Sacred Souls: Genesis

Chapter 380: Chapter 367: Preparing a Big Plan (3rd Update) Chapter 380: Chapter 367: Preparing a Big Plan (3rd Update) “Hot Pot Prince, don’t you dare lie to me, I’ve spoken to those gods, and you clearly only signed a two-day contract with them, they wouldn’t agree to any more.”

Unlike those arguing with the members of the Abyss Temple, Bubble didn’t question Juan Canyun about how the hidden plot of Lady Catastrophe’s betrayal was triggered.

Instead, he was pulled aside by Silver Boss who started to explain the strategy for the event.

The strategy was to use Divine Power Crystals to hire the gods of the Celestial City to one’s own stronghold.

When Bubble first arrived at the Vibrant Nucleus stronghold, he was indeed taken in by Silver Boss’s talk, because at that time, the stronghold was frighteningly teeming with holy spirits at work.

The Harvest Goddess, the God of Livestock, the God of Casting, the God of Breeze, the Lake God…

The sight of these NPCs, bearing the prefix of deity, wandering around the stronghold was almost enough to drive Bubble mad with excitement and spend a fortune… just like Silver Boss had been doing on the World Channel gathering Divine Power Crystals.

But in the end, Xue Bi prevented him, smartly asking the Harvest Goddess in detail about her stay at the stronghold. Her answer was “The herbs in the herb garden are all affected by the Biland Island crystal disease. My commission is to make them grow to harvestable size, which will probably take two days.”

At this answer, Bubble suddenly realized…

“The contract you have with them isn’t based on days, but on commission tasks?” Bubble quickly calmed down and said to Silver Boss.

“When they’re about to leave, couldn’t we just add more chips? There are still many unhired gods in the Celestial City, you can really give it a try.”

Silver Boss was earnestly persuading Bubble, apparently unaware that Bubble was one of his biggest competitors in this event.

“Thank you for your advice, Mr. Lu, but the goal of this event is to increase these gods’ favorability.” Xue Bi outright refused Silver Boss’s suggestion, saying “We are members of the Pantheon Alliance and have a natural base of favorability. Those gods can communicate with us in your stronghold as well as in theirs, and vice versa. But we think it’s faster to increase their favorability in the city of gods.”

Xue Bi had already seen through Silver Boss’s little maneuver, and it was completely unnecessary for CoLa Frenzy, just like Silver Boss, to pull all these gods to their own stronghold.

As the guild with the highest prestige in the Pantheon Alliance, CoLa Frenzy already had a natural advantage in this event. To spend a large sum of money to gain an even bigger edge carried huge risks… That was not Xue Bi’s style of investment.

“About that, why don’t you think that if these gods stay longer in the stronghold, they might officially become recruitable?” Silver Boss asked.

“The NPCs you hired are all unique to the Celestial City, and although some of their abilities are rarely used by players, they’re still essential NPCs. For balance considerations, the game wouldn’t allow them to enter the talent market as hirable characters.”

Xue Bi analyzed calmly; she knew the reason Bubble was so moved right now was… he was hoping that these gods’ favorability would increase to the point that they became permanent NPCs in the stronghold.

At this thought, Xue Bi glanced at Bubble next to her, whose eyes were like those of a child passing by a pet shop asking their parents ‘Really, can’t we buy one?’
“Of course, there’s also a second possibility…” Xue Bi sighed and said.

Just as her words fell, a system alert suddenly popped up on the World Channel.

‘System Alert: Player Juan Canyun of Vibrant Nucleus has completed the Faction Favorability Mission–Lady Catastrophe’s Road to Redemption.’
‘Reward: Lady Catastrophe’s Employment Contract for fifteen days.’
The moment this tip popped up, the atmosphere inside the Vibrant Nucleus stronghold instantly became like that of a soccer stadium when the home team scores! It wasn’t just the atmosphere within Vibrant Nucleus stronghold; the entire World Channel went into a frenzy of messages.

‘[World]Can Xin: Even though that rascal Juan Canyun is now in my hands, I still have to spam this… damn game developers! How could a faction leader possibly be on the talent market?! This is really… awesome!’
‘[World]Jumping Tiger: OMG OMG OMG! Lady Catastrophe can be recruited? How do you trigger this faction favorability character? Give me one too.’
“Xue Bi, look…” As he spoke, Bubble scurried over to Xue Bi, and if he had a tail at that moment, it would probably be wagging very happily.

“Please wait a moment.” Xue Bi wasn’t swayed by the news. She went straight toward Juan Canyun, who was being surrounded like a hero by the crowd in the distance.

Silver Boss stood in place, watching Xue Bi walk away and then glanced at Bubble.

“Are you the boss or is she the boss? I always thought you were afraid of this woman, how did it get to this point?” Silver Boss said incredulously, it was like every time he tried to sweet-talk Bubble into investing, Xue Bi would put a stop to it.

“She’s the secretary assigned by my dad, I can’t even fire her, what do you think? And don’t you speak ill of her, her family’s assets are not much less than yours,” Bubble wiped his forehead, wiping away a nonexistent sweat.

“Huh? What’s her real name? How come I haven’t heard of her.” Silver Boss became interested as soon as he heard what Bubble said.

“Pfff, quit it! You’ve already snatched our faction’s gods, don’t even think about anything else,” Bubble said.

Silver Boss helplessly shrugged and looked at Xue Bi who was in the distance, communicating with Juan Canyun one-on-one.

“Can the player Juan Canyun show your contract with Lady Catastrophe in the current channel?”

As Xue Bi reached the center of the crowd’s attention, her presence was commanding. Cann Xin and Pot Stew, still in the mood to celebrate, made an unspoken decision to retreat, leaving only the Ice Master standing in front of Juan Canyun to ask.

“Yes… okay.” Even though Juan Canyun didn’t recognize Xue Bi, she did know of her as the fanatical deputy head of the Cola Lovers Guild.

Juan Canyun uploaded the employment contract with the Lady of Calamity to the current channel, and after Xue Bi reviewed the properties of the contract, she made another request.

“Where is the Lady of Calamity now? Can you summon her?” Xue Bi asked.

“This… I’ll give it a try?”

Juan Canyun was a first-time owner of an NPC companion, and although there were many NPCs inside the Nuclear Leap, most of them belonged to the guild. Only the chairman, vice chairman, and designated managers could issue them specific orders and tasks.

So, Juan Canyun resorted to the most straightforward method–she went to her own Fureya’s room to request the Lady of Calamity’s aid.

The Lady of Calamity burst out of Fureya’s room without any hesitation, still in a battle-ready state and watching the surrounding Spirits with vigilance.

Xue Bi immediately cast a scouting spell upon seeing the Lady of Calamity charge out of the room. The Lady of Calamity’s current health was only twenty percent, but her maximum health was three million.

The max health seemed to be untouched.

“Player Juan Canyun, could you switch to PK mode?” Xue Bi said to Juan Canyun.

“Ah?”

“Just do as she says, Xiao Wen,” Mo Shigui, standing by her side, cut in, seeing what Xue Bi was aiming to do.

“Okay… okay.”

Juan Canyun immediately switched to PK mode, and Xue Bi also switched to PK mode at the same time. A Frost Magic spell condensed in Xue Bi’s hands and was instantly unleashed as a blizzard, shooting toward Juan Canyun from all directions!

Sensing the danger, Juan Canyun instinctively used Cloud Formation to dodge Xue Bi’s attack.

“Damn! Are there still enemies among the Spirits?”

The Lady of Calamity, seeing Xue Bi suddenly attack, mistook it for… hostility towards Juan Canyun from within the Spirits. She picked up her flame gun and pulled the trigger, shooting at Xue Bi.

The buckshot from the flame gun hit Xue Bi, dealing a high amount of damage and killing her instantly.

Mo Shigui signaled the Fluffy Rabbit beside him to use the Resurrection Technique on Xue Bi, and as she was resurrected, the Lady of Calamity fired a second shot. But this time, Mo Shigui raised his shield to protect Xue Bi.

“Are there more enemies?” the Lady of Calamity loudly asked.

“Cease fire, this was just a… drill,” Juan Canyun hastily switched to peaceful mode, then stepped in front of the Lady of Calamity, and she ceased pulling the trigger.

“A drill?” the Lady of Calamity looked toward Mo Shigui and the resurrected Xue Bi.

“How is it? Miss Xue Bi,” Mo Shigui asked Xue Bi behind him.

“The NPC’s abilities have not been weakened at all. This employment contract somewhat disrupts game balance, but there should be some limitations. Hmm… This NPC called the Lady of Calamity cannot enter the Black Tide Island map.”

Xue Bi saw this detail in the employment contract.

“To be precise, she can only operate around the Biland Island stronghold and the inner world, but it’s still worth it.”

In every game, there is an unwritten rule that enemies joining one’s own faction become three times weaker. To maintain this balance in online games, powerful bosses recruited into a player’s faction would almost always see a significant decrease in their stats.

But not for the Spirits. The Spirits only restricted the Lady of Calamity’s range of activity. Even with this restriction, it was still a win for the players to have such a strong female pirate to protect their stronghold.

“We can discuss this deal,” Xue Bi said from a distance to Bubble.

“Yes!”

Bubble waved her arms excitedly.

“A deal?” Mo Shigui walked over to Bubble and Silver, with that question “Can you tell me what the deal is, boss?”

Ever since Bubble entered the stronghold, Silver had been continuously talking with her, and Mo Shigui hadn’t asked much until now when Xue Bi brought it up in public. Concerned about the guild’s development, Mo Shigui felt compelled to ask.

“The deal is to completely loot the City of Gods!” Silver raised his fist in the air and bumped it with Bubble’s.

“Everyone! I’m glad you have gathered at our stronghold! I have an announcement to make to you all!” said Silver after settling things with Xue Bi and immediately raised his voice to address the other guild leaders gathered in the stronghold.