CHAPTER 241: CHAPTER 241: NO MORE FREEBIES?

EDITOR: DRAGON BOAT TRANSLATION

"I’m really fine, seriously I am!"

"Aren’t you working as a doctor at school? How did you end up in such a dangerous place?"

"See, I’m perfectly fine..."

Finally getting past his mother’s nagging, Ren Suo heard Ren Xingmei on the other end trying to get their mom to take a break. Then, she took the phone. "Bro, seriously," she said, "weren’t you supposed to have a job that pays well with little to do and close to home? How come you suddenly ran off to such a dangerous place and even appeared on a video?"

"Ah, you’re still young, you wouldn’t understand."

"Bullshit, you’re only five years older than me, and you’re still worse at games than I am."

"I’m better at them than you now!"

"Oh? A solo showdown then? Choose any—fighting, MOBA, RTS, FPS, whatever you want."

"My internet connection isn’t great right now; next time." Ren Suo quickly changed the subject. Although his hand speed and response time had improved, his sister regularly trouncing him in games wasn’t a recent development. He said, "You can boast to your friends that your brother appeared in Ren Naiser’s video—that very handsome Healing Cultivator..."

"I would never do that," Ren Xingmei said. "Unless you personally come to my class reunion with me. Besides, appearing in a video is no big deal. You’d only be impressive if you were Ren Naiser himself."

"No thanks, there’s a generation gap between us. And besides, you’ve figured it all out anyway; I am actually..."

"Stop bluffing. If you were Ren Naiser, then I’d be a descendant of Ren Woxing." Ren Xingmei sighed and said softly, "Just remember to call before you do something like this again."

"If you don’t say anything, at least don’t let Mom and Dad see it."

"But you have to tell me so I can be mentally prepared. That way, if something happens to you, I’ll be ready to deal with it. Remember, you absolutely must tell me!"

"All right, all right..."

After hanging up the phone, Ren Suo rubbed his neck—it had been a very long call.

After *Mage Under the World Tree* was broadcast, his mother was quick to bombard him with phone calls. This was because Ren Suo had appeared in the video, specifically during the scene where he was healing the Charred Magician.

Normally, Ren’s father and Ren’s mother didn’t watch Ren Naiser’s videos. However, other relatives and neighbors soon came knocking on their door, telling them how accomplished their son was for appearing in a video, "helping the nation," and the like.

So they had his sister join them to watch the ’fantasy blockbuster’ Ren Naiser had uploaded.

Then, on the dangerous battlefield, they saw their own son. They were absolutely shocked and immediately called to check on him, almost on the verge of catching a plane to visit him overnight.

It took a lot of effort for Ren Suo to convince them otherwise, even sending his own video to show he was alive and hopping around to ease their worries.

And this time, *Mage Under the World Tree* had aired just as Ren Suo hoped: the conversation between the Magicians wasn’t broadcast, so the lies they had spun were naturally not exposed.

An SMS arrived on his phone. It was an internal network notification, so Ren Suo had no choice but to open his computer and see what was happening on the network.

*Research on the Location of the Second Secret Realm*.

It’s definitely about this issue... Ren Suo wasn’t surprised one bit.

Back when he was tackling the second level, no one had come in even after he defeated the boss. From this, he guessed the second level must be in a scarcely visited area—perhaps in the desert or beyond the usual maritime routes. Even deep at sea wouldn’t have been a surprise.

With the other six Secret Realms now having masters, and their significance publicized through Caroline’s words—that grinding Strange Creatures in them could accelerate Cultivation—they were highly sought after.

Although researchers were still investigating whether such an enhancement had any side effects, Secret Realms were undoubtedly considered major strategic resources. They were remnants of Another World’s civilization, places with high concentrations of Spiritual Energy for Cultivation, habitats for wondrous creatures, and even potentially unique sites for scientific research.

The nation also followed the principle of ’possessing what others lack, and excelling where others possess.’ Now, whoever could stake a claim on the Second Secret Realm first would gain a further lead in Transcendent resources. And if the Secret Realm could be moved...

Even Ren Suo himself didn’t know where the Second Secret Realm was located. Even if he guessed, he had no factual basis. So, he simply liked an answer that seemed to be written by a geography Ph.D., as a trace of his own involvement—though this would only earn him a few Research Points, if any at all.

With some time left before midnight, Ren Suo turned on the Mini-World Game Console to review his recent gains.

In the "Equipment Interface," under ’Ren Naiser’ (that is, his own Equipment Slot), a row of fog-like, illusory icons appeared at the very end:

"Insight into the Mortal World," "A Thousand Miles in a Day," "As Close As The Ends of The Earth," "Wax and Wane."

These were the four Bond Abilities Ren Suo currently had, all of them at Level one—he hadn’t leveled up from watching a movie with Dong Chengling the other day.

As for "Wax and Wane," it was the Bond that Ren Suo had obtained after assisting Gu Yueyan in her Ability training.

The training location was a small hill within the academy, lit by street lamps along the mountain path, ensuring safety. However, after Ren Suo arrived, Gu Yueyan didn’t hesitate to find a rocky wasteland and began to invoke the Moonlight.

Her Ability was undoubtedly related to Moonlight. That night was clear, and the silver beams of the full moon were cut into fragments by the leaves of the dense forest trees behind the hill. Yet, Gu Yueyan could gather these specks of Moonlight, transforming them into blade-like projectiles that shot toward the ground!

The wasteland was suddenly blasted open, creating a crater over two meters in radius. Ren Suo glanced at it and found it was one meter deep. This meant the Moonlight penetrated the ground for a meter before it could no longer maintain its shape and burst into a wave of pure Energy.

That was a very powerful offensive Ability!

Besides, she could, without charging, remotely command the Moonlight to converge at a designated location, causing the targeted rock to explode like a pinpoint detonation, albeit with much less power.

The real danger came when Gu Yueyan attempted to turn Moonlight into armor to wear. However, her fine control was lacking, and the chaotic Moonlight easily scratched her body, some wounds deep enough to reveal bone.

That night, just for Healing, Ren Suo nearly exhausted all his Spiritual Energy—he was equipped with the "Pure White Mini Holy Grail," which amplified the Healing effect by nearly 100% and also reduced Spiritual Energy consumption by about 30%!

It had long been said that awakened spells consume less Spiritual Energy, especially those that could directly harness natural energy, which could be used freely. But Ren Suo hadn’t expected the gap to be so vast; Gu Yueyan had hardly spent any Energy throughout the night.

Ren Suo had also asked her why she insisted on using such a self-harming method of Cultivation. Gu Yueyan had replied, "There are hardly any masters to guide one in learning awakened spells. To train control, you can only rely on yourself to slowly grind it out. Now that you’re here to heal, I naturally want to take the opportunity to speed up training, even if it means getting hurt. Besides, apart from attacks, I want to try other uses for my awakened spells."

"Sigh, it can’t be helped; after all, I don’t know any Healing Magic. I’ll train more carefully in the future. If I get injured, I guess I’ll just have to wait patiently for it to heal..."

When Gu Yueyan said this, her tone was normal. However, she would pause after every few words, glance at Ren Suo, then pause again and glance at Ren Suo...

For the sake of the Bond Ability, Ren Suo had no choice but to agree to be hired by her on the two days each month when the moon was fullest, to help her with her training. In return, she offered cash compensation. Gu Yueyan’s family seemed to be really rich; this was a good deal for Ren Suo.

’Gu Yueyan, Level 1 Bond, Bond Ability "Wax and Wane": Fires a damaging beam of Moonlight, consuming one’s own Energy.’

Ren Suo secretly picked a dark and windy night to test it outdoors. It was his first time, so he was a bit nervous. At first, he felt a surge of heat inside his body, but once the beam was released, he felt invigorated. The effect was extraordinary: it could carve a mark one-third of a meter deep into a large rock, without an explosion. Moreover, the attack was extremely fast, silent, and stealthy—perfect for sneak attacks.

Although it wasn’t as powerful as Gu Yueyan’s original version, it was, after all, a freely gained Ability that could be used instantly without Cultivation, and Ren Suo was already very satisfied.

However, he needed to quickly buy an Offensive Spell from the Spell Network that looked similar to Moonlight. That way, if he used it in public, he’d have an excuse to pass it off.

Of course, he needed an excuse, but other game characters did not.

His Bond Abilities could also be equipped by other game characters, and since Ren Suo’s own Bond Abilities were fixed and would not be lost, this meant an increase in selectable Abilities for game characters.

The current "Insight into the Mortal World" and "A Thousand Miles in a Day" weren’t very beneficial for game characters, but "As Close As The Ends of The Earth" and "Wax and Wane" were different. The former was, after all, a Teleportation Spell, while the latter was a silent ranged damage Ability. If equipped by game characters, they might even cause their Abilities to mutate.

TICK.

The second hand, minute hand, and hour hand overlapped. Ren Suo glanced at the wall clock and took a deep breath.

"August has come."

He opened the "World Store," and indeed, the "Free Game of the Month" section had appeared.

He clicked on it, full of hope, and then Ren Suo saw—

Empty.

Not. A. Single. Game. Was. There! Only a big ’+’ sign!

"What? Are they not giving away free games anymore?!"