Genius Chapter 95: Counter-Mechanism

Chapter 95: Counter-Mechanism

Translated by Karai of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

 

ClearWind: “???” 

Watermelon: “Retrieve his body?!” 

“Retrieve his body so that if he gets blown away by the wind, we won’t have to search the entire map for him.” Su Mo looked at the minimap and the countdown timer. “Don’t waste time, another wind is coming soon.”

Watermelon didn’t dare to waste time. He quickly ran over and asked, “After retrieving him, what next?”

CloudTraveller added, “Guard him, hold onto him if needed. Don’t let the two of you get blown away. Wait for teammates to support.”

Watermelon, without complaint, ran to the tree where ClearWind was stuck, trying to find an angle to leap up using his light skills, but after struggling for a while, he couldn’t move him an inch.

ClearWind: “Bro, put in more effort.” 

Watermelon strained, “Damn it, you’re stuck so tight, I can’t budge you.” 

ClearWind: “You’re pulling the wrong way, why are you pulling me further inside?” 

“If you’re stuck tight, stop pulling,” Su Mo confirmed their position. “Watermelon, stay in that vicinity and watch over him. Your position is still the center, no long-distance displacement has occurred, relatively safe.”

At this moment, the timer in the task bar reached 28 minutes.

Su Mo, located in the south, had a plan in mind. Instead of staying put, he quickly started to move.

The misty forest was actually a circular map divided into four equal parts—east, south, west, and north—along with a central area, totaling five zones.

In the center of the map, there should be a safe circle. ClearWind and Watermelon, located in the center’s vicinity, wouldn’t experience displacement. Apart from this, the other four areas were danger zones where displacement could occur. Based on his earlier analysis, the displacements would occur in a clockwise manner, randomly appearing in the areas of north, east, south, and west, with each area changing approximately every 3-4 minutes.

With too few variables to consider, Su Mo knew the approximate timing but couldn’t determine the exact moments of transition for each area. The only certainty was the safety of the other two stationary zones. Earlier, he had been transported from the east to the south, and following the sequence, after east would come south…

Navigating through the forest took time. Amidst continuous lightning strikes, Su Mo heard the muffled thunder. During his sprint, the scene before him changed once again—he had moved from the south to the north.

“The displacement zone has shifted to the south. Players in the east can move, those in the north continue moving, and those in the west will stop moving in 2 minutes,” Su Mo determined the approximate timing. “Act quickly; those with less than 60% health should use their potions.”

“So, the displacement only happens in one of the areas, then it jumps to another area when the time comes,” ScarletFruit seemed to understand the mechanism. “So if you’re in the displacement zone, random displacement occurs?”

“That’s right. Specifically, displacement happens while you’re moving,” Su Mo explained. “So once the displacement zone falls on you, you need to refrain from moving to avoid being teleported. There’s a bug here; both strong and light winds can cause us to move short distances involuntarily, so complete safety cannot be guaranteed. We can’t even determine how far we’ll move before displacement occurs. The best strategy is simply to stay put.”

“The map of the Misty Forest is vast, so much so that the changes in your movement on the mini-map are very slow. Su Mo estimated that moving from the edge of the map to the center, even with a fast pace based on the average movement speed of each profession in Celestial Horizon, would take at least 20-25 minutes.

After several rounds of running and encountering strong winds, their positions had changed again. Currently, the southern area, where movement was restricted, had become the area with the most remaining players, with two teammates still far from the center.

East: ScarletFruit, HealsFor25000, Old Daoist Don’t Understand Love 

South: IHaveaColdHeart, Little Treasure from the Cold Family, FireworksAndLanterns, Apple

West: Milk Mixed with Bitter Melon 

North: UnchainedWanderer, ZenSlasher, CloudTraveller, Global’s Number One kawaii, Momo

Seeing this situation, Su Mo suddenly had an idea. “South, Apple and FireworksAndLanterns, your positions are too far back. Take this opportunity to run.”

FireworksAndLanterns was stunned. “Won’t we get displaced if we run? Why run then?”

Yu Zhen immediately understood Su Mo’s idea. “He means to refresh your positions.”

CloudTraveller also grasped it instantly and explained to the others, “The map area is vast, and FireworksAndLanterns and Apple are positioned very far back, close to the map edges. Moreover, their movement speeds are average. At this moment, moving actually gives them an advantage over staying still. The displacement will refresh their positions, potentially reducing the time needed for running.”

In all four regions, their destination is the same, which is the center. Instead of starting from the very edge of the map, it’s better to use the displacement mechanism to randomly refresh their positions. While bad luck could place them on the edge, a better scenario would be to be refreshed closer to the center.

“Sure enough, Apple and FireworksAndLanterns ran a distance and immediately refreshed their positions on the map. Apple had good luck, directly teleporting to a position near the center in the west, while FireworksAndLanterns moved forward a bit.

FireworksAndLanterns: “I’m still somewhat behind in this position.”

Su Mo: “Hmm, you can continue running.”

“Fuck, can you really play like this?!”

“That’s amazing, using the mechanism against itself to refresh positions.”

“I just ran a lot!”

“Hey, why didn’t you say that when we were in the east just now?”

Su Mo’s voice was calm, “We weren’t sure about the range or the mechanism earlier. We couldn’t risk it.”

After saying this, he added, “Be alert, the next strong wind is coming. People in the south, hold steady.”

Watermelon stood under the tree, listening to the lively chatter on voice chat. His conversation with ClearWind went unnoticed by teammates, their dialogue drowned out amid the noise, making them feel lonely and isolated.

While others joyfully ran around, it wasn’t his place. He stayed in the central area, guarding his teammate’s body, dodging lightning around the tree. From time to time, he looked up at his teammate above to ensure they hadn’t been blown away before he could relax.

ClearWind, stuck in the tree, looked down at his teammate below. “Watermelon, why don’t you consider coming up here to take a rest on the tree with me? There’s still space beside me.”

At that moment, another lightning strike hit directly at the large tree where ClearWind was, faint black smoke rising briefly before being swallowed by the storm once more.

ClearWind said, “Look, the wind can’t move us, the lightning strikes don’t even hurt. We don’t need to run. Let’s just wait here together for rescue.”

Watermelon was speechless.

Damn it, he was actually a bit tempted.

Clear and decisive commands came over the voice channel from the commander, Momo, timing the checkpoints and commands perfectly. Amidst the shifts between strong and light winds, and the movements across different positions, everything became clear under his command. Teammates nearby quickly gathered at the central meeting point after several transitions.

The two healers from the east, HealsFor25000 and ScarletFruit, were the first to arrive. Upon reaching the gathering point, they found Watermelon’s health bar was at 2%. ScarletFruit hurriedly searched for their teammate, wanting to heal him. Finally, at a tree in the central area, they saw ClearWind and Watermelon both stuck.

Watermelon spoke up voluntarily, “Don’t need to save me.”

ScarletFruit’s healing hands paused. “??? What are you all doing?”

HealsFor25000 echoed, “???”

ClearWind replied, “This spot is secure for us. We’re fine here. No need to rescue us. It would only add to your healing burden.”

Watermelon, holding on with just 2% of his health, looked up at the sky. “Why isn’t it striking anymore?”

ClearWind explained, “Maybe it’s tired of striking. Taking a break. Fruit, are you coming up? You can join us here.”

Su Mo noticed the commotion and asked, “What’s going on?”

ScarletFruit replied hesitantly, “…Nothing. Two kids got struck silly.”

Watermelon reacted with confusion, “???”

ClearWind added, “It’s a wise decision.”

After understanding the mechanics, everyone’s movement speed increased. It took half an hour, and everyone arrived at the central location together. ScarletFruit and HealsFor25000 then resurrected the people on the tree. Once revived, a new prompt appeared in front of everyone.

[Clearance Time: 01:25:36] [Congratulations to the player team for successfully clearing “Journey Through Wind and Rain: Misty Forest”. Clearance rating S+, rewards obtained: [Demon Points x700 (S)][Autumn Gold Chest x1]. Currently ranked 1st in cumulative clearance time.

“Wow, that’s awesome.” “It became much easier once we grasped the mechanics.” “So this is what it feels like to clear a dungeon with the pros.”

masterGlobal kawaii approached CloudTraveller and switched to private chat, “I’ve only heard about it before, but he’s really good at understanding game mechanics in practice.”

“He has a great overall perspective and insight.” CloudTraveller reassessed the scene. This level was actually composed of three game mechanics: besides the irregular thunder, the other challenges were the regular winds and teleportation skills.

However, the difficulty lay in the fact that in previous dungeon clears, the skill mechanics were focused on the boss. Players instinctively paid attention to the boss’s language, observed the boss’s actions and expressions, and deduced timers or action patterns to discern the boss’s skill patterns.

Throughout this process, trial and error and summarization were inevitable, taking several skill cycles. As the boss’s difficulty increased, the time spent on these deductions also increased. However, in such environments, their observational focus was solely on the boss.

The difficulty of the second level of “Journey Together Through Wind and Rain” lay in scene inference. The mechanism of the strong winds was manageable since most players could notice the intervals between wind skills. However, the area teleportation skill greatly tested the commander’s insight.

Momo had a keen insight. While other teammates were just starting to pay attention to the intervals between the wind skills, he already knew the timing between the small and large winds and observed the two-second pause between their switches. While others speculated that the teleportation might be triggered by touching something, he had already moved beyond this line of thought, focusing squarely on the area changes.

He paid attention to every detail from the beginning of the teleportation: the size of the minimap, the changes in teammates’ blue dots on the map, and the intervals between area shifts.

Momo meticulously observed each detail as the teleportation began. Gradually accumulating evidence, he deduced the correct mechanics in less than an hour. The rest of the time was spent guiding teammates on how to quickly reach the gathering point.

It’s hard to appreciate this after the fact. Only those who have teamed up with him in dungeons can truly understand how strong his reaction abilities are in practice.

“Excuse me, can someone help?” 

FireworksAndLanterns turned around and saw two people on the tree, lying still. 

“Why aren’t you coming down?” 

Watermelon asked, “Little Firework, could you help?” 

“Well, aren’t you trying to stay tightly stuck to avoid being blown away by the wind?” ClearWind explained, “We’re stuck too tightly.”

“The tree was just struck by lightning again, so we tightened our grip even more.” Bitter Melon looked up and said, “This stuck point is really tricky. Even two people can’t pull you out.” 

Apple said, “Is this a stuck bug? That’s rare. Celestial Horizon has so few bugs, and you managed to hit one.” 

Su Mo heard this and looked over, a bit surprised. “There’s no place to stand up there, so it’s hard to exert force. Even two people might not be able to pull you out. Try to see if you can get out yourselves. If not, just wait for the dungeon to reset after clearing, and you should be able to get out then.” 

Watermelon was dumbfounded. “How long will this take?” 

CloudTraveller added, “The dungeon will remain for half an hour after clearing, and there are 20 minutes left.”

HealsFor25000 said, “If you don’t come down early, you’ll only get stuck tighter.” 

Bitter Melon replied, “Hey, let’s give it a try. Hang on, I’m going up there now.” 

Watermelon urged, “Boss, hurry up.” 

Some other teammates had daily tasks to attend to and left quickly after agreeing on a time. Bitter Melon and FireworksAndLanterns failed to get the people down in the end, and they had to wait for the dungeon to reset to finally free them. With time still early, Su Mo and ScarletFruit went to the warehouse. 

After ScarletFruit finally collected all the materials he needed and completed the trades, he asked, “The materials collected this time are not expensive, and there are plenty from the event. The market prices have dropped. What should we do with the remaining money?” 

“Keep it for yourself. If there are cheap materials, buy them for me.”

After obtaining the materials, Su Mo quickly rushed to the main city’s forge, taking out a complete set of level 80 PvP gold equipment stored in the warehouse. With the accumulated materials and points, along with the high-level materials obtained from previous dungeons, it was enough to refine the entire set.

Yu Zhen followed along and asked when seeing Su Mo’s actions, “What are you up to?”

Su Mo replied, “Myriad Palace Insight. I’m lucky today and managed to refine the remaining equipment.” He also got several loose items with high luck attributes from ScarletFruit to significantly boost his character’s luck value. Coupled with the bonus from Myriad Palace Insight, his current luck value was quite impressive.

The process of refining the equipment was lengthy, and the character couldn’t leave the forge, so they had to wait there.

“Aren’t you going to do quests?” Su Mo noticed Yu Zhen not moving beside him. “Bro, aren’t you going to do quests?”

Yu Zhen responded, “It’s alright, I’m just waiting here.”

“Okay,” Su Mo replied. Feeling bored, he switched to the terminal to check messages. When he returned, he noticed the person standing beside him hadn’t moved. The Array Master was still in the same position as before, likely away from keyboard and displaying a holographic image.

Su Mo simply closed the terminal screen and quietly observed the person next to him. The Array Master was dressed in a white outfit, with striking features and a handsome appearance.

Although their faces were clearly different, Su Mo couldn’t help but think of Yu Zhen, who lectured brilliantly during the day. He couldn’t help but focus on the Array Master’s face. The facial features in the game’s character creation seemed somewhat similar to Yu Zhen’s actual appearance, suggesting Yu Zhen might have adjusted his facial data based on his original features…

In the marketplace, there seemed to be options for adjusting character appearances, but due to restrictions in StarNet data flow, Su Mo could only browse and couldn’t purchase items from the marketplace for adjustments.

Once he began comparing, his attention shifted from the face to the character’s physique.

After waiting for a while and seeing no movement from the other person, Su Mo took a few steps forward and stood next to the Array Master, raising his hand to compare their heights. In the game, he was slightly shorter, and the difference between the youthful physique and the adult physique was quite apparent… It seemed that a player’s physical condition improved in the game after entering.

Suddenly, Su Mo remembered when Yu Zhen had lifted him with one arm in the past and couldn’t resist touching his arm lightly.

At that moment, a voice suddenly rang out. The Array Master’s gaze fell on him. “What’s wrong?”