19 Chapter 19 - Refusing to Improve (1/2)

Oolong Cave was located exactly in Oolong Mountain.

Oolong Mountain was about five hundred meters northwest of Yunduan City's west gate. The mountain was rife with bandits, and the official description for the mountain stated that it was an ideal grinding and looting map for players between levels 25 and 30.

However, what was inside Oolong Cave was completely different from Oolong Mountain. The bandits within it were around level 35 and were largely considered as elite among the criminal NPCs lurking on the mountain. The cave had messy passageways with plenty of twists and turns which made it easy for players to lose their way. GMs did not consider it as reasonable grounds to help players who made such a silly mistake of losing their way inside the cave. This caused the players to curse once more the game officials who had made the statement about the ever-ready-to-assist GMs.

Gu Fei's statement before leaving to learn a new spell in the Mage Academy had caused Sword Demon and the others to become listless and resulted into the eruption of an argument. So when Gu Fei arrived to the cave, he could not catch even a glimpse of their shadow. Instead, he spotted a player, most likely a Mage, pitifully squatting beside the entrance.

Is he our employer? Gu Fei pondered silently, before going forward and greeting the person, ”Hello!”

The person raised his head and looked at Gu Fei, ”Hello.”

”What are you doing here?” Gu Fei asked.

”I'm waiting for some people,” he replied.

”Are you waiting for those who agreed to help you finish Oolong Cave's bounty mission?” Gu Fei pressed on.

”Why do you know that?” the person said in shock.

Gu Fei chuckled, ”That's because I am one of those people.”

”Oh! You're someone from the Young Master's Elite group!” the person immediately stood up.

Gu Fei had just found out his mercenary group's name. The name was rather detestable but it was understandable. Given the level of Young Master Han's narcissism, how could the group he formed not be named after himself?

”Why are you the only one present?” he asked.

”The rest will arrive shortly.”

”Oh!” the man answered and began to closely size up Gu Fei. He had previously mistaken Gu Fei as a mere passerby and had not even bothered to raise his head to acknowledge him. Once the employer knew that he would be one of the key factors for the success of his quest, he started to take note of him and was left shocked by what he discovered.

A straw hat, a beginner's mage robe, and a pair of casual shoes worn by Thieves – he was wearing three different types of equipment with opposing styles. This unique blend had the employer stumped! He sneakily used Appraisal on Gu Fei and confirmed his job class as Mage.

He immediately focused on the magic staff Gu Fei was holding. It had a very innovative design: elongated, flat, and simple. It even had a hand-guard attached to it. What sort of rare item is that? the person quietly speculated.

Gu Fei turned just then; he placed his hand across his eyebrows as he looked down the mountain trail and finally spotted the figures of the five people.

Everyone met right outside the cave entrance. Young Master Han introduced each member of the team to the employer. Seeing that they were all renowned players from other online games, he could not help but be thrilled. The living legends of the online gaming world! He deeply admired the Mage pro player Royal God Call as he was a Mage player himself, so he was especially disappointed when he found out that the latter had decided to be an Archer instead of a Mage in Parallel World.

When they got to Gu Fei, the employer who kept spouting ”I heard so much about you”, ”Pleasure meeting you”, ”It's an honor” had finally stopped using those phrases.

Thousand Miles Drunk? Who's that? Never heard of him. What does he do? Is he a pro? Everyone could guess what the employer had on his mind from his expression alone.

Gu Fei did not actually mind. He was never part of their clique after all. Gu Fei's prestige would have preceded him had anyone asked about him among those who practiced kung fu. Alas, there were significantly fewer people active in the kung fu community compared to the online gaming community.

”Do you even play online games, bro?” sounded like a legitimate insult over here.

But the question ”Do you know kung fu?” would have sounded preposterous to them.

The things they were exposed to were worlds apart! Gu Fei was feeling rather disappointed just as everyone began to enter the cave.

Young Master Han repeated his final instruction, ”We'll take care of all the monsters along the way. You two just have to follow closely behind. Don't get into fight, got it?”

Gu Fei and the employer nodded. He was visibly excited but Gu Fei was listless. He was instructed: ”Don't get into fight.” But the sole reason he even played this game was to ”get into fight”!

The cave's pathway was rugged and had no obvious light source, but players could still see clearly what was in front of them. It could be considered as one of the few miracles the game provided. It did not take long for them to encounter enemies. Gu Fei and the employer obediently stayed behind the group's formation and struck up a conversation in boredom.

”You're a Mage as well?” the employer asked.