Sacred Souls: Genesis

Chapter 193: Chapter 192: Guarding the Corpse (1 more update)

Hai Lan had followed Jiang Qiao long enough to learn the skill of how an NPC should be placed. The orange cat, played by the Wasp Knight, wasn’t randomly positioned to block the players’ path.

Players could obtain a free Blazing Potion from this orange cat, an NPC that provided good benefits, warming those players who wanted to explore the Snow Plain area but hadn’t prepared the necessary ice-resistant potions and gear… with a bit of warmth from the game designers.

“Today’s supply has already been given out! Come back tomorrow to receive more!”

After tossing the last Blazing Potion that Hai Lan had given him to one of the players, the Wasp Knight immediately shouted to the surrounding players who still wanted a Blazing Potion.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen an NPC hand out free items in limited quantities.”

Jiang Qiao, in his role as an NPC graphic artist, approached the Wasp Knight. The crowd around Madam Orange Cat had begun to thin. They all belonged to major guilds exploring the Snow Plain, and no one lingered at the entrance to the Snow Plain for long.

“I don’t have much time to entertain these Sprites now,” the Wasp Knight said as he saw Jiang Qiao and threw a bottle to him. Jiang Qiao reached out and caught the transparent glass bottle that the Wasp Knight had thrown.

The glass bottle contained a mound of soil. At a glance, the soil appeared normal, but Jiang Qiao cast a detection spell on the jar of soil.

The soil was defined by the detection spell as “soil contaminated by Crystal Plague.”

“This jar of soil was found in a village on the border… of the Day Empire, I think that’s the name… on the border of the Day Empire,” the Wasp Knight said, tossing another jar of soil to Jiang Qiao, “This one is from the border region on the other side of that country.”

Jiang Qiao received another jar and saw that the name given by the detection spell was still “soil contaminated by Crystal Plague.”

“Is the contamination by the Crystal Plague this severe outside?” Jiang Qiao initially thought that only a few villages in the external countries were affected by the Crystal Plague, but now it seemed… the areas harboring the Crystal Plague weren’t limited to a few villages.

“It’s not severe. There were no changes on the surface of the regions where I collected the soil. If Lama hadn’t researched this, I wouldn’t have noticed anything wrong with these soils,” said the Wasp Knight.

Lama was the real name of the axe-wielding man. Jiang Qiao had sent the axe-wielding man to investigate this world a few days earlier, initially to find out if there were any descendants of the Devouring God in this world.

“Things are getting interesting. If this continues, Biland Island might become the last sanctuary, and the bases established by the players might become the last safe zones,” Jiang Qiao mused.

Jiang Qiao understood what the implications of the two jars of soil were. It was very likely that the Crystal Plague had already started to spread outside and might still be in its incubation period without fully erupting.

“Also, that businesswoman you sent out wrote you a letter, which is really what I was supposed to hand over,” said the Wasp Knight, taking out a letter and handing it over to Jiang Qiao.

The envelope was in excellent condition and showed no signs of being opened. It seemed that the Wasp Knight was a suitable messenger, having not peeked inside.

Jiang Qiao carefully broke the wax seal of the letter and thoroughly read the detailed contents. It was a long letter… Lyla had written three full pages. After reading all the content, Jiang Qiao concluded…

“That’s amazing… does this girl want us to turn Biland Island’s expansion pack into a haven for pirate tycoons, or maybe ranch tycoons?” Jiang Qiao struggled to find the right words.

“Explain what that means?” the Wasp Knight seemed a bit curious about Lyla since their characters would likely get along well.

“Animals and plants infected by the crystal… humans can’t eat them. Their flesh would be riddled with tiny crystal fragments, making it feel like eating gravel,” Jiang Qiao explained as he carefully packed the three letters and returned them to the Wasp Knight.

“And due to the spread of the Crystal Plague, the chances are high that livestock like cattle, sheep, chickens, and horses raised in the outside world will get infected, whereas the livestock Lyla brought to Biland Island… theoretically, aren’t at any risk of infection,” Jiang Qiao continued.

“Sprites don’t need to eat, right? I don’t think they’d be interested in raising livestock or cultivating land on this island.”

The Wasp Knight glanced again at the vanishing silhouette of the Spiritual Body, confirming that these folks indeed had no need to eat in the game.

“They don’t, but their big wife, second wife, and third wife all need to eat. Some Spiritual Bodies have already started playing Farm Story on the island. What Lyla wants to express in this letter is probably… to intensify this activity, not to stop.”

Jiang Qiao examined the two bottles of soil given by the Wasp Knight again. If the Crystal Plague really had started spreading in the outside world, it could infect the entire world in one to two years, or perhaps even faster.

So, after coming to her senses, Lyla temporarily set aside her grudge against the Magic Thief, and she is now making efforts to ensure the survival of her race.

“Given this, does it still make sense for the gods of this world to have the Spiritual Bodies purify Biland Island?” asked the Wasp Knight.

“I’m not sure what they’re thinking, but… players have already started tackling the Snow Plain Master. There’s a chosen one in the raid team, so it’s a good opportunity to see what they’re up to.”

As Jiang Qiao was speaking to the Wasp Knight, a terrifying roar echoed from afar, likely from the center of the Snow Plain… emanating from the most powerful creature found on this Snow Plain.

“Do you need help?” asked the Wasp Knight, who had just delivered the letter and was thinking about returning to fight the Battle of Divinities, as tormenting players was much more amusing than tormenting the monsters on this island.

“Not for now.”

Jiang Qiao made sure no players were watching them, switched to a player mode, and summoned the previously frozen Chubby Chirp to administer a Blazing Potion.

“Directly tell me if there’s any new information from Lyla.” Jiang Qiao pulled out a fishing rod, threw a golden carrot to Chubby Chirp, and watched as the Wasp Knight nodded understandingly before watching Chubby Chirp dash across the Snow Plain with its short little legs.

The Snow Plain area is the second smallest of the seven areas on Biland Island, with the smallest being the central area of Biland Island. It took Jiang Qiao less than five minutes to run off the map and enter a region ravaged by a blizzard.

The blizzard obscured Jiang Qiao’s vision, allowing him to see only a bunch of “-234,” “-521,” “-231.”

Lots of players were rapidly losing health under the Snow Plain Master’s blizzard attack, but the storm lasted less than a minute before quickly disappearing, revealing the monster standing under the moonlight not far away.

‘Heavenly Frost Dragon, level: 60, lord-level creature, health 6721331/7321301’

This Snow Plain Master measured a full twenty-three meters, with pure white scales like metal armor covering its entire body. It seemed to notice Jiang Qiao’s arrival at that moment, abruptly flapping its huge wings behind it, lifting off a wave of snow into the sky, then diving towards Jiang Qiao.

“So I’m just passing by, and you drop a dragon on me?”

Jiang Qiao watched the massive beast descending from above; the Chubby Chirp beneath him had already curled up into a terrified ball.

The sensation was like a skyscraper suddenly collapsing; Jiang Qiao felt darkness before his eyes and saw nothing, and when he came to, he found his health completely depleted, standing as a Spiritual Body at his own tombstone, with the Heavenly Frost Dragon above him howling skyward.

“Who’s got a Resurrection Technique!”

Jiang Qiao helplessly shouted in the Jumping Nucleus guild channel.

“My Resurrection Technique isn’t on cooldown, but… why isn’t that BOSS moving?” Velvety Rabbit shouted in the channel.

At that moment, Jiang Qiao looked up again to find the Heavenly Frost Dragon still above his tombstone… It just squatted there, unwilling to leave, loudly roaring and using its frost magic and claws to destroy all players attempting to approach.

Damn it… this BOSS even camps corpses.