Sacred Souls: Genesis

Chapter 133: Chapter 132: Communication (First Update)

Jiang Qiao teamed up with Zhao Mingwei and Lin Xi, along with a confused mechanic named Xia Shan, to form a four-person squad.

There were no healers available, the only healer in the guild had gone off to be a battlefield mercenary without raising her rates.

The forest within a seven-hundred-meter radius of the starting base was incredibly chaotic; Jiang Qiao could only describe it as a scene of utter pandemonium where a few steps would expose one to a barrage of skill effects raining down.

As Jiang Qiao walked along the starting base for a while, he scarcely saw any monsters—it was truly as if locusts had devoured everything, leaving not a blade of grass.

“Boss…” Zhao Mingwei, following behind Jiang Qiao, suddenly spoke up, “Have you ever considered something?”

“What’s that?”

Jiang Qiao released his Wind Spirit into the sky which allowed him to discover magic thieves without… letting his teammates suspect he was using a vision-enhancing cheat.

“This game might be related to the real world,” Zhao Mingwei said.

“…”

Jiang Qiao’s casting motion paused slightly at that moment, but it didn’t take him long to start pondering how to respond to Zhao Mingwei.

Zhao Mingwei and the no extra charge healer were among the few sacred players who knew that the first annihilation legion invasion was in the real world.

“Are you referring to the AR version that Saint Spirit is about to launch?”

At this point, Lin Xi found a way to help Jiang Qiao divert the conversation; he took off his headphones, which he had been wearing while following the team and selecting battle BGMs to listen to.

“AR version… Yeah, the AR version,” Zhao Mingwei didn’t contradict Lin Xi’s suggestion but continued to lead the topic in that direction.

“Come on, haven’t you played the AR version of Conflict? The AR version of Conflict is just a pile of… that thing,” Lin Xi changed his choice of words upon seeing Xia Shan, who was curiously listening in on the team conversation.

The team was currently using voice chat, and Xia Shan had a pretty robust female voice; Lin Xi didn’t rule out that she might be using a voice changer, but with a girl in the team, he felt he had to restrain his more colorful language.

“I know that, the AR version of Conflict was discontinued just a year after its launch, it was indeed very boring,” Xia Shan also tried hard to fit into the conversation with the three experts at this moment.

She was cautious about strangers online, but Jiang Qiao had already fallen into the category of good people she felt comfortable interacting with. After getting familiar with Jiang Qiao, she had started talking more.

“Chang Qing also knows about it? And Brother Mingwei, I suggest you better not expect much from the Saint Spirit AR version. Isn’t an action-based MMO doing AR a joke?” Lin Xi said the latter half of his message to Zhao Mingwei through a private chat.

AR means augmented reality, which unlike VR where you wear a helmet to enter the game world, uses AR glasses to project the game into the real world.

This also means that many of the skills and combat methods in the game world cannot be replicated in reality, since a super strong swordsman player in the game might just be a weakling in real life who doesn’t even know how to hold a sword.

This is the gap between the game and reality.

Therefore, when Lin Xi saw the news about the launch of Saint Spirit’s AR version on the official website, he had no expectations at all.

“What if you could reproduce your own skills in reality?” Zhao Mingwei asked again.

“I am a Gun Master, Brother Mingwei. My class can simply press the shortcut bar to cast skills, so of course, I can,” Lin Xi summoned a flamethrower somewhat exasperatedly and said, “Just pull the trigger like this and it’s a skill, but those swordsman players are in trouble, who knows if they can perform Phantom Sword Dance in reality.”

Xia Shan suddenly laughed when she heard this. Of course, she knew about the swordsman’s Phantom Sword Dance skill, the swinging of the sword was so fast that it was imperceptible to the naked eye.

In the Saint Spirit game, there’s a combat assistance system, meaning any swordsman player can smoothly execute the ‘Phantom Sword Dance’ skill just by thinking about it.

But if switched to the AR version, putting on AR glasses means you can’t use the battle assist from “Holy Spirit.”

The way “Conflict” deals with it is to have only skill effects, no need for the player to perform the corresponding actions.

But a VR online game that focuses on action becomes boring without the action… Mages don’t mind much, but warriors would collectively protest.

This also led to the discontinuation of the “Conflict” AR version less than a year after its launch.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Zhao Mingwei didn’t refute Lin Xi’s statement.

“Again with that perfunctory answer, Mingwei, what exactly have you been hinting at lately? ‘Holy Spirit’ sure feels very real, but surely you can still distinguish between the game and reality, right?” Lin Xi asked.

“…I was just wondering when the next Abyssal Hunt is,” Zhao Mingwei changed the subject.

Zhao Mingwei’s words made Jiang Qiao feel increasingly complex emotions.

“Abyssal Hunt? Mingwei, do you want some special equipment? Just buy it on 4396, your endorsement fee should be enough to buy several pieces of special equipment, right?” Lin Xi also used private chat for this sentence, a chat that Xia Shan couldn’t hear.

“I never buy equipment in games; I always get it by farming monsters, so I need to level up to max level soon to ensure I can win the next Abyssal Hunt,” Zhao Mingwei added.

Their level was now fifty, while the current level cap in “Holy Spirit” had already reached fifty-five.

“You know, we might not have time to farm top-tier equipment after work starts, but reaching max level isn’t hard,” Lin Xi didn’t quite understand the series of hints from Zhao Mingwei.

But Jiang Qiao’s mood kept getting more complex as he listened.

Zhao Mingwei actually knew that the army of annihilation appearing in the Abyssal Hunts wasn’t just a monster from the game but a real threat that might invade the real world.

Knowing this, Zhao Mingwei was in a state of constant vigilance, or rather a perpetual sense of crisis surrounded him, and he was terrified of the day when the next Abyssal Hunt began and the army of annihilation arrived—if the players lost… what might happen.

In Lin Xi’s mind, if the players lost, it was just a loss; they could always respawn and fight again. However, Zhao Mingwei knew if they lost, the tragedy at Jiangcheng Food Street could happen again.

“And daydreaming, if you can’t get a girlfriend in real life, be nicer to your own Fureya, in case she might actually become your girlfriend.”

Zhao Mingwei sensed some silence in the team’s atmosphere, so he switched to a lighter topic.

“Oh my God! Mingwei, my female fans in real life might be few, but it’s not like I can’t find a girlfriend, right? Only hardcore nerds would actually consider Fureya as a dating partner!”

On hearing Zhao Mingwei’s words, Lin Xi really wanted to smash his flamethrower in Zhao Mingwei’s face because there was actually a real girl in the team!

Zhao Mingwei’s words were essentially ruining Lin Xi’s standing.

“I’m not joking; I’m serious,” Zhao Mingwei said as he applied Telekinesis Energy Dragon Tiger Roar BUFF to himself, and instructed, “So you guys must protect your own Fureyas.”

“No need for you to say, if my Fureya dies, the main quest breaks!” Lin Xi responded while also applying a combat BUFF to himself.

Lin Xi completely missed Zhao Mingwei’s hints; he still only regarded Fureya as an NPC needed for the main quest.

But now wasn’t the time to worry about this.

Lin Xi and Zhao Mingwei, both seasoned professional players, didn’t need Jiang Qiao’s reminder to sense that something monstrous was lurking around.

Meanwhile, Xia Shan looked utterly bewildered, glancing left and right; seeing Jiang Qiao also apply a combat BUFF, Xia Shan quickly summoned her combat prototype.