Sacred Souls: Genesis
Chapter 318 - Chapter 318 Chapter 307 Bounty (1st Update)

Chapter 318: Chapter 307: Bounty (1st Update) Chapter 318: Chapter 307: Bounty (1st Update) “Planar Pirate Battlefield Mission: Defend the Pirate City.”

Description: The Magic Thieves have allied with the Abyss organization and amassed a large army aiming to destroy the Pirate City. The Lady of Calamity herself leads the three major pirate groups in this defense battle. Holy Spirits! Display your power on the battlefield.”

Reward: +20 reputation with the Planar Pirate faction, Item: Plunder Net.”

The situation outside Pirate City was extremely chaotic–it wasn’t so much a battlefield for the players as a wild map for monster farming.

Thus, the players grouped together by guilds, and those who were without a guild either formed teams or went solo to farm the monsters that appeared on the Pirate Plain.

The majority of the Magic Thieves’ army consisted of Abyss Mutants, these mutants bore human appearances, but their levels varied greatly, ranging from level 30 to 50, all of normal monster standard.

Mo Shigui led the entire Dancing Nuclear Guild in breaking through the defense lines formed by the Abyss Mutants.

The mutants were so weak that numerous players lamented their conscience; Mo Shigui, being a Shield Warrior, could eliminate a level 50 Abyss Mutant with a single sword strike.

But killing these mutants didn’t offer much in the way of rewards. It was similar to killing trivial monsters in the wild maps of the Spirits’ home world–it’s mostly just for leveling. The really good equipment still came from killing bosses and elite monsters in the wild charts.

Mo Shigui was now searching for elite monsters and bosses on Pirate Plain, specifically those Magic Thieves and indigenous dragons from Black Tide Island.

“Ye…boss, aren’t you scared?” Fuzzy Bunny suddenly ran up to Mo Shigui and asked.

“Scared of what?” Mo Shigui used his shield to push an Abyss Mutant diving towards him away, continuing to search for traces of Magic Thieves on the battlefield.

These mutants didn’t look particularly disgusting, some even resembling demons from people’s imaginations.

“Fureya, ever since Little Cloud found out about it, he’s been hesitant to explore new areas,” said Fuzzy Bunny, a comment that could be heard throughout the entire guild via the voice channel, clearly aimed at unsettling the whole guild.

“Well, enough chit-chat… found a Magic Thief, get ready to raid.”

Mo Shigui wasn’t affected by Fuzzy Bunny’s remark; he knew well what Fuzzy Bunny was referring to–it was the fact that Fureya would lose part of her memory if killed by Magic Thieves or native dragons on Black Tide Island.

When Mo Shigui first learned about this from his guild members, his initial reaction was… anger.

The reason for his anger was… his first impression was ‘Is the damn designer seriously planning to use Fureya to hold all the players hostage?’

To Mo Shigui, their potential death resulting in Fureya’s memory loss seemed purely a routine game mechanic–a common type of death penalty in games.

This feeling was unbearable, as uncomfortable as a once enjoyable game becoming increasingly demanding and monetized by greedy designers, with an influx of balance-disrupting, expensive items.

So far, Saints had no game store system, and it was very well-balanced, the gameplay and graphics vastly superior to virtually every other VR game on the market.

Mo Shigui didn’t mind spending money in games; he had been a big spender in Strife too, but the death penalty on Black Tide Island made him feel as though he was being toyed with by the designers.

“Coach Song, why don’t you think… it might really be those Magic Thieves capable of stealing Fureya’s memories?”

Silver, having heard Mo Shigui’s grumbles over the guild voice chat, directly called him out.

“The Magic Thieves are still monsters in the game.”

Mo Shigui’s gaze shifted toward a Magic Thief elite trapped by the Dancing Nuclear Guild’s raid team on Pirate Plain.

“Magic Thief Medes, Level 57, Lord-tier creature, Health 3122311/3300000.”

Mo Shigui knew what Silver was hinting at… that was Fureya herself had told her the Magic Thieves wanted to plunder the Power of the Devouring God from her, which would trigger her amnesia.

And Mo Shigui was supposed to be angry at the actions of the Magic Thieves.

But to Mo Shigui’s logic… the Magic Thieves were monsters within Saints, wasn’t everything orchestrated by the game’s ‘background planners’?

In Mo Shigui’s opinion, if he were really to vent Fureya’s memory loss as a death penalty, he should be confronting the game’s designers, letting them know to stop exploiting players’ attachment to Fureya.

The Magic Thieves were just clusters of data in the game, accomplices of the cunning planners.

But… was it really so?

Mo Shigui knew what Silver had been implying all along, that the NPCs in Saints… at least most of them, had ‘self-awareness.’

This was not a surprise to Mo Shigui; his own Fureya had shown plenty of self-awareness, making it impossible for Mo Shigui to view her as merely a puppet any longer.

There were many such NPCs in Saints, like Queen Mei, and those living at the base, each possessing their own emotions.

All of this could be explained by artificial intelligence, as modern society’s AI had developed to such an extent that players were accustomed to it, but it was still surprising that a game character could also possess such a high level of intelligence.

So the key question was, could an NPC that players treated as mere mob spawns also possess this kind of intelligence?

Mo Shigui couldn’t answer this question, but this Magic Thief named Medes before him could provide an answer.

“Those foolish dimensional pirates actually brought you here? The newly born descendants of the Devouring God, we were just looking at not having enough Power of Devouring God… to complete our great purification.”

The Magic Thief Medes appeared as a young NPC with no signs of abyssal infection on him when he saw Mo Shigui leading an elite raid team from Dancing Nuclear Guild approaching him.

Suddenly, a pitch-black flame erupted in the Magic Thief’s hand, and he charged ferociously at Mo Shigui.

Raise shield to block, the raid group’s healers and buffers applied various enhancements to Mo Shigui… A typical instance boss battle process quickly unfolded.

But when Medes’ fist hit Mo Shigui’s shield, a cunning smile appeared on his face.

“Someone told us… you descendants of the Devouring God like to fight in groups, this time we also have reinforcements,” As soon as Medes finished speaking, an ear-piercing roar of a dragon suddenly erupted behind him.

Wind-devouring Dragon!

Mo Shigui recognized at a glance the giant dragon soaring into the sky, a kind from Biland Island capable of controlling storms, its body as tough as steel.

The roar of the Wind-devouring Dragon was accompanied by a strong wind pressure, which, although not harmful, blew away the raid team’s formation behind Mo Shigui, completely disrupting their coordinated moves.

And Mo Shigui… was completely isolated!

Seizing the moment, Medes unleashed Extreme Cold Power from his left hand, having stolen a skill from an Ice Master player in an instant.

The temperature beside Mo Shigui dropped rapidly, which was fatal for a Heavy Armor Warrior… one of his hands wielding the Longsword stabbed towards Medes, who was casting Extreme Cold Magic.

But just as he stabbed, a sense of crisis surged over Mo Shigui.

The moment Mo Shigui swung his sword, two elite Magic Thieves appeared by his side, unleashing deadly attacks directly upon him.

And Mo Shigui had no ability to resist.

This was the trouble with wilderness map bosses! Not to mention that this group of wilderness bosses also knew how to isolate players and break them down one by one!

In less than ten seconds, Mo Shigui’s health was depleted under the assault of the three elite Magic Thieves…

Everything before his eyes suddenly darkened, and when he opened his eyes again, Mo Shigui found himself turned into a tombstone standing on the battlefield.

The Magic Thief Medes then took the opportunity to stretch out his hand… grabbing something shiny floating above Mo Shigui’s tombstone.

“Got it! A woman’s memory? What kind of junk is this, shouldn’t it be the most important part of them?” Medes had hoped to get their holy weapons and equipment, but he wasn’t discouraged… he began searching for his next prey on the battlefield.

But a pain akin to bone fracture suddenly emerged on his wrist… accompanied by a high-pitched shout from a plush rabbit, “Hero never dies!” Under the enhancement of the Resurrection Technique, Mo Shigui instantly resurrected and immediately grabbed the arm of the Magic Thief.

“What did you take from me?” Mo Shigui’s voice was filled with anger that was about to erupt.

In that moment, Mo Shigui realized that these Magic Thieves had their own consciousness and thoughts! Their goal was to steal Fureya’s memory, not just driven by programming to do so!

Medes did not respond to him, a smoke bomb went off in front of Mo Shigui, and the Magic Thief he had been holding suddenly turned into a scarecrow and vanished from sight.

“Guild Leader.” The raid team from Dancing Nuclear Guild managed to break away from the Wind-devouring Dragon and promptly reached Mo Shigui’s side.

Mo Shigui surveyed the chaotic battlefield, but could no longer find the figure of the Magic Thief Medes.

“Post a bounty on the Spirit Forum, a bounty for the whereabouts of the wilderness monster Magic Thief Medes, a thousand Gold Coins!” Mo Shigui said through the guild’s voice communication channel.

“Only a thousand Gold Coins, won’t you, Old Song, be a bit more generous?” Can Xin suddenly popped up and shouted.

However, as soon as Can Xin finished talking, he was swiftly killed by a Magic Thief who appeared from nowhere, and then the Magic Thief also disappeared.

“Where did they go? How can these wilderness bosses kill someone then run away! Did you see where he went?”

Can Xin, now a tombstone, frantically asked the members of Abyss Temple around him, but they all said they didn’t see where the Magic Thief who had killed their guild leader had gone.

“I’ll also post a bounty… damn… I don’t have that much money.” Can Xin said halfway, looking at the mere hundred Gold Coins in his bag and suddenly lost his confidence.

Mo Shigui didn’t bother with Can Xin’s antics and continued to pursue the Magic Thieves on the battlefield.