022. Pay attention, this man is too ruthless.
[Tip: 'Nomi' has joined your team]
[Team module has been unlocked; you can now view team member information here]
[Current team limit is 6 people. To expand your team size, please join a guild group]
Here it comes— Li Aozi sighed in his heart— the classic player cap from the "Starry Abyss" system.
To prevent players from forming large illegal teams, disrupting public order, or spreading illegal information in groups, cyber MLM, internet cults, water armies, etc., the "Starry Abyss" operations team decided to cut it off directly after discussion with planners.
Do you want to expand your team? Well, register a guild then. Little brat, after submitting the registration form, do you still think the AI can't track you?
This crude method indeed prevented the influx of water armies and MLM teams, but for those who don't like guild politics and just want to play the game in peace, a 6-person limit doesn't even suffice for a class outing.
"Neriya joined the team as 'Nomi,' seems like the favorability isn't high enough yet..."
Li Aozi thought about it and casually checked Nomi's attribute panel:
-------------------------------------
[Name]: 'Nomi Anderson Guesette'
[Species]: Carbon-based Lifeform - New Generation Homo Sapiens - Frost Plated
[Gender]: Physiological Female
[Age]: 16 years old
[Template]: Elite Combat NPC (All types of damage increased by 10%)
[Faction]: Rose Army
[Total Level]: lv.17
——[Main Profession]: Plundering System——lv10[Plunder]
——[Secondary Profession]: lv.7[Guerrilla]
[Health Points]: 176/190 (Danger)
[Arcane Energy]: 90/90
[Attributes]:
Strength——12
Dexterity——11
Constitution——19
Charm——9
Will——8
[Talent]:
Racial Talent: Teamwork——New Generation Homo Sapiens possess strong teamwork abilities. When you're in a team, experience gain increases by 50%, ineffective when leaving the team. (Activated: Current gain: 2.25)
Occupational Talent: Life After Plunder——Practitioners of the plundering system are a bunch of sewer rats with low attributes and weak direct combat power. However, once they survive brutal battles, they often gain some 'specialties' from their enemies, sometimes equipment, sometimes attributes, and even appearance... (Cooldown time: 10 natural days)
[Specialty]:
[Violent District]——Increases damage dealt when using crude weapons by 10%
[Happy Wildcat]——When in 'happy' mood or above, melee evasion rate increases, and the chance of being hit by random flying objects (fragments, stray bullets, curse waves, etc.) decreases.
[Well-trained]——You have a great understanding of military weapons and vehicles, and can quickly familiarize yourself and master unfamiliar ones even on the first encounter.
[Arcane Energy]:
[Proliferative Dysplasia: Perception]——Your cells undergo a mysterious change, proliferating at tens of times the rate of normal cells.
The good news is that theoretically, regardless of any injury, you can recover fully.
The bad news is, the more cells proliferate, the more your remaining lifespan decreases.
Even if you recover your health, proliferation continues, sometimes growing teeth or bone spurs, or even tumors and calcified crystals in your brain— these are the good outcomes.
However, whether this ability is good or bad makes no difference to you. After all, your life is already miserable enough, isn't it?
Try to control your cell proliferation; perhaps you can keep your body intact.
Rating: Epsilon
Range: Self
Current Development Level: Perception level. At this level, Arcane Energy consumption rate——110%;
[Skills Possessed]:
[Professional Combat], [Expert Level Wilderness Survival], [Roadblock Clearance], [Bully the Weak], [Limit Evasion]
[Hierarchy]: About to qualify
-------------------------------------
"Plundering system? That's manageable."
Seeing Nomi's 19 points in constitution, he felt surprised, but after noticing her plunderer identity, Li Aozi understood.
If playing as a [Mutant] is like being in jail, then [Plunderers] wouldn't be fellow inmates, but at least they'd count as being in a detention center.
The former's theme color is red, the latter is yellow, so when martial artists and mages are in control, people joke that only red and yellow guys are in jail.
Thinking of this, Li Aozi looked at Nomi with a bit more empathy.
The two left through the back door, and Li Aozi skillfully found the place where he hid his package. He wasn't planning to escape now, just took out the bulletproof vest issued by the bank and put it on.
"Yo, who would've thought you're still afraid of death despite being so impressive?" Nomi seized the chance to mock him.
"So you're not afraid of death?" Li Aozi glanced at Nomi and raised his hand, pretending to activate Arcane Energy.
"No! Pretend I didn't say anything! I'm most afraid of heights! Please!" Nomi immediately backed down, coming to Li Aozi's side, looking around dissatisfied.
Then, she somehow found a wrench, swung it a few times, and satisfactorily shouldered it:
"Now this is satisfying! Look at the weapons you collected, all machetes and blades, so girly! Check out Lord Nomi's, clang clang, manly! Battle! Woohoo~~~~~~"
Having a chatterbox jokester by his side didn't bother Li Aozi.
After all, he would eventually go solo. If teammates interfered too much in the development path of a [Meteor Fall Master], it would easily disrupt the progress.
But the initial racial talent for humans is directly tied to experience gains, not utilizing it would be wasting a talent.
"Let's put up with it for a while. If there's a chance, I'll try my luck with Zhengxu's group later."
He remembered that Zhengxu's group had a chance to recruit a very strong teammate, someone regarded as "big brother" level by players.
For now though...
"Hey yo! I haven't breathed outside air in a while, stretch my body, do some exercises, feels good."
After being led outside by Li Aozi, the girl who called herself Nomi immediately began stretching, twisting her waist, looking like she was going on a fall outing rather than a fight.
Noticing Li Aozi's gaze, Nomi's light purple single eye rolled provocatively, and she tugged at the collar of her hospital gown, showing pale, withered skin:
"What are you looking at? Hey, Li Aozi, you wouldn't be able to handle my steel frame, would you?"
"Let's skip the 'Your Excellency' title; it doesn't sound very lucky." Li Aozi casually said: "Just call me Your Excellency the Great instead."
"Ew— do you think I'm complimenting you, narcissist? Your Excellency the Great, you think you're the Pope or something!"
"You don't say... I just might be."
Li Aozi rubbed his chin.
The [Mutant] profession is quite mysterious. Not only does it have branches like [Missionary] and [Echoer] later, but it also evolves into advanced professions like [Expositor] and [Pope].
Of course, these are just titles.
Because in "Starry Abyss," there are no true priests in the real sense.
"Ugh!" Nomi rolled her single eye, wrench in hand: "So, who are we fighting now?"
"What do you think?"
Li Aozi patted his arm, putting his things away.
Before sneaking out, he carried a box cutter, stapler, and camping knife in his bag, originally meant for making traps; now they could conveniently be used with Gravitational Arcane Energy.
"Me? Right now, I just want to beat you up— just kidding, don't take it seriously!"
Seeing Li Aozi's eyes again showing a golden ring, Nomi quickly straightened up and said seriously:
"...I was forcibly taken here by Mingji Humanity. The doctor keeps giving me shots, drawing my blood and bone marrow."
As she continued, she immediately began cursing:
"(Civilization Frost Plating) What did I do to deserve this? I was just fine, then suddenly someone puts a hood over my head. When I woke up, a bunch of people in white coats surrounded me. Said I was infected? Hell no!"
"Can you understand how that feels? Waking up to find someone took your kidney! And they say you're disabled? Damn it! How is this fair?"
Even though Li Aozi prided himself on having seen a lot, Nomi's rant almost made him lose it.
He shook his head, amused: "Alright. Got it."
"Got what?" Nomi was puzzled: "Wait, where are you going? This way leads back!"
"Didn't you say you had a grudge against those Mingji doctors and wanted to fight?"
Li Aozi's words delighted Nomi; she immediately began cracking her knuckles, catching up to him with the wrench in hand, an eager look in her single eye:
"Yo, you're pretty sharp, huh, buddy? I like it. Let's team up and wipe out those Mingji bastards!"
"That's what you said."
"Of course!" Nomi patted her flat chest: "Don't be fooled by my small size; I'm the top of the Rose Army Guerrilla Team—"
Before Li Aozi could finish, they reached a large door. He spread his gravitational energy and suddenly pulled open the iron door.
Bang, bang, bang————!
In Nomi's stunned gaze, behind the door was a whole row of fully armed Mingji security members. Unlike those outside, all wore heavy exoskeleton armor, with red skull crests on their arms.
"Top." Li Aozi cheerfully stepped aside, gesturing: "After you."
Hiss...
The hydraulic exoskeleton moved slowly, and the tri-eye night vision device turned. Instantly, Nomi realized that fourteen R-103 rifles were aimed at her.
"Ahem—"
Nomi cleared her throat lightly and pitifully raised her hands:
"I surrender!"