Genius Chapter 15: “We’re leveling up.”

Chapter 15: “We’re leveling up.”

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

A global announcement was like broadcasting to the entire server; anyone online could see this shiny golden message. While regular announcements may go unnoticed, the Apocalypse task had been on everyone’s mind. It had been stuck at 90% progress for a full two weeks until now, marking the first significant increase in that time. The sudden appearance of the Misty Cave map indicated its significant importance in the Apocalypse series tasks!

[Global Task Alert! Congratulations!]

[A new map spawned in the newbie zone!]

[Dang, seriously? I’m logging in with my alt immediately.]

[The first discoverers were two players, apparently a summoner and a healer.]

[Wait… the suffix of this announcement, ‘brave players’…?]

[Whoa, brave players? Isn’t that the hidden map for the challenge mechanism?]

While the Global Channel and forums buzzed with discussion, the two players who had unlocked the hidden map were still at the entrance of the cave. The cave was pitch black, with visibility limited to about three meters inside from the entrance. Beyond that, everything was obscured.

“Misty Cave.” Su Mo intended to report the coordinates to UnchainedWanderer but discovered that the mini-map didn’t display any coordinates. “Can you see my location after teaming up?”

UnchainedWanderer replied, “Unknown area shown.”

“Wait a moment,” Su Mo said, “I’ll send a friend invite.”

With a casual click, a prompt appeared on the interface. [Friend invite sent.]

“System invite…” ScarletFruit realized, “Wow, we’ve entered a hidden map.”

As soon as the System invite was sent, the invite interface in front of Su Mo and ScarletFruit turned gray. After a few seconds, two figures appeared in front of Su Mo and ScarletFruit out of thin air: the array master UnchainedWanderer and… the physical Swordsman ClearWind from the Mountainless Blade Sect.

“Momo?” ClearWind was puzzled as he landed. “I just logged in and saw this prompt. What’s going on?”

“Friend invite. When encountering special maps or dungeons, if the team is short on members, you can send invites to your friends list.” UnchainedWanderer looked up at the dark cave and explained briefly, “The first discoverer has the authority to invite.”

“Uh-oh, we’re in trouble. This is the Apocalypse task’s hidden map, with a 5-star difficulty, and we only have four people.” ScarletFruit realized the severity of the situation upon hearing about the Apocalypse task.

Upon hearing about the Apocalypse task, ClearWind couldn’t help but curse in amazement, then looked around at the few teammates available. “Wait… so we’re going to tackle the Apocalypse hidden map with just four of us?! Quick, check your friends list for anyone else online and invite them over.”

“Sorry, my friends are all my alts, and the only live person is right here,” ScarletFruit said, looking at momo.

“Just wait a moment.” Su Mo brought up the Customer Service System and asked in front of everyone, “Customer service, what is the Apocalypse task?”

The customer service replied warmly, “Hi there, the Apocalypse is a level 70 unsealing series task spread across the Celestial Horizon continent. Completing all the Apocalypse tasks will open the path to the Apocalypse. [Apocalypse Task List (completed)] [Apocalypse Global Shared Clues]…”

UnchainedWanderer was confused while ScarletFruit and ClearWind were dumbfounded.

“You’re asking customer service instead of us three old hands? Do you look down on us?” ClearWind teased.

“Bro, you can think of the Apocalypse as a main task with many sub-tasks. If all the players on the server complete all the sub-tasks, the path to the Apocalypse will open, and the level cap will increase to 80,” ScarletFruit explained simply. “Each task in the Apocalypse series can be considered a quest task with rich rewards. It’s said that those top players on the leaderboard, as soon as they log in, they run all over the map. Most of the current progress in the Global server is likely due to them.”

Su Mo asked, “Is this task very difficult?”

ClearWind, finally grasping the situation, said, “Of course it is! This task has no public clues; all the clues are pieced together by the experts. Coming across the Apocalypse side task like this is purely luck.”

The four of them stood at the entrance of the Misty Cave, looking into the seemingly bottomless darkness inside. A friend invite could only be used once, meaning the four of them would have to tackle this hidden map alone. Either they completed it and pushed the Global progress forward or failed and waited for another chance.

“What do you say?” ClearWind asked, “Do we go in?”

UnchainedWanderer waved slightly, and something suddenly fell to the ground. “Let’s go.”

“What’s that?” Su Mo was surprised.

“It’s an Astrologer’s Scroll,” UnchainedWanderer explained.

“Where did you get that?” Su Mo asked.

ScarletFruit added, “It’s a lighting scroll, ten gold on the market.”

Su Mo replied, “Oh.”

Too expensive.

UnchainedWanderer stepped forward, using the lighting scroll to lead the way for the others. Su Mo followed behind the array master, his gaze lingering on him for a moment before glancing at the cave walls. The walls were gray and filled with various eerie cracks.

“Momo, I messaged you yesterday, but you didn’t reply,” ClearWind trailed behind Su Mo, trying to strike up a conversation with him. “Last time, we agreed to level up together when you logged in, but before I knew it, you were already at level 28 while I was still at 27. If my viewers hadn’t told me they saw you on the forums, I wouldn’t have known you were targeted by Eternal Flame’s people.”

“What forum? Are we on a forum?” ScarletFruit asked.

“Yeah,” ClearWind replied, “Someone uploaded videos of you guys grinding monsters, and there’s a popular post on the forum. There are even screenshots of you guys doing tasks.”

Su Mo sighed, “…”

ScarletFruit suddenly realized, “Now I understand why we were ambushed…”

“Eternal Flame’s people are too much. They only have three teams at most, yet they dare to show off in Newbie Village,” ClearWind said indignantly.

“Indeed,” ScarletFruit agreed. “Have they been attacked on the main server? I heard their guild headquarters was breached last week.”

As ScarletFruit and ClearWind bonded over their shared grievances, their excited conversation alleviated the slightly sinister atmosphere inside the cave.

Su Mo glanced up at the uneven ceiling of the corridor, feeling a strange sensation at the junction where the walls met the ceiling. Especially those sharp, jagged rocks scattered about, as if intentionally left for something. He suddenly sensed something watching him from behind and turned abruptly, locking eyes with UnchainedWanderer.

UnchainedWanderer stared back at him, his eyes appearing particularly deep in the dimly lit cave. Su Mo had a feeling of familiarity but before he could inquire, the latter looked away.

The path in the cave was winding, and they had been walking for quite some time after entering.

Suddenly, there were rustling noises from deep within the cave. ClearWind shivered, “Did you guys hear that noise?”

“’Welcome, brave player’,” UnchainedWanderer’s voice echoed in the quiet corridor of the cave, “The suffix is ‘brave,’ this is a challenge map.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire corridor suddenly began to shake violently, as if there was an earthquake. A buzzing sound echoed in the corridor, and strange patterns lit up on the walls, one after another, illuminating the dark corridor in an instant. A sinister atmosphere swept over them, and a gust of wind blew, pushing everyone back several steps.

“What the heck!?” 

As darkness engulfed them and the bright flashes were blinding, something was rushing towards them with the wind.

Su Mo instinctively raised his arm to defend himself, feeling a sharp pain as if his arm was being cut by a blade. The health bar representing his character was rapidly decreasing, his vitality swiftly draining away in the eerie wind. His eyes narrowed, and under pressure, he summoned Zephyr Hawk.

As Zephyr Hawk was summoned, its AoE skill was activated instantly. The two strong winds collided, halting the attack momentarily.

Seizing the opportunity, the array master fully deployed the defensive array, and a translucent blue barrier enveloped them, giving everyone a moment to catch their breath.

A loud bang echoed above the transparent defensive array, and the patterns on the clear array reflected the changes in the walls. It seemed like the attack had disrupted the order here.

Countless monsters in the darkness slammed into the barrier. As Su Mo and the others stayed inside the barrier, they could finally see what kind of creatures these were. The eerie winds weren’t just winds; they were strange creatures emitting black smoke, densely packed and almost covering the entire corridor.

[You have entered the Misty Maze.]

ScarletFruit couldn’t help but curse, “What the hell are these things?!”

UnchainedWanderer’s voice was cold, “Brave mode. Kill all the monsters to clear the map.”

“How are four of us supposed to kill them all!?” ClearWind exclaimed, just as several summoned beasts rushed out beside him.

“Retreat!” UnchainedWanderer commanded coldly.

Su Mo’s summoned creatures formed a triangular formation at the forefront, and Zephyr Hawk’s AoE skill bought them some time. As the others retreated several tens of meters, they were eventually forced into a narrow cave where the relentless assault of the monsters finally ceased, disappearing without a sound.

The eerie wind receded completely, and the entire corridor returned to its previous quiet state.

[You have entered a safe area.]

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, with ScarletFruit even collapsing to the ground, his legs feeling weak.

The strange patterns slowly disappeared into the uneven stone walls, vanishing completely.

Su Mo’s gaze swept over the small monsters, then turned to the uneven cave walls. “It seems that as long as we move forward, these small monsters will trigger their attacks.”

If he wasn’t mistaken, the patterns on the walls seemed to have changed several times during those fleeting seconds just now.

UnchainedWanderer withdrew the defensive array and glanced sideways at Su Mo.

In that brief moment just now, it should have been the usual wipeout skill at the beginning of the brave mode, but the summoner had given them time to retreat as if anticipating it. Otherwise, given the situation just now, their team would either be dead or injured, and the mission might have failed completely.

Su Mo noticed UnchainedWanderer’s gaze on him and asked, “What’s up?”

UnchainedWanderer paused for a moment, his peripheral vision catching Su Mo’s weapon. He tactfully said, “You haven’t changed your weapon.”

Su Mo suddenly realized that the man was looking at his weapon. He explained, “The weapons from the Sect are too expensive, so I didn’t buy one.”

[player UnchainedWanderer has requested a trade with you]

Su Mo opened it and found a summoner’s staff in the trade window. He noticed that this was a handcrafted weapon, and the equipment information showed the name of the maker, written as ‘Craftsman: UnchainedWanderer.’

“Accept the trade,” UnchainedWanderer explained. “My main profession is a blacksmith. This staff was a reject from refining weapons two days ago. It’s better than your… fishing rod.”

Su Mo glanced at the weapon’s stats on the equipment. “Thanks, I’ll return it to you when we leave the cave.”

After receiving it, he swung it around. The proportions of the staff were similar to the array master’s Judgment Pen. Apart from the attack power, this weapon indeed felt more comfortable to wield than the fishing rod.

“What was that just now? It suddenly lit up so brightly; I almost went blind,” ClearWind exclaimed heavily, getting up and taking a few steps forward. However, the strong wind, accompanied by mist, appeared again. Vortex-like mist creatures emerged in front of him, chilling to the bone. He took several steps back, standing on guard. “These monsters look too… weird.”

The group took turns trying to deal with the creatures. At first, it seemed manageable, but the further they went, the more monsters appeared. Moreover, these creatures were extremely bizarre, reappearing about ten seconds after being killed, making it impossible to clear them all.

“These monsters get stronger the more there are, and the longer we stay, the more damage we’ll take,” ScarletFruit explained. 

ClearWind looked at the dark and deep corridor ahead. “My skill range is too short. How about you heal me, and I’ll go try?”

ScarletFruit released a healing flower. “Go ahead, I’ll heal you without any problem.”

However, just as the two of them rushed forward and fought for seven or eight seconds, they ran back with low health, falling to the ground in embarrassment. These monsters were completely unreasonable, constantly spawning and impossible to kill.

“It’s temporarily safe here. Let’s think of a solution first,” ScarletFruit said. “The monsters have thick health bars and high damage. The four of us can’t handle them; we’re not on the same level.”

“How are we supposed to deal with this?!” ClearWind was a bit scared. “Is one of the side missions of the Apocalypse this difficult? Or do we need a group of 20 to tackle this… I can’t do this anymore. Physical Swordsman is out of the fight.”

UnchainedWanderer remained silent but used the lighting scroll to probe the monsters in the distance. It seemed that not only humans but also anything crossing a certain safety line would provoke the monsters, making it clear that using items to clear the map was not allowed.

As he contemplated this, he noticed Su Mo, the summoner, controlling his summoned creatures to distract the monsters.

Solitary Wolf and the White Tiger were frolicking around the corridor not far away, disrupting the advance of the monsters with their lively movements.

Meanwhile, the summoner stood by the stone wall, swinging the staff in his hand back and forth. His expression remained unchanged, as if he were a distant spectator, cold and lonely.

“You don’t seem nervous,” UnchainedWanderer suddenly remarked.

Su Mo glanced at him, seeming puzzled by his words. After a while, he volunteered again, “The Celestial Horizon map has a level 40 watershed. Although players can freely move between the newbie area, due to various inexplicable rules in the newbie area, there won’t be many players staying there.”

UnchainedWanderer looked at him.

“The Celestial Horizon is a game controlled by ApexMind, but its basic framework and basic game rules come from humans. If this is a holographic game of human intelligence, then its basic rules will not depart from the defined framework. ApexMind uses its intelligence to deduce the game, but it must follow logical conclusions and human-specific rules,” Su Mo said, his gaze somewhat distracted, like talking to himself yet also expressing something. He suddenly realized halfway through speaking.

UnchainedWanderer asked, “Why did you stop?”

“Sorry, I lost my train of thought,” Su Mo sighed lightly. After chatting with Zhang Qi, he started thinking about the intelligent mode of Celestial Horizon. How did this slip out of his mouth? He composed himself slightly and relaxed, “Based on the premise of rules, players confront the intelligent environment. This is the basic operational mode of Celestial Horizon as I understand it.”

UnchainedWanderer looked at him, “Go on.”

Su Mo’s eyebrows twitched, somewhat surprised.

“There will be difficulties, but they must adhere to the rules,” Su Mo said. “This is the map of the newbie area, a game deduced by ApexMind. So, its basic solution should cater to specific players in specific areas. In other words, besides brute force, this map should have a way suitable for newbies to clear it… Brave ones, bravery isn’t just about courage without strategy, isn’t that so?”

“What did you discover?”

Su Mo’s gaze turned to the opposite stone wall, slightly straightening his body. “The patterns on the wall are alive.”

After saying that, he released the White Tiger to run a lap. In an instant, the patterns on the wall faintly lit up, moving like wandering snakes. And when the White Tiger returned from the passage, those patterns seemed to have had their life sucked away, instantly stopping.

“Not only are they alive, but they also look different.”

“Momo! We should try fighting the monsters on the left. Are you coming?” ClearWind shouted, “Just checked, they give quite a bit of experience, can’t let them go.”

The Apocalypse mission actually gives experience?

Su Mo, who had experienced extremely stingy quest tasks, felt very surprised, “How much for one monster?”

ClearWind replied, “4000 experience.”

4000 experience, while monsters in the level 25 monster area only give 3000 each.

Su Mo stood up straight at the news, “Alright, how about you take the left, and I’ll take the right?”

“Still dividing left and right?” ScarletFruit couldn’t help but say, “Have you considered how the healers feel?”

Su Mo released the Soul Rabbit, “Can you handle the healing?”

ScarletFruit replied, “I can handle it. Big brother is helping me level up.”

Yu Zhen stood still, watching the three of them split into two groups to fight monsters. The patterns on both sides changed as they fought, subtle and elusive, hard to discern without careful observation.

It seemed that summoners were indeed very sensitive.

In the private chat channel, the green light belonging to 25000 was shining.

Yu Zhen casually turned off the mute, “Speak.”

25000 said, “Do you finally have time to talk to me? Did you wipe out? Are you still alive?”

Yu Zhen replied, “Are you done? I muted you.”

“No no no, let’s talk business!” 25000 continued, “This time, so many people are exploring with alt accounts, even you joined, and in the end, two newcomers snatched the opportunity. I saw the suffix was Brave, how should I put it, shall I take some people to explore the vicinity, the main city, and see if we can find a mechanism to enter the map and help?”

Yu Zhen replied, “Hard to say. I asked them about the method of opening the map, and they didn’t figure out the triggering mechanism.”

25000 lamented, “That’s tough. If they don’t clear it this time, the progress won’t increase. Moreover, it’s the Brave mode. If it were another mode, there might be a strategic approach, but Brave mode is almost all about brute force. You only have four people, I think it’s bleak.”

“Is that so?” Yu Zhen’s gaze rested on the cave wall to the left, where a new pattern had emerged.

“Why don’t you believe it yet? So, how’s your progress now?” 25000 asked.

Yu Zhen looked at the three on the righteous path who were fervently leveling up and the experience bar continuously pushing forward in their personal statuses—

He replied flatly, “We’re leveling up.”

25000 exclaimed, “Huh??????”

Author’s note:

Momo: Not bad, lots of experience and it refreshes automatically, no need to run around, much more comfortable than grinding monsters.

ClearWind: Right, we’re making a profit!

ScarletFruit: Take me with you.

Yu Ge: Hmm.

Players concerned about progress across the server: What? You guys are leveling up?