Sentinels Understand the Game

Boiling beans.

The yellow beans tumbled in the small iron pot, emitting a faint aroma.

The three Players found it novel and praised the game's object burning engine again.

Boiled beans with some salt from Salt Well Town solved the lunch for the four of them.

Cheng Shaofeng led the three Players to the specialty machines of the Calamity Base.

"This is the core functional equipment of our Calamity Base, the Loot Generator. It can decompose all creatures containing Energy to produce supplies for your use. This will be your main source of Equipment for now. Oh, and if you obtain a Skill Imprint, be sure to hand it over to the Base. I will reward you with generous Merit Points based on the rarity of the imprint."

"This one is the Attribute Conversion Tower. It can appraise any valuable item and reveal its precise stats."

"And this last one is the Clone Production Pod. Our Calamity Soldiers possess immortal souls. As long as they have a clone body, they can fight forever. The machine that creates your bodies is this one. Every time you die, I need to mobilize the Base's resources to reconstruct your bodies.

Unfortunately! We are currently extremely short on supplies, and each clone body is very precious. I will not allow any wasteful behavior with life! For Soldiers who repeatedly waste their bodies without cause, I will eternally seal their souls deep within the Base, never to awaken again."

The three were shocked!

Thin Dog whispered, "Can NPCs in this game get banned? Is that for real?"

Lin Tang: "If you don't believe it, go kick him and see what happens?"

Thin Dog's mouth twitched slightly: "I'm not stupid."

Ghost Face Demon Fox: "It seems the Death Penalty in this game is quite severe. I'll ask the NPC later if there are any measures to avoid punishment."

Cheng Shaofeng ignored the three Players whispering in front of him and continued as if he were an NPC:

"However... if you can find the Biological Raw Materials, Electronic Components, and Energy needed for your resurrection body in advance, I can forgive your foolishness."

At this moment, the smartwatches of the three flashed again.

Mission: Collect materials for one clone body for yourself
Requirements: Biological Raw Materials * 1, Electronic Components * 1, Energy Substance: Several
Soldiers who are prepared for death are qualified to die. Resurrection is a very luxurious matter.
Mission Reward: 100 Merit Points

Cheng Shaofeng currently had nothing but dozens of pounds of beans, so he could only reward the Players with Merit Points.

Fortunately, these three Players seemed to buy into it.

After assigning the mission, Cheng Shaofeng stood on the hillside and looked down.

"Raiders are tricky enemies. It will be difficult for you to win with your current Strength. If you encounter them, prioritize survival. You can hunt some mutated creatures first to gain Experience and Biological Raw Materials, and also replenish some food for our Base."

"If you have any questions you don't understand, you can ask our Base's AI butler, Zero. It's on the display screen of the three machines. Alright Soldiers, take the Weapons I've prepared for you and go about your business!"

After speaking, Cheng Shaofeng stood there striking a pose.

The other three exchanged glances and left the hillside.

The three machines were placed by Cheng Shaofeng in the only small cave on the mountain. He used to lie in it to avoid rain or pursuit.

The cave was very small, and after placing the three machines, there was no room for anyone else to sleep.

In front of the three machines were three Weapons.

One long weapon, two short weapons.

The long weapon was the Rusty Mace that Thin Dog had snatched from a Raider before.

As for the two short weapons, one was a crowbar, and the other... was also a crowbar.

Thin Dog, with quick reflexes, immediately grabbed the mace with both hands.

"This is the one I took from the Raider! I want to use this one!"

The other two shrugged and each picked up a crowbar.

The next second, Thin Dog was stunned: "Huh? This weapon has a stat panel now? It didn't before. It can even trigger Bleed Damage, that's pretty good!"

Lin Tang: "Huh? Why doesn't my crowbar have stats? Thin Dog, let me see yours, let me play with it. I won't snatch it from you, why are you like this, give it here!"

While Lin Tang and Thin Dog were fighting over the mace.

Ghost Face Demon Fox walked to the Attribute Conversion Tower and placed a crowbar on it.

One second later.

A light blue light flashed before Ghost Face Demon Fox's eyes.

Notification: Stats for 'Worn Iron Crowbar' are now visible.

The crowbar in his hand revealed its stats.

[Worn Iron Crowbar]
[Quality: Ordinary]
[Physical Damage: 5~12]
[Physical Attack +10%]

Ghost Face Demon Fox tapped his smartwatch and shared the crowbar's stats. Thin Dog and Lin Tang could also see them.

"Huh? Is that so?"

Lin Tang stopped trying to grab the mace and, following suit, had his crowbar appraised at the [Attribute Conversion Tower].

"Damn it! The weapon's variable stats are worse than the Fox Lord's."

He shared his stats.

[Worn Iron Crowbar]

[Quality: Ordinary]

[Physical Damage: 4~12]

[Physical Attack +9%]

The lower end of the damage and the physical attack bonus were both a little lower.

The Demonic Fox glanced at his crowbar.

The two of them froze.

Then they looked at Thin Dog's name.

()()

"Ahem!" The Demonic Fox coughed twice to break the awkwardness.

"Well, since we've seen the weapon stats, Thin Dog's weapon has the highest attack power and can inflict bleed damage. However, his is a two-handed weapon, which is a bit more cumbersome to use than our crowbars. His attack speed and turning speed will definitely be slower than ours. So, in terms of combat strategy, it would be best for Thin Dog to take the lead in attacking, while the two of us provide support by attacking and blocking."

Lin Tang did a quick calculation.

"That's right. The mace has a 10% chance to deal 50 bleed damage, which is much more useful than our percentage-based physical damage bonus. Our base attack power is too low. My own base attack power is about 10, and the weapon's attack is 5~12. That 10% physical damage bonus would be at most 2.2, which is very low."

"Translating that data into reality, it just means our crowbars are a bit tougher and hit a little harder."

After a moment of understanding, the three of them scanned the base to see what else was usable.

They spotted a palm-sized square imprint on the [Loot Generator].

"Huh? What is this... the [Skill Imprint] the NPC mentioned? The one that lets you learn skills?"

"That's right."

Zero's voice came from the colorful display screen of the [Loot Generator].

"Skill description follows."

A blue panel appeared before the three of them simultaneously.

[Skill Imprint: Barbarian Skin]

[Radiation kills the weak, while the strong can absorb its power to strengthen themselves, granting their skin superior defense.]

[Passive Skill]

[0/12 Level]

[Next Level: 1]

[+3% Health]

[+4% Physical Resistance]

[+5% Radiation Resistance]

[Applicable Class: Barbarian]

[Requires Barbarian Class Specialization Points: 1]

Zero: "However, it's a shame you can't learn it yet. You need to reach Level 2 to obtain skill points, and then use those skill points to learn skills."

Thin Dog: "Oh, okay then. Killing monsters and enemies gives experience, right? I'm familiar with that. When I killed that Raider, I got 12 experience points. I only need 488 more experience to level up."

Zero: "A reminder to all Soldiers, please make contact with the Lord regularly to back up your body data. This way, when creating clones, your body state at the time of backup will be fully restored."

Thin Dog suddenly realized: "Oh, so that's why there's no death penalty. It's because I ran with the Lord after killing the Raider. I must have backed up then. Close call, I almost lost the experience from that Raider."

Demonic Fox: "Understood. It's a special death penalty mechanism. We have to return to the base regularly, otherwise, after struggling out there for a long time, if we die, we start from zero. The risk is too high."

Lin Tang understood: "If I were the designer, I would set it up this way too! This is an unrestricted open world. If players just run around aimlessly as soon as they log in, without following the main quest, then no one will push the plot forward, and the later designs will be useless. In the end, the game will become a mess, and no one will be able to enjoy it properly. The Sentinel really understands games."

The three of them left the base, preparing to head down the mountain to find some monsters and test the waters.

Zero's voice came from behind them: "Please do not challenge overly powerful enemies. If a teammate dies, retrieving his corpse and returning to the base can yield a large amount of Biological Raw Materials and Electronic Components."

"Okay, thanks!"

After the three players, armed with their weapons, descended the mountain.

Thin Dog glanced back sneakily: "I have a way to deal with Raiders!"