Genius Chapter 142: Empty Phase Lone Lamp

Chapter 142: Empty Phase Lone Lamp

Translated by Karai of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

“Apple, I think grinding isn’t as good as spending money. How about you take a look at my materials?” ScarletFruit said to Apple. “Look at FirstUnderHeaven—every time they are about to be caught up, they spend money to boost their score. If you spent a bit more, wouldn’t you be able to do the same?”

Apple sighed upon hearing this. “Is it that I lack money compared to FirstUnderHeaven? It’s not about the money; it’s about luck.”

This topic made him upset. It wasn’t that he didn’t spend money; it was that he had nowhere to spend it. “Every time I open a quest chest, I never get good equipment. The cost to upgrade equipment is high, and the results are poor. I don’t know where FirstUnderHeaven gets their luck from. They spend money to get top-tier gear for PvP, while they get great gear drops every time they do PvE.”

He wanted to spend a lot on upgrading equipment, but the problem was that he had no equipment to upgrade!

Now that the tournament had reached this stage, he did get some equipment drops, but they were all duplicate parts! There was no place to spend his money.

Fortunately, the gap between him and FirstUnderHeaven wasn’t too large. To surpass FirstUnderHeaven in terms of equipment, the only solution was to increase his quest scores.

Upon hearing this, ScarletFruit quickly changed his approach. “How about buying lucky gear? It’s really effective. Watermelon has bought several pieces from me.”

Apple responded, “……? The last time I bought a piece, it didn’t seem to help much.”

Watermelon clicked his tongue. “You’re complaining about lucky gear after buying just one piece?”

ScarletFruit added, “Yeah, my brother’s lucky gear always starts from four pieces, right?”

Su Mo, suddenly being called out, agreed, “Lucky value is indeed quite useful.”

He then offered a friendly reminder. “The difference in scores between you and them isn’t too significant. You should be able to handle a few teams ranked higher than us.”

There were many ways to increase quest scores. Unless FirstUnderHeaven got another two pieces of top-tier equipment, as long as they kept going, Apple’s quest scores should eventually pull ahead.

“Higher-ranked teams… that would be Veiled Cloud Sanctuary and Ren Xiaoyao, right?” ScarletFruit immediately checked the rankings. “Zenith Expanse lost a match today, and the only teams that haven’t lost yet are Veiled Cloud Sanctuary and Ren Xiaoyao. Xiaoyao is ranked first, and we haven’t faced them yet!”

Apple responded, “Keep queuing!”

Battlefield matchmaking was random, with both high and low-ranking teams being matched. Su Mo’s team had been playing for nearly half a month. The only strong teams they had encountered were Veiled Cloud Sanctuary and Zenith Expanse. The teams ranked lower than them were surprisingly weaker. It seemed that the system had been adjusted to prevent strong teams from repeatedly getting high-quality equipment drops.

In the last two days, they had not encountered the BrokenOracle team.

After the second phase ended, the battlefield entered a one-week ceasefire period. The rankings from the first two phases were finalized, and they remained in third place, just like in the first phase. The teams ahead of them were Veiled Cloud Sanctuary and Ren Xiaoyao.

During this period, the forums buzzed with discussions about the new rankings. The second phase had introduced several dark horses, and the top teams drew considerable attention. The Tianxia Lundaohui leaderboard only displayed the top 200 teams. The positions around the 50th spot were fiercely contested, with score differences of just one or two points. The rankings were more spread out in the 30s and 40s, but the gap among the top 20 teams had widened.

The top four teams were considered the favorites for the championship, and they were the main subjects of forum discussions. Ren Xiaoyao and Veiled Cloud Sanctuary both had a 100% win rate. The teams ranked 3rd, [Advertising Space for Rent], and 4th, [Zenith Expanse], each had one loss, which sparked a lot of debate. [Advertising Space for Rent] was known for its bizarre team compositions and unconventional strategies. Teams facing them either suffered swift defeats or were driven insane by their tactics. During the competition, people even summarized the data of the random teams discussed on the forums, noting that [Advertising Space for Rent] always showcased surprising team setups and attack methods that were hard to defend against.

The Zenith Expanse elite team, known for its reputation, had been predicted by many to surpass BrokenOracle’s Ren Xiaoyao and secure the top spot in the second phase. Initially, they indeed appeared unstoppable and seemed poised to surpass Xiaoyao. However, they suddenly lost a match, causing their score to drop significantly.

The details of who they lost to were kept tightly under wraps, further intensifying players’ curiosity.

It was well-known that [Advertising Space for Rent] had lost to Veiled Cloud Sanctuary, but the secrecy surrounding Zenith Expanse’s defeat sparked considerable curiosity.

[I asked, but it seems not many people in Zenith Expanse knew about it.]

[Yes, I heard that after they lost that match, they didn’t continue playing and the whole team went into a meeting.] 

[Was losing one match really that serious?] 

[Excluding Fruit Gang, only their guild among the three major guilds lost.] 

[Why exclude Fruit Gang! Fruit Gang was at least fifth!] 

[Yes, their 1/2 team was still in third place! That’s impressive! There were two teams from Fruit Gang in the top five.]

The truth was revealed when a well-known livestreamer, ClearWindIsHere, released a highlight reel of the “Best Actor” plays during a livestream.

“Why hasn’t the enemy assassin killed me yet?! Running around and exposing my weaknesses is tiring, you know?!” 

“Let’s trick them a bit more, trying to get Apple a one-shot kill.” 

“Don’t block them too tightly, let them come up. How can we set a trap if they don’t come to the lake center?!” 

“Hehe, their marksman is gone. Watermelon, go steal something. Steal one for fun, steal two and it’s a profit. Stealing Midnight Bell’s kill would be a jackpot!”

“Midnight Bell died four times, and I only managed to steal one kill!”

The spectators immediately understood the situation, especially with the video capturing Momo’s commands and teammates’ acting dialogues. The comedic effect was off the charts, and the video quickly went viral.

[Damn, I never expected their team atmosphere to be like this.] 

[They actually let the magical swordsman use the Grandmaster skill… So bad, and it hit so many people.]

[For this round, I’ll loudly sing “Momo newbie”!] 

[Hahaha, I burst out laughing. This match was too funny!] 

[Everyone’s a “Best Actor” here. If I were in the Zenith Expanse, I’d definitely be driven mad by them.] 

[No wonder the Zenith Expanse didn’t say a word. Losing like this is too embarrassing.] 

[I remember someone from their guild once said on the forum that Advertising Space for Rent only relied on cheap tricks and would definitely lose badly against a proper setup. When Advertising Space for Rent lost to Veiled Cloud Sanctuary, that person even came out to mock them. Now the post has been deleted, but I’ll show you the screenshot [image].] 

[Lol, isn’t the Zenith Expanse considered a proper setup?]

The video spread widely, and Abyss faction members were especially delighted. They were frequently targeted by the Zenith Expanse in the wild, so seeing them get a taste of defeat was incredibly satisfying.

“Hey, actually I have a full version. I wanted to keep the video rolling if they came out to face off with me,” ClearWind said, a bit regretful. “But they shrank back so quickly. The people who used to boast about how our guild was just a warehouse guild now avoid me when they see me in the wild.”

Su Mo replied, “It’s not wrong; we are indeed a warehouse guild.”

“To be honest, a lot of people have applied to join the guild these past few days, but I turned them all down,” ClearWind said. “This guild warehouse is Fruit’s lifeline. If a few people came in and stole from the warehouse, Fruit would cry to death.”

“…Thank you,” ScarletFruit said, thinking about how he logged in 20 accounts daily to complete guild tasks. “Can the big shots each do a couple of small tasks? If we all put in a bit more effort, our guild could become a Level 4 warehouse guild!”

ZenSlasher responded, “Done.”

ScarletFruit expressed his gratitude, “Thank you, sister. Next time I buy materials, I’ll give you a 97% discount.”

During the week of the rest period, Su Mo and Senior Brother Zhou’s experimental tasks wrapped up, leaving only the final defense notification from the supervisor. The supervisor also arranged several competitions; considering Su Mo’s physical condition was not suited for long-distance travel, the selected competitions were all major events within Capital Planet. After finishing his experimental project, Su Mo focused on preparing for the competitions.

While the competition schedule was busy, the time outside of it was relatively free. Su Mo had a lot of spare time aside from studying for the competitions, so he became more active online.

“Finished reading the books?”

When Su Mo came out of the lab, Yu Zhen had already arrived and brought some soup made by Grandma Cheng. During this time, Yu Zhen visited frequently. Grandma Cheng, knowing about their close relationship, often asked Yu Zhen to bring things over.

“Yeah, taking a break,” Su Mo said as he sat down in the dining room. Yu Zhen poured him a bowl of soup.

As Su Mo drank the soup, he glanced at Yu Zhen, who was still wearing a white shirt, with his coat hanging on the armrest of the living room sofa. “Didn’t you say you couldn’t come today?”

“The meeting ended early, so I came over,” Yu Zhen replied.

He pointed to some ingredients in the kitchen that hadn’t been processed yet and added, “Lele said we were having a small hot pot for lunch, so I brought some ingredients to join.”

Su Mo watched as Yu Zhen made his way into the kitchen and started preparing the remaining ingredients with Lele. The aroma of the hot pot base seemed to be wafting through the room.

“Are you moving next week?” Su Mo asked, holding his soup bowl.

“Yeah, I’m leaving tomorrow,” Yu Zhen said while facing away, continuing to work on the ingredients. “The project is getting busy, and the residential area here is far from where I work. I’ll probably stay there most of the time and won’t be coming over.”

Su Mo responded with a subdued, “Oh.”

Hearing this, Yu Zhen turned to look at him and said, “I’ll come back on weekends. I have weekends off.”

Recently, Yu Zhen’s project had gotten on track, which meant less time for gaming and more frequent trips outside.

However, on Thursdays, Yu Zhen would still make it a point to pick Su Mo up after class and take him home, and on weekends, he would find time to come over and play games. With Yu Zhen’s schedule being relatively open, Su Mo often felt like they hadn’t seen each other for a long time.

When they were together, there was no particular feeling, but once apart, it seemed like something was missing.

After finishing the hot pot, the two of them continued to relax in the living room. Yu Zhen worked on his tasks while Su Mo curled up next to him, reading.

By evening, Yu Zhen did not stay at the dorm but said he needed to go back to pack his things. Su Mo only logged onto the game after he left. As soon as he logged in, he glanced at his friends list and noticed that ReturnToSimplicity was online, likely a substitute for clearing tasks. The daily tasks were already done. If it were usually the case, he and Yu Zhen would either be on the battlefield, testing skills in the wild, or working on formulas at the forge.

These past few days, he often found himself alone, which felt a bit unusual.

As soon as he logged in, Su Mo habitually checked his Myriad Palace Insight skill, and it turned out to be a lucky draw.

He didn’t hesitate and immediately opened the two six-star treasure chests he had been saving for a while. Both chests yielded materials: one was a new speed enhancement material, and the other was a duplicate item he had previously obtained, [Lunar Charm].

[Swift Feather: A golden feather rumored to be dropped by a divine bird, it is an extremely rare forging material.]

Su Mo paused briefly, was he really able to get this?

There was no difference between five-star and six-star materials, except that materials from five-star chests were trade-restricted, while the Moon Charm from the six-star chest was tradeable. Last time, Su Mo had calculated the materials formula and found that what he lacked were speed and status enhancement items. Previously, he had obtained [Phantom Fire] from another material chest in the second stage, and now with [Swift Feather], he had all the enhancement items needed for his weapon.

“Hey, the weather is nice today. Do you want to go fishing in the fishing village?” ScarletFruit immediately invited as soon as he joined the team.

“Not going.” Su Mo made a trip to the warehouse to get materials. “The materials from last time are still with you, right? Give me the summoner’s items, I’m at Sunset City’s warehouse.”

“Are you upgrading your weapon?” ScarletFruit quickly realized. “Wait a moment, I’ll grab the materials from my alt account, it’ll take about 10 minutes.”

Once Su Mo had gathered the materials, he went to the forge at Vicinity, took out the [Silent Lamp] and [Soul Chaser Lamp] which had been upgraded to level 80, and organized the materials in his backpack for the upgrade. ScarletFruit soon brought over the materials from the alt account, traded them with Su Mo, and waited nearby. “How long will this forging take?”

“About an hour,” Su Mo said blandly, “The formula is complicated, and the materials need to be divided and re-combined.”

The process of refining and synthesizing was not as simple as upgrading. It did not have a complete formula; instead, formulas were derived by players based on material databases and other formulas. At that time, most forgers were still researching weapon synthesis. Unfortunately, there weren’t many golden weapons available, and those who had dual quest weapons were hesitant to experiment with formulas, fearing that a failed synthesis might waste a valuable weapon.

ScarletFruit, concerned about disturbing his elder brother’s weapon refining, soon left.

[Detected that [Silent Lamp] will be fused with [Soul Chaser Lamp] for upgrading. This operation is irreversible. Failure to upgrade will result in the loss of [Soul Chaser Lamp]. Do you want to proceed?]

After treating the weapon as a base, Su Mo added the basic materials for synthesis. Since he was using the Silent Lamp as the base, as soon as the forge was activated, the Soul Chaser Lamp was instantly destroyed and its materials gradually merged into the Silent Lamp. The overlapping attributes would be retained, while non-overlapping attributes would appear based on the player’s formula, depending on the order they were placed. However, the number of attribute slots on the weapon was limited, so choices had to be made.

This was the reason why top players with dual weapons hesitated to synthesize—fearing that good attributes might be replaced by less desirable ones.

The order of synthesis was crucial. Su Mo had conducted many simulations, and he had also performed several experiments with other materials to determine a new sequence. There was a pitfall set by the Celestial Horizon System: the higher the attribute, the more likely it was to be replaced, and the position of the attribute was also critical. Attributes positioned earlier had a higher chance of being replaced.

With the weapon in the forge, Su Mo watched as the attributes were gradually replaced. Soon, the attributes he needed appeared in the expected order, which reassured him. He then promptly added several enhancement materials to the furnace.

[Lunar Charm] [Tooth of the ThunderWolf] [Phantom Flame] [Swift Feather]…

The forging process was monotonous but required complete focus.

When all the materials were finally added and the synthesis progress bar reached 95%, a prompt suddenly appeared before him.

[Detected that this forge item is the first Celestial Horizon divine weapon. Player will automatically unlock the Forging Master title. Would you like to attempt to awaken a special skill? (Note: The special skill can only be awakened with the first divine weapon of the sect, with a success rate of only 15%)]

Su Mo was slightly taken aback, “…Awaken a skill?”

By then, three teammates had gathered around the Sunset City forge, chatting outside to avoid disturbing him. They were chatting in the small 8-person group that had been set up earlier and had also started talking with others from the Fruit Guild.

ClearWind said, “I thought you were going to wait for Brother Wanderer to come back before upgrading the weapon. I saw the two of them working on materials together recently. Brother Wanderer just said he won’t be online this week. With the third stage about to start, I wonder if Brother Wanderer will have time.”

ZenSlasher replied, “He should have time; the event is scheduled for the weekend.”

With the dual quest weapon merging, it would definitely result in dual skills, right? I think I saw that Momo had already mastered the skills of both weapons?” Apple continued, “A dual-skill weapon… I wonder how much it will boost the score. Weapon scores are already high, so a dual-skill weapon would definitely be impressive.”

ScarletFruit said, “You could just make one yourself; it would definitely surpass FirstUnderHeaven.”

Apple couldn’t help but say, “…Is it that easy to get a dual weapon? I can’t even get my gear right!”

Watermelon said, “Which forge are you using? I want to watch, too.”

Bitter Melon said, “Such synthesis is quite challenging. I heard that MIdnight Bell also wanted to make a dual-skill weapon and even approached the top forger on the list, offering a high price for the forge. CloudTraveller also inquired later, but that top forger said the formula was unstable and refused to take it.”

“The failure rate of synthesis is also high.”

“Yes, and the quest weapon synthesis system is just the tip of the iceberg. Many new materials have recently emerged that people find hard to understand.”

“By the way, what were the skills of that top weapon? The system only showed the name before and didn’t display the skill effects.”

Just as Apple finished speaking, a golden server-wide announcement suddenly appeared before them.

[Server Announcement] momo, having exhausted numerous treasures and enduring countless trials, has successfully forged the legendary artifact [Void Light] of the Spirit Sanctuary, creating the first astonishing divine weapon of Celestial Horizon, awakening the special skill [Void], and topping the divine weapon rankings.