Sacred Souls: Genesis
Chapter 588 - 567: To Defeat a Cheat with Another Cheat

Chapter 588: Chapter 567: To Defeat a Cheat with Another Cheat

As time stepped into November, the level 75 version of Holy Spirit had been online for nearly a month and a half, and there were three months left until the preparations for the second Holy Spirit League’s preliminary competition.

During this month and a half, the development within Holy Spirit was very smooth, and both old players and new joiners continued to do whatever they were supposed to.

Ordinary players continued to grind the current version of equipment in the Path to Ascension’s leveling missions, while players who were confident in their skills and wanted to reach level 75 began challenging the instances of the Void Lockdown.

As for those who wanted to earn big money and experience entertaining instances, they were crazily grinding the looting missions in the Filling Sanctuary.

Jiang Qiao once again released nearly 700,000 test qualifications, and the qualifications open to all players globally did not result in too much change within the player forces in Holy Spirit.

Since the opening of the Black Tide Island stronghold construction, clubs from other countries in the world also announced their formal settlements on Black Tide Island and started establishing their own strongholds.

However, as Holy Spirit is not a game that promotes PvP, players’ energies are all devoted to Path to Ascension and trials of strength. As for things like guild wars and national wars commonly found in online games, everyone simply didn’t feel like participating, and Jiang Qiao wouldn’t organize them either.

Due to the threat of the Void Swarm looming ahead, Jiang Qiao had all his energies focused on eradicating this swarm of insects.

Yet, humanity is ultimately filled with struggle and competition; although the major clubs did not have any large-scale conflicts on the surface, what they truly cared about, more than eradicating the Void Swarm, was... the Holy Spirit League.

With the second Holy Spirit League approaching, major clubs worldwide and guilds formed by regular players were all nervously preparing for this competition.

Scouting potential talents, training their own players and gaming characters, and so on...

The Baijian Battle Team was one of them, but unlike those wealthy and powerful clubs, the current Baijian Battle Team was solely supported by Bai Di.

In the forums of both China and Korea... many believed that Bai Di should seek other paths instead of stubbornly staying with the Baijian Battle Team, which was on the brink of disbanding.

However, the majority of true fans of the Baijian Battle Team were very moved by Bai Di’s unwavering loyalty, and there was even a crowdfunding campaign started online to support the Baijian Battle Team.

But Bai Di knew... for the Baijian Battle Team, winning funds was not the issue; the problem lay in the mindset of these young players.

Now, Bai Di was watching a training session of a Baijian Battle trainee player in the arena.

This trainee player’s ID was Dou Jiao... she was one of the ten players scouted by the manager, and Bai Di was most optimistic about her.

She displayed an exceptional talent in both disputes and Holy Spirit.

Dou Jiao’s class in Holy Spirit was Shadow Dancer, a profession deeply inclined towards PK that evolved from the assassin class.

Unlike the assassin’s pursuit of a one-hit kill, the characteristic of the Shadow Dancer was the ability to summon one’s own Shadow Clones. For a period, the Shadow Clones would mimic the player’s skill releases, and the player themselves could switch places with a Shadow Clone.

"Manager Han’s recruit is pretty good, huh? Already on a six-win streak," said Liang Shanchi, the current captain of the Three Stars Battle Team, as he and Bai Di watched the trainee’s performance in the arena’s spectator room. Three Stars Battle Team had always been eager to recruit Bai Di.

It was only a pity that Bai Di stubbornly kept the Baijian Battle Team afloat, even in the face of disbanding risks, by recruiting a group of trainees.

However, the manager of Baijian Battle Team also had a good eye; this trainee called Dou Jiao was so outstanding that she even somewhat tempted the captain of Three Stars Battle Team.

"The Master tier of Holy Spirit, it gets hard only when you go higher," Bai Di had no particular thoughts about the comment from his old rival.

Holy Spirit’s arena had been relatively quiet in the latest versions, as high-level players were all busy with strength trials.

However, you would only encounter some real troublesome opponents in the top-tier division of the strongest kings, and Dou Jiao was just one match away from reaching the top-tier division of the strongest kings in Holy Spirit.

Under Bai Di’s gaze, Dou Jiao continued her matching journey, but the class of the next opponent she matched with made both him and Liang Shanchi stare in slight bewilderment.

"Hawkeye... what kind of hidden class is this?"

Liang Shanchi hadn’t been playing Holy Spirit for long, as he had only recently joined the game a month and a half ago. The classification of classes in Holy Spirit was truly too complex, and he had not yet fully grasped all of them.

"It’s a sniper. This class shouldn’t appear in the arena. Wan Xiang... she’s from the Nameless Guild," Bai Di was also a little surprised.

He knew the characteristics of the Hawkeye class. A Hawkeye player appearing in the arena was practically seeking death, yet the Hawkeye that Dou Jiao matched with was not only competing in the arena but had also reached the Master tier.

As Bai Di was surprised, the scene in the arena had already been constructed, and Wan Xiang stood face to face with Dou Jiao, holding her Death Prayer.

Unluckily, the map randomly chosen for this arena match was of medium size, with less than two hundred meters separating Wan Xiang and Dou Jiao.

"Who do you bet will win?" Liang Shanchi asked.

"That Hawkeye." Bai Di opened Wan Xiang’s character panel; her equipment was that of a typical Holy Spirit T1 player, but Wan Xiang’s control of power had reached seventy-five percent.

It’s worth noting that Bai Di’s own control of power had barely reached eighty percent.

"Don’t be so lacking in confidence in your own team’s rookie king. I’ll bet on your Dou Jiao to win. How about a training match for the wager? If I win, you guys come to Incheon for a training match with us. If you win, our Three Stars Battle Team will provide some assistance to your Baijian?" Liang Shanchi was still not giving up on recruiting Bai Di.

"Sure."

The moment Bai Di’s "sure" was uttered, the match in the arena had already begun.

Wan Xiang had lifted her Death Prayer at the instant the game started... and pulled the trigger at Dou Jiao right in front of her!

Originally, the Death Prayer was just a level sixty-five sniper rifle, but after being modified multiple times by the good-tasting White Snake, its level had already been raised to seventy... Its power and firing speed were on a whole new level.

The moment the trigger was pulled, three large-caliber bullets shot out from the barrel of the Death Prayer, and all three bullets hit Dou Jiao’s... shadow at the same time.

It was a common trick of the Shadow Dancer at the start of a battle; after the pitch-black shadow was torn to shreds by the three bullets, Dou Jiao’s figure appeared behind Wan Xiang.

She lifted the dagger in her hand, crimson as blood, and stabbed it toward Wan Xiang’s neck.

But Wan Xiang’s bullets were a step faster than Dou Jiao’s dagger... The next second, as Dou Jiao swung her dagger, she found her body lose its balance.

The fifteen percent pain feedback reminded Dou Jiao that she had been shot!

The large-caliber armor-piercing bullets hit her in the chest, arm, and waist. Although they did not cause a crippling effect, they still reduced Dou Jiao’s health by a full quarter!

How was that possible? When did she shoot?

Dou Jiao was certain that after she stealthily moved behind Wan Xiang, she hadn’t heard Wan Xiang pull the trigger anymore.

Taking advantage of Dou Jiao’s moment of imbalance... Wan Xiang’s wrist shot out a grappling hook, pulling away from Dou Jiao in the most common manner of the Eagle Eye.

At the same time, Wan Xiang aimed at Dou Jiao again and pulled the trigger, firing three consecutive bullets once more.

Dou Jiao reacted and again managed to dodge successfully, but...

"Eagle Eye’s bullets have tracking capabilities?" Liang Shanchi, one of the viewers, shouted in confusion, "Such high damage and it comes with targeting lock? Why don’t more people play this class?"

Maybe Dou Jiao hadn’t realized it... but as spectators, both Liang Shanchi and the White Emperor clearly saw it.

The bullets fired by Wan Xiang could adjust their direction, like some sort of hunting hound that always bites its target.

"Ordinary Eagle Eyes don’t have it, but I don’t know about this one from the Nameless Guild," White Emperor said, choosing to leave the spectator seats before exiting, but not before reminding Liang Shanchi, "A hundred gaming pods, thanks for the aid from the Tri-Star team."

Ultimately, the battle concluded within a minute, with Wan Xiang victorious with half her health remaining, taking Dou Jiao’s life with her cheat-like magic bullets.

Wan Xiang’s agility was also so flexible that it didn’t seem characteristic of an Eagle Eye, along with some skills that Liang Shanchi didn’t quite understand.

White Emperor was waiting outside the arena for Dou Jiao, the newcomer who had recently joined the Saintly beings.

"That Eagle Eye was definitely cheating!"

This was the first thing she said as soon as she emerged.

"Why does your summoned Shadow Clone only stand in place instead of moving?" White Emperor didn’t care about these things.

"Not... moving... Captain, that’s how the skill works..." Dou Jiao thought White Emperor was going to point out her technical mistake. Instead, he mentioned something that probably no Shadow Dancer in the entire server could do.

White Emperor drew out his Imperial Thunder Sword, and with a light flick of his hand, thunder roared around the blade instantly.

"Can the Magic Swordsmen you’ve come into contact with do this?" White Emperor asked.

"Enchantments... Skills of that kind? No... I’ve seen the Magic Swordsman’s skill tree, there shouldn’t be such skill..."

"Just because it’s not on the skill tree means it can’t be used?"

Isn’t that obvious?

Dou Jiao wanted to shout out loud; in MMORPGs, every class’s skill tree had those abilities, and what White Emperor was saying would definitely be nonsense in a regular MMORPG.

The premise is... a regular MMORPG.

"The game of Saintly Beings isn’t as simple as melee combat. Shadow Clone is your own power; it has much more potential, and you have to learn to control it," White Emperor said.

"Isn’t mastering skill combinations enough?"

"It used to be enough, but now there’s much more you have to learn," he said.

But now, mastering the linkage and combination of skills was only the most basic element.

Players were evolving, and White Emperor could no longer see Saintly Beings as just a game!

Class balance? A class too strong needing to be nerfed, or too weak needing to be buffed?

Such things did not exist in Saintly Beings; the ceiling of a class was entirely dependent on the player themselves, not the so-called strength or weakness of the class!

Of course... except for Brawler players.

"Actually, it’s the coach’s job to teach these things. I’m not very good at preaching," White Emperor said in the plainest manner to the newcomer who aspired to climb to the summit of Saintly Beings, "In the future, you’ll encounter more opponents who are so strong they seem like cheaters, and to beat them, you’ll have to reach the so-called ’cheating’ level, too!"