Genius Chapter 47: Valor Peak Hunting Grounds

Chapter 47: Valor Peak Hunting Grounds

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

Time rewinds to nine o’clock in the morning, and the raid team, fully prepared, enters the instance again. With the experience from the first attempt, everyone quickly found their positions upon entering. Starting from the main tank warrior’s first strike, everyone put in full effort to output damage. The DPS output statistics list was constantly jumping and changing on the right side of everyone’s vision, gripping their hearts tightly, leaving no room for carelessness.

After a moment of silence, a new round of competition erupted in the voice channel.

“Are you guys slacking off in the first round??? This output is insane!”

“Did you all take some sort of performance-enhancing drug? This is too strong!”

“Oh my god!!! In the blink of an eye, how did I drop to 12th place?”

“Brother, give me a chance!!!”

“What chance? There’s no brotherhood at this moment, I don’t want to be at the bottom.”

Are the rewards important?

Very important. The first place gets a rare material, something that may not even be available on the trading platform. It can fetch a high price in gold coins when sold. It’s usually an internal product of large guilds, only released as a reward during special events. The fact that manager Apple is willing to offer a rare material as a reward is a condition that not all raiding teams might have.

Moreover, if they can’t reach the first place, there are still additional rewards.

In a team of 15 people, excluding the main tank healer, the remaining 11 are competitors. As long as they perform above average and don’t end up at the bottom…

Yes, there’s another crucial point.

They must not end up at the bottom, they really don’t want to pull demonic power!!

Su Mo skillfully rotated his skills, watching the familiar mechanism of the team members gradually increase their DPS values, but he didn’t relax in the slightest. He paid attention to the boss’s changes, calmly reminding the warrior to avoid damage, reminding the healers to heal in time, and reminding the DPS not to make positioning mistakes…

It took them only 33 minutes to defeat the first two bosses.

When they once again stood before the final boss, the False Mountain God, only 38 minutes had passed.

Almost everyone breathed a sigh of relief, their eyes full of sympathy for the Doaist priest teammate who was at the bottom of the DPS. The tension that had been hanging in the air for so long finally dissipated. Just when they thought the person responsible for pulling demonic power had been decided and they could finally relax, the ruthless voice of Commander Momo rang out again, “Remember your current DPS. If anyone’s DPS falls below this value, then that person will go and pull monsters instead of the Doaist priest.”

The others were speechless.

A player couldn’t help but ask, “What if multiple people drop at the same time?” 

Su Mo looked at him and simply said, “Whoever drops, pulls down. Below the average of the whole team, no rewards.” 

Others, “!!!” 

Su Mo added again, “Doaist priest Sweet Peach, pay attention to your positioning, don’t pull mobs into the crowd. Have you seen Watermelon pulling mobs? Follow his template.” 

Watermelon looked at Doaist priest Sweet Peach with a somewhat approving yet world-weary gaze, “Do you need me to demonstrate it for you?” 

Sweet Peach comrade, “…no… no need, I understand.” 

The warrior pulled, everyone found their positions and stood firm. Sweet Peach, responsible for pulling mobs, stood diagonally ahead of the team, ready to dash out at any moment to start the journey. Others dared not relax, except for focusing on boss output, all that was left was anxiously listening to the command, afraid of being reminded to prepare for pulling mobs the next second.

So clear were they in following the instructions that who got hit by Abyssal Fear, whose positioning was off… Momo’s commanding voice seemed deeply ingrained in their muscles, and they reflexively responded to his orders and callouts at lightning speed. In just a short ten minutes, they seemed to have lived through a century.

The boss’s health slowly dropped with the passage of time, nearing 10%, they were about to see the dawn of victory. And just at that moment, due to excessively high damage output from the top player, a red warning popped up: OT! The False Mountain God instantly switched targets, directing its fury towards the main group of mages, and everyone’s hearts clenched. In an instant, before anyone could control their actions, as they watched the boss’s attack about to hit the main group, a huge bear stood in front of them, a taunt immediately taking over the aggro. At the same time, a defensive array fell on Summoner Momo, who indirectly bore the brunt of the aggro. The perfect coordination between the array master and the summoner bought them some time instantly, giving the warrior and healers time to react.

“Healers, focus on the bear.”

“Keep outputting, don’t stop. Warrior, watch your skills, healers watch the aggro.”

Two calm voices halted the team’s panic, and everyone immediately found their positions, continuing to output while risking being OT at any moment. The warrior adjusted his position and stabilized the aggro again. 5%, the warrior re-established aggro. 3%, 2%, 1%…

Under the gaze of everyone, the boss’s health reached zero. They didn’t even pay attention to the clearance time, instead, they all looked at the damage output list, finding their positions among the 15 people. Only when they confirmed their own damage output did they collectively breathe a sigh of relief. Some people were so exhausted that they sat down, staring blankly ahead as the boss’s corpse disappeared.

“Who got first place?”

“UnchainedWanderer, the array master newbie. Buffing while attacking and still managed to get first place.”

“Thank goodness, even though I was at the bottom, my damage output was still decent.”

Before they could fully inspect the list of values, they were teleported out of the dungeon. Just as they were standing firmly at the dungeon entrance, someone in the group finally reacted, “How long did we take to finish?”

Before they could open the rankings to confirm, other members from the guild, with [Fruit Platter] names, rushed over, “Damn! You guys are amazing! I just logged in and saw your System announcement, 1 hour!! A new record! Your lineup is so newbie, how did you manage to finish in 1 hour with an all-mage lineup?”

Watermelon finally realized, a strange feeling surged from the bottom of his heart as he looked at the string of numbers on the ranking board. “1 hour…?” 

The next moment, tears welled up in his eyes. Finally… since starting to compete in guild dungeon speed runs, he had been climbing the leaderboard for five consecutive days, dreaming and sleeping while leading his team. He was even prepared to take a nap and continue leading the team. But today, enduring only a few hours of hardship in the morning had suddenly liberated him from this bottomless pit of competition.

“What 1 hour?”

“We finished in one hour?!”

“We’re 5 minutes faster than Zenith Expanse!! I’m ecstatic!”

“Are you guys slow to react or what? The Global Channel is already discussing it!”

…

Su Mo glanced at the clearance time, his brows slightly furrowed. Yu Zhen’s gaze fell on him. “What’s wrong?”

Though the situation had been promptly resolved, the scene of OT still indirectly affected some people’s states, leading to a deviation in the clearance time from the predicted time. Su Mo reflected on the situation just now and then said, “If we hadn’t OT at 10%, we might have finished in 58 minutes…” Before he could finish his sentence, he was immediately hugged by Apple and Watermelon, who were closest to him.

Several more players gathered around, excitedly lifting the heroes up in celebration. In that moment of suspension, Su Mo’s thoughts stalled. He listened to the excited voices of others, the intense discussions among team members, and the straightforward expressions of joy from everyone. Somehow, he felt himself being swept up in the joy of clearing the dungeon, even though its rewards were not as abundant as those from other quest dungeons. He indirectly experienced an indescribable happiness.

“Your estimated goal may be higher, but in their eyes, the goal is simply to exceed 1 hour and 15 minutes,” Yu Zhen said to Su Mo. “The game is simple; it’s not about achieving the most perfect victory, but about achieving victory as the result.”

While the celebration continued, Su Mo, just standing firm, heard Yu Zhen’s words. He paused for a moment, closed various numerical lists in front of him, and cleared his field of vision. “Seems like that’s the case.”

While the members were still fervently discussing, once the excitement of victory subsided, attention turned to rewards and recognition. The guild master of Fruit Platter, [Bittermelon Mixed with Milk], learned about the reward system from Apple and generously distributed a large sum of red envelopes to everyone who participated in the raid. UnchainedWanderer received a rare material of his choice, and Su Mo received a salary of 150,000 gold coins along with two rare materials, [Wind Chime Grass] and [Deep Sea Black Iron].

Su Mo paused upon receiving his salary. “Wasn’t it supposed to be 80,000 gold?”

And they gave him two materials.

Apple explained, “The task was completed beyond expectations, so double the salary.”

Guild master Bittermelon said, “Well done, little brother. Getting up early to lead our team must be tired, right?”

“Not really,” Su Mo glanced at the others, “They might be more tired.”

Bittermelon patted Su Mo’s shoulder, then walked over to UnchainedWanderer, seeming to have something to discuss with him.

Su Mo didn’t quite understand Bittermelon’s meaning. He turned to Apple beside him and said, “I’ll summarize the key points of this lineup for you later. It’s based on the distribution of professions among your guild members. Even if we’re not here later, you’ll have alternative profession changes. As long as the dungeon’s mechanism remains unchanged and your team members don’t slack off, you should be able to achieve a clearance time of around 1 hour and 5 minutes.”

Apple was pleasantly surprised. “Thanks, bro!”

“No problem,” Su Mo replied succinctly. “After-sales service.”

ClearWind and several physical swordsmen were exchanging experiences in dungeon clearing. Taking advantage of this opportunity, ScarletFruit added various bigshots from Fruit Platter as friends and began promoting their all-in-one service. Other guild members started boasting in the guild and Alliance chats, especially after learning about the decline in popularity of [Zenith Expanse] and [Temple of the Gods], which had fallen silent and stopped boasting. 

“This is hilarious! I have a friend’s alt account in the Temple of the Gods. They were mocking us one second and getting slapped in the face the next.” 

“Weren’t their guild members bragging in the Global Channel? Why aren’t they showing up now?” 

“Do you know about the guild master? Heard he’s still buddies with Zenith and using their methods to climb the rankings. Now that Zenith Expanse has fallen off the rankings, no one can control them anymore.”

The guild members enthusiastically discussed, even making plans to celebrate at a tavern in the main city. Su Mo checked the time, politely declined the invitation, and prepared to log off for lunch and rest.

The new first-place lineup in the guild dungeon speed rankings quickly sparked discussions on forums. The unprecedented all-mage lineup made it impossible to discern their strategy, especially with the addition of two clerics. How did a team with average healing and damage output manage to top the rankings? 

[Isn’t Fruit Platter too amazing? How did they come up with this lineup?]

[I see some familiar IDs in the detailed lineup. Did Momo join Fruit Platter?]

[I heard from a friend that Fruit Platter hired Momo as their commander. They finished first after just two runs.]

[Who is Momo? I’ve never heard of this commander before.]

[To the person above, Momo is an exceptionally skilled summoner. He’s not on the rankings, but he cleared the Misty Sea Realm.]

Time passed quickly for the ranking deadline. Fruit Platter’s all-mage lineup comfortably secured first place, with Zenith Expanse initially in second place. However, in the final hour before the rankings were finalized, Veiled Cloud Sanctuary surpassed them by a small margin, ascending to second place. After the rankings were finalized, new guild rankings emerged, sparking another round of heated debates on the forums, especially between [Temple of the Gods] and [Fruit Platter], who openly or covertly taunted each other. Though both sides were aware of their use of outside assistance, it was evident to everyone on the rankings.

While players watched the guilds argue and passionately discussed, their curiosity about Fruit Platter’s all-mage lineup grew. While other guild lineups were quite similar, Fruit Platter’s all-mage lineup stood out. Even days after the rankings were finalized, players were still discussing the specific strategies of the all-mage lineup, with some even approaching [Fruit Platter] guild members to inquire. A dungeon run had not only sparked discussions about speed rankings but also piqued people’s curiosity about player Momo, who didn’t appear in the rankings but left a deep impression whenever mentioned.

There was significant interest from players who followed guild speed rankings, especially among the management of major guilds, upon learning that Momo had left [Fruit Platter]. Despite their attempts to contact Momo through private messages or friend requests, Momo never responded. When online, he focused on leveling, completing tasks, and selling items, logging off punctually without exceeding a minute. Unable to reach him directly, they had to rely on players who had participated in the speed rankings to gather information.

Players like Watermelon, Strawberry, and Apple naturally remained tight-lipped, but with so many players in the guild, some information could be extracted. However, when they went to inquire, they found that the truth seemed somewhat different from what they had imagined.

[We still don’t know what exactly happened with Fruit Platter’s speed running team that day.]

[I heard they started the dungeon at 6:30 in the morning.]

[Do you guys know about Watermelon, the deputy guild leader of [Fruit Platter]? He used to lead their elite team. He was commanding the dungeon run and apparently was intimidated by Momo.]

[I won’t reveal too much, but my friend was in the speed running team. After finishing, he felt a bit disoriented even when doing regular dungeon runs with us. He said he developed a reflex, feeling uncomfortable whenever he heard his own ID.]

[Three managers went that day, not one of them could say a word.]

[Heard they weren’t satisfied with the first run, so Momo immediately initiated another one.]

……

Rumors began to spread, and even members of the [Fruit Platter] guild would cast a kind gaze upon Watermelon when they saw him. Su Mo was unaware of the increasingly exaggerated rumors about him on the forums. The notice for the start of classes at Capital University had arrived, and although there were many courses in his major, only half were suitable for him. Due to his physical condition, he could only observe the practical courses, and even when his advisor permitted him to attend, he often found the schedule pushed back. 

With the lab undergoing maintenance and expansion, he found attending the practical courses futile. His advisor recommended several competitions to pass the time, and after calculating the credits required for the semester, Su Mo chose to participate in two competitions and nothing more.

Once the hustle and bustle of the start of the semester settled, the online discussions about him dwindled. Even his teammates had surpassed him in levels, and ScarletFruit climbed another rank on the wealth leaderboard.

One morning, he had some free time to play the game. When he saw ScarletFruit online, he teamed up with him to do demon tasks. 

“We’ve earned too much lately,” ScarletFruit exclaimed eagerly, splitting the recent earnings with Su Mo and trading him many astrology charts. “The Illumination Scrolls aren’t selling, and there’s a saturation in the Dispel Cloak market. Bro, you should come up with some new items when you have time.”

Su Mo counted the money and bought some provisions for Rabbit and Veil Wraith. “We’ll talk about it when I have some time.”

With the remaining gold coins, he could exchange them for PvP gear. Although the server hadn’t reached the maximum level yet, many players were already preparing equipment materials.

In the vicinity of Valor Peak, many teams were grinding monsters. The two found a secluded spot and started to grind. However, Su Mo soon felt something peculiar in the atmosphere around them.

“What’s wrong?” ScarletFruit asked.

Su Mo’s gaze fixed on the tree in Valor Peak. The branches remained still, yet there was a faint sense of wind blowing, as if signaling the arrival of something eerie.

ScarletFruit grew cautious. “Could it be the [Temple of the Gods] coming to ambush us? Wait, let me activate a Dispel Cloak…”

Just then, a strange pop-up window appeared in front of them.

It was a server-wide announcement, and not just them, but all online players received this peculiar notification. Unlike previous server-wide announcements, even the announcement trumpet conveyed a chilling simplicity. The pop-up window had a strange, antiquated feel to it, with a parchment-colored background and red text that read: “Countdown to the opening of the Valor Peak hunting ground: 10 minutes.”