Prompt: 'Nomi' has joined your team The team module has been unlocked. You can view your team members' information here. The current team limit is 6 members. If you wish to increase your team size, please join a guild.
Here it came—Li Aoz sighed inwardly—the classic party-size cap imposed by the Star Abyss system.
To prevent players from illegally forming massive groups, disrupting public order, spreading illegal information in groups, running cyber pyramid schemes, online cults, Internet Water Army groups, and other harmful activities, Star Abyss's operations and planning teams had decided to cut it off at the root.
Want to expand your ranks? Then go register a guild, punk. Once you filled out the registration form, did you think the mainframe still wouldn't be able to find you? This crude approach did stop Internet Water Army and pyramid-scheme groups from flooding in, but for ordinary people who disliked guild politics and just wanted to play peacefully, six people was not even enough for a class team-building event.
"Nelia joined under the identity of 'Nomi.' Looks like her Favorability still isn't high enough..."
Li Aoz thought as he casually checked Nomi's status panel:
Name: 'Nomi Anderson Guersett' Race: Carbon-Based Lifeform—New Generation Homo Sapiens—Frostplate Citizen Gender: Biological Female Age: 16 Template: Elite Combat-Type NPC (All damage bonuses +10%) Faction: Rose Army Total Level: Lv. 17—Main Class: Plunder Class—Lv. 10 [Plunderer]—Secondary Class: Lv. 7 [Guerrilla Fighter] Health: 176/190 (Danger) Aura Value: 90/90 Attributes: Strength—12 Dexterity—11 Constitution—19 Charisma—9 Willpower—8 Talent: Racial Talent: Teamwork—New Generation Homo Sapiens possessed exceptionally strong teamwork abilities. While in a team, experience gains increased by 50%. This effect became invalid after leaving the team. (Active: Current Gain: 2.25) Class Talent: Escape from Death—Those in the Plunder Class were a bunch of stinking sewer rats. Their attributes were poor and their direct combat power was miserably weak, but once they escaped from harsh battles alive, there was a high chance they would obtain some of the enemy's "specialties." Sometimes it was equipment, sometimes attributes, and sometimes even appearance... (Cooldown: 10 natural days) Specialties: Violent District—Damage dealt with crudely made weapons increased by 10%. Happy Wildcat—When her mood was above "happy," melee evasion increased, and the chance of being struck by random airborne objects decreased. (Shrapnel, stray bullets, curse spillover, etc.) Well-Trained—You had considerable experience operating military weapons and were highly skilled at driving vehicles. Even when encountering an unfamiliar vehicle for the first time, you could quickly get the hang of it and master it. Aoneng: [Proliferation Aberration: Perception]—Your cells had undergone bizarre changes. Their proliferation and division speed had reached dozens of times that of an ordinary person. The good news was that, in theory, this division speed allowed you to recover completely no matter what kind of injury you suffered. The bad news was that the more they divided, the more of your remaining lifespan was reduced. Even after you recovered your health, the proliferation continued. Whether it was growing teeth, bone spurs, tumors in your brain, or calcified crystals—those were all the good outcomes. However, whether this ability was good or bad did not really make any difference to you. After all, your life had already been awful enough, hadn't it? Try to control the proliferation of your cells. Maybe then you could at least leave behind an intact corpse. Rating: Epsilon Range: Self Current Development Level: Perception Level. At this development level, Aura Value consumption rate was—110%; Owned Skills: Professional Fighting, Expert Wilderness Survival, Road Clearing, Bullying the Weak, Extreme Evasion Tier: About to qualify
"Plunder Class? That's not bad."
When he saw Nomi's 19 points of Constitution, Li Aoz had been surprised, but once he noticed her Plunder Class identity, he understood.
If playing a Mutant was like serving prison time, then Plunderers could not exactly be called cellmates—but they were at least stuck in detention.
The former's theme color was red, while the latter's was yellow. Thus, whenever Martial Artists and mages were dominating the world, people joked that only the red and yellow factions were doing time.
Thinking of that, Li Aoz looked at Nomi with a little more empathy.
The two left through the back door. Li Aoz easily found the place where he had hidden his pack. He was not planning to run just yet; he simply took out the bulletproof vest distributed by the bank and put it on.
"Yo, I couldn't tell. You're already this badass, yet you're still afraid of dying?" Nomi seized the chance to mock him.
"So you're not afraid of dying?" Li Aoz glanced at her, raised his hand, and made as if to activate his Aoneng.
"Don't! Pretend I didn't say anything! I'm terrified of heights! Please!" Nomi immediately backed down. She came over to Li Aoz's side and looked around, but disliked everything she saw.
Then, somehow, she picked up an auto repair wrench from somewhere. After swinging it a few times, she nodded in satisfaction and rested it on her shoulder.
"Now this has some kick! Look at the weapons you collected—nothing but machetes and blades. So damn girly! Watch Uncle Nomi now—clang clang, real man! Combat! Yoo-hoo~~~~~~"
Li Aoz did not mind having another chatterbox around him.
He was going to go solo sooner or later anyway. If his teammates interfered too much with a Starcaller's development path, it could easily have the opposite effect.
But humanity's initial Racial Talent was directly tied to experience gains. If he did not make use of it, it would be like wasting a talent for nothing.
"I'll make do for a while. If I get the chance later, I'll try my luck over in Zhengxu."
As he recalled, Zhengxu offered a chance to recruit an extremely powerful teammate, someone players regarded as a "Big Brother"-level figure.
As for right now...
"Heave-ho! It's been so long since I breathed outdoor air. Stretch a little, do some exercises—what a refreshing feeling."
After Li Aoz led her out through the internal corridor, the girl calling herself Nomi immediately stretched her body, twisted around, and rolled her waist. She did not look like she was about to fight at all; it felt more like an autumn outing.
Perhaps noticing Li Aoz's gaze, Nomi's pale purple single eye spun around. Provocatively, she tugged at the collar of her hospital gown, exposing pale, withered skin. "What? Why are you looking at me? Oh my, Your Excellency Li Aoz, don't tell me you'd even go after a flat board like me?"
"Forget the 'Your Excellency' thing. It doesn't sound very lucky," Li Aoz said casually. "Just call me Your Holiness instead."
"Ugh—do you really think I was complimenting you? Narcissist. Your Holiness? What, do you think you're the Pope?"
"You know... I actually am."
Li Aoz rubbed his chin.
Mutant was a rather mystical class. Not only did it branch into Preacher and Resonator later on, but it also had advanced versions: Interpreter and Pope.
Of course, those were merely titles.
Because Star Abyss did not have actual clergy in the true sense.
"Blech!" Nomi rolled her eye, wrench over her shoulder. "Tell me, who are we beating now?"
"Who do you think?"
Li Aoz patted his arm and put his things away.
Before he had smuggled himself out, he had packed a utility knife, staples, and a camping knife. They had originally been meant for making traps, but now they could also work well with his Gravity Aura.
"Me? Right now, I just want to beat you up—just kidding, just kidding, don't take it seriously!"
When Nomi saw a golden halo appear in Li Aoz's eyes again, she hurriedly turned serious. "...Nethermark Humanity forcibly abducted me and brought me here. Those bastard doctors kept giving me injections, drawing my blood, and taking my bone marrow."
The more she spoke, the more furiously she cursed.
"(Frostplate Civilization) Who the hell did I provoke? I was minding my own business, then someone suddenly put a hood over my head. When I woke up, I was surrounded by people in white coats. They said I was infected? Fucking hell!"
"Can you understand that feeling? Like, you wake up and someone has harvested your kidney! Then they tell you you're disabled? What the hell! How can anyone be like that?!"
Even Li Aoz, who prided himself on having seen all sorts of things, nearly could not hold it together after Nomi's speech.
He shook his head with a helpless laugh. "Fine. I get it."
"Fine what?" Nomi looked baffled. "Wait, where are you going? This road leads back!"
"Didn't you say you had a grudge against those Nethermark doctors? Weren't you shouting about wanting to fight?"
Li Aoz's words delighted Nomi. She immediately cracked her knuckles, followed after him, smacked the wrench against her palm, and satisfaction appeared in her single eye.
"Yo, you get it. I like that, buddy. Let's join forces and slaughter Nethermark until not a single piece of armor remains!"
"You said it."
"Of course!" Nomi patted her flat chest. "Don't let my size fool you, I'm the top dog of the Rose Army guerrillas—"
As soon as Li Aoz finished speaking, he reached a large door and spread out his gravitational force, abruptly pulling the iron door open.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Under Nomi's frozen stare, an entire row of armed Nethermark security personnel appeared behind the door. Unlike those outside, every one of them wore heavy Exoskeleton Armor, with red skull insignias on their arms.
"Top dog." Li Aoz smiled as he stepped aside and gestured. "After you."
Hiss...
The hydraulic exoskeletons slowly engaged, and the three-eyed night-vision goggles slowly turned. In an instant, Nomi realized that fourteen R-103 rifles were aimed at her.
"Ahem—" Nomi gave a light cough, then pitifully raised both hands. "I surrender!"
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