CHAPTER 87: CHAPTER 87: BIG TROUBLE STRIKES (TWO-IN-ONE)

EDITOR: DRAGON BOAT TRANSLATION

"Final Priest Score: 10,000"

"Healing Patients Score: 50"

"Healing Output Score: 55"

"Total Score: 10,105"

"Congratulations, you’ve gained 10,105 Points."

"Congratulations on clearing the trial in the ’Land of Light’ by the Lord of Billion Brilliance. You’ve obtained the Blessing of the Lord of Billion Brilliance: Sundial."

"Sundial Lv1: The healing amount of all shotgun healing guns and sniper rifle healing guns is slightly increased."

Cleared and still got Points? Ren Suo was taken aback for a moment and continued to click.

This time, Fatty didn’t return to the resting room but appeared on a platform on an island. Beneath was a rolling sea of clouds, and even without a sun above, it was bright enough—three different-colored giant lightbulbs were shining down.

There was a pure white snowy figure with a cape emitting a faint blue glow—the Monarch of Wind, Rain, and Snow. Another was made of Fiery Flames that seemed to burn eternally, possessing a graceful figure and flowing flame hair—the Eternal Burning Heart. And finally, there was a round sphere of light that seemed to be cosplaying as the Lord of Billion Brilliance.

"Mortal, you’ve won three consecutive matches, ranking first among a million Trial Participants," the three deities spoke in perfect Mandarin together. "We wish to make you our Proxy on Earth!"

Ren Suo blinked and continued to watch the screen.

After waiting for almost a minute, the Lord of Billion Brilliance’s voice, which sounded like a young man’s, rang out, "What is your answer, mortal?"

Answer? There aren’t any options... Huh? Ren Suo pulled at the corner of his mouth, turned on his microphone, and said, "Hello, can you hear me?"

A moment of silence.

"We can hear you." The voice of the Eternal Burning Heart revealed a hint of amusement. "You’re an interesting mortal."

Not only did this Eternal Burning Heart look like a woman, but her voice was also enchanting. Ren Suo’s eyes couldn’t help but glance over the body made of Fiery Flames. Surely touching it would burn.

Luckily, Ren Suo was controlling Fatty. If the deities saw his True Form being so impudent, they might subject him to what was known as ’veteran cadre-level’ Healing—the kind that meant being unable to ever leave the hospital.

"Oh... then I’m willing!"

Perhaps because they had never seen such a strange mortal, one who faced great fortune without any excitement, the three deities paused for a moment before slowly asking, "Mortal, state your name."

"My name is..." Ren Suo quickly bit his tongue, recalling the background setting for Fatty. "My last name is Zhao, Zhao Zili!"

"So be it. We bestow upon thee the Endless Radiance Treasury. Thou must abide by the Thirty-six Commandments, bear our glory, walk the earth, and spread our Blessings!"

A ray of light fell upon Fatty, and then Ren Suo heard a chorus of three voices:

"Zhao Zili, from this moment forth, thou art our Proxy, with the Scepter of Life in thine hands!"

The screen froze amidst a dazzling white light.

"You have obtained the Endless Radiance Treasury."

"No exchange menu needed; you can directly purchase healing equipment and Blessings from the Endless Radiance Treasury."

What’s the point of buying Skills after clearing the game? Ren Suo couldn’t help but smile.

"Mission Complete."

"Achieved Basic Mission Target—60 Points;"

"Lone Wolf: Maintained solo clearing throughout—10 Points;"

"Life Changing with Money Spent or Genius?: Total Points earned exceed 18,000 Points—5 Points;"

"Heart-to-Heart Expert: Total time spent conversing with enemies in the trial exceeds 30 minutes—5 Points;"

"Junior Priest: The total number of Trial Participants saved exceeds 20—2 Points;"

"Total score is 82 Points, evaluation: Extraordinary."

"Current mission score: 82 (Extraordinary). Maximum score for this task: 82 (Extraordinary)."

"Because the Player received an Extraordinary rating and met the hidden requirements, you will receive information about this game’s hidden side quest."

"Side Quest: Strongest Priest. The more Trial Participants you heal in three trials, the higher your score."

"Do you choose to upload these results as the final outcome? Upon successful upload, you can receive Merit Points and exclusive rewards matching your rating."

"A rating can only be uploaded once."

As expected! Seeing the ’Lone Wolf’ and ’Life Changing with Money Spent’ scores, Ren Suo knew he had done the right thing!

The base Points were 1,000 for the first trial, 4,000 for the second, and 10,000 for the third, totaling 15,000 Points. However, the Points required for ’Life Changing with Money Spent, or Genius?’ were 18,000. This meant that unless Ren Suo could heal more than 150 Trial Participants across the three trials (healing at least 50 people per trial), it was the only way he could potentially gain an additional 3,000 Points (1,500 + 1,500). This, combined with the base 15,000, would allow him to exceed 18,000 Points and meet this hidden condition’s requirement.

It’s almost impossible! That’s why there was a question mark after ’or Genius?’; clearly, even the game implied that only using Krypton Gold could allow one to meet this hidden condition!

Not teaming up had been the right move; ’Lone Wolf’ even added a direct 10 Points!

As for the side quest ’Strongest Priest,’ it was very challenging. Ren Suo had healed a total of 27 people across the three trials, and in the final trial, a divine battle, he had hunkered down until the end, healing only 5 people.

To grind for this quest, he would need to push hard from the first trial, healing at least 30 people or more. He would also need to use Krypton Gold in the second trial and heal another 30 people to possibly achieve a good score in this side quest...

However, Ren Suo was out of Merit Points. If he were to play again, his results might not be better than his current ones. And right now, he desperately needed to recover Merit Points!

The day after tomorrow, he had to return to the Tactical Bureau for a strength evaluation. Ren Suo knew that the evaluation would certainly be of his awakening technique, not his true physical strength—he hadn’t even touched the edge of the second transformation and was still just a First Transformation Cultivator. There was nothing else to assess regarding his own strength.

The Touch of Healing, the exclusive reward from ’Jedi Priest,’ might give him an edge during the evaluation. After all, Ability Users had to describe their powers themselves, as they often couldn’t fully explain the principles behind them. So, whatever effects they reported were accepted as long as they could be demonstrated and verified as effective. Qiao Muyi claimed she could increase Talent, which was certainly verified by the Tactical Bureau; indeed, Talent was measurable.

Confirming there were no issues, Ren Suo chose to upload his game rating.

"Mission rating upload complete. You have earned 99 Merit Points. Please use them wisely."

"You have obtained 1 Two-Star Treasure Chest, which you can open in the Content Preservation Vault."

"You have received an exclusive reward: Touch of Healing. You can equip it in the Equipment Interface."

"’Jedi Priest’ upload complete. Thank you for playing—Endless Fun in the Mini World!"

99 Merit Points! This was absolutely the largest sum of Merit Points Ren Suo had ever acquired! Together with the 5 Merit Points he already had, he had broken into triple digits, reaching 104 Merit Points! It was like a kid who usually only had a few bucks of pocket money suddenly getting a crisp, new hundred-dollar bill!

After exiting the game, Ren Suo saw that a spinning disc icon had also appeared at the bottom right corner of the ’Jedi Priest’ icon. The disc icon for ’Over My Dead Body’ was still spinning as well. ’Over My Dead Body’ had been streaming online for over ten days, and its icon had been spinning for just as long...

So when is this gaming console going to come with a help guide? Ren Suo sighed, then went to the Equipment Interface first to see if Touch of Healing was as useful as he anticipated.

’Touch of Healing’

’Quality Rank: Two-Star Ability. Prerequisites: Possess the distal end of a primate arm; Introduction to Spiritual Qi.’

’Effect: After the Player equips this, they will gain the foundational Healing Miracle. The user can emit green light from their hand up to a maximum distance of 14.14213 centimeters. Within this light’s range, all Living Beings (flora and fauna) will be healed according to the optimal expression of their genetic blueprint (congenital diseases cannot be treated). The degree of Healing will consume the Player’s Physical Strength, mental energy, and other internal energies.’

’Note: "I’ve heard that Saints heal the sick out of compassion; but I’ve also heard that Butchers heal diseased livestock for greater profit."’

This Skill looked... not bad? But what does ’healing according to the optimal expression of their genetic blueprint’ mean?

Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth. Ren Suo immediately placed his right hand on his lower abdomen and mentally invoked ’Touch of Healing.’ Then he saw his right hand emit green light, and he felt a bit of warmth in his belly. But that was pretty much it.

Ren Suo lifted his shirt, didn’t see six-pack abs appearing on his flat stomach, and felt a little disappointed.

Three minutes later, he started feeling very tired, so he stopped Touch of Healing and walked to the living room to ponder how to test it.

My butt? I did eat some spicy hotpot recently...

While walking, Ren Suo wasn’t paying attention and stubbed his little toe on the corner of the coffee table. The pain made him jump up immediately, and he collapsed onto the sofa, crying out.

An opportunity! Ren Suo quickly got serious, grabbed his injured little toe, and mentally invoked ’Touch of Healing’!

A bit of green light leaked from between his fingers, but Ren Suo felt the pain in his toe subside rapidly, and in a short while, it actually stopped hurting altogether!

"Hey? That’s not bad at all..." Ren Suo wiggled his toe, pleasantly surprised.

However, the next second, Ren Suo naturally yawned. Why am I feeling sleepy? It’s only noon... This Skill isn’t serious, right... I just healed a little toe... Or is it that when I start feeling tired, I’ve reached the limit and shouldn’t use it anymore?

Drowsiness makes equals of all; Ren Suo struggled in vain for a moment before giving up.

Never mind, the May Day event lasts the entire month... I’ll have a good think after I wake up...

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, in the southeastern part of the Pacific Federation, in a small fishing town in South Carolina, facing the Atlantic, it was the wee hours of the morning.

In the Small Grove outside the town, a group of eccentrics was gathering. They wore black robes, bizarre smiley-face masks, and held black crosses upside down. Although it looked eerie, the gathering was completely aboveboard; the event was even listed on their respective Twitter accounts, and they planned to live stream it.

Simply put, it was just a recreational activity for the town’s young people. They typically didn’t cause trouble but enjoyed mimicking movies by enacting such strange rituals. After the ceremony, they would bring out the charcoal, barbecue meat, and beer they had brought for a late-night party. They believed that an opening with a ’sense of ritual’ would set them apart from other youths. In fact, they had tried almost every ritual from movies and games for summoning Demons, deities, and Strange Creatures; the only difference was that the offerings were consistently replaced with the beef they planned to grill later.

Besides, these parody acts had garnered considerable attention and likes on Twitter, with several hundred people watching their live streams. The small town didn’t have many strict rules, and the townspeople were accustomed to these young folks enjoying their eccentricities.

"What kind of ritual are we doing today?"

"Today, we’re performing the Twilight Hammer ritual... hey, let’s just use this as a prop!"

Everyone laughed when they saw Peter take out a stone egg engraved with three strange symbols. "Peter, you still haven’t given up on that? It’s just something some bored person carved!"

Peter shrugged. "We don’t have any other good props anyway. Next time I’ll bring Frostmourne from my house. But this stone egg is quite special; it looks heavy but is actually very light."

"Yeah, yeah, we know! We’ll let Peter be crowned king next time!" the youths laughed heartily and, at Peter’s direction, formed a circle around the stone egg.

The camera started rolling, and the person in charge of recording indicated the live stream had begun. The young people immediately stopped laughing—they were very professional when it came to putting on a serious front. Led by Peter, they chanted together:

"In the beginning, was the abyss of darkness. Hatred erupted, and then there was fire. A wound turned to a scar, and thus the earth. The anguished cries brought forth the wind. The ocean above is but a sea of tears..."

They stopped chanting halfway through because they saw the symbols on the stone egg, which was being used as a prop on the ground, suddenly burst into bright light. Three symbols, three kinds of light: white, red, and blue.

A second later, they heard a clear cracking sound.

"Jesus!"

"The stone egg broke?"

"Is something coming out?"

The young people gradually stepped back, nervously watching the stone egg begin to crack. Some, however, were excited—while the United States had strong information control, those who sought information were not unaware of the drastic changes occurring in the world.

Peter, for example, was the only one who stepped forward rather than back. As the initiator of this event, he had a profound fascination with all things supernatural. Now that he had the chance to witness or even interact with it up close, how could he not be thrilled? Opportunities can appear at any time; it’s all about whether you can grasp them.

Amidst the crowd’s varying emotions, the stone egg completely shattered!

A light, as blinding as burning magnesium, suddenly erupted from the stone egg and shot straight into the sky! High in the air, the light disintegrated, transforming into countless orbs of light that scattered in all directions!

The young people in the Small Grove watched all this happen before their very eyes.

"What have we... done?" someone asked.

"When the police arrive, if we say we were setting off fireworks, will they believe us?"

"We might as well tell the truth," said Peter. "’The first discoverers lying about what happened, isn’t that a classic trope in some horror movies... Besides, even if we tell them, they probably won’t believe us... right? But I have this feeling we’ve stumbled into something huge...’"