Sacred Souls: Genesis

Chapter 183: Chapter 182: Can’t Afford to Raise (1st Update)

“First to heaven and earth… second to…”

“Are you paying respect to your mom as a geoduck?”

Chen Meng hammered a fist on the head of the Swordsman Mo Dao, just after logging into the Otherworld today, she was bombarded by forum posts from the two sisters, the Dragon Speaker and Dragon Tamer.

But in her heart, the only wives she acknowledged were Fureya… along with Queen Mei and Miss Cat.

Before Chen Meng logged on, she glanced at the official website’s announcement and the latest strategy guide, which clearly stated, “The pet system is being developed and is expected to officially launch after players have conquered the other two areas of Biland Island.”

The pet system!

Chen Meng had long wanted to catch a dragon to play with while grinding on Biland Island, and now the official site had finally published a detailed plan for the pet system.

Although it was just a preview, it was enough for Chen Meng to drag her water friends to the Snow Plain and start a wild venture!

However, she hadn’t been online for long and had not yet mentioned the details of starting the venture when Swordsman Mo Dao threw an NPC in front of her.

“Where did you kidnap this girl from?”

Chen Meng looked at the NPC who was tied up with ropes and thrown in front of her by Swordsman Mo Dao.

Most of the time, players couldn’t touch the NPCs in the Holy Spirit, let alone tie them up with ropes. However, this NPC had a yellow name, indicating a neutral unit.

There was much more players could do with neutral units, and kidnapping these neutral units was the most basic operation.

“We didn’t kidnap her, she appeared at the gate of our stronghold by herself. When she found out we were bandits, she tied herself up with rope,” Swordsman Mo Dao was not a newbie player, just the sight of the NPC’s level over her head nearly had him calling his brothers to come and fight the final boss of the instance.

“She ran to the gate of our stronghold and tied herself up? What kind of bizarre hidden quest is this?” Chen Meng cast a scouting spell on the female NPC as she spoke.

‘Crystal Hunter Sheela, Level: 53, Lord-level creature, Health 3132002/3132002’

“My goodness, are you telling me that a lord-level creature voluntarily came to our stronghold?” After seeing the specific data about the NPC, Chen Meng realized she was not just some low-level story NPC but a boss that would require a fifty-person team to defeat in any instance.

If this NPC became a hostile target, Chen Meng didn’t know if the sixty or so water friends in Black Wind Village could take her down.

“You there? Swordsman, are you the king of trains?”

“Tying the boss of an instance to the main city, that’s some strong play, Swordsman Mo Dao Rocks.”

The water friends, who were spectating nearby, also expressed their concern for the self-surrendering neutral NPC.

“Bro Meng, she must have some hidden quest since she delivered herself to our doorstep,” Swordsman Mo Dao stated while the water friends around were slandering him.

“Let me ask.”

Chen Meng approached the Crystal Hunter named Sheela, who was dressed somewhat like a shepherdess, as if she had just been herding sheep and was about to go home when she was kidnapped by bandits en route.

But this shepherdess, tied up by bandits, was not only unflustered but also looked at the bandit leader Chen Meng with an expectant expression.

“Do you know where you are?” Chen Meng started to immerse herself in the role of the Black Wind Village king, after all… it was all for the sake of the live broadcast.

“I know, the stronghold of Black Wind, are you the master here? If you guys are outlaws, does that mean I should be put in a cell next?” Her voice also contained a hint of anticipation.

Chen Meng felt that if she brought out a cell right now, this NPC would probably roll into it willingly.

What kind of side quest is this? ‘The Masochistic Shepherdess’?

“Just tell me what you want,” Chen Meng belonged to the type who would skip through story dialogues; she only paid attention to the dialogue and choices when talking with a select few NPCs.

This shepherdess certainly wasn’t one of them… and Chen Meng couldn’t find a cage that could contain a fifty-level lord NPC anyway.

If Chen Meng really captured this shepherdess to be the village overlord’s wife, it would be like bringing Godzilla into her main city to keep as a pet, not knowing when Godzilla might burn down their hard-built stronghold.

“I don’t want anything, I just want to stay here. I heard you are still recruiting for something… the wife to suppress the stronghold, and I think I’m up for the job.” She continued to tout her various merits to Chen Meng.

Isn’t this level of ideological consciousness a bit too high?

It was the first time Chen Meng saw an NPC so eager to join a player’s faction, but with a fifty-level lord offering herself, Chen Meng couldn’t help but feel there was something fishy.

“Miss Meng! Stay away from her!”

Another NPC from Black Wind Village named Bai Yu had just returned from hunting, and as soon as he saw Crystal Hunter Sheela, he immediately pulled out his longbow and aimed an arrow at Sheela’s head.

“Boss, is this… a fight between the second and third wives? Does this count as our backyard catching fire?”

“What are you talking about? Isn’t the third mistress Miss Cat?”

Shen Meng rubbed her temples, blocking out the rumors and gossip from the water friends around her. Bai Yu was now standing in front of her, with his longbow drawn to its full extent.

Bai Yu was visibly tense, and Shen Meng could see it… The elf’s forehead was covered in cold sweat, as if in Bai Yu’s eyes, that Crystal Hunter called Sheral wasn’t just some shepherdess, but a giant monster that was breathing out flames.

“Bai Yu, do you have an interactive storyline with her too?” Shen Meng guessed that Bai Yu must have some exclusive storyline quest, and right now, Bai Yu was showing an overt hostility towards Sheral.

“I don’t know her, but she is one of the chosen of the gods of this world,” Bai Yu said, striving to control his anger. “The gods of this world will do anything for their positions of rule and for their followers, and these chosen ones are the executioners that carry out the gods’ dirty will!”

“Is this your exclusive storyline dialogue? But why haven’t I received the quest? Ah! Now’s not the time to do your side quest, Bai Yu! Put down the bow and arrow first.”

Shen Meng actually wanted to walk away, then rally her water friends to conquer the Snow Plain map. Now all eight major guilds were planning to attack the Snow Plain, which was like a gold mine at present. Of course, by gold mine, it meant all the various creatures and young on the island. Shen Meng just wanted to go gold panning… She really wasn’t in the mood to do any other side quests commissioned by NPCs.

It might be worth doing Miss Cat’s side quest, but Bai Yu’s side quest… goodbye.

“…”

At Shen Meng’s command, Bai Yu slowly lowered the longbow in his hand. Sheral didn’t make any defense against everything Bai Yu had just said, and she continued to look at Shen Meng with ‘come and kidnap me!’ hopeful eyes.

“You, Crystal Hunter Sheral, right? I don’t care about your backstory, but I might as well ask you what you can do.” Shen Meng knelt half down in front of Sheral again and said, “We are going to the Snow Plain area of this island to grind and level up monsters later. Can you help us fight?”

“My power is like a tonic to the monsters on this island… So if I attack the monsters here, they’ll only become stronger. If it’s about Magic Thieves, I could help you drive them away!” Sheral told Shen Meng truthfully the reasons why Crystal Hunters could not carry out missions alone on this island.

The monsters on Biland Island that were infected with the crystalline disease had a constitution far superior to the Magic Thieves, who could not withstand the power of the chosen and would instantly burst dead. But it’s different for those swift dragons, thunder dragons, and such. To island rulers like them, Crystal Hunters are a delectable tonic, even if gods arrived, it would be the same.

“You can’t help fight the monsters, that’s fine, but you even give the monsters buffs? Fuck your mom.” Shen Meng knew there must be some limitation on a level 50 lord follower, but she didn’t give up, as she continued to press Sheral, “So what else can you do?”

The shepherdess thought for a while, and finally come up with an excellent answer, her watery blue eyes looking earnestly at Shen Meng.

“In terms of appearance, I don’t think… I’d lose to that elf,” she said seriously.

How can you compare your beauty with Bai Yu! He is a man!

Shen Meng really wanted to drag Queen Mei and Fureya in front of her and say, ‘Give it up! You can’t win against my first and second wives in terms of beauty.’

But does this NPC only have their face to show off?

“Brother Meng, why not just recruit her? Anyway, she’s a level 50 lord follower. It’d be quite impressive to claim her,” suggested a water friend nearby.

“That’s true, hey… there seems to be that option.”

As Shen Meng was considering whether to recruit her to be the gatekeeper for Black Wind Village, the option ‘Propose Recruitment’ appeared in her dialogue options with Sheral.

“They really silently updated the recruitment system!” Shen Meng knew that after those two sisters were poached by the players, other players would definitely have the option to recruit when talking to other NPCs of the island.

Shen Meng’s finger touched the recruitment option, and a small prompt popped up upon touching it.

‘Crystal Hunter Sheral, Recruitment Requirements: None, Essential Base Living Needs: One house, one bed, Otherworld Food X1000 units/day, Secondary Base Living Needs: Unknown.’

What the fuck?

Seeing this line of data, the needs for a house and bed were quite normal, but the food requirement seemed a bit excessive, didn’t it? Shen Meng didn’t even know that NPCs recruited to the camp had such needs.

So she quickly opened the attributes of her base, and under measures of base quality like defensive value, aesthetics, and greening level, there were also resources like mineral reserves, timber reserves, and food reserves.

The food reserves for Black Wind Village were at fifty-three, which was the smallest of all the reserves, and it was all contributed by Bai Yu’s recent hunting.

‘Crystallized pearl chicken meat X53’ Contributor: Bai Yu.

Those fifty-three pieces of chicken, if one were used to make a meal, would suffice a normal person for one meal. So that meant… Sheral needed to eat a thousand times the food of other NPCs per day?

Shen Meng looked at Sheral again upon seeing this.

“I truly just want to live here, even if you lock me in a jail, that’s fine.” Sheral said, looking at Shen Meng with pitiful big eyes.

“…”

Shen Meng directly grabbed Sheral’s collar, lifted her to the entrance of Black Wind Village, then kicked her out with a swift kick.

The gates of Black Wind Village closed with a sound, and Sheral, lying outside Black Wind Village, could faintly hear Shen Meng shouting, “Water friends, next up we’re going dragon slaying! Get ready!”

The shepherdess, or rather Miss Crystal Hunter, with her cheeks pressed against the cold ground and staring at the closed gates of Black Wind Village, felt an endless melancholy rising in her heart.