Third Chapter: Second-Tier Faction and Mission Interactions

The difficulty of system tasks is very clear: easy, normal, hard, nightmare, hell, and then there are civilization-level tasks, such as civilization salvation, civilization disaster, civilization restoration, and civilization ascension.

However, there is a small episode in this storyline, which is the Heaven Quest, or rather, the branch of the Hell Quest – Heaven (Hell).

In terms of difficulty, the two are actually about the same; both are tasks that would be impossible to complete even with a near-death experience, unless a dimensional reduction attack is used.

The reason why the Heavenly Quest is special is that it is not about destroying or killing anything, but about saving lives and saving the world, so it is often jokingly referred to by players as the "Holy Mother Quest".

Clearly, releasing tens of millions of species into the sea directly triggered the mission conditions.

The key point is that this is a series of tasks. Although the difficulty of the tasks is evenly distributed in each stage, it seems to be much 'weaker' than the normal difficulty.

The problem is that if the difficulty level of a Heavenly difficulty item is evenly distributed, it could potentially result in dozens or even hundreds of task stages.

The kind of liver that explodes on the spot!

Ding~

[Player triggers the "Heavenly-level" quest chain "Rise of Radiation Species"]

[First stage of the mission: The evolution of marine organs]

Difficulty: Heaven

Mission Briefing: The Brain in a Vat is currently troubled by something. For terrestrial species to enter the sea, the first step is to evolve organs similar to those of marine species. However, the impracticality of evolution has delayed its plans. Please help it complete this first step of evolution.

Mission objective: To complete the 'organ evolution' of the irradiated species.

Task Rewards: 400,000 Experience, 5 Random Blueprints, 1 Mechanical System Fragment, 1 Ancient Gene

The mission rewards are pretty good, especially the 'Mechanical System' reward. He already has eight 'Mechanical System Fragments', and if he can get two more, he can gamble out two large blueprints.

Even though it's just a large blueprint for a Level 1 civilization, it would still be profitable to unlock even a single feature like a "high-speed ballistic system," a "large nuclear power plant," or an "8G network."

The senior engineer pondered for a moment and then asked, "How many types of radioactive species do you currently have under your command?"

Without further ado, the "little woman" gently wiped her palm, and in the next moment, tens of thousands of images appeared. Each image depicted a mechanical beast, one-third of which were radiated beasts.

It's clear that during the time the senior engineer was away, the virus spread like cancer cells.

They even extended their biological domain to include radiation species.

Mechanical bio-beasts and radioactive beasts represent completely different evolutionary paths.

Looking at these diverse and mutated species, any biologist would only feel annoyed.

Modifying one species is relatively easy, but modifying ten thousand species would require the entire academic community of biological mutations to mobilize.

The senior engineer narrowed his eyes, then suddenly laughed:

"So, what are your clues? I refuse to believe you have no ideas at all."

"I have found an intelligent species," the 'little woman' nodded, and the next moment, two species appeared before the two of them.

There was a blue-skinned human and a blue-skinned winged beast.

The blue-skinned man is about two meters tall, with prickles on his palms and soles, large blue eyes, and, more remarkably, his hair is made of nerve bundles.

This species must have extremely high levels of perception.

The senior engineer, however, was more interested in the other person's abdominal "abs". As an experienced person, he could tell at a glance that these were not muscle lines developed through exercise, but rather genetic imprints created through "genetic modification".

In other words, they are cyborgs, or at least the first generation were cyborgs.

The blue-skinned winged beast was probably some kind of radiated creature, with obvious signs of being artificially domesticated. The senior engineer glanced at its wings and exclaimed in surprise.

"Amphibious?"

The wings clearly have a structure that conforms to the concept of "flight propulsion," which means that the other party can fly.

"This cloud-winged beast was originally just an ordinary marine radiant beast, but under the captivity of the marine people, it gradually mutated."

The senior engineer seemed to be deep in thought:

"So, you mean this ocean-dweller possesses some kind of bloodline power that can cause biological mutations, or rather, targeted mutations?"

The young woman nodded, then shook her head, puzzled.

"That makes sense, but after I secretly checked, I found that the other party did not seem to have fully mastered this power. Their source of power seems to be some A-level radiation beast that pretends to be a god, but that radiation beast does not have mastered this power, which is very strange."

"So, what you need me to do is to extract this bloodline power through biological modification?"

"Yes."

"I understand," the senior engineer said thoughtfully, staring at the "Ocean Man Projection."

The saying goes that the rich rely on technology, while the poor rely on mutation. So, are you a technological product or a product of mutation?

The trilobite and the mixed-race girl are on a frantic escape.

In the dark sea, hidden hunters occasionally peek out their claws. A trilobite grabbed the girl and dragged her behind it.

The next moment, a submarine-like Class B mechanical beast emerged from the darkness, its mouth slowly opening, and the enormous suction force drew the surrounding semi-metallic fish into its mouth.

In terms of physical appearance, marine mechanical beasts are completely different from terrestrial mechanical beasts.

The mechanical organs, parts, and components of land-based mechanical beasts are mostly external, which makes it easy for them to be replaced in a timely manner.

Marine species, on the other hand, are completely sealed off to prevent water from seeping in, and may even secrete waterproof oils.

Stealth type, perception type, and environment simulation type are the three main categories of marine mechanical beasts.

These three types can actually be combined into one: the Dark Jungle Hunting Type.

In the depths of the ocean, there are only unknown enemies, no possible friends.

Trilobite felt sweat bursting out all at once. He was dead, but he was a hero again three days later.

However, once the mixed-race girl dies, that's it.

Incidentally, he gave the girl a very nice name, "Pandora".

Just as the trilobite pulled Pandora and hid behind the reef, the 'ship beast' that had just enjoyed a feast of fish was clearly not satisfied. Its bait-like sensory organs lit up, and it swam toward the trilobite.

Just as the trilobite was feeling its end was coming, the "ship-beast" suddenly charged upwards and crashed into a huge black sphere. The two mechanical marine creatures immediately began to fight.

Trilobite's eye twitched suddenly; he hadn't even noticed that the "tribal guard" had been following the two of them all along.

Pandora was startled, but she quickly turned around, hugged the trilobite tightly, and said in her unique tone.

"We... go back... and shut down the temple!"

According to Pandora, only the residence of the "Pureblood Elders," that so-called temple, can completely resolve the rampage of the "Horde Guards."

Of course, Pandora wasn't acting alone without thinking. Her plan was to contact members of all the branch tribes of the Ocean People and join forces.

The trilobite agreed without hesitation, for a simple reason: he had received a mission—

"Rescue the Ocean People"

Meanwhile, the high-ranking members of the Mechanical Hunters, far away in the Land of Fire, suddenly received an order from their leader—to dispatch biological hunters with underwater organs to carry out a special mission.

Sun Hong, a former biologically modified soldier in the security regiment and now the commander of the biological forces, is in charge of this mission.

Looking at the thousands of creature hunters in front of him, Sun Hong, dressed in military uniform, didn't waste any words. With a wave of his hand, countless monomolecular rays shot out, and countless figures rose and fell, disappearing into the jungle in a few breaths.

The Hunter faction's hundreds of millions of points weren't just earned by selling mechs.

In fact, in the global mercenary world, the "hunters" of mechanical killers are already rivaling the mercenaries of the subhuman continent in fame.

Mysterious biotechnology and special mechanical modifications can produce remarkable effects when carrying out special missions.

In fact, the fame of some high-level hunters is no less than that of mercenaries worldwide.

After making the call, the senior engineer suddenly realized that his "faction panel" had almost finished updating.

Break through from the first-tier camp to the second-tier camp.

Sure enough, as soon as I opened the 'Faction', a series of notifications started playing.

[Your Tier 1 faction 'Mechanical Hunters' has been upgraded to Tier 2, Leader Reputation +3000]

[Faction Map Feature Unlocked]

[You can randomly add a new 'unit' or upgrade a unit in your faction.]

[You randomly receive a 'Tier 2 Building' card]

[You randomly receive a Leader Device (faction exclusive)]

[You have obtained 1 Mechanical System Fragment]

[You have obtained a faction-specific product - Biological/Mechanical Modification Pack]

[Your faction's attractiveness has increased, making it easier to recruit Tier 2 talents.]

I glanced at the faction points and sure enough, 100,000 had become 1 million, and all the previous points had been cleared.

The senior engineer could clearly feel that this strengthening of the faction had a subtle positive effect on the system.

This is something that players without a 'faction template' would never notice.

Should a new unit be added randomly, or should a new unit be strengthened?

After thinking it over, the senior engineer decided to strengthen the weapon, since strengthening it would provide a safety net.

[You choose to enhance the 'Mechanical Claw Man']

[Enhancement complete; the 'Mechanical Claw Man' now includes a 'Flight Module']

In the holographic projection, the mechanical claw-like figure, which originally resembled a "mechanical warrior," bulged out on its back, making it look much uglier and giving off a strong sense of déjà vu.

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?"

The senior engineer was stunned for a moment. The mechanical claw-like creature with the added flight module actually looked a bit like a fully metallic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

This is getting a bit complicated.

"Well..."

Fortunately, beneath this awful exterior, this unit's mechanical energy has increased by 30,000, and its level has risen from 30 to 33. It is no longer limited to being a street fighting monster, but has become a flying street fighting monster.

For the second-tier building, the senior engineer hesitated for a moment, then chose to open the leader's equipment instead.

[You have obtained the 'Mechanical Ring']

The senior engineer felt a slight itch on his little finger. He touched it instinctively and found a strange hexagonal ring on his finger.

Gao was immediately moved to tears. Damn it, the system can finally create things!

!

He finally understood what that feeling of "system evolution" he had just experienced meant.

It's hard to understand this feeling if you've never been a player.

It's like the end of hardship has finally brought happiness!

Name: Mechanized Ring (Faction Exclusive)

Category: Remote Control Device

Quality: Tier 2

Attributes: Intelligence +10, Perception +10

Note: Possesses supreme control over all models of intelligent mechs within the "Mechanical Hunter" faction.

The senior engineer immediately understood that this thing was a product built on 'general machine consciousness'.

To control all the mechs is more like controlling all the 'onboard intelligence'.

Or rather, it is an iterative product of "airborne intelligence".

Ultimately, it's a product of the game's rules. If it didn't have "onboard intelligence," this ring would probably have to be replaced with something else.

"Tsk tsk, no wonder it's something I stole from a level nine civilization, it's really high-class."

The senior engineer happily opened the modification package again.

[You have obtained faction-specific items - Mechanical Modification Pack/Biological Modification Pack]

The mechanical modification kit looks like a fist-sized mechanical box, while the biological modification kit looks like a fist-sized tumor.

Name: Mechanical Modification Package

Category: Logistics Equipment

Quality: Level 2 - Blank

Note: Due to the unique nature of the Mechanical Hunter profession, each type of "hunting modification" has a different direction, making it difficult to find suitable "repair parts" in a short time. Users can input their own mechanical body data into the "modification pack". When injured, the "modification pack" will quickly switch to repair mode, deform the damaged parts of the mechanical body, and then replace them.

As for the bio-modification package, it is described similarly, except that "mechanical body data" is replaced with "biological cells".

This thing is pretty awesome!

It's somewhat like a low-budget version of "Memory Metal Cell".

This thing largely makes up for a deficiency in the hunter profession, namely the lack of battlefield repair capabilities. Some general signal prosthetics that work on ordinary modders are not very effective on hunters.

Even if it's forcibly implanted, the attributes will inevitably plummet.

This "implantation package" perfectly solves this problem.

What, a blank board? A blank board is good. As a general-purpose piece of equipment, if you were truly "excellent" or "superior," I wouldn't be able to produce one.

Dugo Technologies's current technological level allows them to produce this "second-stage primary" production line at just the point where they can begin mass production.

System, you did a great job!

I'll send the information to Director Du later.

"You seem to be in a very good mood?"

The 'little woman' standing to the side suddenly asked in confusion.

"No, illusion, hallucination."

The senior engineer denied it three times. Meanwhile, the two had already dived into the deep sea and arrived near the "Eye of the Ocean".

The radiation here is indeed alarmingly high; it has turned the seawater black.

However, it had no effect on the two of them at all.

"Should we just take action?"

The "little woman," or rather, the brain in the vat, was eager to seize and dissect the "deity" worshipped by the sea people.

From this perspective, she seems to have absorbed some of Professor Han's personality traits.

"No rush."

A thought struck Gao Gong, and he opened the 'Faction Map'. A small green dot appeared in a hidden trench.

Clicking on the small green dot reveals all the attributes of the player named "Trilobite".

Compared to senior engineers, the gap is enormous.

However, that's not the point. The point is that the senior engineer saw the other party's mission—to rescue the ocean people.

After glancing at the task description, the senior engineer was overjoyed and muttered to himself.

"My job change quest and your evolution quest are both settled."