Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Xi Xiaotian ignored the sarcasm in his words as she continued, “If they are truly from the same organization, then we are not out of the woods yet. If this is an order from the head of that organization, then it’s a job that they must do no matter what, as failure to accomplish it will result in salary deduction and bonus cancelation. As such, they’ll likely hunt you down even if it means risking their lives. They’ll be more determined than an average player looking to PK you.”

“I really look forward to such a day,” he said wistfully. He loved it when people would come and attempt to rob him. Not only could he perfectly justify slaying them, he would even make a name for himself as a righteous helper of his fellow man; why would he not be happy about it?

“Violent Fei...” She speechlessly stared at Gu Fei, who was slowly wiping his Moonlit Nightfalls by the boat’s bow as he stood there.

Amid their suspicions and guesses regarding that gang of robbers’ identity, their boat bobbed with the waves on its way forward. After a while, a huge blurry form began to appear in the fog ahead of them. Gu Fei, Xi Xiaotian, and Vast Lushness studied the form closely and felt gratified when they confirmed that it was undoubtedly land.

“We’re finally here.” Vast Lushness exhaled in relief.

Xi Xiaotian, for her part, glanced over to Gu Fei and asked, “What’s your PK value right now?”

“36 points...” he answered. He was naturally worried about this matter as well.

“The guards haven’t come and tried to apprehend you all this while!” Xi Xiaotian was puzzled over this. Quite some time had passed since the conclusion of that fight earlier; if those guards were sent out the instant his PK value hit 30 points, they should be in front of Gu Fei right now.

“I’m wondering about that myself!” He sighed. Information over the sort of treatment players with over 30 PK points would receive was scarce, as no one else besides Gu Fei had experienced it in Parallel World.

“There must be a certain range the guards can be sent out. I think they won’t pursue you to the ends of the world,” Vast Lushness opined.

He nodded and expressed, “I’ll quickly erase my PK value once I reach the shore.”

“All the best!” The two ladies gave their heartfelt well wishes.

In this kind of atmosphere, the little wooden boat continued onward. The fog eventually cleared up and the three were finally able to make out what was in front of them. They saw the city of Linshui at the center of an island, its towering walls, and... a squad of guards embarking on a watercraft by the harbor.

The vessel looked far different from a normal ship and definitely nothing like the crude, handcrafted boat Gu Fei and the ladies were on. The design of the boat that they were on seemed to have been based off the fishing boats found in Jiangnan water township, with the end product looking like a misfit aberration in this Western-style MMO. As for the watercraft before them, its design seemed to be based off from the three-mast dhow that was popular in the Mediterranean Sea during the medieval era.

This type of watercraft could easily roam the entire Atlantic Ocean during the Age of Sail; Gu Fei and company’s little wooden boat was simply inferior in every single metric.

The sails on the watercraft unfurled grandly once the squad of guards boarded it; whether there was a breeze or not, it was already making its way explosively toward the little boat of Gu Fei and the ladies.

“They are coming straight for me, huh.” Gu Fei grimaced.

The two ladies gave him a blank look. Did he even need to say that? The only difference these daunting guards clad in armor had with the guards in the other in-game cities was the water-ripple symbol emblazoned on their shields, which easily identified them as hailing from Linshui City.

“Quick! Let’s escape!” Vast Lushness cried out as she started to turn around their little boat.

“Can we circumvent them as we head for land?” He might be able to deal with these guards if they made it to land, but if they remained in the water... Gu Fei would have no way of escaping them if they demonstrated their Earthsplitter skill on the boat itself!

“It’s going to be difficult...” Vast Lushness, who was steering the small boat, came to this conclusion as she observed the speed at which the dhow was barreling toward them.

The dhow was fast and its riggings allowed for really tight controls. It was unknown if this was another design that the system had shamelessly violated against normal convention.

“Let’s make a break for it first! Perhaps, they’ll stop their pursuit if we leave Linshui City’s region.” Vast Lushness adjusted the direction they were heading as she rowed the boat with all her might. Xi Xiaotian was also hard at work. Instead, it was the initiator Gu Fei, who was standing by the boat’s stern, that did nothing.

The three were depressed. Land was just right ahead, yet they were unable to enter it because a fugitive was aboard the boat.

What made it worse was that their little, wooden boat’s speed was infinitesimally insignificant compared to the dhow. The dhow drew ever closer to their boat without showing any signs of stopping, as though the two were hardly rowing the boat.

The dhow was larger than their little boat in every aspect, so the three of them had to crane their necks to look at it now that it was before them. The guards were already at the dhow’s bow and they seemed to really be intending to show a ‘Earthsplitter onto boat’ technique once they got to the appropriate distance.

An idea popped up in Gu Fei’s mind the moment he saw the guards arrange themselves into a leaping formation.

“Do you two know how to swim?” he asked.

The ladies nodded.

“Leap into the water the instant they unleash their attack!” he instructed.

“What about you?” the two asked him.

“I’ve got an idea,” he replied.

The two ladies were unable to inquire further as the dhow finally got right up to their boat. Some of the guards onboard even had their feet off the deck; just as Gu Fei had expected, these guards would be using their Earthsplitter skill to leap even if they were in this kind of environment.

“Quickly jump!” Before this shout left his mouth, the two ladies were already leaping into the water from either side of the boat.

If the guards’ Earthsplitter could even demolish a roof, how could this flimsy, little wooden boat withstand it? The first guard bore through the hull of the boat when he landed, penetrating through the wood with almost no resistance.

The second, third, and fourth guards were all lining up to leap as well.

Where was Gu Fei?

The two ladies leaped into the water while the first guard was midair; Gu Fei, at that time, cast his Blink and appeared millimeters above the water nearby as he tossed out that sky hook he had readied in his hand.

Although he quickly plunged into the water in the next moment, his sky hook managed to snag the dhow’s gunwale.

Gu Fei tightly clung onto that rope as he felt himself get dragged underwater. Holding his breath, he proceeded to climb up the rope.

If Gu Fei were onboard the boat, the guards would chase him to it; if he were in the water, they would pursue him in it. These guards’ one-track mind was solely focused on accomplishing their task and would not show the slightest hesitation in their actions.

The guards continued to jump off their ship, albeit they were no longer targeting the boat but the spot where Gu Fei was: underwater.

They were still using Earthsplitter, yet none of the them was able to land atop Gu Fei. He might be dangling on a rope in the water, but he was still moving.

Furthermore, the AOE damage of Earthsplitter was greatly weakened when applied on the water. After all, it was called Earthsplitter and not Watersplitter.

Gu Fei was beside himself with joy when he heard the consecutive splashes behind him. His plan worked perfectly; the guards were indeed as foolish as he had thought them to be.

Gu Fei finally swung himself to the side of the dhow. At the same time, he also managed to surface from the water. Gasping for air, he turned his head over to look. The guards demonstrated their superb swimming skills as they enthusiastically swam toward their target.

He ignored them as he finally got himself to the hull of the ship. Grasping the rope and planting his feet on the hull, he easily scaled the side of the dhow. His nimble movement quickly got him halfway up. This was when he looked behind him again. The guards had also grab a hold of the rope Gu Fei used moments ago and began their ascent toward him.

“These guards are actually learning?” He was surprised. As soon as he completed the second half of the climb, he leaped aboard the ship and mercilessly cut off the rope.

A series of splashes could be heard as the guards plunged into the water once more. Gu Fei leaned over the gunwale and watched as the guards were unable to do anything, finally sighing in relief.

Gu Fei had initially been worried that the shameless system would allow these guards to step on the water and unleash their Earthsplitter skill. Thankfully, they were not programmed to do that. He was admiring the sight of the guards struggling helplessly in the water when he remembered that Vast Lushness and Xi Xiaotian might still be in the water.

He hurried over to the other side to take a look and saw that the two ladies were indeed still floating in the water!

“Over here!” he called out to the two ladies, thinking that the guards should be unable to understand such a simple signal like this.

The two ladies began to swim over to the dhow. Once they were near enough, he tossed a rope down and helped them up the dhow.

The first thing these two ladies did once they were on board was to run over to the other side of the dhow to watch the guards flop around in the water.

The mighty guards were actually in a rare situation where they could neither retreat nor advance. The three players took great pleasure in watching this. Bullying the system gave an even greater sense of achievement than bullying other players, as the system was considered to be an omnipotent god in a game!

“Uhm... How do we sail this boat?” The three began to search through the dhow after they were done gloating.

They quickly discovered the ship’s cabin.

“A steering wheel. Ha ha! This is going to make things easier.” Xi Xiaotian rushed over to commandeer it.

“Say, what do you think this vessel depends on to move?” Vast Lushness had a look of a scientist on her.

He pointed toward the sails that hung above their heads.

“But there’s no wind right now,” she said.

“You’ll be the one at a disadvantage if you attempt to talk logic with the system,” Gu Fei said. He then went over to the side of the dhow to once more admire the guards treading the water aimlessly. There was no way he would get tired looking at this scene!

At this same time, Xi Xiaotian made a breakthrough regarding the rudder of the ship and attained full control of the helm.

The three really enjoyed how shameless this system’s dhow was; they did not know what was causing it to move, but they were more than satisfied to see it constantly head forward.

Vast Lushness, who had climbed all the way up to crow’s nest of the dhow out of boredom, was now shouting to the two to join her.

The crow’s nest had a telescope, similar to a spyglass, attached to it.

“Look over there.” Vast Lushness pushed the spyglass to the other two as she pointed in a certain direction.

The two were able to make out the distant shadowy forms even without the assistance of the spyglass. Their experience of rowing a boat for an entire night allowed the two to identify those forms as little fishing boats that they were very familiar with. With the use of the spyglass, it became clearer that the five boats, with players unevenly distributed across each, were heading in the direction of the land by this side.

“It’s those guys,” he announced after he used the spyglass.

“I’ll go change our course,” Xi Xiaotian excitedly cried out as she leaped off the crow’s nest.

“What for?” he shouted after her.

“To deal a decisive blow to the forces of evil!” The lady was already inside the cabin and was turning the dhow when she yelled this back.

“Look over here too.” Vast Lushness adjusted the angle of the spyglass and beckoned Gu Fei over.

Gu Fei crooked his neck and took a look, speechless.

It was the group of guards that they had abandoned in the water; they were currently swimming after Gu Fei and their dhow. He was extremely moved by the level of professionalism that they were demonstrating right now.

“One hundred eighty degrees turn; targets straight ahead!” Xi Xiaotian shouted from the cabin.

The dhow was cutting across the water crisply as it imposingly bore down on the five small, wooden boats.