54 Chapter 54 - The Trouble that PvP Brings (1/2)

Gu Fei was immediately assailed by fatigue after going offline. A regular player would never consider Gu Fei's daily gaming schedule as tiresome, so it could be said that his time online today had been very fruitful.

The nonstop hunting of No Smile and the Flames of Baptism's demand for utmost concentration had mentally drained Gu Fei by several folds. He felt spent once he had slightly eased his nerves after leaving the game. It's truly tough to be an online gaming pro! Gu Fei thought of Sword Demon and the rest who spent most of their time playing the game, regardless of whether it was day or night. Their bodies could not compare to Gu Fei's since they were all nerds, yet their ability to focus on the game for a whole day was admirably beyond him.

Gu Fei did not rush to get online today after a full night's rest. Instead, he casually browsed the game's official forums.

He might be an undeniable combat expert in-game, yet his online gaming knowledge was amateurish at best.

Flames of Baptism effectively boosted his Attack Power, as well as provided him with an interesting training material, yet its additional fire attack's erraticity had posed quite a danger to Gu Fei. Hence, he was now searching for a method to raise the trait's proc rate by 100%. If Gu Fei could do that, he would surely become a consistent, high-attack fighter.

Unfortunately, Parallel World's players were currently more focused on researching about the traits concerning the status effects, such as the Slow effect of Ice Damage, Paralysis effect of Electric Damage, and so on. Not much attention was given on researching a trait that could only cause fire attack. As for equipment traits that dealt additional magic attack, the consensus was for players to choose Poison Damage instead of Fire Damage. This was due to the lack of stats that would affect magic for close combat job classes. Poison Damage was dependent on the equipment itself instead of a character's magic affinity, and it had the additional advantage of reducing the target's HP even after completing the attack. Moreover, a decent weapon with Poison Damage could easily exceed the potential of a weapon with fire attack.

There was also another important reason: A weapon's additional magic attack trait could only be activated through normal attacks. Conversely speaking, the additional magic attack on weapons would not proc when a player incorporated skills into his or her attack. While this might not matter during a normal monster grind, it was a different case when it came to PvP or boss battles. This was because skill usage was essential in achieving victory in those fights. Thus, items with only additional magic attack trait had lower market prices, as they were pretty much considered as trash by players.

No one would naturally bother researching about those garbage items. Gu Fei searched pages after pages of the game forums but still came up with no useful information. All he found was that besides weapons with magic attack trait, accessories like rings, necklaces, and emblems had the probability of containing the same trait as well.

The in-game equipment was separated into nine categories: weapon, helmet, body armor, belt, shoes, couple rings, necklace, and emblem.

The fact that Gu Fei's two fingers and neck had remained empty despite grinding on monsters for this long was proof that the drop rate of these accessories was very low. Gu Fei's straw hat and shoes were not actually terrible; they were just not suitable for Mages, which was why Young Master Han and company had constantly criticized and pointed their uselessness.

After a quick check, Gu Fei learned that he could buy accessories that increased the proc rate of fire attack. He decided to purchase some at the first opportunity, as well as conventional equipment to remain unnoticeable to others.

Gu Fei left the forums after checking the items he planned to purchase. It was then that he spotted the forums' sticky thread – Yunduan City's Close Combat Mage: 'Killing a man in just ten steps, and never stopping once while pursuing his target. Gone with his name and identity once everything ended'.

Gu Fei's heart tightened as he clicked to view the thread. Just as he thought, it was a report about his hunt of No Smile throughout Yunduan City yesterday.

The players, who had kept their ears to the ground, managed to dig out almost all the relevant information about the incident. However, that was not the crux of the matter; the emphasis was on the process in which No Smile had been hunted. All the information was collated from various eyewitnesses' accounts. As the perpetrator, Gu Fei judged the data to be largely accurate.

There were two main discussions that developed regarding the matter.

The first discussion was about the moral implication of the Masked Slayer's action. This was a hot topic that had started during the live broadcast of yesterday's forums. Gu Fei briefly glanced at the various opinions posted on the forums and then dismissed them altogether. He did not feel a shred of guilt toward killing No Smile.

No Smile swindled July first. When he was later defrauded by the professional con-artist Xi Xiaotian, she had done so of her volition and not because of July's siccing. Later on in Parallel World, the wretched No Smile coincidentally became Gu Fei and the mercenary group's latest target after he had harassed July. Gu Fei had destroyed No Smile with a clear conscience, so the vitriol about his actions that littered the forums did not affect him at all.

The second discussion was about his fighting prowess. The news that a Mage had hunted and killed a Thief through close-combat techniques was definitely astounding to hear. Naturally, the online players did not idle around once they had witnessed the fight. A link was immediately posted on the forums that directed players to a different thread that focused on analyzing Gu Fei's expert moves.

Quite a number of players must have used Appraisal on Gu Fei back then, since the post even displayed a complete list of his equipment.

But the thread digressed for a bit, as everyone speculated on where Eddie's Emblem came from. Its ability to increase each of the five different stats by 6 points for a total of 30 points made it an accessory with the highest stat-point boost out of all the available in-game items.

Gu Fei gulped when he saw this. Thankfully, he had seen this thread; otherwise, the Masked Slayer's true identity would be discovered with Eddie's Emblem alone. July and the ladies had probably used Appraisal on him before, so he would immediately be exposed if they stumbled upon this thread.

However, it was unlikely that the girls would divulge this. Gu Fei clung to that thought at this moment. If it is revealed… Gu Fei could not deny how troublesome it would get, as he thought back to the string of players that had chased after him all over Yunduan City.