The Power of Microtransactions!

Chapter 12 012. The Power of Spending Money!

[Would you like to join the 'Nethermark Humanitarian Rescue Organization'?]

[You have joined the 'Nethermark Humanitarian Rescue Organization', Faction Template unlocked.]

[Based on your Charm assessment, you will receive basic public information within the organization.]

[Faction Favorability unlocked]

[Faction Leader: 'Professor' — Personal Favorability unlocked]

['Professor' Favorability: Normal (70/1000)]

[*Note: Due to the 'Professor' possessing a special perk, the higher the 'Professor's' personal favorability, the higher the faction favorability, and the higher the faction favorability, the higher the personal favorability—but they will not loop and stack.]

[Favorability from low to high is divided into: Nemesis — Hatred — Hostility — Opposition — Dislike — Indifferent — Normal — Liked — Respected — Adored — Believed]

[Other members' personal favorability unlocked]

[Assistant Anna: Indifferent (25/1000)]

[Nordly: Hostile (-65/1000)]

[Test Subject ZX-101: Indifferent (49/1000)]

[Test Subject ZX-626: Liked (200/1000)] — Li Aoz was taken to an isolation ward and confined. His restraints were not removed, with the reason being that he needed to be observed for a period to prevent him from harming others again.

After all, a single blow that sent a formal Alpha-class Martial Artist to the ground, nearly requiring ICU resuscitation, regardless of whether there was an Aura reaction, meant his danger level was beyond that of an ordinary patient. They had to come down hard.

Li Aoz was also happy to have some peace. He had unlocked the faction template, but the tasks hadn't officially started yet, so he wasn't in a hurry. He took the time to organize his thoughts.

"Since I started, I haven't had a chance to check the system. The rewards for the three 'Descent' tasks were unlocking the system, player functions, and personal panel. I've only looked at the personal panel and system functions so far; I haven't checked the player functions yet."

Li Aoz first opened the [Faction] within the player functions. It contained only one piece of faction information: — [Faction Name: Nethermark Humanitarian Rescue Organization][Stance: Chaotic Neutral][Rating: H][Description: "I want to tell all of you that some people make survival their everything, and some make profit their lifelong pursuit."]

"And I, even if I give my all, will prove: on this wasteland, humanity still exists."

"That is Nethermark."

The Nethermark Humanitarian Rescue Organization is a small organization with good organization and combat proficiency above the external territory baseline. It gathers a large medical experiment team and an external affairs agency but basically does not participate in the resource competition of the external territories.

Under the leadership of 'Professor', Nethermark is continuously expanding its influence.

However, beneath the surface of Nethermark's brilliance, there seem to be hidden, unknown darkness. Rumors have been circulating in the external territories about various cruel experiments conducted by Nethermark, with some even firmly believing that Nethermark is the source of this Esha disaster.

[Leader: 'Professor']

[Position: Test Subject]

[Faction Favorability: Normal]

[Contribution Points: 0][Daily Tasks: One. "Clinical Experiment"]

"Although I don't believe your existence holds significant meaning for us, the results might differ."

— Cooperate with Assistant Physician Anna for various experimental tasks. Reward: 120 Contribution Points/time.

Two. "Physical Training"

"Without a strong body, you cannot withstand subsequent experimental plans."

— Complete the physical training plan designed by Nordly Crowe.

Task Reward: 10 Contribution Points/time.

Three. "Psychological Counseling"

"Are you the new Level 5 Infected? I heard Esha severely interferes with the psychological state of Level 5 Infected. Don't worry, I will help you avoid being harmed by it."

— Cooperate with Physician Eleni for mental assessment tasks daily. Reward: 20 Contribution Points/time. — "This template..."

Li Aoz raised an eyebrow, looking somewhat surprised.

"This isn't the initial version of the faction panel; it's the one perfected in the 11.7 version patch."

The time period he was in was legendary, existing even before the internal test of "Star Abyss," only within official internal A-tests. If it weren't for subsequent leaks from moles, the public wouldn't even know that the main storyline began in 221.

The Faction System was only added to players starting from version 1.0. It took 11 versions and hundreds of patches to be finally perfected.

Li Aoz, before his transmigration, was in the 14.0 [Void Orbit] version. The template used was basically fixed and had no additional modifications.

"Hmm... this is a bit beyond my expectations."

Perhaps it was a benefit of being a transmigrator? Besides enjoying NPC bonuses, he also came with the 14.0 version patch.

The perfected patch, compared to the unperfected version, had the biggest difference in several particularly useful systems.

[Faction Members]— You can view information on all internal faction members at any time.

[Faction Infrastructure]— You can modify some of the faction's facilities by paying resources.

[Faction Store]— You can exchange various resources within the faction by spending contribution points.

Li Aoz clicked on Faction Members. The Nethermark Organization had a considerable number of members, totaling 127 people of various sizes. Due to insufficient faction favorability, Li Aoz could only view each person's level, name, identity, and position at most. Additional information would only be available after increasing favorability.

However, one person was an exception.

"Pink hair, blue eyes, not very tall... Hmm, is it this one, fifth from the left in the second row... Tsk, so many women, I'm terrible with faces."

Following the hints from his memory, Li Aoz searched for a long time. He tentatively clicked on a profile picture, and upon seeing the enlarged, complete, and clear resume, he revealed a playful expression:

"That's right, it's you."

[Name]: 'Firefly' Ze Xi

[Level]: Ordinary - Lv8 Merchant [Position]: Logistics "According to the walkthrough from my previous life, she sells an Omega-class Aura Awakener. This is the key to becoming a [Mutant]."

Originally, Li Aoz planned to slowly complete tasks, accumulate favorability, and officially become a rescuer for Nethermark Humanity. This way, he could openly approach Ze Xi and purchase the serum from her.

But now, Li Aoz realized his faction template was the complete version, allowing him to directly open the [Faction Store]. He checked, and as expected, the serum that even a black market merchant like Ze Xi possessed was openly available for exchange here.

[Esha Experiment Drug - Type VI]

This was it. Although the name was different, it was essentially the same thing Ze Xi had.

"This means my plan needs to change."

Li Aoz began to ponder.

The [Sovereign] class only had one sub-branch in the early game: [Mutant]. This was also the most tedious stage for many [Sovereign] players.

The reason was simple: in the early game, the job level cap for the starting class was level 60. However, every 20 levels, the class would present choices for specialization branches.

For example, at Lv.20, a [Martial Artist] would face two branch choices: one was the [Crane School], which focused on improving physical prowess and the destructive power of fist and foot techniques, and the other was the [Dragon School], which focused on cultivating Aura and beginning to control Psychic Power.

By choosing one, your path would continuously specialize towards different combat styles, eventually forming a unique style that belonged only to you.

If it were a [Mage], it would be even more special. For every 20 levels, a [Magician] could choose from at least 7 branch styles, depending on their race, knowledge, and combat style.

It turned out that Mages were kings in any game.

In comparison, [Mutants], due to their nature, had no styles or branches to choose from.

Instead, they would experience 'mutations' irregularly, controlling different abilities through unstable mutated genes. Each mutation was unstable; it might bring new skills, or if lucky, improve the existing Aura rating, but most absurdly, it could sometimes even lead to regression.

The primary reason for these issues was that the [Mutant]'s entire strength relied on their Aura.

If a player awakened an extremely powerful Aura, then the [Mutant] experience would at least not be so tedious. Instead, it would be as fun as opening a blind box.

As a skilled player of the [Starcaller] path, Li Aoz naturally chose the [Starcaller] route. Besides needing to collect specialized talents for [Charm], there was another aspect he had to pay special attention to: to advance to [Starcaller] later, Li Aoz needed to master four types of Aura, and all four of these Auras were, without exception, top-tier 'Omega' class Auras.

"Although I was prepared for a tedious grind, if players really appear later, I can't let them see me struggling like this..."

Acquiring these four Auras in the mid-game wasn't too difficult, especially since Li Aoz was very familiar with the game's map. However, the early game was very demanding.

If he didn't aim for the final [Starcaller] class and instead chose to go down the paths of [Ability User], [Missionary], [Mystic], or [Echoer], his tedious experience... his gaming journey would be very smooth. The latter only needed one or two Auras to create interesting gameplay. If they had three, they could basically reach the T1 or T2 tier on the meta rankings.

But only Li Aoz knew that the aforementioned four mainstream [Sovereign] classes were far inferior in strength to a fully realized [Starcaller] in the future. Not only that, he could confidently say that none of the mainstream classes could compare to a maxed-out [Starcaller]!

The most crucial reason was that the rank of these four Auras all belonged to the most powerful Omega class.

To put it bluntly, any single one of these four Auras could immediately rewrite the situation on Azure Planet.

"Now, I can get one from Ze Xi. Including the faction store, plus direct exchange with Professor – I can directly gather three Aura Awakeners."

No, that wasn't all.

Li Aoz suddenly realized that since he possessed future version patches, according to the situation in later versions, the [Player Store] he hadn't checked yet should also be subject to the patches.

This meant...

Li Aoz quickly opened the [Player Store], skimmed through the dazzling array of goods, and skillfully searched keywords: Sovereign class, Aura, consumables, paid items.

Immediately, he saw a syringe containing a mysterious and noble golden potion.

"It's really here!"