Sacred Souls: Genesis-Chapter 174 - 173 What is this? (1st Update)

Chapter 174: Chapter 173 What is this? (1st Update)

They survived, barely.

Weiser was leading her younger sister Yomi and carefully following behind Jiang Qiao.

Jiang Qiao did not bind their actions with handcuffs or ropes or anything else, like adding milk without increasing the price; Weiser and Yomi thus freely followed behind Jiang Qiao… as if to say, “You can run away whenever you want.”

Her younger sister Yomi really wanted to flee. Ever since they left the base of “adding milk without increasing the price,” she had been constantly thinking about dragging her sister away, but Weiser always pulled her back.

Since they couldn’t escape, Yomi had no choice but to fixate on the demand for potatoes from “adding milk without increasing the price,” obsessing over the small basket of potatoes in the backpack the entire time.

“Quickly return the potatoes you stole to us!”

“Those are offerings used by the gods to trade for better goods, how can you call it stealing?”

“You stole seven potatoes from us!”

Weiser could not stop covering her sister’s mouth, but it still didn’t keep her silent; sometimes, Weiser envied her sister’s fearless nature due to her young age.

However, as an adult, Weiser was already considering what she was about to encounter. Initially, Weiser thought about something like a slave market, but the closer she got to the coast, the more she could faintly hear some strange music.

At first, she thought she had misheard; such a dangerous island shouldn’t have things like music.

But as time went on, the feelings relayed by her ears did not deceive her; not only was there music by the shoreline, but it wasn’t just a solo instrument playing—it was an entire orchestra.

“Welcome to the starting base of the Spirits,” Jiang Qiao said as he pushed aside some vegetation blocking the view, and the scenery at the end of the coastline gradually came into view before Weiser and Yomi.

“Those things… are they all Spirits?”

Weiser hesitated to take a step forward for a while, she was frightened… The scene before her was far more shocking than when she visited the slave market.

Having lived on Biland Island for nearly three months, Weiser knew exactly what kind of island this was.

The Crystal Disease spread all around, and there was a high chance of infection upon setting foot on the island. While the chance of infection was nothing compared to touching those like herself, a Magic Thief, the most dangerous thing on the island were those monsters due to the crystallization.

Weiser now felt like an NPC in a survival horror game, escorted by the protagonist team to a safe haven—a theme park that was still operating, not one overrun by monsters, but one that was still open for business!

Far from feeling terror at the apocalypse, the theme park employees danced and sang beside various amusement rides.

“They are all Spirits,” said Jiang Qiao, sounding rather helpless.

Jiang Qiao really, really wanted to tell Weiser and Yomi that they were the great heroes employed by the Earth Mother Goddess to save their world, but the players at the starting base behaved in ways that couldn’t be further from heroic.

Ever since the introduction of small game features at the starting base, some players emerged who didn’t grind or level up; they just sat next to wooden stakes playing Mahjong or fighting landlords, living a life of leisure.

As a result, even the front-line strategy teams would occasionally head to the starting base to play a round or two of small games, and with the introduction of the Spirits’ dance system, in Jiang Qiao’s view, the starting base now seemed like a bizarre mix of an old people’s tea house and a discotheque.

The Spirits’ doll costumes even added some elements of a theme park.

“You’ve come to this island…” Weiser began to ask, but she didn’t dare continue.

It was embarrassing.

“Well, we are actually here to develop real estate on this island,” Jiang Qiao knew that associating the Spirits with the image of saviors was now impossible for the two sisters, “The feng shui is very good on this island… I can’t continue with this story. Anyway, the pressure they give you is surely less than what you’d feel from soldiers or slave masters, right?”

Weiser did not respond.

Wanting to prevent the approach to the carriage store from being blocked by surrounding onlookers, Jiang Qiao quickly headed towards the carriage store after entering the starting base.

Weiser and Yomi were marked with yellow-colored names and prefixed with ‘Magic Thief,’ making the pair as conspicuous as two wild pandas entering the starting base.

The players who were still playing landlord and Texas hold’em all put down their cards and turned their attention to Weiser and Yomi.

“Sister, a unicorn!”

“Don’t talk, Yomi, keep up.”

Weiser kept tugging at her sister’s hand as they followed Jiang Qiao, and eventually, under his guidance, they successfully met with Old Man Donna behind the carriage store, also known as the Lion Heart Knight.

During this time, the Lion Heart Knight had perfectly assimilated into the role of Old Man Donna. When Jiang Qiao saw him, he was polishing a glass wine cup with a cloth.

Players could buy some drinks and beverages from Old Man Donna, and aside from replenishing HP and MP, these drinks only offered minor boosts, so not many players patronized the old man’s store.

Th𝓮 most uptodate nov𝑒ls are publish𝒆d on ƒreewebηoveℓ.com.

Instead, quite a few players would sit in front of the carriage store for a long time just to see the Miss Kitty standing beside him.

“Holy Spirit? What new thing have you brought over?”

The Lion Heart Knight put down the gleaming glass cup he was polishing. He had long known that Jiang Qiao had added an extra appraisal function to him, a talent appraisal function that Jiang Qiao had not announced on the official website, and it was an update done in stealth.

But the accompanying players had glimpsed some clues because Old Man Donna would only respond to players when they took the initiative to speak to him.

This time Old Man Donna took the initiative to talk to Jiang Qiao, which clearly triggered some new plot.

Three options popped up in front of Jiang Qiao, with the first option being green.

1. I hope to find work for these two pitiful girls in the talent market (Weiser’s intent: agree, Yomi’s intent: agree).

Jiang Qiao chose the first option.

Jiang Qiao knew that after learning of this mission, players wouldn’t just watch him complete it once; this ‘talent recruitment’ task would inevitably be a repeatable and sustainable mission in the future.

That is, now after players caught the Magic Thief, they had two choices: first, to hand them over to Lyla who headed the imperial army in exchange for rewards; or second, to persuade them to join the talent market.

“Magic Thief? But they don’t look like combatants. Holy Spirit, are you sure they are willing to work for you? Our talent market doesn’t take workers who were forced, nor does it take lazy fellows.”

The Lion Heart Knight’s words were very loud and resonant… all to make sure that the curious onlooking players understood the mechanism of allowing the captured Magic Thieves to join the talent market.

To put it plainly, it was persuasion, a very harsh condition, the captured Magic Thieves had to be sincerely convinced and genuinely want to help the Holy Spirits.

Jiang Qiao thought it unlikely that many players could achieve this because most Magic Thieves regarded the Holy Spirits as mortal enemies, especially if they were captured in combat.

These Magic Thieves wouldn’t just say something like “loyalty to the old master is important, but life is more important” and surrender right away.

“We are willing to work here!” Weiser, who seemed to think the Lion Heart Knight was questioning her, hurriedly called out to him.

“I see your desire in your eyes, in the name of the Sea Blue Goddess, sign these two contracts.”

The Lion Heart Knight took out two ancient-looking contract documents, which were the truly crucial props. The contracts were special items made by Jiang Qiao with Creation Energy.

The more potential and the more powerful the Otherworldly person signing the contract, the more Creation Energy was consumed, and they must not have any resistance; if Jiang Qiao had the Earth Mother Goddess forcefully imprint the contract, it would probably consume upwards of one and a half million Creation Energy.

These two sisters… should be less than five points, right?

As Jiang Qiao was thinking this, Weiser, pulling along her sister Yomi, unhesitatingly signed their names on the two contract documents and pricked their fingertips to press their bloodied fingerprints onto them.

Jiang Qiao glanced at his nearly 47,300 points of Creation Energy and in an instant… it dropped by four thousand points.

“What in the world?”

Jiang Qiao, startled, immediately picked up the contract Weiser had signed to take a closer look at the specific attributes of Weiser after her NPC transformation by the Holy Spirit.