Genius Chapter 8: The Array Master and the Summoner

Chapter 8: The Array Master and the Summoner

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

When Su Mo logged in today, he quickly familiarized himself with the skills. Following the newbie guide, he went to the wild monster area near the main city. Farming monsters was much more fun than doing quests. The summoner’s skills were indeed a bit tricky; he tried summoning a Zephyr Hawk, and as soon as it appeared, he felt a distinct presence in his mind. Additionally, his skill bar had several new skills belonging to the Zephyr Hawk.

The Zephyr Hawk was an AOE (Area of Effect) summon with currently unlocked skills for AOE and slowing down enemies.

Holographic games were much more engaging than the terminal games he had played before. Su Mo spent quite a while mastering the ability to multitask, then summoned the Solitary Wolf, using the monsters in the wild area to practice his skills.

He had been practicing for over half an hour when he suddenly noticed the surroundings had become much quieter. Initially, he had specifically chosen a secluded corner to practice, but there were still other players around, so he could often hear the sounds of their skills being used.

At that moment, he suddenly heard hurried footsteps behind him. Turning around, Su Mo saw a large sword suspended in the air, and the next second, it came crashing down. He dodged to the side, barely avoiding the attack.

The swordsman, missing his target, hesitated for a moment, seemingly surprised that his strike had failed. Then, he swung his sword again.

Su Mo took a few steps back, dodging another heavy blow. By now, it was clear that this person was targeting him. He glanced around and saw four other players, evidently part of the same team.

“Boss, need help?” the healer on the opposite side called out.

The swordsman replied, “No, you guys keep farming. He’s just a garbage summoner.”

Su Mo paused, “Wait a minute?”

The sword came slashing through the air, its menacing blade approaching. The holographic game made the player’s five senses realistic, and the approaching sword strike had an undeniable oppressive feeling. Su Mo took a few steps back and unhesitatingly summoned another creature, the Solitary Wolf.

The swordsman suddenly felt his vision go black, a dizzying sensation overwhelming him.

What’s going on? How could this summoner summon two creatures?

The Solitary Wolf was a physical single-target attack summon with a 3-second stun. Su Mo seized the opportunity to summon the Soul Rabbit. Using the Solitary Wolf’s stun, he quickly knocked off one-third of the swordsman’s health.

“Damn, boss.”

“Help quickly, that summoner has pets.”

“Wait??? Why is that summoner holding a fishing rod?”

The team, who had been farming monsters, immediately rushed over to help. They saw the summoner holding a fishing rod, with two summoned creatures and a pet beside him, while their leader was being controlled and hit by the fishing rod.

“?????”

The swordsman cursed, “Get over here and help already!”

Su Mo stepped back. The summoner could only summon two low-level creatures at a time, and even with the Soul Rabbit, he couldn’t handle so many opponents. As he pondered his next move, a blue light suddenly fell on the Soul Rabbit and the Solitary Wolf.

Beneath the Soul Rabbit and the Solitary Wolf, a blue formation appeared, enhancing their attack power and burst by 10%.

Su Mo immediately seized the moment, using the high-damage skills of the Soul Rabbit and the Solitary Wolf along with the formation’s enhancement to directly knock off two-thirds of the swordsman’s health.

At this point, the healer arrived. Su Mo tensed up, dodging the attacks from the others while commanding the Solitary Wolf to stun the swordsman again.

The swordsman cursed, “Damn!”

Just then, a party invitation popped up in front of Su Mo.

[Player UnchainedWanderer (Serene Essence Temple · Array Master) requests to join your party.]

An array master? Join the party?

Su Mo accepted the invitation, dodging the frontal attack. While he was controlling his summoned beasts to target the swordsman, he suddenly heard a calm male voice nearby.

“Swordsman, anti-heal.”

Anti-heal, meaning the healer couldn’t apply healing to the target.

Su Mo noticed the negative status on the swordsman. While controlling the Solitary Wolf to stun the swordsman, he also saw the anti-heal effect.

The Soul Rabbit was a high-damage pet, its attack power higher than Su Mo’s, comparable to a level 25 warrior. With the formation’s enhancement, it killed the swordsman before the healer could heal him.

“Healer,” Su Mo called out.

The male voice in the party responded again, “Got it.”

Su Mo targeted the healer on the opposing team. The Array master applied anti-heal, and they quickly eliminated the healer.

“What’s with this summoner!?”

“The Array master is here too!”

“That’s a Soul Rabbit! And the Solitary Wolf!”

“Damn, he’s hitting me with a fishing rod.”

The situation turned into a 2v3.

The Array master said, “Target the daoist.”

Su Mo immediately switched his target to the daoist, coordinating with the Array master’s formations to deal damage. The opponents quickly adjusted and focused all their attacks on Su Mo.

“Retreat,” the Array master instructed.

“No,” Su Mo noticed the three players closing in. “Apply anti-heal to the daoist and move out of the wild monster zone.”

The Array master quickly followed the plan.

Su Mo timed it perfectly, controlling the Zephyr Hawk to move forward, bringing several high-health wild monsters with it. He then canceled the summon. Without a target, the wild monsters turned towards the nearest players—the three opponents. The Taoist, already affected by anti-heal, had no warrior or swordsman to tank the monsters and soon fell.

Su Mo stepped back a few paces to disengage from combat with the monsters. “Almost got killed by the monsters.”

After disengaging, he stood in a safe spot and saw a red potion being handed to him.

The Array master, who had joined the team suddenly, said, “Heal up.”

Su Mo took it, “Thanks, man.”

The Array master looked at the displayed ID in the team, then at the Soul Rabbit and Solitary Wolf beside him, and finally at the fishing rod in Su Mo’s hand.

Once Su Mo’s health was restored, he casually put away the fishing rod and the Soul Rabbit.

The Array master hesitated and then asked, “Did you calculate that?”

“Yes.” Su Mo paused briefly. “Canceling a summon’s call clears its aggro, so the wild monsters target the nearest players. They were within the monsters’ range, and it takes about 5 seconds to fully disengage from combat. I remember the official description mentioning that Taoists have low health and can’t tank the monsters.”

“Five seconds?”

“I calculated the distance; it should be 4-5 seconds.”

Earlier that afternoon, while farming monsters alone, Su Mo had found it difficult. Although a summoner had slightly more health than a Taoist, it still wasn’t enough to tank properly. So, he measured the safe distance while luring monsters and became familiar with their combat range.

There was a brief silence between them.

The Array master then said, “The respawn point is quite far. They shouldn’t be back for at least fifteen minutes.”

“Okay.” Su Mo controlled the Zephyr Hawk to continue farming. “I’ll farm for another ten minutes, then leave. Thanks for the help.”

“No problem,” said the Array master. “Have you played this game before?”

“No,” Su Mo replied simply. “I’ve played some terminal games.”

The Array master paused, then asked, “Want to farm together?”

Su Mo agreed, “Sure.”

He pulled out his fishing rod again.

The Array master was silent for a moment. “Is that your weapon?”

“Yeah.” Su Mo operated his summoned beasts to pull monsters while hitting them with the fishing rod, not feeling anything was amiss.

The Array master’s attacks were not weak either. With the support of his enhancement formations, the two of them farmed monsters much faster than Su Mo could alone. Just over ten minutes passed when the fully assembled Eternal Flame team returned.

“They’re back,” the Array master said.

Su Mo killed a monster and looked up. “Why is it still the same five of them?”

The Array master, puzzled, replied, “?”

Su Mo didn’t quite understand, “I thought they would call for reinforcements. How come they came to get beaten again?”

The newcomers were quite imposing, led by the same high-level swordsman as before. Once their team was replenished, they charged towards them.

The Array master asked, “Fight or flee?”

Su Mo glanced at the experience bar and said, “I’m just about to level up. We can fight.”

The swordsman charged at them with a sword move. This time, Su Mo didn’t control him but instead used Solitary Wolf to directly stun the healer. With his high initial speed, he was confident in dodging the attacks of the rather cumbersome swordsman. With the stun from Solitary Wolf combined with Soul Rabbit, they quickly eliminated the only healer in the team, then started dealing with the low-health priest.

The swordsman had high levels and strong attacks, but he wasn’t fast.

With the cooperation of the Array master, Su Mo used Solitary Wolf to stun him while using Soul Rabbit and Zephyr Hawk to attack other players. Soon, they killed the rest of the players. Finally, he used his fishing rod to pull the swordsman, who had been running away for a long time, to his death.

The swordsman lay on the cold floor, shaking with anger. “You! Using a fishing rod to insult people?”

“Are you misunderstanding?” Su Mo retracted the fishing rod. “I use a fishing rod for monster hunting too.”

The swordsman said, “You’re bold, treating me as a monster to be pulled?”

Su Mo felt innocent. “If you interpret it that way, I can’t help it.”

Unable to bear the humiliation, the swordsman left with a threat, probably calling for backup.

Seeing the revived players leave, Su Mo turned to the Array master. “Doesn’t he seem a bit off?”

“Yeah,” the Array master said. “Where did you get that fishing rod?”

Su Mo replied, “It was a reward from a quest.”

The formation mage nodded. “It seems quite useful.”

Su Mo agreed. The fishing rod not only caught fish but also didn’t lose durability when used for pulling monsters, making it especially handy.

Halfway through their grind, the array master had to leave for something urgent, and Su Mo didn’t linger either. After finishing their experience grind, he left with them. Not long after they left, the swordsman arrived with two teams, only to find nobody there. He then broadcasted his frustration on the world channel.

Yu Zhen turned off the noisy world channel and traded materials with the alt account in a small grove outside the monster area.

The trade took quite some time. The alt complained, “I don’t know who provoked Eternal Flame’s gang of lunatics. Heard they were killed twice and sent back to the resurrection area. Now they’re bringing two teams to settle the score.” After finishing, he added, “Leaving everything else aside, this is truly satisfying.”

Yu Zhen glanced at him. “Do you have a grudge against Eternal Flame’s people?”

“I do. Didn’t I get materials for you these days? I was killed twice by their people in the monster area recently. Fortunately, I didn’t have anything valuable on me, or losing items upon death would have been troublesome.” The alt continued, “But I remember their IDs. If they dare to kill my alt again outside the newbie area, I’ll lead a team to deal with them when I’m free. Heard they’ve been losing guild battles lately, busy recruiting new members.” Suddenly remembering something, the alt said, “Wait a moment, Brother Zhen, weren’t you in the monster area just now? Did you see any of our brothers dealing with them?”

“I did,” Yu Zhen said. “It was a summoner.”

“A summoner!?” exclaimed the alt. “I’m laughing so hard. Eternal Flame recruited such rookies that they got killed by a sewer summoner. This is too embarrassing.”

Yu Zhen remained silent.

[Global] CuteDoll: Haha, heard Eternal Flame got wiped out in the grove area?

[Global] SavoryRib: I witnessed the whole thing. They got wiped out twice by the Array master and summoner.

[Global] LovesRedDress: Who’s the hero here?

[Global] BladeWarrior: Haha, bunch of useless folks only know how to ambush with high attack pets.

[Global] BladeWarrior: Don’t hide, if you’re capable, come to the monster area.

[Global] UnscentedPear: Is getting wiped out embarrassing? Can’t even beat someone’s pet, still daring to clear the monster area. Your face is thicker than your belly.

– 

Su Mo wasn’t in the habit of checking the world channel, so he naturally didn’t notice the swordsman’s broadcast there. Once he reached level 23, he leisurely returned to his sect’s headquarters to continue learning skills.

Just as he arrived at the sect’s residence, Spirit Sanctuary and attempted to upgrade his skills a few times, a red prompt popped up indicating insufficient gold coins.

“Rabbit,” Su Mo’s hand paused as he tried to upgrade his skills, “Why does it cost 50 gold coins for each skill upgrade for you?”

Soul Rabbit nestled at Su Mo’s feet, lifting its head at his words and affectionately rubbing against his pant leg.

Su Mo said, “You still have two packs of food left.”

Soul Rabbit remained silent.

Su Mo continued, “Split it into six portions, and it can barely last three days.”

Soul Rabbit remained silent.

In this game, everything required spending money. Teleportation required money, raising pets required money, and upgrading skills especially required money. This was particularly true for pets’ special skills; the cost of activating one skill could cover the activation of several sect skills.

After sorting through his backpack, Su Mo asked, “Are there any pet jobs in this game?”

Customer service replied, “Sorry, there isn’t.”

Feeling somewhat disappointed, Su Mo refocused his attention on pet skills. Apart from the gold coin expense, activation also required some special materials.

[Soul Rabbit·Special Skill (Activatable)]

[Activation Materials: Spirit Flower Water (0/1), Evergreen Wood (0/1)]

Although Soul Rabbit already had its inherent skills, for this type of spirit pet, its main feature lay in the special skill it possessed.

Since the original special skill remained inactive, Su Mo hadn’t paid much attention to it before. It was only after arriving at the sect that he realized activation required special materials, which could either be purchased with money or acquired through grinding.

The money Su Mo earned from selling fish was quickly depleted after a few skill upgrades. Living off his savings wasn’t sustainable, so he had to think of other ways to earn money. Just as he was considering heading to the main city to assess the situation, he suddenly noticed a bubble message pop up in front of him.

[Vicinity] ScarletFruit14: Looking for a DPS for Inked Landscape challenge.

ScarletFruit? 14?

Author’s Note:

While the Global Channel was ablaze with heated arguments, the Su family was busy with family education.

In response to the discussion about the exorbitant education cost of 50 gold coins, parent Su Mo decided to withhold part of Soul Rabbit’s food ration to establish a basic education fund. Soul Rabbit might become the most pitiful Soul Rabbit in Celestial Horizon’s history since its launch.