5 Chapter 5 - Fireball (1/2)

A large-scale patching was carried out for the game, and the developers kept everyone updated with their progress on a daily basis. The issue of cute monsters was resolved on the very first day. The kittens, bunnies, and puppies were replaced completely with nasty-looking feral animals like boars and wolves.

The second day passed by...

And the third day went on....

Every player followed the updates eagerly. Even though the previous beta testing only went on for half a day, all had a gaming experience like nothing they had had before. The anticipation for the game was stronger than ever. Gu Fei was no exception. The first thing he did as soon as he got home every day was to check the latest developments regarding the patching. Gu Fei often found himself smiling as he woke up, since he had finally found a place where he could unleash his kung fu.

The wait for the game's reopening lasted for an entire month as there were simply too many things to patch. The idea from Xiaowu was given the green light, but refining every single aspect of it would have taken even more work. In the end, the gaming company decided to make the game playable first before gradually refining it further with future updates.

Gu Fei unfortunately had classes on the day the game went back up, so he logged into the game eagerly as soon as he got home after school. It had been quite a while since he felt so eager about something.

He was on a hill when he was disconnected before, yet he was now back to the spawn point inside the Mage Academy. Did he have to start all over again? Gu Fei checked his level and found no change; he remained at level 6. The coins from that day also remained with him, as well as the two small, rusty carving knives that hung by his waist.

Looking around, he noticed other Mages gathering around a NPC in a long queue. Gu Fei lined up as well out of curiosity after confirming that it was neither of the NPCs that sold glasses and brooms.

”What's going on here?” asked Gu Fei.

”Spells!” answered the person in the front as he glanced back at Gu Fei.

As it turned out, the patch had purposefully lowered the required level for learning skills and spells so that the players could fend for themselves as soon as possible. Players could learn a skill or a spell as soon as they entered the game, and they could learn more job-class-specific abilities for every six levels they reached. So besides buying glasses and brooms, the neophyte Mages of the academy had this to do as well.

The queue moved very fast, so it reached Gu Fei before he even knew it. He learned the first spell for Mages after speaking with the NPC. The spell was nothing original as Fireball was something that Mages seemed to learn first in every game all the time. However, as Gu Fei had reached level 6, he learned a second spell besides Fireball called Ring of Fire as well. If Fireball was the main offensive spell for new Mages, Ring of Fire would be the main defensive spell to protect the Mages' fragile bodies.

But of course, the usage of spells was a little more special in a virtual-reality game.

In the center of the vast academy grounds, over a thousand players had gathered together, yelling out in unison, ”Fireball!”

Fireballs formed swiftly in front of everyone. This created quite a spectacular sight as numerous fireballs floated mid-air. All the Mages were thrilled, but Gu Fei noticed a player beside him to be pale white. He seemed to be fairly shocked.

”Fire!” someone shouted out, and the rest immediately followed suit. The whole area echoed with sounds of ”fire”. However, the Mage Academy was a safe zone, so offensive spells like Fireball was prohibited. When everyone had declared ”Fire!” the fireballs remained suspended mid-air. The player beside Gu Fei grew even paler. Gu Fei could not help but ask, ”Are you alright?”

”F*ck!” the guy swore. He asked for Gu Fei's in-game name and nonchalantly added him as a friend, ”Look at my name.”

[System notification: Fireball added you as a friend.]

Gu Fei immediately broke into laughter. This person's name was Fireball. That would explain why he was startled when over a thousand players shouted the spell in unison.

As there were a constant number of people practicing casting their first spell, there was also a constant shouting of ”Fireball!” The player called Fireball could no longer bear with it and decided to leave after bidding farewell to Gu Fei.

”He he he... It's noisy in here. I'll leave as well,” Gu Fei followed him.

The two left the Mage Academy and headed to a map outside Yunduan City. Along the way, Fireball grumbled to Gu Fei about his misery. As it turned out, he too had obtained the gaming account from another person, where the name and job class were already chosen. Gu Fei immediately felt sympathetic. Fireball did not actually mind it at first, but he began to feel a little annoyed with the name after his experience earlier. His focus would definitely be drastically affected when friends and enemies alike yelled ”Fireball” in future battles. Right now, all he could hope for was that this beginner spell would soon be forgotten by all as they proceeded further in the game.

Gu Fei could not help but sympathize with Fireball, grumbling back at him about his tragic story of being forced to become a Mage. Not knowing the full story, Fireball assumed that Gu Fei just disliked the Mage job class, so he started going on and on about the advantages of being a Mage.

In any case, Gu Fei formed a rather good impression of Fireball, as he was one of the few Mages who did not wear glasses or carry a broom.

They arrived outside the city in the blink of an eye as they conversed.

The results from the first patch were evident. The map outside the city was filled with feral wolves and boars, and by listening to the players' complaints, they were all hideous, encouraging everyone to eliminate these monsters from just a single glance. This greatly increased many players' desire to level up. All the maps outside the city were filled with people hunting the feral wolves and boars. Although the monsters looked tough and ferocious, they were actually very weak. They could only resist feebly under the assaults of the players. The spawn rate of the monsters did not match up to the demands, so dozens of players would encircle a monster as soon as it had spawned.

Fireball's blood began pumping as he watched on. He took a few steps forward and yelled, ”Fireball!”

A fireball was formed slowly in front of him.

”Fire!” hollered Fireball.

And with that, the fireball was unleashed.

With a boom, the fireball landed accurately on a boar that was being pummeled by a group of players. The boar collapsed as flames splayed out with the aroma of barbecued meat.