu Fei was already beside Luo Luo.

Ice Glaze felt stunned. It was only now that she truly grasped just how fast Gu Fei was. Such speed... It’s evident that his speed is higher than Royal God Call’s... Is he still considered as a Mage?

“How troublesome!” Gu Fei sighed. With his mind busy on calculating the sufficiency of his Spell Damage, he forgot to consider the fact that luring the monsters was already a tall task for the ladies. He had always been training alone and had an unusual way of allocating his stat points as a Mage, so he somewhat did not understand the usual hardships that regular Mages faced.