Chapter 8: Remain Unchanged Amidst a World of Change

  At this time, the state of mind of Jian Gui was quite different from that of Gu Fei. The three consecutive blows just now had startled him so much that his whole body was covered in cold sweat. Especially the last blow, it was completely an unconscious action to protect himself that helped him block this move.

  The other party is a mage, he is a thief. Originally, it should be him who tries every means to deceive and approach the opponent's front, while the opponent keeps a distance from himself with all his might and attacks with long-range magic.

  But now, the monk is dancing with a dagger and charging towards the thief. As a result, the thief took three hits at close range and retreated far away, not daring to approach again. Sword Ghost's rich gaming experience had never imagined that he would experience such a scene. At first, he was still concerned about the monk's primary spell, Fireball Technique. Although the level is low, if he really gets hit by the fireball, the damage can be equivalent to being slashed two or three times by himself. But in the end, the monk didn't use any spells and just gave him two or three hits with a knife, this is too unbelievable!

  Both sides were at an impasse, neither willing to take another step forward easily.

  The sword demon quickly calculated the tactics. He didn't have a long-range attack move, and to knock down his opponent, he had to get close, but as soon as he thought of getting close, cold sweat broke out on the sword demon's forehead again.

  "Fireball...!" Gu Fei suddenly spoke towards the crowd, but in an instant, a fireball rapidly ignited in front of him.

  Damn it. I was so focused on being wary of that guy's close combat abilities, I forgot he's a mage after all. The moment the fireball appeared, before it was even cast, Sword Demon had already begun making S-shaped irregular movements. He had seen mages use fireballs in games before. After firing, the fireball would track its target for a short time and within an extremely small range, as long as he didn't get hit or run out of range during that brief moment, it was a successful dodge.

  Jian Gui was frantically twisting in the empty space among the crowd, waiting for Gu Fei to utter that one word "shoot". Unexpectedly, Gu Fei stared at the fireball in front of him, dazed for a moment, and then muttered: "I wasn't calling you, I was calling that fireball."

  There was a sudden "hū" sound. The first fireball went out, but immediately another one ignited. Jian Gui's movements became even more frantic. But Gu Fei's fireball still didn't shoot out, and he stood there at a loss, until the fireball extinguished itself after a brief moment.

  In the distance, he had to be mindful of his fireballs, and in close combat, he couldn't gain the upper hand. How could they fight like this? There was no way out, it had to be done like this! The Sword Demon thought that Gu Fei's repeated ignition of fireballs was just to restrain his movements, and before Gu Fei could ignite a third one, he also used his exclusive skill. The Sword Demon's figure gradually became thin and misty, and in the blink of an eye, he disappeared from everyone's sight.

  "Sniper!!" someone shouted from the crowd.

  It's no surprise that Stealth is the trump card of the Thief profession. What's surprising is that Stealth is a skill that can only be learned at level 24 for Thieves. They knew that Jian Gui's level was definitely higher than theirs, but they didn't expect it to be so much higher. No wonder he's the number one player in the online gaming world. The crowd, who were just worried about Jian Gui being defeated by Gu Fei's three moves, suddenly regained their confidence.

  In the online game world, levels can explain everything. A 24-level player against a 10-level player - such a huge gap, it's not even worth fighting!

  Jian Gui disappeared from everyone's sight and hid in a certain position on the field, paying attention to Gu Fei's movements.

  Jian Gui didn't use Ambush from the start, all because of the level 6 skill of the Mage: Resist Fire Ring.

  The hidden characteristic is that once it attacks or is attacked, it will immediately appear. Although the resistance to fire ring attack is small, its range is slightly farther than the complete close-up. Therefore, thieves cannot sneak up on the wizard when using the anti-fireball.

  Of course, the anti-fireball also has weaknesses. It is a skill with time and cooldown time, and the difference between the two times makes it impossible for the mage to guarantee that he always wears an anti-fire ring on his body. In this time difference, it is a good opportunity to launch a stealthy close-up attack.

  Jian Gui deduced two points from his own experience. Firstly, primary mages would immediately activate their resistance fire ring when PKing; secondly, the opponent would never expect him to possess the stealth skill that only a 24-level thief could have. Therefore, his original plan was to wait for Gu Fei to exhaust his resistance fire ring, then use stealth to get close and deliver a fatal blow.

  But now it seems that his two inferences were completely wrong. Gu Fei did not open the anti-fire ring, nor did he show any surprise at the stealthy approach of this mage. Moreover, this mage's close combat ability was even more terrifying than that of a thief, which was something that Jian Gui could not have imagined without personal experience.

  The situation forced Xiang Yu to use his stealth first. He believed that after seeing him use stealth, the mage would immediately open the fire ring of resistance. But his own stealth lasted three seconds longer than the fire ring of resistance, so he took the lead and approached, waiting for the fireball to cool down before using those three seconds to get close and take out the opponent. Unless... the opponent's fire ring of resistance had been upgraded, lasting even longer than his stealth. But this possibility was almost non-existent, as a 10th-level character wouldn't have the time or money to upgrade any skill level.

  Through understanding the game and precise calculations, he devises the best battle strategy. This is the style of Xuegui's online gaming, even if his opponent was just a level 10 mage, he would not underestimate him at all.

  Unfortunately, he misjudged again this time.

  Gu Fei still didn't open his Resisting Flame Ring and didn't move around the field to dodge the invisible enemy. He remained standing in place, motionless.

  "Could it be that he still hasn't learned how to resist the Flame Ring? Or is he really a rookie who can't get any worse?" Jian Gui's mind was filled with doubts, but he couldn't afford to hesitate. He quickly approached Gu Fei and predicted several possible routes Gu Fei might take.

  Gu Fei didn't move, not even a single finger. Jian Gui even suspected that he had to stick his face in front of him and blow air on it before he would have any sense of crisis?

  In the blink of an eye, Jian Gui had already arrived behind Gu Fei, who still hadn't reacted. Jian Gui didn't have time to think anymore, his ambush time was almost up, and he was ready to use his strongest move at present, Thief 18th level skill: Backstab.

  Named after the thought, this move should be performed behind the target. Can cause 200% + 40 points of damage in normal circumstances. Although the skill's latent effect will disappear in an instant, the surrounding people's astonishment will remind Gu Fei, but by then, his dagger must have already stabbed into his back heart. Fourteen levels apart, the thief's backstab to the mage, except for instantly killing Xiang Lie, can't think of any other outcome.

  The onlookers did not notice the change in the situation, and no one knew that Jian Gui had already moved behind Gu Fei.

  But just then, Gu Fei suddenly turned around sharply, his left hand flying out quickly. The onlookers couldn't help but exclaim in shock and confusion. But immediately after that, a figure of the Sword Ghost appeared out of thin air, his right hand tightly gripping a dagger, but his right wrist was firmly grasped by Gu Fei's left hand.

  The picture in people's minds was frozen at this moment, but the scene on the field did not stop changing.

  Gu Fei's left hand quickly pressed and twisted, Sword Ghost's wrist felt pain, his fingers also became powerless, his palm opened, and the dagger fell from his hand. Gu Fei's right hand bent down to scoop up, his fingers relaxed and tightened, throwing away the small knife in his original hand while catching Sword Ghost's dagger. Following that, his left hand pulled, Sword Ghost's right arm was bent behind his back, Gu Fei had already rushed over, his right hand lifted, the dagger was placed across Sword Ghost's neck.

  These few moves made Tuqi fall, and by the time the people around reacted, Jian Gui had been completely subdued by Gu Fei.

  The knife was at his throat. However, this is an online game, and whether such a situation poses a threat or not is still unknown; but the outcome of this struggle can be distinguished by anyone with eyes.

  "Ah! Beautiful!!!" Suddenly, it was Huo Qiu who spoke up. Thinking that if Gu Fei were to lose, he would be the next target, he couldn't help but feel a little worried. At this moment, seeing Gu Fei win so beautifully, his spirits lifted, and he clapped his hands as he rushed out of the crowd, coming to stand before the two of them. Patting Jian Gui on the back, he said: "You're at level 24, right? You were beaten by a level 10 mage, do you admit defeat or not? Haha!" Huo Qiu looked like he was in high spirits, as if it was he who had defeated Jian Gui.

  His face was ashen, he lost very convincingly. Even with the opportunity to ambush from behind and land a backstab, it was still taken down, what's not to be convinced of? A 25-level thief, that's all the tricks they can play. What kind of person is this guy? Looking at the moves he used, they're not even skills that come with the game!

  Conceding defeat doesn't necessarily mean being happy about it, and Jian Gui's heart was filled with mixed emotions at this moment. Apart from his doubts about Gu Fei's skills, he also felt a pang of sorrow for himself. He thought back to when he was the number one player in the online game, but now he had been defeated by a mage who was 15 levels lower than him - had everything he once had really become yesterday's news?

  Just as he was thinking about it, he suddenly felt a looseness behind him, and Gu Fei had already let him go. Jian Gui turned around, took two steps back, and looked at Gu Fei: "What's your name?"

  "A thousand miles for one drunk!" Gu Fei replied.

  "Alright, I'll come back for you!" Kaito said.

  Gu Fei smiled and nodded, Jian Gui turned to leave, Gu Fei suddenly called out to him: "Wait, your dagger." As he threw it over to Jian Gui.

  The sword demon stretched out his hand to catch it, but was stunned for a moment. This dagger is called Frost Memory. In addition to the damage, it also comes with 25 points of agility, a 30% chance of a fatal blow, and a 10% chance of level 3 ice freeze damage. The sword demon unintentionally used the terrain in the forest to card the monster, exhausting an unknown-level BOSS that burst out. Among the properties of the weapons currently announced on the official website, none have exceeded it. After losing the fight, the sword demon's face was ashen, half of the reason being that this dagger had fallen into Gu Fei's hands.

  But at this time, Gu Fei threw it back into his own hands, the sword demon grasped it tightly, and couldn't believe that this was real. Nowadays, online games are filled with a large number of RMB warriors, such a top-quality item can be sold for several months' salary of ordinary people, but this little brat in front of him, he didn't understand, or what's going on?

  Jian Gui couldn't understand and didn't know what to say. He could only nod at Gu Fei, thank him, and turn to leave.