Genius Chapter 124: Confirm Team

Chapter 124: Confirm Team

Translated by Karai of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

“What’s wrong?” Yu Zhen noticed that Su Mo had stopped typing. “Have they already formed a team?”

“No, only Apple is online,” Su Mo said, looking at Yu Zhen. “Do you have Bitter Melon’s contact information? It might be quicker to ask him directly. We should use the same lineup as before for the Soul Remnants Dungeon; everyone is familiar with it and the coordination is high…”

Yu Zhen began contacting Bitter Melon. “It shouldn’t be too fast. The announcement was only made last night, and CloudTraveller and the others haven’t formed their team yet. The registration period is still long, and most people are being cautious about forming teams.”

ScarletFruit added, “Yes, team information for those who have already registered can be found on the registration list. Those big names haven’t assembled their teams yet.”

Su Mo nodded and looked at the grayed-out name on the list. “Has Watermelon been offline frequently recently?”

ScarletFruit replied, “Huh? Not really. I’ve seen him online these past few days.”

Contacting Bitter Melon indeed proved to be much easier. The Fruit Gang was working on forming a team internally, but they hadn’t completely assembled it yet. For quests like this, people tended to prefer playing with familiar faces. Bitter Melon had only managed to form half a team and was willing to join after hearing that Yu Zhen was looking for him.

“They’ve only formed half a team?” ScarletFruit said. “That’s quite slow.”

“It’s because they’re split into factions, and many teams have been disbanded. Bitter Melon didn’t initially plan to participate but agreed to bring along Apple and FireworksAndLanterns,” Yu Zhen relayed the messages to Su Mo and explained. “Summoners are harder to find for dungeons. Apple and he are a package deal, so finding a team for both was difficult. In the end, Bitter Melon decided to form a casual team and has managed to gather a few members.”

“Yellow Peach Sauce has a team already, so we might need to find a new healer,” Yu Zhen continued. “Bitter Melon mentioned that Watermelon hasn’t found a team yet, but he heard that Watermelon wasn’t keen on dungeons. Should we look for another assassin?”

“Finding another assassin might be less useful than switching to another profession,” Su Mo said with a slight smile. “I’ll wait until he’s online and ask him.”

***

Watermelon felt incredibly frustrated. While everyone was discussing the Grand Debate of the Realm, he internally resisted. He had come to understand that dungeons weren’t suitable for him; battlegrounds and arenas were his true domain. For quest team dungeons like this, he preferred to avoid participating if possible. No matter how tempting the rewards were, he wasn’t at a level to secure a top three finish. It was better to stick to his usual routine.

So, when he saw that Momo was online, he felt a bit anxious. As soon as he saw the chat box indicating that Momo was typing, he immediately logged off.

Not long after logging off, Bitter Melon contacted him, asking if he was joining Momo’s team.

Watermelon replied, “Can I refuse?”

“You can,” Bitter Melon said. “But you need to tell him yourself. Momo has helped us a lot, so I won’t be the one to refuse on your behalf.” Bitter Melon threw the question back at him. “Besides, when UnchainedWanderer reached out to me, he said Momo specifically requested you and didn’t want any other assassin. He said that other assassins weren’t good enough—they didn’t have the output, couldn’t pull aggro, couldn’t hold their position, and lacked teamwork. When asked what kind of assassin he wanted, he said the best assassin was you.”

Watermelon said, “…Did he really say that?”

The focus wasn’t on what other people couldn’t do. The real issue was that others couldn’t pull aggro properly!

“…That’s pretty much what he said. If there’s no assassin, then don’t have an assassin; just switch to another profession. He specifically left a spot for you,” Bitter Melon said, clearing his throat. “If you’re not going, you’ll have to tell him yourself.”

Hearing this from Bitter Melon, Watermelon started to believe it.

But when it came to rejecting Momo himself, for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

He logged back in after a technical dropout around ten o’clock, thinking that Momo would likely be offline by now and feeling a bit more relaxed. However, as soon as he entered the holographic global channel, a message popped up immediately.

-Momo: Are you here?

Watermelon was left speechless.

How could this person be so persistent?

-WhatAHugeWatermelon: Boss, why do you need me specifically?

Yu Zhen turned his head and saw that the summoner next to him had stopped waving his staff, his eyebrows slightly twitching as if he had found something amusing.

In the game, Su Mo was so vivid that Yu Zhen was constantly drawn to his expressions and actions. From the moment Su Mo asked him about his preferences, Yu Zhen had been trying to control his delight and suppress his emotions, not daring to make eye contact with the boy. In the end, he could only pat Su Mo’s head and give a simple answer.

Even though Yu Zhen had said he wanted to give Su Mo time to consider being pursued, Su Mo seemed to have naturally taken the response as part of a pursuit, making his gaze and actions more straightforward. Su Mo had bypassed the courting stage and directly treated it as a relationship.

The youthful fervor that Yu Zhen once had had long since faded with age and experience. He hadn’t expected that one day he would feel like a naive teenager, almost losing all control because of a single sentence.

He considered himself composed, but in the face of emotions, no one was truly steady.

He didn’t know how to change their interaction mode for the first time. He had been able to control himself before, but now, seeing Su Mo’s subtle expressions—even if it was just a holographic virtual image in the game—he found himself lacking words and could only describe it with a simple adjective: kawaii.

It was so kawaii that he wanted to pinch Su Mo’s face.

“Brother Wanderer, cast an array, help, help, help!!” ScarletFruit’s voice called out.

Yu Zhen swiftly cast a defensive array on ScarletFruit and then on the summoner who was idly standing by, instructing, “Move back two positions. You’re standing too close. Let ClearWind tank.”

ClearWind said, “No!!! Big brother, where’s your bear? Let the bear tank for a while; this thing hits too hard.”

Su Mo leisurely summoned a few other creatures and replied, “Hold on for a moment, I’ll reply to a message.”

-Momo: I want you as the assassin, nothing else.

-WhatAHugeWatermelon: How about finding someone else?

Su Mo raised his hand and replied: There’s no one else available. You’re the only one suited for it.

Watermelon took a few minutes to reply, seemingly after deep consideration.

-WhatAHugeWatermelon: Big boss, how about this: you guys look for people now, and I’ll ask other assassins as well. If we still can’t find a suitable one, can I step in at the end?

“Who are you chatting with?” Yu Zhen asked.

Su Mo slightly raised his head to look at Yu Zhen, his response delayed for a moment as he pointed at the holographic screen and said, “Watermelon.”

He raised his hand to reply with a simple “Okay,” already having settled on the candidate in his mind. “ScarletFruit, we’ll finalize Watermelon as the last member. No need to look further.”

***

The vacation quickly came to an end, and Su Mo decided to return to school on Monday morning. Just in time for two machine classes that he didn’t need to attend, he could go to the lab.

“Returning on Monday morning? Don’t you want to rest another day?” Yu Zhen hesitated slightly. “Didn’t you say your head was still hurting?”

“I’m used to the headache,” Su Mo said while packing his bags for a few days back at school. “And I’m already feeling much better! It’s fine.”

Yu Zhen pondered for a moment. “Seven o’clock tomorrow? I’ll come to pick you up.”

Su Mo paused briefly in his packing and looked toward Yu Zhen.

Yu Zhen then asked, “What do you want for breakfast?”

Su Mo replied instinctively, “Meat buns.”

Yu Zhen said, “Alright.”

The next morning, Monday, Yu Zhen arrived at the dormitory at 6:30. He brought meat buns for both Su Mo and Lele, and they were fed one by one as they boarded the car.

Lele chewed on the buns and used the taste system to analyze the data. After a bite and still not understanding, Lele took a few more bites. Although it also had Mr. Yu Zhen’s recipe, why did the meat buns taste different?

After Su Mo arrived at school, he handed his luggage to Lele and went to the laboratory to organize the remaining data. Due to his remarkably high efficiency, several times Senior Zhou anxiously stayed by his side, ready to take him to the medical office at any moment.

Senior Zhou began to worry. “The problem-solving period is still long. Junior, we don’t have to push ourselves so hard. Overworking ourselves to the point of needing the hospital is not good.”

Su Mo replied, “…I won’t push myself that hard, don’t worry.”

He was aware of his own physical condition. During this period, there had been slight changes in his health. In the past, he would need to take a break after staring at the laboratory test instruments for half an hour, but now he felt tired only after an hour. His work efficiency was high, so he even helped Senior Zhou organize the sequence.

By Thursday, Senior Zhou had obtained several data boards and the encrypted locks from the laboratory safe. When he opened it, it was filled with dense calculation papers and several electronic boards. At a glance, it looked like at least three weeks’ worth of work.

Senior Zhou said with difficulty, “You’re exaggerating, Junior. I used to think you were a lab fanatic, but now I can’t even comprehend your level.”

“You should be able to sort through it in two weeks. I’ll organize the rest and give it to you then,” Su Mo said, changing into a coat and wrapping himself warmly in a scarf. “I won’t be here tomorrow. If you have any questions, just message me. I’m heading home now.”

Senior Zhou asked, “Huh? Are you going home at this time? Has the hovercar arrived? It’s cold outside.”

“It has arrived,” Su Mo replied, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. “I’m leaving now.”

Winter had arrived on Capital Planet, and the temperature was dropping rapidly.

Su Mo hurried down from the laboratory building and, upon seeing Yu Zhen waiting downstairs, slowed his pace.

When Yu Zhen had said he wanted to pursue him last time, Su Mo had agreed, thinking that their relationship had shifted to a romantic one. However, Yu Zhen had asked him to think about it for another month and to decide later if he wasn’t repulsed by the pursuit. Despite this, during the past few days of interaction, Su Mo hadn’t felt that Yu Zhen’s actions were offensive. In fact, he found the growing closeness between them both intriguing and special.

It seemed that after just a few days apart, he was already looking forward to seeing Yu Zhen again.

“Have you been waiting long?” Su Mo approached Yu Zhen, “I got delayed by some data. I should have been…”

Before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly felt something placed on his head.

Yu Zhen was putting a soft hat on him, saying, “It’s getting windy. The change in season makes it easy to catch a cold.”

“And Lele?” Su Mo asked, accepting the hat and adjusting it.

Yu Zhen looked at the youth now dressed like a fluffy ball and said, “I asked it to wait for us in the hovercar. Let’s go now; it’s too cold outside.”

“Okay.”

As Su Mo took a few steps forward, his cold hand was suddenly held by a broad, warm hand.

Yu Zhen remained silent, but his large palm completely enveloped Su Mo’s fingers.

Su Mo blinked, momentarily losing his train of thought. The warmth seemed to travel through his hand, spreading to the rest of his body.

***

After Yu Zhen had dropped them off at home, he left. Su Mo couldn’t wait to log into the game after dinner. Having been offline for a few days, everything seemed a bit different when he logged in. The winter chill that had settled in the game was gone. He practiced with his weapon for a bit and fed his three pets.

However, all three pets had full Satiety levels and excitedly rubbed against Su Mo as soon as he landed. The newly added Flower Spirit was particularly clingy with Soul Rabbit, always staying on its head and sleeping against its ears. Su Mo had previously fed it to level up, but it hadn’t reached the max level yet. Now, seeing it fully leveled up, he was surprised…

It was clear who had taken care of it. Not only was it at max level, but there were also skill materials neatly organized in the bag.

Su Mo put away the food he had taken out and grabbed the Flower Spirit from Soul Rabbit’s head. “Let’s go, I’ll take you to the Sect to learn skills.”

The spirit pet had three inherent skills and one that either enhanced the owner’s passive or active skill. The Flower Spirit was a healing-type pet, and after reaching full level, its healing output was only slightly less than that of other pets. As long as its three skills, including resurrection, were useful, it was acceptable.

Healing-type pets were more likely to develop healing-related skills. Su Mo hadn’t paid much attention to it, expecting only a usable skill, without hoping for anything extraordinary. To his surprise, the little creature had developed a passive skill.

The passive skill was indeed a healing-type attribute enhancement. When maxed out, it provided an 8% increase in healing amount and a 15% increase in base health. While the healing increase wasn’t useful to Su Mo, the 15% base health boost provided an additional layer of protection.

A 15% increase in base health meant a tangible boost to his health, allowing him to endure a few more skills in critical moments.

After upgrading his pet, Su Mo continued to tackle dungeons with his team. While familiarizing himself with his new weapon, he also calculated which formula would best optimize the weapon’s attributes for his needs. Ultimately, he decided to sacrifice some movement speed to maximize summoning time, pushing it to its limit.

“Planning to merge now?” Yu Zhen asked.

Su Mo shook his head. “I’ve planned the expected attributes, but I wanted to wait and see if the Grand Debate of the Realm would yield any special materials. Many people now have quest weapons, so forging materials should have a chance to drop something unique.” For example, the Lunar Charm material he had previously obtained… He always felt there might be more materials out there, so he decided to wait a bit longer.

Soon, the final deadline of Friday arrived, and the team, which included the reluctantly included Watermelon, arrived at the registration point. Watermelon had introduced a few assassins over the past few days, but after trying out with the ‘Momo’ team, the assassins left in dismay, patting Watermelon on the back and advising him not to trouble other team members.

In the end, Watermelon regretted his decision, but regret was futile. He had said he would step in if no one else could, and now he had no choice but to do so.

Apple patted Watermelon on the shoulder. “Brotherhood above all.”

ClearWind came over and also patted Watermelon. “Actually, ChatMasterWu is quite good, but he’s from the Eclipse faction, so we can’t team up with him.”

ScarletFruit gave him a pat as well. “Don’t feel wronged, Watermelon. Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of you this time.”

FireworksAndLanterns, unable to reach Watermelon’s shoulder, settled for patting him on the back. “Don’t worry, I’ll have my turtle accompany you.”

Even before starting, Watermelon could already foresee the endless suffering awaiting him over the next 60 days.

Bitter Melon was talking to Yu Zhen when he saw the scene of everyone taking turns patting Watermelon. He smiled with satisfaction and said, “Our Watermelon has a good reputation.”

Yu Zhen replied, “Yes, he has always been popular with us.”

In addition to their own team of five, the group now included Bitter Melon, Apple, FireworksAndLanterns, Watermelon, and a new healer named [Stir-Fried Cantaloupe]. Cantaloupe was a top-ranked healer; although his healing output was not as high as HealsFor25000’s, he was ranked seventh and had good operational awareness. With this, their team composition was finalized.

The lineup included a warrior, healer, cleric, array master, physical swordsman, magical swordsman, and two assassins plus two summoners.

It took some time to enter the team member information. After Su Mo had imported all the data, the System displayed a message.

[Dear player, you will lead this team to participate in the Grand Debate of the Realm. Once confirmed, the team member list cannot be changed. Do you confirm?]

Su Mo clicked on confirm, and a new input box suddenly appeared.

[Please name your team.]

Su Mo looked at his teammates and said, “We need to come up with a team name. What do you all want to call it?”

The group of people surrounding Watermelon became very excited at the thought of naming the team.

ScarletFruit immediately saw a business opportunity and suggested, “This is a chance for advertising! I propose we call it ‘ScarletFruit’s All-Server Material Procurement.’”

ClearWind said, “How about ‘ClearWindIsHereStarNetTV15687547’?”

Apple added, “‘Fruit Platter All-Server Recruiting Melee’ could work.”

FireworksAndLanterns asked, “Wow, can we name it ‘FireworksAndLanterns is a Big Handsome Guy’?”

Bitter Melon thought for a moment and said, “They all sound good. Can we combine them?”

Su Mo, halfway through inputting, coldly refused, “No more than 15 characters.”