Chapter 48: The World — A Broken Oar

This time, the "World: The Broken Oar" proved to be a fascinating micro-world. Overall, it resembled a massive sea vortex, about half the size of that previous submarine. It was divided into two parts: above and below the water. The character Ou Xiaolu had dispatched was a good choice; had he picked only a fish, he would have been limited to exploring the underwater section. Only a being like the Water Elemental could simultaneously explore both the surface and the depths.

However, this world was somewhat different from the two worlds Ou Xiaolu had explored before. The previous two were spatial in nature—one simply needed to explore every location. This one, though, was temporal: you could only remain for three hours. What you might gain in those three hours depended entirely on luck, for the vortex would draw in things from every direction—some from the surface, some from the depths—and what exactly would be swept in was up to fate.

The gains of the past few days had made Ou Xiaolu quite confident in his luck; he believed that three hours would net him at least three to five treasure chests. Sure enough, just after leaving the valley and on his way back, he received a message from the Water Elemental: a ruined boat had been drawn into the sea vortex.

Ou Xiaolu was thrilled to hear of a boat being swept in—it promised a handsome haul. He eagerly opened the world interface, only to be left speechless by the Water Elemental’s assessment. To the Water Elemental, this was indeed a boat, but it was not the sort one would expect on the sea—it was the kind of swan-shaped pedal boat you’d find on a park lake.

By the time Ou Xiaolu saw it, the boat had already capsized, the swan’s head broken off, with only half a wing left to hint at what it once was. The Water Elemental anchored the boat in place to prevent it from being swept away, then righted it.

But this harvest proved disappointing. As the Water Elemental flipped the boat over, two objects—one white, one blue—fell into the water, and there was no treasure chest inside, much to Ou Xiaolu’s dismay. After thoroughly searching the boat and confirming that only the two dropped items were of interest, the Water Elemental swiftly dove after them.

But even the Water Elemental was a moment too late. Once underwater, only a faint blue glow could be seen flickering in the distance; the white light had already vanished into the center of the vortex.

This left Ou Xiaolu quite frustrated—had he acted more decisively, he might have claimed the white item as well. With a sigh, he resigned himself to the reality of the situation: he simply didn’t have enough characters at his disposal, only one Water Elemental to command, so he had to make a choice between the two.

The Water Elemental was fairly swift within the vortex, and in the blink of an eye, secured the blue object. At that moment, a shark was swept up from the depths by the vortex.

This shark was larger than any Ou Xiaolu had encountered before, at least three meters long, and still thrashing violently when it surfaced, clearly formidable. Ou Xiaolu didn’t even have time to examine the blue item before ordering the Water Elemental to attack.

To be honest, the Water Elemental didn’t have much in the way of offensive capabilities—its control over water allowed it to manipulate currents, but that had limited effect within a vortex. As for the Vortex Spell, it worked fine on the open sea, but adding another vortex in this world was a risk—who knew what might happen? The Water Elemental certainly had no desire to try.

After a brief calculation, Ou Xiaolu made up his mind and issued new orders: use Ice Magic to trap the struggling shark, and conjure a reverse vortex in its path.

If the Water Elemental had its own consciousness, like Booth, it would surely have been cursing by now. But as it was merely Ou Xiaolu’s projection, his will was law. Two spells were cast in quick succession: the shark was instantly frozen, and a counter-rotating vortex appeared before it. The Water Elemental wasted no time admiring the results and immediately swam up to the surface.

Ou Xiaolu had to admit, the Water Elemental’s instincts were spot-on. The frozen shark was swept into the reverse vortex and then caught in the opposing currents, forcibly twisted between the two.

Had he not witnessed the scene through the Water Elemental’s vantage point, Ou Xiaolu could scarcely have imagined a shark being wrung apart by two opposing forces, like a wet towel. Watching the shark torn in two, cold sweat broke out on his brow; he resolved never to use the Vortex Spell in this world again. It was simply too dangerous—a single misstep and the Water Elemental could be lost, or worse, the entire world destroyed.

But such worries were soon swept away by the spoils. In addition to the freshly acquired blue card, the shark yielded a green skill card:

[Compass of Misfortune, Item Card, Blue: Use when faced with a choice; it will always indicate the least favorable direction.]

[Frenzied Shark Bite, Skill Card, Green: Summon a shark composed of energy that savagely bites all creatures along a line. (Combo)]

[Note: ‘Combo’ means using similar skills together will yield a synergistic effect greater than the sum of their parts.]

Reading the explanation for ‘Combo,’ Ou Xiaolu tilted his head thoughtfully. If he were to kill a few more sharks, perhaps he’d be able to unleash a whole swarm of them with a wave of his hand, maybe even control their direction, leaving his enemies guessing.

With this in mind, he found himself hoping for another shark, but sharks were hardly so easy to come by. After a while, seeing that the Water Elemental could only swim up and down the vortex and had found nothing new, Ou Xiaolu closed the world interface.

Just at that moment, the car arrived back at the Shixi campus.

Ou Xiaolu’s car was rather well-known; as soon as he entered the campus, word spread. Another rumor traveled along with it: beside the highway at the entrance to the valley, someone had nailed a headless werewolf corpse to a post.

An ordinary person might have mistaken it for a prop, but for those with supernatural abilities, the aura radiating from the corpse made it clear: this was a genuine werewolf. There was only one purpose for placing such a body there—to provoke!