"Now how will we watch their match?" Long Hei asked when he saw that Cheng Xiu and EverHill had gone deep into the forest.
Crow moved forward, the sleeves of his red robes fluttering in the wind as he took out a green talisman from them.
The paper caught fire and a display hologram appeared above their head.
They could see both the white-clad figure of Cheng Xiu and the orange robes of EverHill.
"Well done, Crow!" Long Hei shouted.
In the deep woods of Viridian Forest.
Cheng Xiu dashed through the dense forest, her senses more focused on the enemy behind her than what it was at the front.
She could hear the rustle of the grasses and tall ferns that were disturbed as EverHill ran after her.
Her mind worked at lightning speed.
She had found that they would be at a stalemate if they kept their fight to just weaponry. It was fascinating. She was learning more and more about her own abilities as she fought with him.
If she used her Qi, she would become weaker but she might be able to win against him and she had seen the way the man had reacted to her attacks. It would leave her with a more powerful opponent than this, and her chances of surviving would plumate to the ground once again.
As much as she wanted to win, Cheng Xiu decided to play smart instead. If she could stretch out this match until the logout hour and learn more from the man while she was at it, Cheng Xiu would have gained more from this calamity than ever before.
She wasn't stupid. She recognized how much she improved in these few hours of fighting with these experts than she ever would have elsewhere.
She was able to adjust to the Virtual World than before and learned skills that she would not have access to otherwise.
But she couldn't continue fighting by just doing the same thing again and again.
EverHill would figure out that she was trying to drag out the fight.
Cheng Xiu still didn't know if that was all the skills that he knew. She was not naive enough to believe that that was all the skills that her enemy had access to at the time.
But how long did she have?
'Maya, how long until I log out?' Cheng Xiu asked the AI.
[Ding!]
[You accessed the game during in-game time: 7: 30 AM
Now the time is 02: 04 PM.
You have 16 Hours until Log Out.]
Cheng Xiu nearly tripped over an overgrown root at that information.
8 hours? She had only played for 8 hours?
It felt longer than that.
How was she supposed to drag this fight between them for 16 hours more?
Cheng Xiu stopped running and turned to face her pursuer as her mind kept trying to find an escape from this unending nightmare.
She was not arrogant enough to think that she would win against all the experts until the end.
Each of them specialized in something and even though the Arena Market gave her the tools necessary there was no guarantee that she would use the right skillset.
Even if she defeated EverHill, which would not be easy, she would still have to face seven more.
Experiencing death seemed like an inevitable thing at that moment.
Many would want to ask her, what was there to be scared about? Wasn't it a novel thing, to experience Death without dying?
It wasn't.
She feared death and didn't want to die. It was just as simple.
Even when she had played those old table-top games her mother used to play, Cheng Xiu hated to die.
Even in games where dying at least once would give you diamonds, Cheng Xiu had refused.
She always had a thirst for life, and would not even think about death unless she heard it somewhere else.
She couldn't Log Out. She couldn't quit.
EverHill stopped in his tracks when he saw her standing there, straight and unmoving like a painted picture. Her hair, tucked in a ponytail, was the only indication that she was a living thing.
Cheng Xiu's eyes looked at EverHill with determination. She would try to kill them until she reached Immortal numbered 5 and then she could Quit the game.
EverHill raised his spear. "What were you thinking?"
"I wanted to see how you would do in an environment where you have to fight in a forest," Cheng Xiu said.
EverHill chuckled. "You are so naive. Haven't you heard of how old Spear Mastery is? In fact, spears are better than swords in dense forests!"
He dashed towards her.
Cheng Xiu nodded. "We will see."
EverHill found his path blocked by six Carp Sword copies.
EverHill frowned. So annoying.
Why did this girl have enough Qi to maintain this skill for so long? Just how deep was her Qi reserve?
EverHill summoned his weapons to attack the girl and they once again began their Weapon Weaving battle.