Sacred Souls: Genesis

Chapter 185: Chapter 184: Tragic (combined chapter 3 and 4 updates)

The Dancing Nuclear Guild, as discovered by Sheral in the intelligence gathered, was certainly among the top echelons of the nine major guilds of the Holy Spirits.

Their appeal in the Holy Spirits was no weaker than the bandits at Black Wind Village. If Sheral could join the Dancing Nuclear Guild, at least during the period when the spirits purified Biland Island from the crystal disease, she wouldn’t have to worry about being disturbed by her fellow Divine Chosen Ones.

“Is this the stronghold of the Dancing Nuclear Guild?”

Sheral looked up at the distant Dancing Nuclear stronghold, still under construction from afar, which resembled a high wall made of obsidian. The wall’s height reached six meters, and its surface faintly radiated the glow of some special magic power inscriptions.

The wall facing the Spiritual Vein Forest was not yet completed. Sheral could still vaguely see Holy Spirits stacking materials on the wall as if they were assembling building blocks.

If any builder from the real world saw this scene, they might feel the urge to kick the wall, for they could then watch a wall made of blocks, assembled without any bonding process, collapse.

Sheral also felt this urge, but to be recruited by the Dancing Nuclear Guild, she obediently followed behind their large troop.

“Two days ago, our stronghold was destroyed by a Magic Thief who invaded it,” Yelena said, walking beside Sheral and introducing the stronghold. “The Holy Spirit currently building the city wall over there is called Little Feather. Holy Spirits are really amazing at building; they can make stones fit together by themselves, even float in the air.”

Sure enough, as one of the top guilds of the Holy Spirits, the inside of the stronghold was a completely different scene for Sheral. On one side, an unknown mechanism operated slowly, excavating minerals generated on the ground, then transporting them into the furnace via a conveyor belt for smelting.

On another side was a neatly arranged garden, planted with various herbs.

Compared to Black Wind Village, the stronghold of the Dancing Nuclear Guild was simply at two extremes. Black Wind Village has only individual wooden structures; though large in scale, they appeared very chaotic.

The internal planning of the stronghold in the Dancing Nuclear Guild was extremely satisfying for someone with OCD… If the territory of the Dancing Nuclear stronghold were divided into 35,500 cells, Mo Shigui’s planning was to use every single one of them.

“My usual job is to sort the stacked minerals and help water the potions. The person adjusting the mining machine over there is Chang Qing with black hair; she is not from our guild, but she is easy to get along with—just don’t break her mining machine, otherwise, she will summon a big robot thing to beat you up.”

It was clear that Yelena had already considered the Dancing Nuclear stronghold as her home. When Zhao Mingwei agreed to take her as his apprentice, Yelena’s favorability immediately skyrocketed to one hundred.

The guild leader Mo Shigui didn’t think much and immediately signed a permanent employment contract with Yelena. Now Yelena was a resident NPC at the Dancing Nuclear, alongside a host of Fureyas, and she even had the attributes of a mascot.

Ever since the Cola Fanatic Guild recruited two Dragon Speaker sisters, causing their numbers to skyrocket, Mo Shigui was considering whether to draw one or two SSR-level characters.

If SSR-level characters were temporarily unattainable… perhaps using Yelena as the Dancing Nuclear Guild’s poster girl might also be an option?

“That’s really nice, really nice,” Sheral followed behind Yelena, watching the thriving scene of the Dancing Nuclear Guild and couldn’t help but exclaim in envy.

“You can be the same if you join our guild,” Yelena said, turning around and only then noticing the ropes still tied around Sheral.

The thick hemp rope was wrapped around Sheral’s arms, coil after coil. Yelena stepped forward, intending to help Sheral untie her ropes.

“Let’s first see what those Holy Spirits think,” Sheral deftly stepped back, dodging Yelena’s hands. “I am currently considered a captive.”

“Our guild is really short-staffed now, as long as you are willing to work, even if your hands were cat’s paws, they would be put to use,” Yelena said, looking at Sheral who seemed uneasy, and took on the role of a senior and an experienced person to comfort Sheral.

She didn’t realize at all that Sheral’s level was so high that he could kill her in one hit.

“If only it were true.”

When Sheral said this, Rain Song and Fureya suddenly walked towards her, which made Sheral immediately straighten up and stare at them with sparkling wide eyes.

“Sheral dear… We’re sorry, but we are off to conquer the Snow Plain map shortly. As an NPC, you should have the option to be sent back to the starting base, right? It turns out you do.”

Fureya issued an eviction order right away, using a subtle tone. Although her tone was subtle, her choice was far from it—she was essentially saying ‘please leave our base.’

“Are you really not going to hire me? I’m very powerful!” Sheral felt an urge to throw a tantrum on the ground, as god knows if the Shadow Divine Chosen One or other divine chosen ones would be lurking outside the base.

If she were abandoned by the Holy Spirits, the outcome would be tragic.

“Ooo, our food supply is hardly sufficient as it is; even supporting little Yelena is a struggle. She costs us tens of thousands for her three meals a day, not that you would understand that,” said Fureya.

Fureya was adept at acting cute! She issued the second eviction order, and Sheral looked toward Yelena in despair.

Yelena noticed that the Dance Nuclear Guild members did not want Sheral to stay. She was about to say something when Zhao Mingwei lightly patted her shoulder and shook his head slightly.

Sheral’s attributes were so abnormally strong that they posed a risk. Right now, the Dancing Nuclear Guild needed NPCs with lifestyle attributes, not combat attributes that could rival those of lord-level monsters, which were considered an extra bonus to the guild…

It wasn’t that they were not needed, but they were not necessary.

Most importantly, the negative effects associated with Sheral far outweighed the benefits of her positive attributes.

One reason was that neither Fureya nor the Rain Song could determine whether Sheral was good or bad. Crystal Hunters were seen as neutral to the players, and Fureya thought, ‘Surely the system wouldn’t allow hired NPCs to dismantle the players’ home, right?’ But the response from Rain Song was, ‘Yes, the hiring system notes that if an NPC’s favorability turns negative and the value is too high, the NPC will engage in destructive actions at the base.’

The most critical issue was that today they were going to embark on a journey to the Snow Plain map, which would drastically reduce the elite forces within the base.

As the two argued, Zhao Mingwei decisively offered a guiding opinion, ‘With a daily consumption of 1000 units of food, you dare to keep it? Even Yelena is barely sustainable, just kick her out.’

“If… you hire me, I… can tell you a very, very important piece of information!”

Sheral, seeing Fureya preparing to see her out, was forced to play her last trump card in this desperate situation.

“Important information, could it be as crucial as the mission concerning the Dragon Speaker sisters?” Fureya indeed wavered at this moment.

“Planning to make major system changes twice a day? Impossible.” Rain Song maintained a skeptical attitude.

“It’s… about the secrets of Biland Island!”

The moment Sheral’s words fell, she began to feel a faint pain in the mark on her chest.

“Could this NPC possibly be a main storyline NPC?” Mama Has a Dog heard Sheral’s words and dropped the cube she was holding to join the intrigue.

“I was wondering why the main quest storyline was so vague, you tell me about it, if the rewards are generous, I bet Silver will be willing to support you till he goes broke.” Lazy Lazy also came running out from her herb garden. Silver, as the secret owner of the Dancing Nuclear Guild, although he hadn’t drawn an account to play as a holy spirit, never skimped on funding the construction of the base.

Yelena’s meals were sponsored by Silver. He bought various Otherworld ingredients daily on 4396 to cook at the camp.

Sheral looked at the holy spirits in the Dancing Nuclear Guild gathering around, all of them watching her with expectant eyes.

She knew this was an opportunity she had to seize…

“This island…” Sheral organized her thoughts, ready to voice out all her ideas, when suddenly the mark on her chest burst into light.

Sheral couldn’t bear the pain as the blood inside her felt like it was burning, and she half-kneeled on the ground, but she endured the pain… still attempting to speak what she knew.

“The Magic Thief on Biland Island…”

Sheral’s words seemed like they touched an absolutely forbidden taboo, resulting in severe punishment; the light from the mark on her chest had become blinding.

In that moment, Sheral also lost consciousness from the pain and collapsed on the ground…

“What’s with the Magic Thief on this island?”

The players from the Dancing Nuclear Guild were stunned.

“Fluffy Rabbit! Heal her!” Zhao Mingwei acted very calmly as he noticed Sheral’s health quickly dropping from three million.

“I’m already on it. Are there any other healers in the base? Xiao Bai! Yuan Guang!”

Fluffy Rabbit rapidly released all his healing skills on Sheral, trying to boost her health. Sheral was designated as a neutral target, not an enemy, hence Fluffy Rabbit’s healing skills were effective on Sheral.

But it was useless, Sheral’s health was rapidly dropping by fifty thousand points per second. The first time Fluffy Rabbit used a healing skill on Sheral, it raised her health by about sixty thousand points, but as time went by, the rate of Sheral’s health loss increased even more.

The other three healers from the guild rushed over to help boost Sheral’s health but couldn’t stop her health from declining.

“This NPC surely can’t just drop dead from talking, right?” Mom Got a Dog was encountering this situation for the first time.

“Should I contact the healers from the neighboring guild for help?” Lazy Lazy asked.

“No use! Even if the healers from next door get here by teleportation, she would probably be dead from the loss of blood! Fluffy Rabbit, be more forceful, we can’t lift her health.” Tonight Your Mom Must Die was already panicking on the side.

“Want to try healing with my equipment?” Fluffy Rabbit now just wanted to grab a cross and smack the one making idle comments.

Zhao Mingwei watched from the side… this time he was truly powerless. The cause of Sheral losing her life was that eerie mark on her chest, and Zhao Mingwei had not studied this world’s magic or divine arts much.

Just as the elite players from the Dancing Nuclear Guild were at a loss, a figure dressed in a nun’s outfit crossed the crowd of onlookers and walked into the center of Fluffy Rabbit’s myriad Holy Light effects, reaching Sheral’s side.

“Who is that? I haven’t seen her before,” a player from the guild said, unable to recognize her immediately because of Fluffy Rabbit’s dazzling skill effects.

“Fuck! You don’t even recognize your own wife anymore! Fureya, damn it! My Fureya doesn’t wear those nun robes. A level fifty epic healer, isn’t this the guild leader’s Fureya?” MomHasADog suddenly yelled.

“How did the guild leader’s Fureya come out of a tree hole?”

“It looks like she wants to heal that NPC who looks like a shepherdess.” Little Feather saw Mo Shigui’s Fureya gently kneeling next to Sheral.

Fureya gazed at Sheral, who was lying on the ground, the mark on her chest rapidly consuming her life force. Fureya hesitated briefly before extending her hand to touch the mark on Sheral.

The burning pain seeped into Fureya’s recently formed sense of touch, and the tips of the fingers she touched began to be rapidly scorched by the heat emitted from the mark.

“You’ve worked hard.” Hai Lan’s voice arose next to Fureya’s ear, and Fureya saw a translucent hand gripping her arm.

The divine power bursting from Sheral’s chest began to be swiftly suppressed, but as a price, the tips of Fureya’s left hand—once flawless like porcelain—started gradually burning to a black color.

“Fuck fuck fuck! My wife! Shit! The guild leader’s wife’s hand is going to be scorched! Someone stop her!” MomHasADog’s voice was almost crying, “The guild leader might kill us all when he logs on!”

“I fucking want to stop her too! But there’s an air wall! What the hell is this? A scripted scene? Fuck! Why is it the guild leader’s Fureya.”

LazyLazy saw Mo Shigui’s Fureya appeared and felt something was wrong and wanted to pull her away, but she hit an air wall as soon as she got within two meters of Sheral.

This meant that what they were seeing was a scripted CG scene. If it were a CG scene, shouldn’t every player’s Fureya come out to perform a bit?

LazyLazy thought about this and glanced at Mo Shigui’s Fureya’s burned black left fingertips… Well, guild leader, your sacrifice was worth everything.

“Don’t worry, Old Song just got off the plane and is sleeping in the hotel.” BlackPotCookMeat had just logged on and was still unclear about what had happened, “Why would the guild leader want to chop you guys? Did you guys screw up the stronghold or something?”

“The guild leader’s Fureya is in trouble in the script again! This time it’s her left hand that got burned!” someone in the guild responded.

BlackPotCookMeat squeezed through the crowd and saw Fureya in the middle treating Sheral’s injuries. His curious expression gradually turned blank, and finally, BlackPotCookMeat chose to log off immediately.

“Fuck me! CookMeat’s trying to ditch responsibility!” MomHasADog yelled.

“The pot? What pot?”

“I’m telling you guys! The guild leader’s wife blew up, and none of you spectators are free from blame!”

“What the hell do we have to do with this game forcing us into a cutscene? I’m not saying anymore, I’m logging off to snitch.”

“I’ve already texted the guild leader.”

“Bullshit! You think your texting is faster than my calling?”

Zhao Mingwei watched this group from the Dancing Nuclear Guild turn on each other in the face of disaster and helplessly recorded the entire scene.