Sacred Souls: Genesis

Chapter 257: Chapter 255: The Eye of Prodigality (Combined Chapter) Chapter 257: Chapter 255: The Eye of Prodigality (Combined Chapter) Inside the Dancing Nuclear Guild’s base.

Mo Shigui was talking to Zhao Mingwei about matters in reality, and Yelena also wanted to join in, but she ended up being dragged away by Lan Lan to help with transplanting rice seedlings.

“The lawsuit with Overlord of the World will start in a week, and you might have to appear in court a few times… Here is the contact information for the lawyer, and some written materials will be delivered to you soon,” Mo Shigui said.

After a night of revelry, Mo Shigui hadn’t forgotten that Zhao Mingwei was still mired in the quagmire of a three-hundred-million compensation.

This time, Silver General stepped in to help, and Mo Shigui really wanted to drag Zhao Mingwei to thank him in front of Silver General, who had been the captain of Overlord of the World before he retired.

“How should I thank him?” Zhao Mingwei understood the principle of gratitude, as Silver General had indeed done him a huge favor this time.

“Just become more powerful in this game.”

Those were Silver General’s original words; Mo Shigui had finished imparting all he wanted to, but then he suddenly remembered something.

“Where are you living now in the Upper City Region?” Mo Shigui asked.

“Internet café.”

“Why not stay in a hotel?”

“No money.”

“?”

Hearing this reply, Mo Shigui covered his forehead with an expression of ‘just as I thought’—he truly had had enough of Zhao Mingwei declaring with a matter-of-fact demeanor that he had ‘no money.’
“It was fine when gold was cheap during our time playing Strife, but now in Holy Spirit World, one Gold Coin can be exchanged for three hundred and seventy yuan, and you could afford to stay in a decent hotel for a night with just two Gold Coins,” Mo Shigui said somewhat frantically.

The existence of workshops in the game Strife led to a rapid decline in item prices, and the price of gold had dropped to the point where one Gold Coin could be bought for just twenty yuan.

Holy Spirit World restricted the number of new players to a crazy extent, and the influx of sixty thousand newbies even caused the already exorbitant gold price to surge once more.

Now, Gold Coin merchants could make a fortune just by hoarding Gold Coins.

“I’m out of Gold Coins,” Zhao Mingwei dropped another bombshell.

Who was Zhao Mingwei? Possibly one of the strongest PVP players in Holy Spirit World and, as both an alpha test player and a top-tier gamer, Zhao Mingwei’s equipment was, without a doubt, the best possible for a Mind Energy Master in the game.

A first-tier player in Holy Spirit World was actually saying… he had run out of Gold Coins?

“Where are your Gold Coins?”

“Special Equipment, equipment enhancement, equipment repair, restoring item supplies—you can spend money in a lot of places in this game,” Zhao Mingwei explained.

“…”

Mo Shigui rubbed his temples nonstop. He felt like… a weary mother who had given her son his tuition, only to find out the son had spent it all on snacks from the canteen.

But Zhao Mingwei was that sort of person; others might prioritize reality and treat gaming as secondary.

Even professional gamers like Mo Shigui, for instance, would use Gold Coins only when necessary and save them otherwise, because, after all, Gold Coins in Holy Spirit World could be exchanged for a lot of cash.

However, Zhao Mingwei’s opinion was ‘Are you out of your mind? My own Gold Coins in the game are barely enough for me, and yet I’m supposed to exchange them for cash? Can cash enhance my equipment to level thirteen?’
“I don’t know how many times I’ve said this since I’ve known you, but you should at least save some money for expenses in the real world,” Mo Shigui said.

“Hmm, at least he can afford the internet bill,” Zhao Mingwei nodded in agreement.

It should be ‘at least he can afford the food bill!’
Mo Shigui stopped lecturing Zhao Mingwei; now that Mingwei was nearly twenty-five, he was an adult. It was time for him to learn to manage his own life.

No, he won’t learn.

The thought popped up in Mo Shigui’s mind again. He opened his mouth, about to say something more, when Xiao Yumao suddenly began yelling next to him.

“Guild Master! Guild Master! Holy Spirit World has started an official press conference!” Xiao Yumao shouted.

This shout was significant. In the Dancing Nuclear Guild, players who were building houses, planting seedlings, mining, or constructing robotic arms all stopped their work.

“The live broadcast room number?”

“1015156572!”

“That long?”

“It’s official, after all.”

The members of Dancing Nuclear once again gathered to collectively watch the Holy Spirit World’s official press conference.

There had been little activity from Holy Spirit World’s officials; they had been interacting with players through game updates since the game became public.

But this time, the game press conference… perhaps they could see the developers of Holy Spirit World?

Unfortunately, they were disappointed. The dramatis personae of the Holy Spirit World game press conference did not include any of the game’s developers; even the conference’s setting was at the game’s starting base.

“Are you sure this is an official game press conference?” Mo Shigui, seeing that the host was an NPC from a starting base, became increasingly doubtful of the ‘official’ status of the conference.

“I… I don’t know either, Guild Master, but this is Miss Cat’s interview,” Xiao Yumao was unsure as well.

Mo Shigui stopped asking these unnecessary questions; the live broadcast room’s popularity had already soared to an impressive 1.3 million viewers.

No doubt, other guilds and the majority of Holy Spirit World players were tuning into this broadcast, along with others who were considering jumping into Holy Spirit World or who were simply curious about the game.

Game press conferences are a must-watch for gamers. Single-player game publishers announce new titles at these events, while online gaming giants discuss future updates.

These updates will undoubtedly… completely change the game’s ecosystem. Therefore, as the leader of a major guild, it was not enough for Mo Shigui to just watch the conference—he had to understand it.

“With the efforts of all our Holy Spirits, the transmission gate to another world has been completed; it is a world of your own, Holy Spirits,” Queen Mei began her opening speech. “It is a world we all yearn for but, at the same time… your world has also drawn the attention of many threatening entities.”

“Is this a game press conference or a story CG?” A member of the guild asked when they heard Queen Mei’s words.

But that person was shushed by the others.

“We have been in contact with many guild organizations in your world, a small portion of them are willing to offer support and supplies to the Holy Spirits fighting at the frontline,” Queen Mei’s gaze turned to Pao, who sat in his seat.

Pao was about to stand up, proudly ready to announce his company’s collaboration with Holy Spirit World, when he suddenly received a private message chat. It was from Xue Bi, who had already finished work for the day and was seemingly on her way home.

Once Pao opened the private chat message from Xue Bi, her first words to him were…

“Don’t step forward!” After setting up a live broadcast room, Xue Bi had gone off work to go home and sleep and now seemed to be on her way from work.

While leaving work, Xue Bi also watched Pao’s broadcast. She initially thought that Pao would announce his company’s collaboration with Holy Spirit World in an official capacity, but he was now standing as a player at the game conference.

“Xue Bi, what do you mean?” Bubble lowered his voice and asked quietly. This secretary was assigned to him by his parents, afraid that Bubble would squander all his startup funds. But the fact that Cola Frenzy had grown to its current size owed a large part to Xue Bi.

So he listened to Xue Bi… to the point that he had almost forgotten what Xue Bi’s real name was.

“What you should announce now is not that your company is collaborating with Holy Spirit World, but you are collaborating with Holy Spirit World. This could negatively impact our guild as well as Holy Spirit World,” Xue Bi said directly. “You just need to perfect the content of the Holy Spirit World’s invitation. Look behind you, that is a map of the Upper City Region.”

Bubble suddenly understood something with Xue Bi’s reminder.

What would other players think of a player who got too close to a GM? Though Miss Cat definitely wasn’t a GM and was only an NPC to many players, Xue Bi’s consideration was still very thorough.

With Xue Bi’s reminder, Bubble turned to look behind him, and suddenly… a map of the Upper City Region appeared where there had previously just been a barrage of bullet comments on a wooden board.

The map was definitely in the style of Holy Spirit World, which meant it had the strong vibe of a treasure map, giving the magical feel of the Upper City Region map a fresh look.

And on the map, there were already five very conspicuous markers, which were the treasures – no… the supply and aid points mentioned by Queen Mei.

Bubble immediately recognized that all these five markers were… shops under Boss Yin’s command!

“These supply points will provide Holy Spirit World items as well as real-world goods to Holy Spirits.”

Seeing no reaction from Bubble, Queen Mei continued to introduce the Inner World gameplay and zoomed in on one of the supply points, which was the riverside hotpot restaurant.

“At this supply point, Holy Spirits can get a Warrior’s Food Coupon, which can be exchanged for many items at the supply point.”

Queen Mei gently tapped, and instantly various food icons appeared.

At first, some food icons felt very Holy Spirit-esque, such as ‘Abyss Beef x15’ and ‘Dragon’s Chorus Congee x15’ – endgame players would recognize these as the most expensive food items in Holy Spirit World.

But then came ‘Holy Spirit All-You-Can-Eat Solo Meal’ and ‘Holy Spirit Duo’s Battle Feast,’ which were some odd items.

When Queen Mei clicked on these meal deals, they included an assortment of foods like mutton rolls, clear broth hotpot, and fish tofu – food items that players were familiar with from reality.

“What’s this? Is Holy Spirit World going to introduce a hotpot cooking system too?”

“It seems… not, this seems to be something you can directly go eat at the restaurant in real life.”

“I remember this place! The entry point for the Fat Chiu raid instance, I ate their five-person set by myself yesterday and nearly developed a psychological shadow.”

While the players were discussing below, Bubble was still filling out that Holy Spirit World invitation. The content within made him realize instantly… there were two methods to collaborate with Holy Spirit World.

The first was like the Fat Chiu raid, where players could go to this restaurant to eat certain things or buy certain items and receive game items in return.

The second method was purely advertising, after the Inner World system launched, many challenge quests would appear within the Inner World.

Players just need to complete these challenge tasks in the Inner World, and they would receive in-game item rewards and experience, as well as real-world item rewards.

Boss Yin’s hotpot restaurant was involved in both collaboration plans.

“This method of advertising… is really interesting, but the Hotpot Prince is the Hotpot Prince after all, only giving away hotpot sets is too embarrassing,”
Bubble checked his company’s stores… not one was in the Upper City.

The only business Bubble really had full control over was Cola Frenzy.

The rest were either shareholders or companies under his father’s banner, where Bubble had a certain amount of influence. But there were very few companies like Boss Yin’s that could engage in large-scale collaboration events.

With no other choice, Bubble had to pay out of his own pocket.

There are two well-known commercial districts by the river in the Upper City Region, one is the New World Square located at the bank, which is the commercial district where the General Bank’s hotpot restaurant is located, and the second is the Blossom Square.

These two commercial districts are not far from each other, and for many years they have competed without a clear winner emerging.

Bubble’s dad just so happens to be an investor in Blossom Square, and although Bubble has no say in the various activities at Blossom Square… is there anything wrong with him spending money to hold promotional events?

Indeed, in the Holy Spirit fund’s invitation, there is an option to choose Blossom Square, and there are three stores in Blossom Square for Bubble to choose from.

One of the three stores is a barbecue restaurant, his dad’s, another is a well-known sports brand his dad invested in, and the third is Hua Wei, the world’s number one motherboard manufacturer and the third-ranked graphics card manufacturer in the world.

It also has another sub-brand known to players… Eye of the Gamer!

Among players, Eye of the Gamer also has a joking nickname… Eye of the Prodigal.

Because the computer components sold by Eye of the Gamer are so expensive that they make many ordinary gamers balk at the price, it has even given rise to jokes like, “What’s your family’s situation that you dare to spend money at Eye of the Prodigal to build a computer? Are you not afraid of dying?”

Bubble isn’t short of money; he’s an absolute wealthy gamer, so he personally paid to select the most expensive configuration from the store’s reward catalog, and also spent extra to buy additional components to assemble a complete VR rig.

The graphics card is Eye of the Gamer’s Raptor 5080TI… X4!

The motherboard is also Eye of the Gamer’s XIII EXTREME OMEGA upgraded version, which translates to something like the Ferocious Beast of Whatever.

The CPU is Intel Core i13 Extreme Supreme Edition.

Bubble couldn’t be bothered to look at the rest, he just picked the most expensive ones.

In the end, he assembled a VR rig set valued at 630,000.

Just the top-of-the-world Phantasm Z13 simulation suit alone took 130,000 out of his budget.

630,000 for a computer? Even his dad would berate him as a wasteful son.

But Bubble felt it was worth it, and any gamer would feel it was worth it.

It’s just like spending a lot of money in a game to buy Special Equipment; no matter how much you spend, as long as the level of the equipment goes up, it is worth it!

This is the mindset a zealous gamer should have.

Bubble thought this configured rig would be enough to drive all gamers crazy, because a 10,000-plus computer rig in an ordinary household was already considered a brag-worthy setup.

A 630,000 VR gaming computer configuration, Bubble felt, was akin to the sensation an ordinary person would get from discovering that playing an instance in a game could earn them a sports car.

After purchasing two sets as the challenge prizes for Blossom Square, Bubble paid a 2.5 million fee to Holy Spirit World for the collaboration, then clicked confirm.

The instant he clicked the confirm button, a crimson Eye of the Gamer logo suddenly appeared on the map square behind him by the river.

“Aside from the food vouchers, there are many other supplies prepared for the Holy Spirits.” Queen Mei was explaining when she suddenly stumbled a bit.

What else could be used as supplies for Holy Spirits other than food? In the real world, HPMP potions can’t be concocted, and Jiang Qiao didn’t give her any more directions either.

Left with no choice, Queen Mei stretched out her hand to click on the icons on the map, to see what rewards the stores represented by these icons were willing to offer.

The sudden appearance of the crimson eye logo caught Queen Mei’s attention.

She reached out and clicked it, and instantly, a long list of terrifying text that made wallets tremble just by reading it popped up from the rewards list.