Genius Chapter 12: Bro, I’m gonna die

Chapter 12: Bro, I’m gonna die

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

The Swordsman and the Daoist Priest left quickly to level up, leaving only Su Mo and ScarletFruit at the Sect’s base. Su Mo was still looking at the learning conditions of other summoner skills. Beside him, ScarletFruit couldn’t bear the prolonged silence any longer. “5 packs?”

Su Mo didn’t reply.

ScarletFruit persisted, “6 packs?”

Still no response from Su Mo.

With determination, ScarletFruit gritted his teeth, “7 packs?”

Su Mo glanced at him sideways.

With a hopeless tone, ScarletFruit said, “8 packs, really can’t afford more.”

Su Mo reluctantly agreed, “Okay then.”

ScarletFruit felt the pinch; there was no such bodyguard service in the newbie area, let alone finding a capable bodyguard was even harder. He would go back now, two hours ago, and reprimand himself for being impulsive. In the guild, he’s the boss; now, he can’t afford to offend anyone easily. “Your rabbit can’t finish eating 8 packs of feed in a day. How about a discount on materials?”

Feed was priced at 80 gold per pack. If he discounted materials, he could save some money.

Su Mo glanced at him strangely. “It can eat 8 packs, right?”

Soul Rabbit tilted its head innocently, hopping around.

ScarletFruit thought he was unreasonable!

After Su Mo finished checking skills and clearing his backpack, he asked, “Why aren’t you leaving yet?”

ScarletFruit replied, “I’m waiting for you. How can I leave if you don’t?”

“Oh,” Su Mo checked the time. “Then I’ll log out first. See you tomorrow.”

ScarletFruit was puzzled. “Wait, bro!”

Before he could finish, Su Mo disappeared offline, not giving him a chance to say goodbye. It’s only midnight! He didn’t even mention being tired. Shouldn’t young people be having fun until 3 a.m.?

Su Mo didn’t think much about it. Midnight was already considered late for him. As soon as he logged out, he saw Lele standing in front of him. Angry emoticons were displayed on the screen, and the mechanical hand was already on his loader, seemingly ready to disconnect forcibly.

“You played too much today, Su Mo! Seven hours!” Lele scolded.

Su Mo apologized sincerely, promising it wouldn’t happen again, but he was already planning to adjust Lele’s warning system by two hours. It was his first time playing a game this late. After washing up, Su Mo lay in bed, not feeling sleepy at all. The feeling of running in the holographic Global still lingered in his mind—the wind on his face, the lightness of his body. It was his dream body.

Endless running, exhilarating exercise.

Physical education had always been a key course in various schools of the Star Alliance. Students with excellent physical fitness could receive special training, but Su Mo couldn’t experience that. His F-class physique always kept him away from intense physical activities, and the vast training grounds had nothing to do with him.

The first time he realized the gap with his peers was when all the kids were discussing new games and virtual models, vividly describing a wonderful StarNetGlobal where there were various virtual mechas and landscapes from all over the interstellar. That day, he ran out of school, and his father’s comrade comforted him in a euphemistic tone, promising to buy him a better terminal but never promised to buy him a virtual loader.

For others, a virtual loader was a treasure trove, but for him, it was a deadly door when opened. In his childhood, he didn’t understand. Complaining and feeling wronged didn’t move the elders; it only made them try harder to find new things to entertain him. He didn’t have parents. Being naughty and willful would only cause trouble to others, so he didn’t argue or make trouble.

While his peers were playing happily, he sat in the classroom, playing various intelligent games on the terminal that he had long been tired of. As he grew older, his interest shifted from terminal games to the vast sea of books. The countless books in the homes of the elders in the family area became his new passion.

Ding—

A new message popped up, illuminating Su Mo’s thoughts in the darkness of the terminal. He picked up the terminal and found the message was from his senior brother Zhou. Zhou was under the same advisor as him. When they first entered the University, Zhou guided him through the lab. Later, their advisor assigned them to the same group, and they often worked together on experiments. Their relationship was good; several times when Su Mo collapsed from overwork, Zhou carried him to the infirmary. This holiday, while the school lab was under renovation, Zhou went to survey other star systems. He had just returned to Capital Planet.

[Su Mo! I just returned to school and bumped into Old Liu. He asked me to pack my bags for a research institute next week. There are many new instruments at the institute. Didn’t you complain about the lab machines being slow last time? Why refuse such a good opportunity?!]

Messages kept popping up. When Su Mo opened the chat interface, it showed ‘the other party is typing.’

Looking at the pile of text, Su Mo replied: [Not interested.]

[You haven’t slept yet? Not resting?]

Su Mo: [Can’t sleep.]

Seemingly frustrated with the slow text input, Zhou directly sent a call request upon learning that Su Mo hadn’t rested. As soon as the call connected, he asked, “What’s this about? Such a great opportunity that others can’t even beg for. This is the first time the research institute has invited undergraduates. It’s the top research institute in the Capital!”

Su Mo replied, “Not going.”

Zhou asked, “Why not?”

Su Mo said, “Can it get me on the machines?”

Zhou fell silent for a moment, not knowing how to respond. Then he said, “It’s a physiological issue. If you get on the machines, the next second, the medical car will rush you to the intensive care unit. Besides, you’re S-class in mental power, controlling from off-site isn’t bad…”

As Zhou spoke, he suddenly stopped.

The institute’s machines didn’t require high physical fitness, with the minimum being D-class. But Su Mo’s physique was only F-class. Once he got on the machines, they would trigger a health warning. Unable to touch the machines or access StarNet, he would spend his life controlling from afar, always facing the embarrassment of outdated information.

Nevertheless, his talents were enough to impress the institute’s director, who still sent him an invitation to join. Zhou felt sorry for his junior brother. Su Mo was exceptionally efficient; after every project, he would come up with the best plan the fastest, setting the goals before assigning the tasks that required machine use to him.

With vast amounts of data, connecting to StarNet, and accessing databases, sometimes they needed to use the simulation chamber. Regular calculations were fine, but when it involved core data, they had to use machines. Zhou remembered collaborating with a neighboring lab once to run a set of data. Although Su Mo had already derived all the formulas, a mistake from the student responsible for running the data on the machine rendered their two weeks of effort worthless.

At that time, Su Mo was controlling off-site. But off-site was off-site; he couldn’t see the data changes firsthand or correct errors promptly…

“The research institute is working on a project in collaboration with the Firmament Group. Do you know about the recent hit, ‘Celestial Horizon’? Their loader is a new type developed in collaboration between the Firmament Group and the research institute.” Zhou continued, “The loader’s restrictions have expanded from D-class to E-class. Perhaps an F-class loader is possible.”

Su Mo was taken aback. “Really?”

“You seem uninterested lately. Even in the past few months, you haven’t been as diligent in the lab…” Zhou said.

“Really?” Su Mo got up from the bed, turned on the bedside lamp, and said, “It’s been fine recently; the lab hasn’t been too busy.”

The quiet room had no other sound. Lele entered sleep mode for charging, and the only activity came from the other end of the terminal.

Zhou suddenly sensed something was off. “Why aren’t you asleep at this hour? Don’t you sleep before 11?”

“I changed it; it’s now 12.” Su Mo rubbed his forehead. “I’ve been playing games recently.”

Zhou thought Su Mo was still playing terminal games. Whenever he was in the lab, Su Mo always liked playing those intelligent games on the terminal. He continued, “The lab is quiet during the holidays. Take the opportunity to rest more. When I go to the institute, if I meet those big shots, I’ll get a few autographs for you.”

Su Mo smiled. “Okay, thanks.”

Zhou then shared some observations from his survey and sent relevant materials to Su Mo’s email before urging him to rest early and ending the call. However, Su Mo found it difficult to fall asleep, sitting on the bed, flipping through emails, staring blankly at the particularly vibrant landscapes from other star systems, and finally, checking his friends’ updates on social media.

The terminal’s social media feed was mostly life maxims posted by professors or scenic photos from other elders in the residential area… Suddenly, Su Mo saw a special screenshot.

—It was a screenshot from Celestial Horizon.

In that instant, his cluttered thoughts seemed to clear, pulling him out of those drowning memories. He burst out laughing, liking the screenshot underneath.

“Su Mo, learn to be content.”

ScarletFruit squatted at the entrance of the Sacred Spirits Sect’s base, setting up a temporary stall, gazing blankly at the players outside. He logged in at ten in the morning, intending to farm in the wilderness and kill a few small monsters with a random group. But he had barely been online for a few minutes when players from the Eternal Flame guild chased him back to the safe zone.

Celestial Horizon had a particularly annoying mechanism: although hiding one’s ID could conceal you from the masses, once you were killed by someone and they added you to their enemies list, they could see your ID in the crowd just by opening their celestial eye. ScarletFruit hadn’t expected that a warrior named EverFaithful would be so sensitive; it had been a day since the incident, yet he still had people camping him in the wilderness.

It was also his fault; he had been killed by a group of people yesterday.

Now, whenever he encountered members of Eternal Flame on the road, he could only retreat to the safe zone with a dejected look. It was too unsafe; he didn’t dare to set up stalls and make money in the wilderness. For a merchant, this was a fatal blow!

So he waited from morning until two in the afternoon, but the eight packets of feed he had hired bodyguards for hadn’t logged in.

“Can you make this material cheaper?” a player ran over and asked.

ScarletFruit weakly replied, “Okay, I’ll give you a 10% discount.”

The player insisted, “Can’t you make it cheaper? How about 20% off? I’ll buy it right away if you give me 20% off.”

ScarletFruit sighed, “Materials are hard to come by in the newbie area, buddy. Even at a 10% discount, I’m selling at a loss. I don’t bargain with regulars; if it weren’t for your friendly face, I wouldn’t cut the price at all. So, it’s 99 gold, take it or leave it?”

The player hesitated for a while but eventually bought it.

“Sigh, making money is not easy. Why is it so hard to level up a low-level character?” ScarletFruit sighed deeply, then suddenly saw the young man standing in front of his stall. The youth was still wearing tattered clothes, but his movements and wrists seemed refined. He was currently squatting in front of his stall, casually examining a material. “Not bad, buying materials at 80% off and selling them at a 10% discount, making a net profit of 19 gold.” After finishing, he looked at ScarletFruit. “So everyone gives 10% off?”

“Brother, can I give you an 8% discount?” ScarletFruit saw him looking exhausted. “Why did you log in so late? I’ve been waiting for you for ages.”

Su Mo, “Overslept.”

“Still napping?” ScarletFruit tidied up the stall. “Let’s go, let’s hurry and level up. I want to get my belongings and leave this cursed place as soon as possible.”

Both of them were at similar levels, and after completing several side quests, they quickly reached level 25.

After reaching level 25, the leveling speed slowed down. Su Mo looked at the experience calculation behind the task list and said, “Let’s go to the monster area.”

“What?” ScarletFruit refused upon hearing this. “Go to the monster area? What if we get blocked by the people from Eternal Flame again?”

Su Mo closed the task list. “The side quests in this map provide an average of about 100k experience points. The experience bar increases by 5% on top of the original base for every level up. After reaching level 25, the floating value reaches 8%. Side quests give more experience, but they take longer. Taking into account the current number and difficulty of side quests, as well as unexpected factors, we can safely reach level 28 within five hours.”

ScarletFruit exclaimed, “Huh?”

“With the large floating value after level 25, the time we spend on side quests needs to be added up, which will be more than 15 minutes. Considering the output of 200/s per person on average, if two of us do it together, we only need three hours to level up.” Su Mo explained simply.

“Wait, what are you talking about? And where did you get all this random data from?” ScarletFruit looked at him in confusion. “Who looks at the experience bar when leveling up? Don’t we just do quests directly for leveling up? Why are you calculating these things when you have nothing to do?”

“I didn’t calculate, just glanced at it and knew.” Su Mo replied.

“I feel like I don’t understand anymore,” ScarletFruit said, puzzled. What’s this guy doing, making a game so complicated!?

“The experience gained from killing monsters varies at different levels. Lower levels killing higher-level monsters yield more experience. At level 25, going to the level 25-30 monster area will maximize our gains.” Su Mo glanced at him. “If you want to level up quickly, come with me.”

ScarletFruit followed Su Mo to the monster area in a daze. It was around three in the afternoon, and there weren’t many people farming monsters. There were still many empty spots in the monster area. Su Mo didn’t rush to start fighting monsters either; he either slowly used skills to aggro monsters or killed one and stood still.

After five or six minutes, Su Mo was still luring monsters around.

“Isn’t it unsafe here, a bit dangerous…” ScarletFruit felt a bit scared. Not long ago, he had been chased and attacked by people from Eternal Flame while farming here, almost getting killed. “Can’t we play it safe? It’s okay to level up slower; safety comes first.”

Being killed in the wilderness would result in a level loss. It was more secure to do quests than to pursue a bit of speed.

Su Mo finally stopped and pointed to a specific location. “You stand here, coordinates west 96, south 116.”

ScarletFruit looked at the position indicated by Su Mo and saw it was in the middle rear position of a group of red-named monsters. Without saying anything else, once he entered that position, he would undoubtedly be attacked by monsters from all sides. ScarletFruit fell silent for a while, his mind racing with thoughts. Was it because he didn’t pay enough protection fees, or did he do something wrong somewhere…

Seeing him not moving, Su Mo said again, “Are you spacing out? Come over here.”

ScarletFruit struggled and said, “Brother, I’ll die.”

These were level 25 monsters; at most, he could survive for seven seconds inside, and then there would be another corpse with the ID ‘ScarletFruit14’ on the ground.