Genius Chapter 4: Fishing Rod and Shovel

Chapter 4: Fishing Rod and Shovel

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

Over the past few days, Su Mo had spent some time familiarizing himself with the game “Celestial Horizon”, from its background setting to its various features, finally understanding what kind of game “Celestial Horizon” was. Unlike the intelligent games he usually played on his game console or terminal, the holographic online game leaned towards realism and socialization, completely surpassing his small games in terms of interaction.

“Celestial Horizon” differed from other games set in ancient cultures; its setting was more fantastical. It was said that the game development team, based on some ancient cultural records combined with the deductions of the StarNet mainframe, established an Eastern fantasy world. Starting from the Newbie Village Peach Blossom Village he logged into that day, he would later have to enter one of the five major sects to choose a profession to learn, only then truly entering the online game world.

To play the game, one must first understand the details of the rules to avoid pitfalls. Su Mo had Lele search for many strategies, briefly supplemented with the essential tasks and plot details of “Celestial Horizon” up to level 40. When he logged in again three days later, Su Mo found himself not at the original Peach Blossom Village lake, but lying under the big banyan tree at the village entrance, with a rabbit hopping around.

Peach Blossom Village had become quiet, with no other players around.

[Current Scene: Peach Blossom Village · Illusion]

There were no other players here, only Su Mo and the rabbit. Su Mo reached out to touch the rabbit again, and the option to capture the Soul Rabbit popped up. He chose to try to capture it, only to be met with a prompt indicating capture failure.

[Capture failed due to lack of capture net.]

The Soul Rabbit continued to hop around in circles, but Su Mo decided to ignore it for now and looked at the new prompt in the taskbar.

[Congratulations to the player for entering Peach Blossom Village · Illusion. Please find the village chief.]

The village chief was near the big banyan tree, and as Su Mo approached the target, he heard the voice of the village chief, “Stranger? It’s been a long time since we had visitors in our village.”

Su Mo paused slightly, noticing the tone and appearance of the village chief. Previously, during his rounds in Peach Blossom Village, the village chief he saw was an old man, but the village chief in front of him was a young person. He felt puzzled but followed the task requirements and began to run errands.

After completing a few tasks, Su Mo noticed the differences between the two scenes. His memory was excellent, and he had some impressions of most of the NPCs in Peach Blossom Village, so he immediately noticed several details. While it was still Peach Blossom Village, the scene seemed to have been renovated, with some NPCs reverting to childhood. For example, the village chief had become a young person, and the flower lady, who was eagerly pursued by players, was still a child. The timeline of this scene should be earlier than the original Newbie Village.

In the “Celestial Horizon” newbie rules, there was a plot point that briefly spoiled the plot of the Newbie Village.

Players become ordinary people in the world of Celestial Horizon, encountering the remnants left by immortals in Peach Blossom Village, awakening their talents for cultivation, and then seeking education in the five major sects with the help of a recluse elder in Peach Blossom Village. However, the task details in this scene were different. Some of the main NPCs were still in their childhood state, and all the tasks he completed were about watering flowers and planting vegetables. The character experience bar was normal, but the attached rewards were missing.

He remembered that in the “Celestial Horizon” newbie rules, it was mentioned that during newbie tasks, in addition to experience points and skill points, players would also be given newbie equipment, but there was none in this scene of Peach Blossom Village.

This was a bit strange.

The task led Su Mo to the field, where Uncle Li announced a new task, “Young man, calm down and go fetch water by the lake.”

Su Mo glanced at the task details, and apart from experience points, there were no rewards listed. According to the original newbie plot, Uncle Li’s task would eventually give players an initial weapon, a small knife they could carry.

Su Mo asked, “Customer service, is this a quest task scene?”

The intelligent customer service responded, “Sweetie, this is the [Legend of the Peach Blossom Spring] task scene.”

Su Mo asked again, “Are these newbie tasks?”

The intelligent customer service replied, “Yes, sweetie, do you need any help?”

“No, thank you.” Su Mo stopped in his tracks, not going to fetch water by the lake but instead heading towards the village entrance.

The village entrance was the character’s spawning scene, where players would find the village chief to pick up tasks after entering the game and then start running errands. Su Mo’s target wasn’t the village chief, but the child in the house behind the village chief. This child was one of the later NPCs; players would get to know the recluse elder in Peach Blossom Village through tasks involving this child.

If he guessed correctly, this was indeed a newbie task scene, but it wasn’t just a newbie task. Because this was the scene of two tasks: one was an extremely easy newbie task, and the other was a hidden task.

Su Mo had previously enjoyed playing terminal mini-games, and puzzle-solving games usually had confusing elements to influence players’ decisions. This situation was similar to a confusing task; he had entered a special scene through special conditions. If he followed the existing conditions and completed the newbie task obediently, he would be sent away from Newbie Village when he finished, and then he would have no chance to complete the real task in this special scene.

… So if he wanted to get the reward, he had to break out of the existing task framework, find the correct task target while completing the newbie task.

The child tilted his head, “Huh? Are you the big brother who helped us catch ducks?”

“…Yes, that’s me.” Su Mo hesitated slightly; he had indeed helped the village chief water flowers and catch ducks just now. Recalling the newbie plot he had seen, he plunged straight into the point with a trial-and-error attitude, “Do you know Grandpa Xu?”

The game’s intelligent NPC would trigger keywords related to relevant personnel.

Sure enough, the child scratched his head when he heard “Grandpa Xu,” “Grandpa Xu? Is he the grandpa brought back by Sister Baizhi?”

Su Mo said, “Yes, I’m looking for him. Do you know where Grandpa Xu lives?”

“Grandpa Xu lives at the end of the village.” The innocent child replied, “You want to find Grandpa Xu? Big brother is a good person; I’ll take you there.”

[quest] Please follow the village chief’s son to find Mr. Xu.

Seeing the popped-up task information, Su Mo became more certain of his speculation. The two scenes were similar yet different, but the key NPCs wouldn’t change. As long as he found the changing node, he could judge the task target. Mr. Xu was an important NPC guiding players, having lived in the village for a long time. From the derived judgments of his associated characters, one could try each one to find out.

He was lucky; the village chief’s son was an important NPC. The position of Mr. Xu had changed from the village to the village’s end. Su Mo thought to himself that he should still follow the logic of the task, but who was this Baizhi? He remembered that this NPC hadn’t appeared in the previous Peach Blossom Village scene.

Su Mo soon arrived at the village’s end and found Baizhi and Mr. Xu. At this time, Mr. Xu lay ill in bed, while Baizhi, a woman, was a healer, currently treating Mr. Xu’s injuries.

Baizhi said, “Can you help me go to the back mountain and dig up some herbs?”

Su Mo, now running another errand, reluctantly replied, “Sure.”

Guided by the village chief’s son, he quickly gained temporary trust from the NPC and began a new errand.

[Please follow the village chief’s son to find the White Spirit Grass and little spirit fish.]

The White Spirit Grass required climbing the mountain, and Su Mo spent about ten minutes finding it in the mountains behind Peach Blossom Village before going to the lakeside with the village chief’s son.

There, the village chief’s son dug for loaches in front of him and then handed Su Mo a fishing rod similar to the one he had previously used in a task with ClearWind, asking him to catch the little spirit fish.

[Equipped with a fishing rod, please start fishing.]

Su Mo was familiar with this. He found a small bamboo raft, took a worm he had just picked up from the village chief’s son, and expertly cast his line to fish.

“I have some bait ready for you to use.” The village chief’s son handed over a small bamboo tube of worms. “Do you know how to fish? It’s very simple.”

Just as Su Mo took the bamboo tube, a prompt suddenly appeared in front of him.

[Would you like to open the fishing system?]

“There’s a fishing system too?” Su Mo was surprised.

Customer service: “Yes, sweetie, for the convenience of players, as long as you open the fishing system, you can understand fishing techniques.”

Su Mo: “Your game is quite user-friendly.”

“Thank you for the compliment,” the customer service continued, “the fishing rod has been detected, would you like to open the fishing system?”

At this moment, there was a ripple on the lake’s surface. Su Mo quickly reeled in his line, and a small silver fish leaped out of the water.

Customer service: “?”

Su Mo brought the fish in. “No need, I know how to fish.”

Customer service: “…Okay.”

The fish he caught was a silverfish, not the little spirit fish. Su Mo had to try again and took some time before finally catching the little spirit fish. He hurried back to Baizhi’s house to deliver the items and begin another round of errands.

Finally, when he delivered the last herb, there was a new development in the game’s plot.

Baizhi took out a fan, finely crafted with meticulously painted patterns and made of sturdy iron bones. With a wave of her hand, the herbs turned into light and flowed into Mr. Xu’s body, visibly healing his injuries.

“Mr. Xu has helped me before; he is my senior from Flaming Thunder Mountain.” Baizhi looked at Su Mo. “Now, the Celestial Horizon continent is turbulent, and it’s not peaceful outside. Mr. Xu’s injuries are quite serious, so it’s better for him to stay here and recuperate.”

Su Mo looked at her.

But Baizhi shifted her attention to Su Mo, “You and I have fate; these days you have helped me treat Mr. Xu. I have divined for you, and you have a calamity in your destiny.”

Su Mo: “…”

“Oh, thank you,” Su Mo replied.

Baizhi continued with the plot, “In light of your help in treating Mr. Xu these past few days and our fateful encounter, I’ll assist you once.”

Su Mo hesitated briefly as he felt Baizhi’s fingertips touch his head, a warmth fleeting.

[Ding——Congratulations to the player for completing the quest task [Legend of the Peach Blossom Spring]]

[Received rewards: [Peach Blossom Spring Fishing Rod x1] [Small Iron Shovel x1]]

[Received rewards: [Advanced Beast Capturing Net x1] [Permanent attribute point bonus: +20 points]]

[Triggered special reward [Blessing of the Star Seer Baizhi]]

With a flash of golden light, he was informed the quest was completed, accompanied by a bunch of rewards.

After completing the quest, there was a corresponding quest record. Su Mo clicked it open to find out why he had entered this Peach Blossom Spring. It turned out that the background of Peach Blossom Spring · Illusion dated back ten years in Peach Blossom Village. At that time, Peach Blossom Spring was not yet open to the public, and only those with pure thoughts and who hadn’t embarked on the path to immortality would encounter the guidance of the Soul Rabbit, thus entering this scene.

The guidance to immortality here actually referred to the newbie task in Peach Blossom Village. In other words, only those who hadn’t done the newbie task and encountered the Soul Rabbit would trigger the quest [Legend of the Peach Blossom Spring]. This quest was unique, and once completed, the Peach Blossom Spring · Illusion scene would disappear, with no second person entering.

This trigger condition was indeed difficult. If he hadn’t been curious and touched the Soul Rabbit, he wouldn’t have encountered this quest. Su Mo opened his backpack and didn’t see the small knife that every new player was supposed to get, but the two tools given were somewhat peculiar.

[Peach Blossom Spring Fishing Rod [Level 1]: Originating from Peach Blossom Spring · Illusion, it’s a legendary fishing rod that never misses, only mastered by experts.]

[Small Iron Shovel [Level 1]: Originating from the village chief’s son of Peach Blossom Village, it’s said to be a family heirloom shovel that can dig up earthworms from the soil, a handy tool.]

Su Mo was at a loss for words, “…”

Could this fishing rod and shovel be used to fight monsters?

Thankfully, the other two rewards were good. The permanent attribute point bonus was 10 points higher than the task from the flower girl in Newbie Village. Su Mo allocated all attribute points to speed and then looked at the other rewards. The beast capturing net should be used to catch rabbits, but what was this blessing of the Star Seer?

As Su Mo’s finger was about to tap on the blessing reward, a new prompt suddenly appeared before him.

[You have opened the blessing of Baizhi and gained the skill [Myriad Palace Insight].]

Myriad Palace Insight? What was that?

Author’s note:

Su Mo: Didn’t they say we would get equipment after completing the newbie task?

Customer service: Sweetie, this is a fishing rod that never misses~

Su Mo: Oh… can this fishing rod be used to fight monsters?

Customer service: Sweetie, you can give it a try~