Ten Quads. A caravel.
The ship that first launched magic had already turned its bow and was now showing its stern to Seowoon's group, fleeing in a panic.
Apparently, the enemy's morale collapsed at the sight of someone tearing through a 7th-circle spell right at the start.
"Don't chase! Focus on those two ships instead!"
As planned beforehand, Limin grabbed the helm and steered the ship in response to Seowoon's command.
They turned the ship sideways to prepare for an attack from either of the two ships that had fallen to each side. One ship turned and began to retreat, while the other charged straight at Seowoon's vessel.
–Thud!
The enemy ship rammed right into them, and enemies composed of knights and martial fighters attempted to board and engage in melee combat.
Seeing the enemies recklessly charging in, Namsagwang and Seowoon both brightened.
Judging by their actions, the enemy must have assumed they had the advantage in close combat because Seowoon's team had only one mage.
–Slash! Slash!
That assumption quickly shattered when the seemingly tough knight who first boarded was sliced down by Namsagwang in just two moves.
"F-Fall back!"
The knights and warriors who had just boarded Seowoon's ship began to flee back to their own, but Seowoon, Jinryung, and Namsagwang chased them aboard and drove them into chaos.
–Boom!
–Fwoosh! Screeech!
–Whoooosh!
Meanwhile, spells from the three mages rained down on the enemy ship.
Within mere minutes, Seowoon's team had completely wiped out one squad and turned their attention to their surroundings.
Seeing the other ships already retreating in different directions, Dump spoke up.
"We should give chase!"
At that, Jung suhwa shook her head.
"They're ships of the same kind. With the same speed, it's hard to close the distance once it's opened up."
"Ah…"
"Then should we at least try to draw them into a magical skirmish while chasing? If we just damage their ships…"
At kichan's suggestion, Seowoon shook his head.
"This is our golden time. We should focus on looting. Let's prioritize scavenging this island."
Since they had landed first, the four surrounding islands were practically theirs for the taking.
Seowoon judged that chasing enemies and straying far from the island wasn't worth it in this situation.
Limin, turning a wheel bigger than her own body, pushed the propulsion lever forward, and the ship began to move again, shoving aside the now-bloodstained, wrecked enemy vessel.
As the enemy ship drifted away, kichan swung his staff, launching a small fireball that ignited it.
Watching the ship slowly sink under smoke and flames, kichan muttered,
"These ships… They're as durable as paper."
"Right? One fire spell and they're toast," Seowoon nodded in agreement—right as the ship came to a screeching halt.
–Crrreeak!
"The water's shallow and there are reefs below. We'll dock here and go ashore."
"Then Limin, Dump, and Lyle—hold down the fort."
"Don't worry. Go do your thing."
"Bring back some good loot!"
"Hyung, there might be monsters, so be careful!"
With encouragement and concern from the remaining crew, the others dove into the sea one by one.
–Splash! Splash! Splish splash!
As everyone plunged into the water and began swimming, a loud sound rang out.
–Whoosh– whoosh– whoosh!
Namsagwang skimmed across the surface like a swallow, using lightfoot technique to leap onto the island in an instant. He looked back at the others with an exasperated expression.
"Water-walk technique…"
Jinryung's eyes widened in awe at the display of graceful movement, while Liringwi and Jungsuhwa stopped paddling and stared blankly, completely forgetting to swim.
"Tch. Show-off. Hey, kichan, why aren't you using your airboard?"
"It doesn't work on water."
He had figured as much, but asked anyway. As expected, it didn't work.
If the airboard had worked, kichan and Juriel wouldn't have needed to get wet at all.
"Whew."
Seowoon, the first to reach the island, took a moment to catch his breath and looked over his soaking wet clothes.
–Pop!
With a sudden exertion of strength, he took a martial stance, and seawater sprayed out from his clothes in every direction.
Meanwhile, Namsagwang swept his hand, instantly deflecting any droplets that flew his way.
–Ssshhh.
Circulating his internal energy, he expelled heat through his pores, evaporating the moisture from his clothes in a puff of steam.
–Pop pop pop!
He stretched out his fists in sharp, elastic movements, flinging white salt in every direction.
"Still smells, though."
Even with internal energy drying his clothes and brushing off the salt, the lingering smell of brine was unavoidable.
"You really should've studied lightfoot techniques more. Getting your body all salty like that, how crude."
Dry and comfortable, Namsagwang sniped at them with a smug look.
"I've at least opened my middle dantian, though?"
At the mention of the middle dantian, Namsagwang clammed up.
He stayed silent for a moment, staring at Seowoon, before finally speaking with difficulty.
"The insights of the Mad Light Fist…"
"Later. I told you."
As soon as Namsagwang's words were abruptly cut off, the rest of the team began landing on the island one by one.
The seven teammates quickly climbed onto the island, which was dotted with large and small rocks and palm-like trees that cast shade in various spots.
Watching his teammates use magic to dry themselves off, Seowoon brought his sleeve to his nose.
"Meh."
Clicking his tongue, Seowoon's eyes caught a strange sight—what appeared to be a bipedal lobster.
He came to a sudden stop at the front of the group, and the rest followed suit.
"Crabmen," Juriel said.
When Seowoon tilted his head in confusion, Kichan explained in his place.
"They're monsters that appear near the sea. They look silly, but they swarm in groups like that and drop pearls—items known as the 'Essence of the Sea.' One of those goes for about 50 million won."
Seowoon's eyes lit up at that.
"How strong are they?"
"They're known to be fairly tough, but nothing our squad needs to worry about."
With that, Namsagwang drew his twin swords, and Seowoon twisted both arms into a strange posture before charging the monsters.
As the mages fired spells moderately and all the warriors dove into the fray, the large-clawed Crabmen were annihilated in an instant.
They gathered the five essences that had dropped, packed them away, and moved on. Soon, they started spotting items lying beneath palm trees and atop rocks.
As the team spread out, scavenging like kids in a treasure hunt, Kichan called out to Seowoon.
"Hyung!"
Hearing the shout from afar, Seowoon dashed over.
"Look at this."
Kichan handed him a transparent glass bottle. As Seowoon took it, his expression shifted curiously.
Inside the bottle was a miniature ship, and as soon as he held it, a notification sounded.
-Ding! Basic Magic Caravel Upgrade Bottle. Has decent durability and slightly low speed. If thrown and broken on the deck of your current ship, your ship will be upgraded to the caravel inside.
"Oh. So that's how it works."
"I also found this."
Kichan handed him another bottle, this one filled with swirling blue mist. Another notification came.
-Ding! Magic Resistance Coating Bottle. If thrown and broken on the deck of your current ship, it increases the ship's magic resistance.
"So you can upgrade the ship you ride through looting, too."
"That means the ship's performance can directly impact your influence in the game."
They exchanged glances and nodded with smiles.
If they could strengthen the ship like this, they might not need to worry about it suddenly burning down mid-sea.
After thoroughly sweeping the island and looting all available items, the team hurried back to the ship.
On the deck, they laid out three bottles and began to deliberate.
[Basic Magic Panokseon Upgrade Bottle: Strong durability, slow speed. Deals 20% additional damage in ship-to-ship collisions.]
[Basic Magic Caravel Upgrade Bottle: Weak durability, fast speed. Vulnerable to collisions.]
As everyone weighed their options, Dump was the first to voice his opinion.
"I think this Panokseon one is the best. It looks sturdy—big and tough. Seems specialized for ramming too."
None of the team had prior naval knowledge, but the bottles made each ship's traits clear.
The Panokseon was heavy and slow but had unmatched durability.
The Caravel was fast but fragile.
And the Carack sat in between the two, offering balance.
"I still think the Caravel is best. Mobility is key at this stage," Jung Suhwa emphasized.
"Since ships can be upgraded, we might find speed-boosting items later. We should go for the sturdy one now," Kichan agreed with Dump.
"Then how about we go with the middle option—the Carack?" Jinryung offered.
"I think that's a bad idea. Mediocre choices usually are," Juriel opposed him.
Finally, Seowoon spoke.
"Let's go with the Caravel for now."
Dump lifted the Panokseon bottle with a disappointed look—he clearly liked how it looked.
"No need to be disappointed," Seowoon reassured him. "Since early looting is key, we'll use the Caravel to focus on that. And when things get serious, we can switch to the Panokseon."
At that, everyone's expressions shifted as if struck by a hammer.
They'd all been too fixated to consider such a simple solution.
Smiling faintly, Seowoon brought the Caravel bottle down onto the deck.
-Crash!
With a sharp shattering sound, their current ship instantly transformed into the same Caravel that had been inside the bottle.
"Hyung, should we install this?"
Kichan held up a bottle containing one of the three magic cannons they'd looted.
"We're not sure what happens when we change ships again, so just install one for now."
"Yes, sir!"
-Crash!
[Ding! One basic magic cannon has been installed.]
"limin, let's go!"
At Seowoon's command, limin—already at the helm—set the ship in motion.
The caravel sliced cleanly through the sea, propelled by magic, moving at a completely different speed compared to the previous ship.
Riding the crisp sea breeze, the ship swiftly arrived and anchored near the nearest small island.
"If anything happens, brief us immediately."
"Don't worry, go ahead!"
limin, scanning the area with the monocular Seowoon had handed him, waved back with a smile.
As expected, Namsagwang spread out his water-walking skill, and the rest of the team swam ashore to begin looting the island, which was much smaller than the first.
"Ugh. Just two recovery scrolls and some jerky? That's it?"
"Looting's always like this. Let's keep it moving."
Despite Kichan's disappointment, they continued looting nearby islands. But aside from the first one, none yielded worthwhile items.
As the caravel continued cutting through the sea, Jinryung spoke up.
"Priest, I think we need to focus on the larger islands."
"I agree, but the problem is that big islands are always surrounded by smaller ones."
When Jinryung looked at him questioningly, Juriel explained in Seowoon's place.
"Unlike open seas, enemies might hide their ships near small islands and ambush us. We need to stay alert."
Only then did Jinlung nod in understanding.
They had been able to loot freely on their initial island because they knew no one else was there. But going forward, they had to assume every location came with the variable of enemies.
"Still, we can't skip looting. Let's prioritize the bigger islands—we're confident in our strength."
As he said this, Seowoon shot a glance at Namsagwang.
At the same time, he pinged the closest island on the map. limin promptly turned the helm.
The caravel tilted as if it would touch the sea's surface, churning up white foam as it turned sharply.
"Ughh…"
Lyle, turning pale, began dry heaving on the swaying deck.
***
"Gahk!"
On the deck of a panokseon split in two, a man stabbed an enemy with a rapier, then wiped the blood from his face. Two other men landed behind him.
"
My lord, there was no need for you to step in."
"Yes. All you need to do is command us from behind."
To the identical-looking men clad in red and blue armor, the man with flowing silver hair holstered his rapier and spoke.
"This world is different from ours. You can't survive here just playing king from the rear."
At Senrurk's words, the two knights knelt on one knee and bowed their heads.
"Forget knightly courtesies. From now on, we strictly follow the rules of this place. Forget anything that hinders survival—we aim solely for TOP 1."
"Yes, my lord!"
Even as they sprang to their feet, the twin devils kept their heads bowed in reverence. Watching them, Senrurk, the Mad Hound of Crescent, shook his head.
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[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]