Rose was drinking a glass bottle of milk. Milk was an absolute scarcity in the Saint Spirit World, especially this kind of milk that had a taste.
If Rose was a qualified merchant, she would definitely smell a business opportunity, but Rose wasn't … Her current identity in Saint Spirit City wasn't so much that she was a pursuer who came to capture Thorne.
Instead … she was more like … a slave?
If Rose remembered correctly, a Saint Spirit described her as such. Slave wasn't a nice word, but the meaning of the word slave was very suitable for Rose's current situation.
She was like every other NPC who participated in the Saint Spirit Challenge, busy matching Saint Spirits every day and climbing up the leaderboard in the arena.
Recently, Rose had encountered a huge bottleneck. Her points were stuck at Grandmaster Aoshi's 2,900 points, and she was ranked 13th on the leaderboard.
What Rose needed to do now was to use all her strength to rush to 3000 points and get into the top 10 or even first place.
But Rose couldn't do it. In the past 15 days of fighting, more and more Saint Spirits had grasped her fighting habits and techniques, and were even discussing strategies to defeat her.
Right now, Rosh had to put in 120% of her concentration when facing off against Grandmaster level players. She had an 80% chance of defeating them, but the amount of stamina and energy she had to expend had increased exponentially.
She wasn't a perfect Eternal, unlike Thorne who could only yawn after defeating hundreds of high-level Saint Spirits in a day.
Rose would also feel tired, eat when she was hungry, and receive treatment when she was injured. She had to grit her teeth and endure several days of intense fighting.
The result of this was that Rose's ranking was close to the top 15, but Rose wasn't satisfied with this result … The reason was that her brother, Heuzer, had already reached second place!
She could lose to anyone in this Saint Spirit Challenge, but she couldn't lose to her brother!
She wouldn't allow Thorne to fall into her brother's hands.
Rush points!
Thinking of all ways to rush points, Rose had been using all her sleeping time to match matches on the leaderboard. It was now 6 AM in the morning.
She felt unusually tired after not sleeping for the whole night. If Rose were to look in the mirror, her eyes would be bloodshot.
However, Rose's mind was still reverberating with the ranking calculation method. If she wanted to rush to the top ten of the server, there were only two ways. The first was to specifically challenge the Challenger and Grandmaster players of the same level, and the second was to win streaks.
The more consecutive wins, the higher the points. Her brother relied on 72 consecutive wins to reach the second place on the Celestial Stairway, but Rose's winning streak was broken by a Holy Spirit called Happy Game!
Rosh was so angry that she almost crushed the bottle in her hand, but she controlled her emotions.
Just as Rose was considering if she should rest for a while, she felt the temperature around her drop a little, which made her look towards the stage in the distance.
Freya?
Rosh looked at the figure that appeared on the arena in the distance. This character, who was known as Freya by the Holy Spirits, had just participated in the challenge yesterday.
Freya's rank was now at Platinum, so it wasn't a threat to Rose …
She leaned against the wall and looked at Freya standing in the arena from afar. The first person to challenge Freya was a Grandmaster player ranked 127 on the Celestial Stairway. His ID was Holding the Sunset.
This was a Hunter player. Rose remembered fighting him in the past, and his use of traps was very clever.
Rose watched as he walked onto the stage and cast a Battle Buff on himself. Then, she watched as he lay on the ground and feigned death.
What's going on?
Rose frowned. She and the Holy Spirits had some experience, so she knew what skills the Holy Spirits of different classes had. Feigned Death was a skill exclusive to Hunters.
However, this skill could only trick brainless beasts. Rose couldn't possibly fall for this skill. The biggest problem was … this Hunter faked death in front of Freya!
Was there some kind of sinister trap?
While Rose was thinking about this, Freya was also thinking the same thing.
Freya circled around the Hunter with her Frostheaven Battle Scythe in her hand. She was also wary of any sinister tricks that the Hunter might have.
However, Freya didn't have much patience, and she didn't need to wait … Freya's scythe condensed an extremely cold frost, and the moment she swung it upwards, a large number of icicles blossomed from the ground.
The icicles spread all the way to the ground where the Hunter was lying, knocking him into the air. Freya took this opportunity to leap into the air and directly slashed the Hunter with her scythe.
The Hunter's HP was instantly reduced by a third. The Hunter who was hit wanted to stand up and shoot an arrow, but his arrow missed!
Freya took advantage of this opportunity to kill the Hunter player with a merciless combo of 'No Explanation'.
What's going on?
Rose drank her milk while looking at the Hunter who was carried off the arena.
Although he had been fighting back from start to finish, Rose still felt that the strength he used to fight back … was a little too light?
Was it an illusion?
While Rose was thinking about this, Freya was quickly matched with the second Shield Warrior.
This player's ID was a Shield Warrior Who Washed Defense Like It Didn't Cost Anything. He was also a Grandmaster.
The Shield Warrior immediately activated a Shield Wall state as soon as he entered the arena. At the same time, he raised the large shield in his hand and vigilantly waited for Freya's attack.
Freya brandished the giant scythe in her hand and rushed towards the Shield Warrior. Rose was thinking about how this Holy Spirit would deal with Freya's Frostskies Scythe, when he suddenly shouted …
"Ah, I twisted my leg."
This sentence almost made Rose spit out the milk in her mouth. However, the Shield Warrior had indeed twisted his leg, and it was a very serious one. He directly lay down on the ground and rolled around.
Freya looked at the rolling Shield Warrior and tilted her head, as if waiting for him to twist his leg before continuing. However, when the Shield Warrior saw that Freya was not attacking him …
"I'm not fighting anymore, I'm going to see a doctor." As he said that, he found an excuse to directly forfeit.
Freya's second consecutive victory.
What's going on?
Rose no longer wanted to drink her milk. She looked at the third Holy Spirit who went up the stage. The third Holy Spirit was also a proud Grandmaster player. He was still ranked 14th. The Berserker ID was Blood Albatross, and he was a professional player in Night Scamper.
This Berserker player was ranked one place higher than Rose on the Celestial Ladder. When Freya saw him, her expression became somewhat serious.
Rose stared at Blood Albatross. The moment he went up the stage, he was like any other Berserker player.
"Sanguine Berserk!
Berserk! "
Blood Albatross' body emitted a fiery red light. Berserker players would use their own HP in exchange for combat power. Rose also knew that … But Rose only saw this Berserker player, who might be the number one in the entire server, suddenly clench his Blood Right Arm.
"Bloodthirst … Activate!"
Bloodthirst was a skill that used HP in exchange for attack power.
A large amount of blood gathered on his longsword, and his HP rapidly decreased. Normally, Berserkers would only use Bloodthirst for a short while.
However, this Berserker had used up all of his HP to accumulate the Bloodlust buff.
In the end, this Berserker player fell to the ground with hatred …
"What an exciting battle. I'm dead," Blood Albatross said as his head tilted to the side and he lost consciousness.
Exciting my ass!
You didn't even use any skills!
Rose, who was watching from the side, directly crushed the milk bottle in her hand!
Why didn't you use Bloodthirst like this when you were fighting me?
The unfinished milk in the bottle dripped down Rose's palm and onto the ground. Then, Freya faced another eight Holy Spirit Challengers.
These eight Holy Spirit Challengers were either instantly killed by Freya, faked to the ground for various reasons, or used a bunch of strange skills to injure themselves at the start of the match!
Fixed match!
This word instantly appeared in Rose's mind!
Someone is fixing the match!
This group of Holy Spirits is fixing the match!
I want to report it … But to whom?
Rose watched as Freya accumulated more and more consecutive wins. Her ranking on the Celestial Stairway rose from Platinum to Diamond, and from Diamond to Grandmaster, Rose felt that something was amiss.
"This shouldn't be considered a fixed match." Suddenly, Jiang Qiao's voice rang in Rose's ears.
Rose covered her right ear and suddenly turned her head. She saw an azure ball of light floating next to her.
"Those Holy Spirits purposely threw the match to Freya. They didn't even have the intention to fight. Why can't it be considered a fixed match!" Rose's voice sounded a little angry.
She didn't know how many injuries she had suffered in the past 15 days, and how many nights she had to endure to finally beat Grandmaster Aoshi. In the end, Freya just stood there, and a bunch of Holy Spirits just had to stand there to help her fix the match!
"Fixing the match means that Freya bribed those contestants to throw the match. That can be considered a fixed match, but what can a weak and helpless puppet use to bribe those Holy Spirits?" Jiang Qiao's words made Rose fall into deep thought.
Seeing Rose fall into deep thought, Jiang Qiao suddenly remembered that sentence, "The judges, contestants, and the audience are all Freya's people. How can you fight against Freya?"
"For the reason that I like it."
Rose thought for a while, but still gave an answer that she didn't want to believe. "God Eater, I've been investigating the Holy Spirits' social structure and their lifestyle for the past 15 days. The name Freya seems to be the name of an automaton that every Holy Spirit has."
"Looks like you're not like the others, a brute who only knows how to fight." Jiang Qiao was a little pleased that Rose could understand so quickly.
"The Holy Spirits are a group of people that easily fall in love with … any existence of the opposite sex apart from the Holy Spirits. Gods, Law Stealers, Planar Pirates — as long as you're good-looking enough, there's a high chance you'll gain the favor of the Holy Spirits. But I didn't think that they'd go to such lengths just for a doll …" Rosh watched as the Holy Spirits performed all sorts of tricks in front of Freya. She'd originally thought that the Holy Spirits' affection for her was only limited to helping her with various quests.
"That's just the basics. You should've experienced the convenience of interacting with Holy Spirits during this period, right?" Jiang Qiao said.
During this period of time, Rose could be considered as half an NPC in the game. Half because she could leave Holy Spirit City at any time, but she had also learned how to be an NPC, which included giving out quests for the players.
Most of the quests that Rose gave out were to ask Holy Spirits to collect various materials from Brandt Island. The reward was Holy Spirit Crystals and Holy Spirit Coins, and Rose could cook as well as Fluffy Rabbit.
She would occasionally appear in the city … Maybe opening a restaurant here after I retire would be a good choice?
But this thought was quickly extinguished by her.
"Do you want to be as popular as Freya with the Holy Spirits?" Jiang Qiao asked.
"I just want to know how to make the Holy Spirits … not so serious in a duel."
Rose wasn't a warrior who cared about her own honor, she was more like a policewoman with a strong sense of justice. In order to catch criminals, she also hoped that the Holy Spirits would go easy on her in the arena, such as rigging a match or acting as an actress.
"I can help you with this, including promoting your popularity and image, but the condition is that … you are willing to permanently reside in this city."
Jiang Qiao whispered this condition into Rose's ear. Jiang Qiao didn't forget that the original purpose of the Holy Spirit Challenge was to keep an SSR character like Rose.
Her Immortal bloodline was only a part of her, the Holy Spirits valued the God of Flames bloodline in Rose's body more. This was also the reason why Rose was evaluated as an SSR character. The God of Flames bloodline in her body had a large number of followers, so Rose was actually a Superior God, it was just that she wasn't willing to accept this power.
"I … refuse. I only came to this city to hunt Thorne!
As a calamity, the God of God-Eater is destined to be our target to destroy. "
In the end, Rosh resisted Jiang Qiao's devil-like bewitchment, and used her hand to push away the ball of light stuck to her ear.
"Is that so? You've lived here for fifteen days … Do you still think the Holy Spirits are evil?"
"I …" Rosh didn't know how to answer, but the ball of light formed by Jiang Qiao had already disappeared by her ear.
"I'll give you more time to think about it. It's fine if you can't think of anything. Right, if you want to establish an official organization like the Rose Gang or something, you can contact me." Jiang Qiao's voice faded away after saying this.
Rose Gang?
She looked outside Freya's arena. Two Holy Spirits had completed the task she assigned and were looking for Rose to receive their reward.
Rose had a pair of eyes that could distinguish between good and bad people. Holy Spirits were definitely not evil, even if their behavior was very strange.
But what made Rose rejoice … was that she didn't need to be enemies with Holy Spirits for the time being. Her task was to capture Thorne, and eliminating the last descendant of the God of God-Eater was only her secondary task.
She just needed to maintain her current living conditions.
"Big Sis … You really don't want to consider opening a shop?"
"I know President Air Bubble, he would be very happy for you to open a shop in the city."
"My current goal is to win the Holy Spirit Challenge, that's all."
Rose said to the surrounding Holy Spirits who were attracted by her charisma … She didn't know how many times she had repeated this sentence.