Genius Operator [Holographic]
Genius Operator Chapter 25 – 3145 · Wilderness Roaming Zone

[Defense-Breaking Skill]

Zhou Sui blinked, realizing he could check coordinates like that?

“What coordinates? We’re here!”

The moment Slack Bro and Rich Bro joined, the team chat livened up. The two bombarded Zhou Sui with questions about why he hadn’t been online for days, then chattered on about the Roaming Zone. If Zhou Sui hadn’t just read Little Bunny 123’s gameplay details, their chaotic explanation would’ve left him totally lost.

“Bro, you didn’t die, right?” Rich Bro asked.

Zhou Sui shook his head.

Hearing Zhou Sui survived, Slack Bro and Rich Bro sighed in relief, saying that was lucky.

The two of them, on the other hand, had been far less fortunate. When the Roaming Zone first appeared, they’d teamed up and ventured into one for some thrills. They got ganged up on by players from other servers, facing a dozen opponents. Thanks to their knack for escaping, they didn’t wipe immediately, but they still ended up trapped in a pincer between two server groups, died, lost XP, and wasted a whole day.

“Lost XP?” Zhou Sui asked, confused.

The two fumbled, trying to explain in a jumbled mess that Zhou Sui couldn’t quite follow.

At this moment, a detailed gameplay chart popped up in the team chat, sent by Little Bunny 123. Zhou Sui perked up. No dense text—just a clean table laying out the Roaming Zone mechanics and server dynamics.

Slack Bro and Rich Bro stared at it, dumbfounded, blurting out, “Holy crap!”

Little Bunny 123 wasn’t much for words, but when he spoke, it was with calm patience. “This one’s more comprehensive.”

Slack Bro gave a thumbs-up. “Brother Bunny, where’d you get this chart? It’s insanely detailed—I haven’t even seen half this stuff on the forums—”

Rich Bro chimed in, “The bots at my company aren’t even this concise and efficient… but isn’t this chart kinda overwhelming?”

Little Bunny 123 glanced at the two, who were engrossed in the chart like total newbies, then turned to Zhou Sui. “Can you follow it?”

Zhou Sui scanned it, absorbing the info quickly. “Yeah.”

Slack Bro and Rich Bro: “!”

‘We talked for ages and you didn’t get it, but one chart and you’re good?!’

Zhou Sui genuinely preferred these streamlined info dumps.

The gameplay had only been live for a few days, and most players probably hadn’t even figured out the basics. Yet this chart laid out all the key points clearly—Zhou Sui absorbed the essential info at a glance.

The chart didn’t cover advanced zone mechanics, focusing solely on summarizing the gameplay for low-level novice areas.

Players below level 40 were kept on novice servers, a design meant to let them gather resources in a comfortable, simple environment, easing their transition when they leveled up to the advanced Tiankong Divine Tree zones.

Popular novice servers had an edge: more players meant more teammates. But for a server like 3145, starting with fewer players meant fewer allies, making it harder to win fights or grab resources. A backwater server like theirs had no real advantages.

Server 3145, a novice server in Divine Tree, benefited from its remote location, small player base, and scattered resources.

Now, with the Roaming Zone wilderness gameplay introduced, 3145’s original server advantages were fading fast. Other novice servers had more players, more skilled newbies, and more fluid resources, giving them an inherent edge in the server-matching system. Simply put, the top-ranked “hot” servers had way more strong players.

On 3145, the skilled players had already moved on to advanced zones, leaving behind a mixed bag of low-level players, putting the server at a competitive disadvantage right out of the gate.

This explained why, just days after the Habitat gameplay launched, other servers were already pulling ahead. Server 3145 was barely limping along—wilderness resources were shrinking, and most players were either pivoting to other paths or rushing to level up and escape to advanced zones to avoid suffering on this server.

“So the wilderness gameplay’s turned into this now?” Zhou Sui asked, still thinking about wilderness boss rewards.

Slack Bro sighed, “Forget it. With the wilderness like this, one wrong move and a debuff kills you. Boss fights are way tougher now.”

Divine Tree had flipped the world map—everyone was running around, fighting, and scrambling for resources. The game’s world had been turned upside down.

“Come do infrastructure with me. The endgame’s all about farming,” Slack Bro said.

Zhou Sui caught an unfamiliar term. “Infrastructure?”

The Roaming Zone was built for players who loved wilderness PvP, but the Find a Habitat storyline offered more than one mode. A new update had introduced the Homeland Infrastructure gameplay.

Divine Tree’s mechanics weren’t limited to player-versus-player. Different players had different playstyles. The Roaming Zone let you compete for resources, but there were other options, like the Homeland gameplay, where players could gather materials in the wilderness to develop and build in chaos zones. Once a certain scale was reached, these projects would materialize on the Divine Tree continent.

This gameplay update opened a new path for players skilled in casual infrastructure building. Once a certain scale was reached, it could become a base for individual players or squads—essentially a personal territory in the Divine Tree world.

This gave construction-savvy players a foothold in the game, akin to popular life skills like forging or pharmacy. Developing infrastructure meant securing steady resources. Forget the novice zones—advanced zones were even more cutthroat, and Talent squads there had an even greater need for builders.

But advanced zones weren’t their concern yet; they weren’t at that level.

“You can find a habitat or build one. Right now, novice zones have two main playstyles: the aggressive, thrill-seeking type who dive into the wilderness, or the settle-down type who collect materials for infrastructure. You can find materials in the wild, but you can also grow them in your homestead. I’m telling you, farming’s great now—you can sell what you grow for cash!” Slack Bro’s enthusiasm spiked as he talked about his main gig. “So, what do you say? Wanna join us for infrastructure?”

Rich Bro added, “Solo players get tiny plots early on, but squads can claim bigger starting areas. We’ve already teamed up.”

Slack Bro dreamed of being a landlord. As a life-skills player, the bigger the plot, the better!

The concept of Talent squads had always existed. Once formed, squad members shared a homestead. That homestead could carry over to advanced zones, staying tied to the players. Even if someone left the squad, they could take their personal contributions with them—effort and rewards were fairly balanced, a win-win partnership.

“Bro, joining’s a no-brainer. You can take whatever I grow, no strings attached,” Slack Bro said, rubbing his hands together. “This mode’s low-effort—won’t clash with your other stuff.”

Zhou Sui didn’t really get the homestead thing. He knew Slack Bro’s skills, though—back in Tong Shi Town, the guy had given him a ton of self-crafted items. Zhou Sui didn’t farm, and owning land didn’t mean much to him. Teaming up or not made little difference. “I’m fine either way.”

“Fine” meant yes to Slack Bro. “I’m pulling you in now!”

[Player Slack Bro invites you to join the [Collective Prosperity] Talent Squad. Accept?]

“This name?” Zhou Sui clicked accept.

Slack Bro grinned. “Pretty strong team spirit, right?”

Zhou Sui: “…”

“It’s alright.”

The squad grew to three in a flash, and Slack Bro was over the moon. Then another voice piped up nearby: “Room for one more?”

Zhou Sui turned and saw Little Bunny 123 looking at him.

The question came from Little Bunny 123. Slack Bro was still reeling from that chart he’d shared earlier. Back when they left the Tiandi Temple, Little Bunny 123 had logged off quickly, leaving no chance to add him as a friend. Slack Bro had assumed he was tough to approach, maybe tied to the Wonder Zoo squad, so he hadn’t reached out. Now, hearing this big shot speak so warmly and casually, he was a bit flustered. “Brother Bunny, you don’t have a team?”

“Nope. I was just helping the Wonder Zoo out temporarily. I’m a solo player,” Little Bunny 123 said, pulling up his panel to show an empty team slot. “Can I join?”

Slack Bro glanced at the others, who had no objections. A powerhouse joining was a win. He pulled Little Bunny 123 in, and the team instantly grew to four.

Zhou Sui looked at Little Bunny 123, who was eyeing the Talent Squad panel. Noticing Zhou Sui’s gaze, Little Bunny 123 tilted his head and closed the panel. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” Zhou Sui said, glancing at the team panel. The four IDs were listed top to bottom, with his and Little Bunny 123’s at the end. Nothing else stood out.

“Let’s go check out our place!” Slack Bro said enthusiastically.

They teleported to Slack Bro’s homestead, and the sight left them stunned. Located in a chaos zone, the plot was a small oasis compared to the rotting, chaotic wilderness outside.

Inside, hardly an inch was wasted. Every area was meticulously planned—several patches of wasteland had been reclaimed, and a modest house sat at the edge. Zhou Sui hadn’t been online in days and knew the gameplay update was recent, but the scale and efficiency of Slack Bro’s setup were impressive.

“This progress is probably top-tier for novice servers. Fragrant wood for the fencing,” Little Bunny 123 remarked, inspecting crops by the field. “Dense fruit seeds—pretty rare.”

Zhou Sui glanced at the apothecary beside him, realizing he was talking about Slack Bro’s reclamation efforts.

Slack Bro’s eyes lit up. “Brother Bunny, you know your stuff! I keep telling this guy to check out my place, and all he says is it’s a bunch of yellow flowers.”

Rich Bro shrugged. “Isn’t it just yellow flowers?”

Slack Bro snapped, “They haven’t fruited yet!!!”

Little Bunny 123 was still eyeing the crops. “It’s impressive.”

The server-wide gameplay had only been live for a few days. Reclaiming land, planting, and building required a ton of know-how—what wood to use, which crops to grow, and so on. This place was small but had everything it needed.

Joining the team, Zhou Sui felt like he’d lucked out. “I haven’t done much to help.”

Slack Bro waved it off. “You carried me through the Tiandi Temple! You guys find a spot to chill—I’m gonna water the fields.”

There was a stone table out front to sit at. Rich Bro tagged along to help water, while Zhou Sui found a seat and started sorting through his cluttered inventory.

He had one reward chest from the Tiandi Temple, plus more from the upgraded version—five chests total from both runs.

Zhou Sui opened them one by one. The first three gave high-value purple gear. Rich Bro, mid-watering, saw the gear stats pop up in the team chat and was floored.

“Brother Zhou, my condolences,” Rich Bro said.

Zhou Sui blinked. “They’re pretty good.”

Rich Bro gaped. “That’s good?!”

Seriously, good?! Qi Ling Village players needed skill-effect and sustain stats, but Cycle of Eternity’s three chests? Sure, they had skill effects, but the other stats were all over the place—completely off-meta!

Little Bunny 123 glanced at the stat lines and turned to Zhou Sui. “These shouldn’t count as off-meta for you.”

Zhou Sui played an unconventional faction to begin with. He needed sustain stats, sure, but that didn’t mean he was locked into them. Right now, the “misfit” stats on these three pieces—speed, attack, even bonus damage—were useless for a typical support. But for Zhou Sui, every single one was exactly what he needed.

Speed was something Zhou Sui already prioritized—it boosted attack speed. Attack stats were nice but not essential; he wasn’t focused on stacking raw attack anyway, so it was just a bonus. But bonus damage paired with sustain attributes? For Zhou Sui, that was the perfect combo.

Qi Ling Village had low attack scaling, so stacking attack gave him little return. From the moment he chose his class, Zhou Sui had zeroed in on Qi Ling’s talent bonuses: skill effects (sustain-focused) and secondary speed boosts. Together, these gave him blistering attack speed and extended skill durations.

With those as his foundation, he could play an unconventional burst style—not relying on attack power but piling up elemental bonus damage through high-speed combos. The Serpent Venom Water’s short-burst damage had already proven this build’s viability. Far from being “off-meta,” these gear pieces were a stroke of luck—equipping all three would spike his damage output even higher.

After opening those three chests, Zhou Sui turned to the remaining two. These were rewards from clearing the Tiandi Temple. The first chest spilled out several items, all glowing gold. Zhou Sui recognized them instantly as tree food for feeding special skills. Golden, high-value material like this gave hefty XP, and he’d pulled three pieces.

“How many?” Little Bunny 123 asked.

Zhou Sui felt pretty lucky. “Three.”

At that, Little Bunny 123 went quiet, and even Slack Bro and Rich Bro outside looked stunned.

Slack Bro winced. “Bro, hate to break it to you, but even a jinx like me got five.”

“I got seven,” Rich Bro piled on, grinning. “Brother Bunny pulled eight, right? I saw your ‘lucky streak’ server announcement that day—insane, you were glowing on the boards.”

Rich Bro finished, then shivered, sensing eyes on his back. He turned to catch Little Bunny 123 looking away. Wait, was the big shot staring at him?

Zhou Sui: “…”

His golden materials suddenly felt like pocket change.

“One chest left,” Little Bunny 123 prompted.

Zhou Sui eyed the final chest. With three golden materials already, he wasn’t too fussed. He tapped it casually, and the chest flashed, a golden streak blazing across his screen.

[Announcement] Player Cycle of Eternity opened a Temple Vault, drawn to its radiant glow—it’s [A Handful of Incense Ash]! Let’s congratulate him!

[World] Money Matters Most: Whoa, Cycle of Eternity, the legend!  

[World] Clueless Egg: The big shot’s online? Feels like I haven’t seen him in days.

After the Tiandi Temple run, 3145’s little squad had gained some fame. Cycle of Eternity’s ID was no longer the “vaguely familiar” one that got gatekept from Temple runs. Anyone who’d been through the Temple event now knew this rookie powerhouse. With 3145’s small player base, locals felt a shared pride in their homegrown star. Seeing him hit the announcement, they popped into chat to cheer.

[World] Old Soul: Big shot on the boards… but what’s this Handful of Incense Ash? Temple dust or something?

What was this Handful of Incense Ash? The four in the homestead were even more curious—it was marked as gold-tier rare.

[A Handful of Incense Ash: From the Tiandi Temple’s ash altar, seemingly imbued with the power of faith.]

Zhou Sui immediately checked his skill tree. Sure enough, the ash triggered a glowing effect when near, just like the Chaos Statue he’d grabbed in the Temple. It was a skill-crafting material, clearly rarer than gear or tree food—and exactly what Zhou Sui wanted most.

His first material had crafted Serpent Venom Water. Now, with two new materials, his skill tree could evolve into mutated skills.

“Skill material!?” Slack Bro gasped. “Jackpot!”  

Rich Bro nodded. “Nice one—time for mutated skills!”

Qi Ling Village starters had just three basic attack skills. The healing one had already been turned into Serpent Venom Water. Zhou Sui’s sights were now on the other two: the potion skill, a short-control powder toss, and the slash skill, a basic strike.

Seeing that look in Zhou Sui’s eyes, Slack Bro knew exactly what his bro was planning! Most players gambled on burst for skill mutations, but Brother Zhou? He’d already mangled his only healing skill and was eyeing the other two basics for the same treatment.

Little Bunny 123 considered for a moment. “Go for it. Basic attack skills give the best returns.”

Hearing that, Zhou Sui glanced at him. That was his exact plan—starting with the healing skill had been deliberate. No matter how they mutated, they’d stay basic attacks. The effects might change, but they’d remain low-power with short cooldowns. Serpent Venom Water’s success had proven it.

For Zhou Sui, who leaned on attack speed, skills with shorter recovery and global cooldowns were his biggest payoff.

“Why not try the ash on the poition skill?” Little Bunny 123 noticed the doubt in Zhou Sui’s eyes. After their short time together, he’d picked up that Zhou Sui had a unique grasp of the game but lacked deeper knowledge in some areas. He suggested, “In the dungeon, the boss’s ash-related mechanics tied to the incense debuff we saw. Qi Ling Village’s poition skills lean toward buffs, so the ash is likely to mutate into a buff skill.”

Slack Bro perked up, hearing this for the first time. “Brother Bunny, there’s a trick to it?”

Little Bunny 123 looked at Zhou Sui. “Trust me.”

Before the others could process, a faint sound chimed in their ears—Zhou Sui had already acted.

The duo: “!”

That fast, bro?!

The potion skill, Scatter Powder, began to shift. A soft glow merged into it, coalescing into a unique effect that shimmered on the skill, mirroring the ash’s hue. As Zhou Sui interacted with it, a mutated skill prompt popped up:

[Medic Aux · Incense Ash Fire (Rare) (Upgradable)]  

A handful of ash from the Tiandi Temple triggered a mutation, transforming [Scatter Powder] into Incense Ash Fire. It loses its original control and attack effects. Attacks now apply a 1-second burning effect, reducing enemy defense over time. Longer burns further lower defense, causing a 1% defense reduction per second.  

[Upgrade Effect: ****, Locked]

A defense-breaking skill!

“Holy crap, a defense shredder!” Slack Bro, a swordsman, knew how valuable this was for DPS players. “That’s a killer skill! Tons of players gamble for defense-break mutations and get nothing!”

Rich Bro, though, eyed the numbers. “But… only 1% per second? And the burn only lasts a second, right?”

A defense-break on a basic attack was rare, but the skill’s stats looked underwhelming at first glance. The burn effect was short—each hit gave just 1% defense reduction. Against tank classes like Tian Wu Bastion with thousands of defense, 1% was a measly 10 points off 1000. It sounded like a defense shredder, but in practice, the short-term effect was negligible.

If this were on a burst skill with, say, a 10% defense break per hit, that would’ve been insane.

“What’re you doing, Brother Zhou?” Rich Bro noticed Cycle of Eternity’s actions.

Zhou Sui: “Feeding the skill.”

He dumped all the tree food he’d just gotten into Incense Ash Fire.

Golden material gave hefty XP, and this batch instantly unlocked the skill’s first upgrade effect. The others leaned in to see the new addition under Incense Ash Fire:

[Upgrade Effect: Bone-Deep Flame (1/3): Burning effect can stack. Consecutive hits will increase the burning duration, lasting for three seconds. Every accumulated three seconds of burning will add a 2% bonus effect, which can only be triggered once within 20 seconds.]

Before upgrading, it was a lackluster 1%-per-hit skill. Post-upgrade, it was a game-changer. Three combo hits meant a 5% defense break!

Rich Bro: “This skill… it’s nuts.”

Slack Bro: “My god, this thing’s gonna melt squishies… but you gotta land combos. Miss a hit in a second, and you’re back to base effect.”

Little Bunny 123, noting the upgrade wasn’t maxed, said, “It can go to level 3. The later effects aren’t out yet.”

Zhou Sui paused. “It’s stuck at level 1.”

Golden materials gave tons of XP—enough to max out a level-1 Serpent Venom Water in one go. But for Incense Ash Fire? Three golden pieces only lit up level 1, and the level 2 bar was still a long way off.

Little Bunny 123 nodded. “Normal. Stronger skills are harder to upgrade.”

Defense-breaking was a rare effect, so leveling it was tougher. Triggering it via combos was demanding—blocks, interrupts, or dodges could break the chain.

“Upgrading this is brutal,” Slack Bro said, eyeing the XP bar. It was the longest he’d ever seen, and it required combos to boot. “Man, how long’s this gonna take to raise…”

Noticing Zhou Sui’s silence, he added, “Don’t sweat it, bro. 5% is plenty usable.”

Zhou Sui had only used one of his two mutation materials, and the skill tree’s mutated skills felt like a bottomless pit. He’d poured all his tree food into this and barely scratched level 1, with no way to hit level 2 yet. Curious about the next effect, Zhou Sui frowned, mentally listing sources.

Dungeons dropped materials, but daily limits were tight. Unless another Tiandi Temple event popped up, he couldn’t feed Incense Ash Fire’s hunger.

Then Zhou Sui’s eyes landed on a corner of his inventory—the chest he’d just opened. In the Roaming Zone, he’d nabbed 9 Divine Fragments, and the reward chest had coughed up 2 pieces.

The mode ranked players by resources collected. Servers got Stability Points, but personal rewards hinged on individual skill. Other servers had more players, sure, but their rankings came from pooled efforts—individual hauls were often meager, with average personal ranks.

A larger player base only boosted total rankings—it didn’t affect individual resource gains. In fact, fewer players meant less need to share the spoils. How much you got depended purely on your skill.

Zhou Sui suddenly asked, “You guys farm the Roaming Zone?”

The question left Slack Bro and Rich Bro speechless. “Brother Zhou, you serious?”

Server 3145, a backwater among backwaters. Entering the Roaming Zone meant facing 1vN every round—high stakes with a real chance of losing XP. It was a brutal, lonely fight. Stumbling into the zone got you pity from same-server players, maybe a candle lit in chat and a muttered “poor sap.” Most avoided it like the plague, yet Brother Zhouwas eyeing it up.

The two glanced at the other big shot, who’d been quiet, shooting pleading looks to get him to talk some sense into Zhou Sui.

Little Bunny 123 spoke up. “Looking to upgrade?”

Slack Bro and Rich Bro: “???”

‘Wait, you too, big shot?’

Zhou Sui pulled up his panel, the Roaming Zone’s detailed mechanics displayed before him. He said earnestly, “Yeah. No entry limits.”

No limits—a prime way to farm heaps of tree food.

nan404[Translator]

(* ̄O ̄)ノ My brain's a book tornado, and I'm juggling flaming novels. I read, I translate (mostly for my own amusement, don't tell), and I'm a professional distractor. Oh, and did I mention? I hand out at least one free chapter every week! Typos? Please point 'em out, I'll just be over here, quietly grateful and possibly hiding.

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