Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Chapter 481 – A Child of the Gu Family

“That was close!” Sword Demon heard the Fighter utter these words. “What a skill! To think that you could suddenly disappear during your sprint; I have no idea if I can block it if you have another go!”

This guy... He’s not trying to kill me off as soon as he can; what is he even going on about? Sword Demon was suspicious, yet he was not about to let this chance slip by. Swiftly tumbling on the ground to get up, he was now fully focusing on the opponent and on this fight. However, all he saw was this opponent losing all intention of continuing the fight as he lazily leaned against the big tree behind him, throwing a glance over to Sword Demon. “Haven’t you noticed that your skill’s invisibility is different from Stealth, and that your shadow will still remain even after you turn invisible?”

“Shadow?” Sword Demon was stunned.

But this man quickly slapped his forehead as he continued. “Oh, I forgot. Aside from this huge courtyard here in this city, nowhere else will such a thing like shadow exist.”

Sword Demon immediately had an epiphany. He had been wondering why the skill was called ‘Shadowmist Assault’; the name sounded as if it had something to do with shadows or mist, yet thinking of it now, it seemed that this was a skill flawless only on a foggy day. Here in this entire courtyard... Sword Demon tilted his head up the sky and saw the sun blazing brightly, casting the shadow of anything it shone upon. In contrast, outside of this compound, in the city that was perpetually shrouded in a heavy fog, why would shadows even exist? Shadowmist Assault’s flaw was naturally masked by this, so Sword Demon and Gu Fei did not realize that the skill had such a weakness.

Still, this person had, in that brief exchange alone, discovered that flaw, which went to show that he was not just an average gamer!

“Who are you?” Sword Demon asked.

“The name’s Windchord,” the man replied. “Where’s that guy with you?”

Windchord... One of the Ten Great Adepts in the Fighter job class. Is he a member of Flowergazing in the Fog? He seems to be a kung fu practitioner like Gu Fei, which makes him a difficult person to contend with... This thought ran through Sword Demon’s mind even as he anxiously sent a message over to Gu Fei.

“I met a Fighter that seems to know kung fu as well!”

Gu Fei was delighted in the first moment he received this message. To think that there’ll be someone else I can spar with again! Assassinating Giordano is nothing compared to this! Gu Fei immediately gave up on his operation to sneak into that firewood storage shed as he happily ran up along the wall toward where Sword Demon was located, messaging him as he went. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine...” Sword Demon was also dejected that he was fine. He could tell that the man was highly skilled just from how the opponent had managed to mitigate his Shadowmist Assault. He should be no match for his current opponent, but the problem was that this man appeared to have no intentions of attacking, which meant the issue of fighting him was made redundant.

Knowing he was no match for Windchord, Sword Demon did not seek to challenge the man. He might give it a shot if the Shadowmist Assault’s skill cooldown had ended, but as the matter stood, it was better to just leave this to Gu Fei! Sword Demon was always confident when it came to that man.

They were not that far from each other, so given his movement speed, Gu Fei arrived in no time. In a glance, he already spotted the focused Sword Demon down below and that stationary Fighter leaning against the tree.

“I’ll take care of him! You go and search the body of that Sleeping Assassin!” Gu Fei sent this message over to Sword Demon as he leaped off the wall.

“Take this!” Gu Fei yelled as he sailed through the air. It was not often that he could find himself a potential adversary, so he had no wish to sneak up and insta-kill the man. Thus, he made sure to alert the man of his presence as his sword came cleaving down, not even applying his Twin Incineration to that slash. Gu Fei also wished to verify the skill of this person; it was Sword Demon who had claimed that the man knew kung fu, after all, and while he was an outstanding gamer, whether he had a discerning eye for kung fu...

Windchord lifted his head the moment he heard his voice. Gu Fei’s sword was already right before him, yet he remained as calm as ever. He bent his body until his head was almost touching the ground as his right leg sailed vertically past.

Skyward Drill! How is this possible?! This was the most astonished Gu Fei had ever been since he entered Parallel World. He was so shocked he even hesitated while they exchanged moves, and a kick from his enemy scored a blow across his jaw. Gu Fei was sent flying backward, his limbs spread out as he planted into the wall behind him.

There’s no doubt it’s Skyward Drill! Gu Fei trusted his eyes. What made him so surprised was because this was a move that originated from the Gu family’s Inherited Arts. Even though the martial arts world nowadays was open to all, every family would nevertheless reserve certain moves in secret for their use alone and were not meant for privy eyes. Skyward Drill was one such move out of the Gu family’s Kicking Arts that were never taught to others. Besides members of the Gu family, no one else would be able to learn this.

Is there anyone else that dabbles in MMOs in my family? Gu Fei was so taken aback by this. This was because, aside from him, all the other martial arts practitioners in the family were older uncles past their fifties and did not seem to be the sort to mix around with MMOs.

Gu Fei fell off the wall and to the ground. Getting up, Gu Fei steadied himself as Windchord straightened himself and turned over to face him...

“Gu Xian!” Gu Fei called out this person’s name.

Windchord was indeed a member of the Gu family, and he was even Gu Fei’s peer. Gu Xian was the child of his second uncle, born in the same year and month, but because he was born four days earlier, the man thus became an elder cousin of his. This rascal’s talent became apparent earlier than Gu Fei’s and was also outstanding. Originally, he was the one which the family had placed all their hopes to, but it was unfortunate that no human was born perfect. While the child was gifted, his character was also like that of nature itself. In other words, the boy was lazy.

No other word better described Gu Xian, as the man was quite literally the personification of that word. This man was so lazy it was entirely beyond belief. He would never stand if he could sit, and would never be found sitting if he could lie down. The man was willing to starve himself for a day just to avoid walking a distance of no more than 200 meters.

In order to practice martial arts, everybody had to begin by training out a fit body. This was a grueling process that was unavoidable. Asking someone that was too lazy to walk even a few steps to do so much work was a fool’s errand. The elders in the family had tried all sorts of ways and methods yet they were unable to change this trait of his. Yet, all they could do was watch as this diamond in the rough turn into a loser, leaving every one of them angered to the point they were beating their chests in frustration.

Over two decades had passed, but Gu Xian still steadfastly held on to his title as the number one loser of his generation. The other cousins of Gu Fei, even though none of them practiced martial arts, were at least able to make something out of themselves, while this man was the only one who did nothing with his life. All the elders would sigh whenever this rascal was mentioned; his father, who was also Gu Fei’s second uncle, had long since erupted. He declared his intention to disown this wastrel of a son and kick him out of the household, but the other uncles in the family managed to convince the man otherwise.

Gu Fei had once overheard all these uncles of his discuss in private that Gu Xian could well be the most talented across the entire Gu family tree, but was also the biggest loser in the entire lineage. It was truly a family mystery just how this guy turned out to be so lazy. How exactly did this man’s mind worked?

The Gu Family was substantially well-off, so they did not mind having this additional mouth to feed. Meanwhile, the man was at least law-abiding and had never done anything that would affect others in any way or form. He had even reached a whole new realm of laziness when he even felt too lazy to sustain any bad habits, merely spending all his day indoors.

Speaking of which, their peers would all head out to learn and advance their careers, yet it was only Gu Xian and the kung fu practitioner Gu Fei that would simply stay at home, so the two were no strangers to one another. However, it had been a long time since they saw each other after Gu Fei left his family’s ancestral home. There was also no contact between the two men, as this man was that sort of person who would be lazy to even pick up the phone, much less make a point to call.

“Video Mage? It is indeed you!” Gu Xian smiled as he looked at Gu Fei.

Gu Fei was not in the least bit surprised that Gu Xian was able to recognize him as the Video Mage. While the man was lazy, the talent he had was undeniable. Gu Fei could still remember even today how Gu Xian, lying by the side lackadaisically, would immediately point out all his flaws while he was honing his kung fu when they were still children. This man’s talent is definitely well above my own! Gu Fei could not help but sigh when he thought of this. Just like his elders, he felt sorry for this elder cousin of his.

“You guys know each other?” Sword Demon caught on quickly.

“Not only do we know each other, we’re blood-related as well,” Gu Fei confirmed.

“Oh...” Sword Demon heaved a sigh of relief. With such a relation, no wonder this man did not make things difficult for me. Thinking of this, Sword Demon went ahead to search the body of the Sleeping Assassin. Sure enough, Gu Xian did not even show any intention of stopping him.

“How come you’re diligent enough to play a MMO?” Gu Fei asked.

“I need to find some entertainment, too... What else suits me more than this?” Gu Xian asked back.

“Well... This game requires you to run about from place to place. Don’t you find that troublesome?” Gu Fei said.

“Of course, I do, and that’s why I’ve always been forcefully logging off,” Gu Xian answered.

Sword Demon, who was still listening in to the conversation between the two, was shocked when he heard this. ‘Always forcefully logging off’ was a fairly severe problem. The system had explicitly stated that forcefully logging off would likely result in the loss of experience, coins, skill proficiency, equipment, and any other thing that the player could own. If this man had always been forcefully logging off yet was still able to be one of the Ten Great Adepts, it was truly quite the amazing feat despite it only being among the Fighters.

Gu Fei was not too surprised by this. When it came to this lazy cousin of his, running back and forth from the grinding maps and the designated log-off points was an inconceivable situation to the man. Camping out in a grinding zone and grinding his level every day while forcefully logging in and out was more his style of gaming.

“What are you doing here?”

“He he,” Gu Xian laughed. “They specifically looked for me and asked me to go up against someone. When I heard that this person is you, of course I quickly made my way over. You can’t have forgotten that bullying you is one of my greatest enjoyments, right?”

Gu Fei gnashed his teeth... This comment had in fact fished up some unpleasant memories of his. When he was younger, before Gu Xian had become overtly lazy. Gu Fei was often cheated out of his food and drink by this person. After that, it was just as what was previously mentioned; Gu Xian would pick out his flaws with pinpoint accuracy, which was yet another way for him to mock Gu Fei.

Now, Gu Fei was considered to be the star that the Gu Family orbited around, whereas Gu Xian was seen as no more than the outsider that nobody cared about. But Gu Fei knew deep down that, if Gu Xian was not such a sloth, the man would well be in the position that he was in right now...