Types of talents!

As the system notification sounded, the Gale Ranger's speed dropped rapidly, finally settling at six hundred kilometers per hour.

Su Ye slowed down, picked up the Scorching Thermos, and took a sip to steady himself. Only then did he accelerate again, reaching seven hundred and thirty kilometers per hour.

He drove another thirty-odd kilometers.

Noticing red dots on the Radar, Su Ye slammed on the brakes. The Gale Ranger came to a steady stop a few dozen meters away from them.

These were the first Great Xia Soldiers he had encountered that day.

"Password!"

"Spark."

"Prairie Fire."

The passwords matched.

Su Ye immediately got out, and the two sides met.

"Everyone, I've successfully advanced to the first tier. My Vehicle has also reached level twelve, and I chose the Training Room as my Vehicle Building," Su Ye said.

"All right, Comrade Su Ye. We've recorded your situation and will report it as soon as we return."

The middle-aged man leading them nodded. "Once your Beginner Period ends and you awaken your talent, the logistics department will plan out suitable skills based on it."

"Comrade, what general categories do talents fall into? Is there any way to choose one freely?" Su Ye asked.

"In Great Xia, we broadly divide talents into active, passive, and support talents."

"There are countless talents. An active talent isn't necessarily a combat talent. Invisibility, for example, has no combat power in itself, but it can be tremendously effective when used well."

"No matter what kind of talent it is, it won't be strong at first. It improves as the player advances through the tiers."

At that point, the middle-aged man shook his head helplessly. "As for choosing a talent freely, that isn't possible early on."

"Later, you can obtain Talent Crystals by participating in certain event Instances. Each Talent Crystal contains a different talent, which you gain by using it. But that won't be possible until after the Beginner Period, at the earliest."

"Or you can visit a service area shop. They have everything, provided you have enough Survival Coins. But these things are extremely expensive, so don't even think about them early on."

Su Ye listened carefully, committing each piece of information to memory.

Looks like my first talent will have to be random. I wonder what it'll be.

Su Ye wasn't expecting anything particularly powerful. As long as it was useful at this stage, that would be enough.

"By the way, I already have a Training Room, but I need monster materials to gain practical combat experience."

"My idea is to collect a material sample from one of our Great Xia Soldiers and enter it into the Training Room so it can teach me how to fight," Su Ye said.

The Great Xia Soldiers' close-quarters combat techniques were undoubtedly far superior to those of monsters that only knew how to bite and tear on instinct.

"No problem. I'll report that as well. You'll encounter two more groups from Great Xia today, and they'll have everything ready for you."

"Unfortunately, the five of us aren't top experts in close-quarters combat. Otherwise, we could solve that problem for you ourselves."

"If there are no other questions, we'll head back first," the middle-aged man said.

Then he turned around and nodded to the other four soldiers.

The next second, the five Great Xia Soldiers began attacking one another.

Bang, bang, bang!

Under their mutual attacks, their health bars rapidly plummeted until only a sliver remained.

Swish!

Cold blade light flashed and vanished, accompanied by a sharp sound of tearing air.

All five bodies fell together, dissolving into specks of light that scattered through the air. Several faintly glowing items remained on the ground.

Between them, the five had dropped three Storage Rings and two Function Modules.

"Energy-Saving Module, Hard Armor module..." After examining the two modules' attributes, Su Ye shook his head slightly.

He already owned both modules and had installed them on the Gale Ranger.

"Even if I can't use them, I can sell them to someone else later."

Su Ye put away the two Function Modules.

Then he picked up the three Storage Rings. A faint light flashed as they merged into the Storage Ring on his hand.

Its capacity reached 290 cubic meters.

Once that was done, Su Ye looked up at the sky.

The sun had fully risen, dispelling the cold mist over the highway, but doing little to alleviate its desolate atmosphere.

Su Ye turned and walked back to the Gale Ranger, opened the door, and settled into the driver's seat before continuing down the road.

As the sun climbed higher, the scenery on both sides of the highway remained as barren as ever.

Before long, noon arrived.

Su Ye glanced at the time on the dashboard and decisively pressed a red button on the console.

"Sprint module, activate!"

Boom!

Two jets of deep blue flame erupted from the Gale Ranger's rear, and a powerful force shoved him back into his seat.

Raging air currents tore past the vehicle, producing a piercing howl.

Even with the protection of the Sealing module and the Hard Armor module, Su Ye could still feel the extreme speed sending his adrenaline soaring.

The ten-minute Sprint passed in a flash.

As the system notification sounded again, the Gale Ranger's speed dropped smoothly, finally settling once more at seven hundred and thirty kilometers per hour.

Not long after finishing his Sprint, he encountered the second group of Great Xia Soldiers.

Su Ye pushed open the door and strode out.

"Password!" the man leading the other group demanded in a deep voice.

"Spark."

"Prairie Fire."

The passwords matched, and the three men opposite him relaxed their tense bodies slightly.

"Hello, Comrade Su Ye. I'm Zhou Daqiang, formerly a combat instructor in the Great Xia Third Military Region. The higher-ups sent me here after hearing your request."

The man at the front strode forward, his voice loud and resonant.

Su Ye studied him. He didn't have the exaggerated, tower-like build and bulging muscles Su Ye had imagined.

Instead, his build was extremely well-proportioned, even somewhat lean.

He had a neat buzz cut and several faint, old scars on his face.

Most unsettling of all were his eyes.

They were as sharp as a hawk's, their calmness carrying a disregard for life.

Even though Zhou Daqiang's face was wreathed in a gentle smile, Su Ye felt as though some ferocious creature had fixed its gaze on him.

This was undoubtedly a ruthless man who had fought his way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood.