Chapter 11: Pray for Yourself
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
ScarletFruit led a group of people, charging fiercely towards Su Mo and his companions. The Swordsman and the Daoist Priest had never seen such a scene before. Seeing Su Mo step back, they also retreated a few steps.
“Help!!” As ScarletFruit got closer, his voice became clearer, “Big brother, brother, save me.”
The Inked Landscape dungeon was located halfway up the mountain, with the surrounding terrain being quite complex, filled with strange rocks and dense trees. Su Mo and his companions stood at a higher position, while ScarletFruit hid everywhere along the slope, barely avoiding attacks under the cover of rocks.
“Save me first, bro.” ScarletFruit narrowly avoided the chasing spells from behind, his health bar being slightly reduced, “I have materials worth thousands of gold on me, I can’t fall here!!”
Su Mo’s eyes flickered.
The Swordsman also saw the situation clearly, “Damn, it’s that guy who went into the dungeon with us, why is he here? Glass-hearted and blocking people.”
After all, they had fought against the Guardian Deity together through hardships. Seeing ScarletFruit so miserable, the Daoist Priest girl softened and asked, “The leader’s position is hard to climb, should we save him?”
The Swordsman and the Daoist Priest both looked at the summoner beside them, whose expression remained unchanged. He spoke in a slightly indifferent tone, “It’s not impossible to save him.” He continued leisurely, “But my rabbit is out of feed, it might not be able to fight.”
Hearing this, the Daoist Priest girl immediately shouted, “Leader, the big guy said his rabbit is out of feed.”
ScarletFruit’s health bar was down to half, and he struggled up the slope, falling in front of Su Mo, “I have it, I have it!”
Su Mo’s eyes flickered, and he asked, “The ten packs of high-grade feed?”
ScarletFruit, “…” High-grade feed was 10 gold per pack, ten packs would be 100 gold.
Su Mo, “What do you say?”
ScarletFruit gritted his teeth, “Deal!”
***
Warrior EverFaithful led his teammates up the slope, only to find a few people already standing there. He shouted to his teammates, “These guys are with ScarletFruit. Let’s kill them all.”
The Daoist Priest girl was taken aback, “Are they really that unreasonable?”
The Swordsman with her saw the summoner standing next to ScarletFruit. Recognizing him, he immediately cursed, “Damn it! It’s you!”
Su Mo suddenly remembered who the person was and said in surprise, “It’s you. What a coincidence!”
The level 35 Swordsman shouted, “Coincidence my ass, I’ve been looking for you for a long time!”
This Swordsman was one of the managers responsible for guiding newbies in the Eternal Flame faction, with the ID ‘BladeWarrior’. He had been ambushed and frustrated while clearing monsters in the wild area and had been searching for the summoner and array master who had ambushed him ever since. Seeing the summoner with ScarletFruit now, he rushed forward without a word to attack.
ScarletFruit’s health was critical. After barely managing to heal himself, he saw the Swordsman charging straight at him. “Damn, you guys have personal grudges?”
Su Mo summoned the Soul Rabbit, “I don’t think so?”
As he spoke, he casually sent out the Solitary Wolf to stun the Swordsman, then directed the Soul Rabbit to attack the warrior. EverFaithful had brought four teammates. Apart from the level 35 Swordsman who was a bit of a threat, the others were of similar level to them. However, their damage output was clearly insufficient. The Daoist Priest was a newbie, the Swordsman was a melee fighter, and with ScarletFruit providing some healing, the only one capable of decent combat was Su Mo.
“Is your health full?” Su Mo had the Soul Rabbit block an attack for ScarletFruit and said, “If it’s full, we’ll make a run for it.”
ScarletFruit responded, “Not… not fighting?”
He had agreed to pay for his life! 100 gold!
“What else did you expect?” Su Mo replied naturally, “I only said I’d keep you alive. You run first, I’ll cover you.”
ScarletFruit, “…???”
The situation changed rapidly. EverFaithful soon led his team up the slope. At this moment, ScarletFruit, who had been standing on the slope, turned and ran with two other teammates. The group scattered in different directions, leaving only the summoner behind.
EverFaithful was stunned for a moment and shouted in the team channel, “Damn, they’re running away separately.”
“Focus on the summoner!” The level 35 Swordsman was furious, “Don’t let him get away!”
In the forest outside the main city, many players were running quests. Newbies had various ways to level up, mostly through hunting monsters and completing quests. At around ten in the evening, a time rich in night activities, players running quests in the forest suddenly heard sounds of fighting and shouting. Looking into the forest, they saw someone running at the front, followed by four people behind.
[Global] MidnightGale: Is anyone in the small woods?
[Global] PeachesNCheeseFan: It looks like there’s a fight in the woods. Eternal Flame is chasing someone.
[Global] RestlessRover: I see it. It looks like they’re chasing a summoner.
[Global] LuckyStar: How exciting!
The player running at the front moved incredibly fast, easily widening the gap with the players behind and even using his summons to control them. The Spirit Sanctuary summoner’s Solitary Wolf moved with impressive speed, stunning the nearest player for three seconds with a pounce. Once the skill cooldown ended, it would immediately stun the next player. Additionally, the summoner had a low-level summon, the Zephyr Hawk, which had a slowing effect on its attacks.
Yu Zhen was still completing quests. As an array master, leveling up was slower, and after finishing the tasks at the Sect base, he could only continue with side quests. He methodically worked on his tasks while listening to the chatter from his teammate, 25000, in the team voice channel.
“Wow, this is intense. This Swordsman is so bad, how dare he chase someone? Hilarious, I feel so much better now.”
Yu Zhen, growing tired of 25000’s increasingly excited commentary, was about to mute him when he heard the next statement, “Damn, damn, damn, damn, they’re catching up! Nice move, a clutch save at the last second. This summoner is awesome!”
A summoner? Yu Zhen paused, muted 25000’s voice, and opened the long-muted Global Channel.
[Global] MidnightGale: This is incredible!
[Global] PeachesNCheeseFan: Did the summoner hide their ID? Who is this? Some pro’s smurf account?
[Global] TinyRipple: Using Soul Rabbit… could it be that newbie from the Newbie Village quest a few days ago?
[Global] PeachesNCheeseFan: You call this a newbie? Playing a summoner like this, it has to be a pro’s smurf.
Players in the forest watched as the summoner skillfully used his abilities, while the group behind him struggled to keep up. The Swordsman refused to give up, repeatedly trying to break free and catch up, only to be slowed down by the Zephyr Hawk, unable to get his sword close.
In Celestial Horizon, all classes were balanced. The summoner class wasn’t weak, but few players could master it. The current leading players were at level 70, and among them were top-tier summoners. However, Yu Zhen doubted that momo was a smurf account. The record for controlling the most summons in a single match was seven, set by ‘FireworksAndLanterns,’ while ordinary top-tier players could manage four. There were 15 types of summons in the skill repertoire.
Yu Zhen hadn’t seen the current chase but remembered teaming up with the summoner in the wild area. Momo’s bold and confident playstyle, especially the ability to multitask and control summons effortlessly, stood out. Momo exhibited a level of ease uncommon among regular players.
[Global] LittleKitty: Hasn’t this chase been going on for ten minutes? BladeWarrior still hasn’t given up?
[Global] RestlessRover: How is this summoner so fast? This speed is unreal!
[Global] 999: Why does this feel like they’re playing a game of chase?
[Global] LittleWave: Honestly, I feel the same but didn’t dare to say it.
The chaotic chase, accompanied by other players watching, finally reached the main city gates. As the summoner slowed down, the Swordsman’s eyes lit up, and he lunged forward, hoping to land a strike. But a red warning message appeared before him.
[You have entered the main city. Killing mode is disabled. Please, be aware.]
Su Mo looked at the few people behind him, smiled slightly, and said, “Thanks for the hard work. See you around.”
With that, he leisurely walked to the teleportation area and selected the Spirit Sanctuary’s Sect base to teleport away.
Swordsman, “………”
The Sect base was also a safe zone. As soon as Su Mo teleported back to the Spirit Sanctuary, he saw ScarletFruit and two other teammates waiting at the entrance. He looked at ScarletFruit in surprise and smiled, “You didn’t run away?”
ScarletFruit responded, “I still have some sense of contractual spirit, you know?”
[ScarletFruit requests to trade with you.]
Su Mo accepted the trade and saw 12 high-grade pet feeds and an additional 60 gold on the trade panel.
“Is this extra?” he asked.
“It’s not extra. It’s the profit share from the Inked Landscape materials, 50 gold per person. I gave you an extra 60 gold. I also gave a share to the other two.” ScarletFruit distributed the materials with a pained expression, “Each person gets 50 gold, and I even lost the money for the feed. Today was a huge loss, but still, thank you all. Otherwise, I might not have been able to keep the materials I had.”
The total was 210 gold for four people. After accounting for the materials earned from the dungeon, ScarletFruit must have taken at most 120 gold worth of materials. They had agreed on 10 feeds, but he ended up giving two extra. ScarletFruit didn’t explicitly mention the materials, but the profit share was indeed generous.
Su Mo paused, suddenly finding ScarletFruit quite interesting. While he was somewhat unscrupulous, he wasn’t entirely bad. He was greedy but also generous, a bit contradictory.
The Swordsman laughed heartily, “Why didn’t you share the profit earlier? Why run away?”
ScarletFruit replied awkwardly, “Don’t mention it. I was just greedy and saw that you were newbies who didn’t know the ropes. I thought I could get away with some extra profit.” He added, “The game is just a matter of a few dozen star coins. There are worse people in real life. Consider yourselves lucky. Next time, don’t run into someone like me who might rob and leave you starving.”
“We live in peaceful times, and besides, you’re a healer. You can’t even hurt anyone,” the Daoist Priest girl laughed softly. “Next time, don’t carry so many materials with you. If people know you’re loaded, they’ll definitely chase you down.”
ScarletFruit sighed, “Miss, I’m a merchant. I need to carry materials to set up shop and make money. Who knew that EverFaithful knew someone from Eternal Flame? Such a glass-hearted person tracking me down.” He sighed again, “If it weren’t for leveling my alt and gathering materials, I wouldn’t be in such a lousy place. Below level 40, there’s newbie protection. It’s troublesome for high-level players to enter newbie areas! If you need materials in the future, come to me. I’ll give you a 10% discount, no less.”
Swordsman laughed, “Only 10%? Truly, there’s no honesty in business.”
ScarletFruit glanced at him and said, “Well, what else can I do? I also need to support my family.”
The group gathered around, and ScarletFruit explained how to avoid getting scammed in trades.
After listening for a while, Su Mo walked to the skill instructor’s place to learn skills. He just activated the materials when he saw that his Soul Rabbit, which had been in its juvenile stage, suddenly grew a size larger.
[Soul Rabbit·Special Skill (Passive): Celestial Law]
[Skill Description: A special passive skill triggered by the Soul Rabbit in the Spirit Sanctuary. In this state, the player’s physical and magical attack powers are mutually increased by 10%. This status cannot be cleared or upgraded.]
Seeing Su Mo’s silence, ScarletFruit asked, “Boss, how’s the skill learning going? Are you upgrading Soul Rabbit’s skill?”
Su Mo frowned slightly, calculating the current stage’s skill benefits. He casually asked, “Is there a difference between pet passive skills and active skills?”
“Of course, there is! Generally, a pet’s active skill is an ultimate skill, while the passive skill is a permanent state,” ScarletFruit explained. “In battle, you can only activate one pet. Whichever pet you activate, you can use its ultimate skill. But passive skills are different. They directly add to the character’s attributes, without restrictions. This means that in a battle, with four pets, you can carry one active skill and three passive skills, or simply carry four passive skills.”
“That’s about it. Active skills are powerful but limited to one. Passive skills are status effects, and you can carry as many as you have pets,” ScarletFruit continued. “Generally, active skills are better in battle because having an extra ultimate skill means having an extra chance. Passive skills are often considered mediocre because they’re randomly determined by the Sect. Sometimes, if you’re a summoner, you might even learn healing skills. Don’t be fooled by having four pets. It’s incredibly difficult to learn four suitable passive skills.”
The Swordsman asked, “Boss, have you learned any passive skills?”
“Yeah,” Su Mo closed the skill page. “Fortunately, they’re useful.”
He now had a hidden status visible only to himself, and his attribute panel showed corresponding enhancements. This skill wasn’t mediocre; it provided a significant boost for a summoner.
Summoners relied on summons for attacks, and the summons’ attributes were linked to the summoner’s. Among the 15 summons in the Sect’s repertoire, some were magical, and some were physical. Normally, to maximize gains, one would focus on one type. Su Mo had originally planned to do this, but the appearance of this passive skill gave him a new possibility.
Perhaps he could try both magical and physical attributes.
The Soul Rabbit, now larger, happily nibbled on the high-grade feed, its soft ears swaying. It looked very content.
Unable to resist, Su Mo rubbed its head. This little creature had given him a pleasant surprise.
Hearing Su Mo’s tone, the Swordsman thought it was just an ordinary skill and didn’t want to probe further. Instead, he said, “Let’s add each other as friends. After level 40, we can run dungeons together.” He sent friend requests to everyone else.
Su Mo accepted all the friend requests and suddenly noticed a new friend request mail from ScarletFruit.
[Hey boss, here’s the thing. Do you still need feed? Or materials for pet skill upgrades?]
Su Mo raised an eyebrow and replied, [What’s up? Looking to do business with me?]
ScarletFruit: [Hehe, yeah, it’s like this. You know I’ve got thousands of gold worth of materials, and I’ve stirred up trouble with those lunatics from Eternal Flame… I’ll supply you with feed, you help me level up, get me to level 40. The price is negotiable.]
Su Mo: [Don’t you have plenty of alt accounts? Can’t you just trade with one of them?]
In newbie areas, there were indeed few high-level players, and there was a level 40 restriction even for high-level players. But Su Mo remembered that the trading platform didn’t specify any trading restrictions for players below level 40.
[Where did the alt accounts come from? Oh, you’ve seen my other accounts, haven’t you? Those are my little brothers who work for me at the store, occasionally logging in to help me deal with materials. This batch of goods includes special materials, and special materials have trading protection. They can only be traded normally once you reach level 40. I’ll do missions with you, you can even bring a bind-on-pickup healer with you. Once I hit level 40, I’ll leave immediately, no strings attached! How about four feeds a day?]
ScarletFruit felt like crying without tears. He had trained five or six alt accounts in Newbie Village, usually dealing with materials with his little brothers from the store. But he couldn’t sell these materials on the alt accounts because there were too few players in the newbie area. The real business had to be conducted in the main cities of the high-level maps. He had to consolidate everything on one account and level it up to get out of the newbie area.
And these special materials on his account were even more troublesome. Because of the game’s official controls, he had to reach level 40 to freely trade special materials. Plus, his little brothers from the store were all part-timers, and they were much faster at dealing with materials in the wilderness than in fights. By then, they would just give away everything they had.
Su Mo glanced at Soul Rabbit by his feet, who had already finished eating one pack of high-grade feed that had just been obtained. He replied calmly, [It’s not going to work.]
ScarletFruit: [?]
Su Mo calmly responded, [My rabbit has a big appetite. Otherwise, good luck on your own?]
Author’s note:
Future ATM Stingy Merchant ScarletFruit’s plan is in place ✔️
Momo: As long as the money’s there, it’s negotiable.
