CHAPTER 77: CHAPTER 77: BUYING CHEATS, FORMING A TEAM

EDITOR: DRAGON BOAT TRANSLATION

"Final Priest Score: 1000"

"Healing Patients Score: 130"

"Healing Output Score: 156"

"Total Score: 1286"

"Congratulations on earning 1286 points."

"Congratulations on clearing the trial ground ’White Snow Field’ of the Monarch of Wind, Rain, and Snow. You have received the Blessing of the Monarch of Wind, Rain, and Snow: Avalanche."

"Avalanche Lv1: The healing amount of all Charge Healing Firearms, Assault Healing Rifles, and Portable Healing Pistols is slightly increased."

"You can use your Points to buy Blessings in the rest area."

Ren Suo was overwhelmed by the barrage of information. After he clicked ’Next Step’, he saw Little Fatty appear in a bedroom.

The bedroom wasn’t large, featuring only a table, a single armchair, and a bed with a duvet. It had no windows, but a temperature and humidity gauge was mounted on the wall where a window might have been. The room’s temperature was 22 degrees Celsius with a relative humidity of 60% RH and a comfort index of 50—most suitable for Earthlings.

There was an envelope on the table. It was blank when picked up, yet within a second, text in Xuan Wen appeared:

"This is the Trial Participants’ Rest Chamber, which only you can enter. Outside is the Exchange Plaza, where you can make purchases or go to the central exchange orb to buy Blessings."

"You have one day for rest, socializing, shopping, dining, and mental adjustment. When you enter the second trial, your mental and physical state will naturally recover to their optimal conditions."

"Here, you still enjoy Divine Protection and cannot be harmed. Simultaneously, attempting to harm other Trial Participants here is prohibited. If you try to do so, you will be teleported back to your Rest Chamber within the next second and confined there until the start of the next trial."

Suddenly, a six-digit digital clock appeared on the wall, frozen at 23:59:59, not yet counting down.

Ren Suo tried to make Little Fatty leave the Rest Chamber, but the door displayed a red warning: "Approximately 3 minutes remain until the rest period begins." Huh? Why would there be such uncertain wording as ’approximately’?

Ren Suo speculated that perhaps all the trial grounds needed to determine their victors before the rest period could begin.

Having played so many times, Ren Suo had experienced seven types of trial grounds: three under the Monarch of Wind, Rain, and Snow, three under the Lord of Billion Brilliance, and one under the Eternal Burning Heart. He didn’t know if there were other types of trial grounds as well.

With so many trial grounds, naturally, there were many trials to undertake. Ren Suo guessed that every time he restarted, he was randomly selected by several trial grounds. Theoretically, while Little Fatty was undertaking a trial, other trials were happening concurrently.

Thus, everyone needed to finish their trials before entering the rest period.

However, due to the Healing Light Curtain, every trial was actually limited to one hour. After an hour, no matter how the Trial Participants hid, the Healing Light Curtain would descend over the entire trial ground.

Moreover, the Healing Light Curtain grew stronger as time went on. The initial curtain was as green as grassy plains, but towards the end, it would turn as deep green as an endless jungle. Even if participants were munching on fried chicken and sipping cola, they certainly wouldn’t withstand it.

Therefore, the end time of the trials was controllable; those who completed the trials first were at most about ten minutes ahead of those who finished last.

Ren Suo recalled that when he cleared the trial, the circle had already shrunk considerably. If it shrunk further, the entire trial ground would soon be bathed in green light. This likely meant other trial grounds were in a similar state, hence the ’approximately 3 minutes’ warning.

After a few dozen seconds, the red warning on the door discreetly disappeared, and a calm, gender-neutral voice whispered into Ren Suo’s ear, "Rest period begins."

As Little Fatty stepped out of the Rest Chamber, countless dark doors appeared in front of him, with men and women emerging directly from these portals.

However, as soon as they emerged, the doors vanished, leaving Ren Suo momentarily stunned.

Then a prompt sounded in his ear: "If you wish to return to your Rest Chamber, press your right hand against any building wall for three seconds, and a doorway will appear."

So the Rest Chamber and plaza are in different dimensions?

But Ren Suo found this method of summoning doorways to be odd—it felt imbued with a sense of technology.

If it were a return method in a fantasy setting, shouldn’t Trial Participants be given a Teleportation Scroll or a Teleportation Ring or the like...

However, Ren Suo was quickly drawn to the Exchange Plaza.

Cafés, Chinese restaurants, arcades, KTVs, hotpot restaurants, manga cafés, cinemas, Burger King...

The main street was filled with all sorts of modern consumer facilities. None of the establishments were square buildings; instead, they featured curved architectural designs, forming rings, large and small, that radiated outward from a gigantic white orb at the center.

This naturally harmonious design was far more beautiful than the steel jungles of modern cities.

Other Trial Participants emerging from their Rest Chambers were initially startled by one another, but they were quickly drawn to the various establishments, touring the Exchange Plaza as if window-shopping in a city.

"Did we return to reality?"

"OMG, Who_can..."

"Do we have to pay for stuff here? But my wallet disappeared before I came in..."

The space was crowded with innumerable voices of confusion and the sound of footsteps. Ren Suo controlled Little Fatty to walk into a manga café, only to be stopped at the entrance.

"Manga Café: 1 Point/Hour, automatic renewal when time expires."

At 1 Point, Ren Suo could afford the luxury, so he spent 1 Point to check out the situation.

Inside the Manga Café, it looked much like a bookstore, but the front desk had numerous drink dispensers and desserts available for unlimited self-service.

There were rows of bookshelves filled with manga. Before entering the book area, there was a guidebook shelf containing navigational guides in different languages. Ren Suo flipped open the Xuan Wen guidebook, titled ’Manga Guide’, and easily found a manga’s shelf location using the alphabetical method.

The book area and the reading area were completely separate. Besides the usual study tables, there were many sofas, beds, tatami mats, and even cats and dogs.

Soon after Little Fatty entered, he saw a boy about his own portly size. The boy was holding a Coke and a mango mille-feuille, with several manga tucked under his arm. He was lounging on a beanbag in the reading area, eating and reading, all while petting an orange cat beside him with his left hand. He seemed to be quite enjoying himself.

If Ren Suo had wanted, he could have let Little Fatty indulge in such a decadent capitalist lifestyle. However, since it was Little Fatty in the game enjoying himself, not Ren Suo, he naturally didn’t want to waste time on this. He had Little Fatty leave the Manga Café and head straight for the giant white orb in the center of the hall.

On his way there, although there were many entertainment facilities, there were even more restaurants. From the eight major cuisines of Mysterious Country to Britain’s fish and chips, Southeast Asian dishes to Flourishing Sakura’s sushi and sashimi, they had everything one expects to find, from the ordinary to the noble.

The pricing was similar to a self-service buffet: 1 Point per hour for unlimited food and drink. Patrons would select their dishes at the front desk, choose a table, and a few seconds later, the center of the table would lower, and their ordered food would rise from below.

However, like Ren Suo, most people chose to investigate the central giant orb first!

Compared to eating and drinking, buying Blessings was the primary focus of the trial.

The great orb floated in midair, the light directly beneath it almost forming a silken veil, softly draping over the Trial Participants.

The Trial Participants simply had to swipe their hands through the veil to pull up an exchange interface!

It was like catching light in their hands!

Such a fantastical and mysterious setup took Ren Suo by surprise. However, his attention was quickly captured by the contents of the exchange interface.

The available Blessings were divided into four categories: Monarch of Wind, Rain, and Snow; Lord of Billion Brilliance; Eternal Burning Heart; and Others. On the right side of the interface, it displayed the Blessings he already possessed:

"Infinite Stamina," "Life Protection," "Sound Optimization," "Vision Optimization," "Hearing Optimization," "Avalanche Lv1."

The Monarch of Wind, Rain, and Snow’s Blessings that could be exchanged mainly included "Wind Fury," "Rain Curtain," and "Avalanche," corresponding to increased rate of fire, reduced interval between healing shots, and increased healing amount per shot, respectively.

The Lord of Billion Brilliance’s Blessings were "Starlight," "Moonlight," and "Solar," which in effect were similar to the Monarch of Wind, Rain, and Snow’s Blessings. However, the former enhanced Healing Shotguns and Healing Sniper Rifles, while the latter enhanced Charge Healing Firearms, Assault Healing Rifles, and Portable Healing Pistols.

All Blessings from these two deities focused on increasing the potency of Healing Firearms, and all of them could be upgraded—each Skill could be leveled up to 10!

Moreover, clicking on a Blessing would provide a live demonstration of its use.

For example, in the live demonstration of a max-level "Starlight," a Priest was shown hiding in the grass, holding an AWM with a fifteen-times scope. He spotted a large, fair-skinned, heavyset man eating fried chicken on a distant mountaintop.

Without needing to consider the drop of the Healing Bullet, he aimed at the head and fired!

With the rate of fire upgraded to max level, the bullets nearly behaved like lasers, gravity being a non-issue.

The Eternal Burning Heart differed slightly, as this deity’s main focus was... cheats? Yes, to Ren Suo, this deity was pretty much peddling cheats for shooter games.

"Serenity": The Trial Participant’s hands receive a blessing of calmness, allowing better control over any Healing Firearm. It reduces the recoil of Healing Firearms; at max level, all Healing Firearms have no recoil.

"Scorching Heat": The Trial Participant’s eyes gain infrared thermal scouting, allowing them to see living beings within a certain range. At level one, it’s five meters; at max level, no one can hide within a fifty-meter radius.

"Passion": The Trial Participant’s Mental State is elevated such that whenever a target in need of healing appears in their line of sight, they will subconsciously aim their healing device at the target. At level one, this state lasts only 0.001 seconds, aiming at the torso or limbs; at max level, the state lasts 0.1 seconds, with the aim locked onto the torso.

Although Ren Suo didn’t play many shooting games before, he knew that these three Blessings were the equivalent of ’No Recoil,’ ’X-Ray Vision,’ and ’Auto-Aim’ in the gaming world!

However, Ren Suo quickly calmed down.

Although they seemed like cheating abilities, if everyone had access to them, they were all starting on the same footing.

Moreover, the Blessings from the Eternal Burning Heart had limitations, being quite average in practical terms at low levels. With Auto-Aim only lasting 0.001 seconds, it was almost instantaneous. And with X-Ray Vision only reaching five meters... Within five meters, Ren Suo could already tell where people were by their footsteps!

At low levels, these Blessings primarily served to compensate for a Trial Participant’s shortcomings: ’No Recoil’ to help those with shaky hands, ’Auto-Aim’ to assist those with slow reactions, and ’X-Ray Vision’ to prevent sneak attacks by crafty opponents.

So, how much did these Blessings cost?

—They were all one thousand Points each.

That meant Ren Suo could currently only exchange for one Blessing.

Aside from the Blessings of the three deities, there was an ’Other’ category.

Ren Suo glanced at it, and his eyes were immediately drawn to the most expensive Blessing:

"Teamwork Contract: Allows two to four Trial Participants to form a team, considered as one entity entering the trial. If they clear the trial, Points are distributed according to individual performance. The purchase price ranges from 2,000 to 4,000 Points and can be bought jointly. Note: Only effective in the second trial."