022 Watch This Man, He's Too Ruthless

Chapter 22: 022. Look at this man, he's too ruthless.

[Notice: 'Nomi' has joined your party.]

[Party module unlocked. You can view party member information here.]

[Current party limit is 6 people. To increase party size, please join a guild.]

Here we go— Li Aoz sighed in his heart. The classic party member cap of the Star Abyss system.

To prevent players from forming large illegal parties, disrupting public order, or even forming groups to spread illegal information, engage in cyber pyramid schemes, online cults, or bot armies, the Star Abyss operations team and planners decided to take a blunt approach.

You want to expand your scale? Then register a guild, you little punk. Once you submit the registration form, how can the light brain not find you? This crude method indeed prevented bot armies and pyramid schemes from flooding in, but for ordinary people who don't like guild politics and just want to play the game peacefully, a party size of 6 isn't even enough for a class outing.

"Neria joined the party as 'Nomi'. It seems her affection level isn't high enough yet..."

Li Aoz thought, and casually checked Nomi's status panel: [Name]: 'Nomi Anderson Gueset'

[Race]: Carbon-based lifeform - New Generation Homo sapiens - Frostdu Human

[Gender]: Biological Female

[Age]: 16 years old

[Template]: Elite Combat NPC (All damage types +10%)

[Faction]: Rose Army

[Total Level]: Lv.17 [Main Class]: Plunderer - Lv.10 [Plunderer] [Sub Class]: Lv.7 [Guerrilla] [Health]: 176/190 (Danger) [Aura]: 90/90 [Attributes]: Strength - 12 Dexterity - 11 Constitution - 19 Charisma - 9 Willpower - 8

[Talents]: Racial Talent: Teamwork - New Generation Homo sapiens possess extremely strong teamwork capabilities. When you are in a team, your experience gain increases by 50%. This effect is lost upon leaving the team. (Active: Current bonus: 2.25)

Class Talent: Survivor - Practitioners of the Plunderer class are like rats in the sewers, with low stats and weak direct combat power. However, if they survive harsh battles, they have a high chance of gaining some 'specialties' from their enemies. Sometimes it's equipment, sometimes it's stats, or even appearance... (Cooldown: 10 natural days)

[Specialties]: [Violent Streets] - When using crude weapons, damage dealt increases by 10%. [Happy Wildcat] - When your mood is above 'Happy', your melee dodge rate increases, and the probability of being hit by random projectiles (shrapnel, stray bullets, curse splash damage, etc.) decreases.

[Well-Trained] - You are skilled in operating military weapons and are adept at driving vehicles. Even when encountering an unfamiliar vehicle for the first time, you can quickly get the hang of it and master it.

[Aura]: [Proliferative Mutation - Perception] - Your cells have undergone strange changes, and their proliferation and division speed is tens of times faster than that of an ordinary person.

The good news is that theoretically, at this division speed, you can recover from any kind of damage.

The bad news is that the more you divide, the more your remaining lifespan decreases.

Even if you recover to health, the proliferation continues. Whether it's growing teeth or bone spurs, or developing tumors and calcified crystals in your brain— these are all good things.

However, whether this ability is good or bad, it doesn't really make a difference to you. After all, your life was already bad enough, wasn't it? Try to control the proliferation of your cells, and perhaps you might even leave behind a complete corpse.

Rating: Epsilon Range: Self Current Development Level: Perception Level. The Aura consumption rate at this development level is -110%.

[Skills]: [Professional Combat], [Expert Wilderness Survival], [Road Clearing], [Bullying the Weak], [Evasive Maneuvers]

[Tier]: Approaching Qualification - "Plunderer? That's acceptable."

Upon seeing Nomi's 19 Constitution, he felt surprised, but after noticing her Plunderer class, Li Aoz understood.

If the game experience of a [Mutant] was like being in prison, then a [Plunderer] couldn't be called a fellow inmate, at least they'd be like someone squatting in a detention center.

The theme color of the former is red, and the latter is yellow. Therefore, while Warriors and Mages were dominating, people jokingly said that only the red and yellow factions were in prison.

Thinking of this, Li Aoz looked at Nomi with more empathy.

The two left through the back door. Li Aoz skillfully found the place where he hid his package. He wasn't planning to escape right now, but to retrieve the bulletproof vest issued by the bank and put it on.

"Yo, I didn't realize you were so awesome, and you're still afraid of dying?" Nomi seized the opportunity to mock him.

"So you're not afraid of dying?" Li Aoz glanced at her and raised his hand as if to activate his Aura.

"Don't! I take it back! I'm terrified of heights! Please!" Nomi immediately backed down. She came to Li Aoz's side, looking around, not liking anything.

Then, she picked up a car repair wrench from somewhere, swung it a few times, and proudly slung it over her shoulder:

"Now this is what I'm talking about! Look at the weapons you collected, all cleavers and blades, so girly! Watch Nomi here, clang, so manly! Battle! Yo ho~~~~~~"

Having a chatty companion by his side, Li Aoz didn't mind.

He was going to go solo sooner or later anyway. The development path of a [Starcaller] could be easily affected by too much interference from teammates.

However, a human's initial racial talent was directly linked to experience gain. Not utilizing it was equivalent to wasting a talent.

"I'll make do for now. If I have a chance later, I'll try my luck with Righteous Dawn."

He recalled that Righteous Dawn had a chance to recruit a very powerful teammate, someone referred to as "Big Brother" among players.

As for the present...

"Heh! It's been a long time since I breathed the outside air. Stretching, doing some exercises, feeling refreshed."

After being led out of the internal corridor by Li Aoz, the girl calling herself Nomi immediately stretched her body, twisting her waist, not at all like someone about to fight, but more like going on a picnic.

As if sensing Li Aoz's gaze, Nomi's single, light purple eye darted around. Provocatively, she tugged at the collar of her patient gown, revealing pale, dry skin: "What? Why are you looking at me? Oh my, Your Excellency Li Aoz, could it be that you can't resist my steel plate?"

"Let's drop the 'Your Excellency' title, it sounds unlucky," Li Aoz said casually. "Just call me Your Majesty."

"Ew— You really think I'm praising you, you narcissist. 'Your Majesty'? Do you think you're the Pope?"

"Don't be surprised... I actually am."

Li Aoz stroked his chin.

The [Mutant] was a very esoteric profession, not only having the [Missionary] and [Echoer] branches behind it, but also the advanced professions of [Explicator] and [Pope].

Of course, these were just titles.

Because in the game "Star Abyss," there were no true clergy.

"Ugh!" Nomi rolled her eyes, hefting her wrench. "Spit it out, who are we fighting now?"

"What do you think?"

Li Aoz patted his arms and put his things away.

Before he had smuggled himself out, he had carried a utility knife, staples, and a camping knife in his bag. He had originally intended to use them to make traps, but now they could be used in conjunction with his gravity Aura.

"Me? Right now, I just want to beat you up—just kidding, just kidding, don't take it seriously!"

Seeing the golden rings flash in Li Aoz's eyes again, Nomi quickly turned serious. "...I was forcibly abducted here by Nethermark Humanity. That dog doctor kept giving me shots, and drawing my blood and bone marrow."

As she spoke, she immediately started cursing:

"What did I ever do to deserve this (Frostplate Civilization)? I was minding my own business when suddenly someone put a hood over my head. When I woke up, there were a bunch of people in white coats. They said I was infected? I swear to God!"

"Can you understand this feeling? It's like, you wake up and your kidney has been harvested! And they're calling you disabled? Damn it! How can there be something like this?!"

Even Li Aoz, who considered himself to have seen it all, was almost taken aback by Nomi's outburst.

He shook his head, a wry smile on his face. "Alright. I get it."

"Get what?" Nomi asked blankly. "Wait, where are you going? This road leads back!"

"Don't you have a grudge against these Nethermark physicians and were you just yelling about wanting to fight?"

Li Aoz's words made Nomi's eyes light up. She immediately rubbed her hands together and followed Li Aoz, slapping her palm with her wrench, a look of satisfaction appearing in her single eye.

"Yo, you're pretty sharp, bro. I like it. Let's team up and wipe the floor with the Nethermark!"

"You said it."

"Of course!" Nomi patted her flat chest. "Don't let my size fool you, I'm the leader of the Rose Army Guerrillas—"

As soon as Li Aoz finished speaking, he walked up to a large door and used his gravity Aura to yank it open.

Clang, clang, clang—! To Nomi's stunned gaze, an entire row of heavily armed Nethermark security personnel appeared behind the door. Unlike those on the perimeter, they were all equipped with heavy exoskeleton armor, and their arms bore red skull emblems.

"Leader." Li Aoz chuckled, stepping aside and gesturing. "You first."

Hiss...

The hydraulic exoskeleton slowly activated, and the three-eyed night vision goggles slowly rotated. In an instant, Nomi realized that fourteen R-103 rifles were aimed at her.

"Cough—"

Nomi coughed softly and pitifully raised her hands.

"I surrender!"