Sacred Souls: Genesis-Chapter 264 - 262 Technological Overwhelm (Third Update)

Chapter 264 -262: Technological Overwhelm (Third Update)

Chapter 264 -262: Technological Overwhelm (Third Update)

“How many people have arrived?” Mo Shigui asked the man cooking in the black pot by his side.

“Everyone’s here…”

The man cooking in the black pot uttered with a sense of utter helplessness.

In the first ten minutes right after the inner world opened, all the players on Biland Island gathered in front of the teleportation portal constructed by Cola Frenzy, frightening the NPCs inside Cola Frenzy so much that they dared not leave their homes.

Once the teleportation portal was activated, it was as though a ‘million’ hearty troops had parachuted into the Flourishing Square… a good majority of the players on Biland Island unanimously flew towards the direction of Flourishing Square on their flying mounts.

Before Mo Shigui and his group could even marvel at the intricacies of the inner world’s modeling, they had to follow this massive army into Flourishing Square, in a rush to secure one of the six hundred thirty thousand challenge qualifications.

Mo Shigui was pleased that their group of veterans wasn’t as quick as Juan Canyun, the newcomer; Mo Shigui’s spot in the queue was nearly beyond the twentieth position, whereas Juan Canyun managed to secure the qualification for the first challenge immediately upon landing.

“Old Song, you guys are being unfair! Why come to Flourishing Square instead of fighting in New World Square and stirring up trouble here?”

Upon seeing Mo Shigui, Can Xin approached instantly, mired in frustration… he was the third in line, and if the newcomer Juan Canyun from Vibrant Nucleus hadn’t caused a disturbance, he would have already overthrown the six hundred thirty thousand by now.

He was now quite relieved that the challenge against Eternal·Thorne required a high ladder score to participate… otherwise, the number of challengers would have been at least two thousand or more.

“We’re fighting on both fronts,” Mo Shigui replied casually, having split his team to challenge another area in New World Square.

“That makes you even more unfair!” Can Xin complained.

“Aren’t your folks doing the same?”

Mo Shigui’s fingertips scrolled through the queuing list. Excluding Overlord of the Heavens, the top experts from the other seven major guilds were largely concentrated in Flourishing Square.

The instance design in the inner world was not like that of Biland Island, where a lord-level monster needed over fifty people to challenge it; the inner world favored solo battles and small-scale combat, with some NPC challenges allowing at most four players to join the fight simultaneously.

Hence, the various guilds dispersed their manpower across thirty-five areas within the inner world to probe which area would be easier to conquer.

It was only guilds like Cola Frenzy and Vibrant Nucleus—who had purchased a large number of Challenge Vouchers—that threw all their energy into one or two areas, striving to conquer a zone within a day of the inner world’s opening… or perhaps even within half a day.

The NPC challenge by Eternal·Thorne allowed only one person to attempt at a time, and the first challenger was their guild’s professional player Juan Canyun.

This was good news for Mo Shigui.

“I bet you have to break some pieces to win the reward,” Can Xin conjectured from the second floor of Flourishing Square, looking down at Juan Canyun and Eternal·Thorne below. “Otherwise, beating it in one go would be far too easy.”

…

Mo Shigui did not respond to Can Xin. With a health pool of thirty thousand, Juan Canyun’s current gear could take it down with two rotations of combos, without any need for awakening.

The system couldn’t have designed a guardian NPC of a region to be that weak. The fact that Eternal·Thorne was at level sixty-five was indicative enough, not to mention the various aggravating systems implemented to strengthen NPCs during solo fights with players.

For instance, Unlimited Dominance, wide-ranging AOE skills, exceptionally high attack power, a bunch of annoying Summoned Beings, and so on…

In Mo Shigui’s estimation, Eternal·Thorne likely had two or three such aggravating mechanisms.

But after the battle began, Thorne proved with his actions that he didn’t rely on any flashy tricks—just pure technique!

Juan Canyun applied a combat buff called Unrivaled Gun Skill to himself, and after the buff was complete, Eternal·Thorne didn’t charge in but instead watched Juan Canyun from afar.

At this moment, Juan Canyun was also observing Eternal·Thorne.

Truth be told, after finishing the bout in the Saint Arena, all he could think about was going to the Conflict Arena to get some practice in, lest his game habits completely mold to the style of the Saint Arena.

But Mo Shigui did not grant him permission to play in the Conflict Arena, instead, dragging him to this inner world… to challenge an NPC.

Would beating this NPC mean he could log off? That was the only thing on Juan Canyun’s mind right now.

No matter how strong the NPCs in the game are, their skills can’t be good, because computer AI is still computer AI. They could never be more cunning than these battle-hardened players.

So, Juan Canyun didn’t think too much and directly charged at Eternal·Thorne with his long spear.

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The moment he reached Thorne, Juan Canyun started with a basic spear jab. Thorne simply took a light step back and dodged the jab, his face wearing a puzzled expression.

The jab missed… Instantly, Juan Canyun changed his move, and his spear thrust forward fiercely, silver-white Unrivaled Gun Qi clinging to it. Juan Canyun’s spear stabbed out twice in quick succession, so fast that it was almost imperceptible to the naked eye.

Even players in the arena would be caught off guard by this series of feints.

But Thorne merely tilted his head to dodge Juan Canyun’s thrust, and in that instant, the twig in his hand swept through the air with a whooshing sound, stabbing fiercely at Juan Canyun’s throat.

Cloud Formation!

At the same time, Juan Canyun executed a backward leap, leaving behind an afterimage with Cloud Formation, which raised its spear to unleash a spiral of Unrivaled Gun Qi. Meanwhile, Juan Canyun’s real body jumped into the air, hurling the spear in his hands towards Thorne.

All of this happened in less than a second, yet Thorne’s figure had vanished… Not vanished, more precisely…

In the instant that the Cloud Formation afterimage unleashed its skill, he suddenly lowered himself, like a creeping snake, bypassing the afterimage, causing the spear thrown by Juan Canyun to miss its mark.

“Jumping up in a fight… is essentially like offering yourself up for the slaughter,” Thorne said, having already moved beneath Juan Canyun, with a heavy strike of his twig on Juan Canyun’s back.

A damage of minus seven hundred popped up.

The damage is so low? Juan Canyun had thought this level sixty-five boss could one-shot him, but now was not the time to think about that!

Juan Canyun adjusted his stance; he hadn’t expected Thorne to close the distance so quickly, primarily because the two skills he released were AOE damages. Releasing them from such a close range meant any player would either be hit and caught in a stun, allowing Juan Canyun to follow up with another combo, or they would back away from the AOE range before counterattacking.

So, there was no issue with Juan Canyun’s backward leap here, yet Thorne easily dodged those two AOE skills, and even the spear Juan Canyun thrust to land quickly… Thorne had just stepped on it, pinning it to the ground.

Isn’t this an ability only players possess, to see through the mechanics?

Juan Canyun was stunned, and being stunned meant defeat. His current health was just over five thousand, and Thorne didn’t show mercy anymore. The moment he landed, Thorne used the twig to quickly zero out his health.

After his health hit zero, he was teleported out of the arena, sitting down on the ground and looking up at the sky above the bustling plaza.

“As expected, the newbie isn’t up to par. He got carried out in less than twenty seconds fighting an NPC.”

“Others who are newbies in the arena have almost reached a score of two thousand. You don’t even have the qualification to fight, do you?”

The comments from the spectators made Juan Canyun feel tightness in his chest. He could accept being thrashed by a bunch of professional gaming gods, but… this was an NPC! An NPC with preset AI in the game!

Mo Shigui and Caramel walked over to him and pulled him up from the ground.

“Coach… I’m logging off first,” Juan Canyun’s voice was a bit choked with emotion. This was too embarrassing! As a professional player, losing to an NPC in front of so many players was a humiliation!

“Wait a little longer,” Mo Shigui said.

“But… Coach…” Juan Canyun just wanted to leave this damned game.

“Next up is Caramel from Cola Enthusiasts. Watch his fight with Thorne before you log off,” Mo Shigui’s voice carried a stern reprimand.

If Juan Canyun logged off now, being utterly crushed by an in-game NPC would cast a shadow over his professional career. It would be uncertain when he could overcome that shadow.

So… he had to watch the battle between Caramel and Thorne.

From the battle just now, Mo Shigui had realized that this Eternal·Thorne wasn’t one of those dull NPCs from the world of Holy Spirits, fighting with pre-programmed routines.

He didn’t have any flashy skills, relying purely on combat technique and awareness with that little twig in his hand, completely overpowering Juan Canyun. In the vernacular, it was a technical crush.