Chương 13: First Mass Slaughter

[Acquired Gold x50, Mod Card x1, Skill Shard (Rare) x5, Spirit Stones x20] Nyx eyed the resources dazedly for a minute. There were two new resource types he hadn't seen before, though he'd heard of them in the regional chats. The skill shards were self-explanatory. What he was really interested in was the spirit stones. He retrieved one from his inventory. The pinkish, smooth marble-like object manifested in his hand. It felt nice and soothing to just hold.

It aroused in him a sort of stretching sensation, like the one felt during a yawn.

"Based on the color, it's a healing spirit stone." These were rare, and that was him putting it mildly. As dawn arose, he'd already gotten information about how the Green Ghost Fleet had begun unearthing these stones from the new mines they'd established at the Black Stone Mountains to the north of the central plains. And thus far, they'd reportedly unearthed fire, water, and earth type elemental spirit stones. But no healing ones had been discovered. With a hand to his chin, Nyx contemplated the reason.

One possibility was that they were simply rarer. But Nyx had a better, equally plausible theory.

"It could also be that they're only obtainable from chests as exclusive loot drops?" Either way, the appearance of spirit stones meant one thing: cultivation. Although no one had done it yet, it reportedly involved inhaling the mana of these stones into oneself to form into a ball or something. He was sparsely versed in xianxia literature and Daoism as a whole, so he didn't feel particularly confident about this core and ball business.

"Guess I'll wait for now, and see what the others do with these stones." He returned the item to his inventory. Among all the nascent factions, the Green Ghost Fleet and that heavenly demon were now in the process of forming a core.

In fact, while returning from the lower mountain area after buying the anti-material weapons, he'd checked the regional chat, which was abuzz with how the Heavenly Demon had killed a whole twenty people—some of them members of the Green Ghost Fleet—taken the whole of their fire spirit stone stocks for herself, and disappeared.

"A demon, alright." Nyx shrugged. This effectively ushered in the beginning of mass killings among survivors, and he didn't believe it would stay confined to this one incident.

"Either way, let's see what this Mod Card has in store." The card materialized in his palm with a familiar cardboard-like sensation. He flipped it over to check the text. [Modification: "Premium Silencer"] Evaluation: The silencer of silencers, belonging to the top 1% of silencers globally that had worked hard to reach the top wealth class. Can quiet down the shots of justice and death for as far as eyes can see and ears can hear, is powered by proprietary tech of charity.

Nyx gave the card an awkward look, put it inside the inventory, boarded his vehicle, and left the spot for a safer one. On the way, he opened his status screen and found he'd apparently leveled up—or his race had, at least. Some stats had been automatically assigned, and he wished to see which ones.

Status Name: Nyx Race: Human Base Attributes Strength: 6 Agility: 12 Vitality: 9 Endurance: 5 (+2) Toughness: 3 (+2) Willpower: 10 (+1) Free Points: 5 Title: The First Slayer Skill: Usurper (Unique) Inventory: [Gold x62, Fuel x8, Leather x300, Iron Plates x130, Glass Panels x300, Mechanical Parts x100, Universal Bullets x9508, Mod Card x1, Skill Shards (Rare) x5] You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. [Regional Chat] [Exchange]

"So the initial stat points were allocated to endurance, toughness, and willpower… why?" At the question, another holographic screen popped up. [Race: Human (D-Grade)] Evaluation: The race of humans are tough, adaptive against the harshness of nature, and possess a moderate amount of willpower, which too is wholly focused on not dying. Despite the miserable conditions they'd evolved under, being the tough-ass race that they are, they get bonus stat points of +2 toughness, +2 endurance, +1 willpower.

"D-Grade?" Nyx also noticed a shift in tone from this system message. Until now, it had felt culturally familiar to his world.

"Now it's speaking like some alien?" He also noticed another of his mistakes. Just because the stat screen resembled the games he used to play, he'd neglected to poke around it for any extra information. Now that he was doing so, he discovered that simply tapping on the race icon of the screen unfurled this race explanation and evaluation screen. Shaking his head, he found himself already back at the foothills of Stardew Valley. After weaving through a bit more maple leaves, he found the cave he'd previously left.

He parked the vehicle, bought himself some good food and water for one gold, and got to eating. His stomach had been growling with hunger since the moment he'd woken up, and now that he could finally take a bite of a burger, a satisfying feeling washed over him as the food slid to the pit of his stomach. After gulping some water, he opened the regional chats again, and frowned at the contents of the conversation there.

"Seriously, the happenings of the regional chat will never cease to amaze me." There was a new notice from the Green Ghost Fleet pinned to the top. He'd recently found out that pinning a post to the top of the chat cost a hefty ten gold coins. So the pinned posts from them were always of high importance. Regional Chat [We hereby announce Heavenly Demon as a Terrorist, mass murderer. Any and all people connected to them would be labeled as enemies of the Green Ghost Fleet. Even selling her equipment, food, or any kind of utilities would be considered would bar these individuals from accessing the mines of Black Stone Mountain. And no supplies would be sold to these individuals originating from our mountains! [Any miner that sells supplies to these individuals would also be barred from entering the mountains vicinity.] [We're also announcing an official salary of 15 gold per day for the general members of Green Ghost Fleet. Recruitment is still open. Everyone meeting the requirements of owning at least one assault rifle, two thousand bullets and vehicle capable of housing at least four people are welcomed to apply.] [Seriously, they're so hypocritical, it was they who'd first unfairly laid claim to the mountain through brute force and violence.] [That's conquest for you, buddy, it's often done through violence and unfairness.] [Still, 15 gold as salary for the general staff? Damn they're loaded to be offering that much… I might just apply.] [Me too.] [Me three gang.] [Y'all had heard of a chick recruiting brokies at the central plains? She rides an armoured RV and stuff, have already recruited ten buff dudes.] [Dawg…] [You sick f*ck, who's broke? your system fed nepo baby!?] [Lol, someone's salty.] [Hey, have anyone's gotten that announcement too] [You mean the one about the slaying of a Treasure Guardian?] [Yeah, someone's gotten the title of "The First Slayer".] [I'd seen a treasure guardian at the depths of the Misty Mountain's. The thing's so terrifying, I can't even imagine getting a thousand feet near that.] [Well duh, those things are probably mid game bosses requiring mid game gears. Crazy that someone's already defeated them so early.] [This is no game you basement dwelling goblin.] [Any ideas about who this first slayer could be?] [Isn't it obvious?] [Lol, yeah.] [Who else but that Heavenly Demon bitch.] Nyx could only sigh at the events unfolding around him. Although he'd been fairly isolated from others so far, there were many others out there mixing with each other, securing benefits, and colliding. Regarding the First Slayer title, at the mention of it, he remembered, pulled up the stat screen, and tapped on it. [The First Slayer] Rarity: Unique Evaluation: Congratulations to the mentally ill bastard who'd voluntarily risked his life before all to slay the first treasure guardian. The title you've acquired is something only one can have and wield. It would give your attacks a 15% damage boost against all treasure guardians and bosses. Nyx whistled at that." Sweet. Although 15% doesn't seem like much, it's still far better than nothing—especially if the treasure bosses scale to ridiculous levels with the rarity of the chests." He hummed joyfully at receiving such a privilege for a while, before his thoughts drifted back to the conflict brewing between the Green Ghost Fleet and Heavenly Demon. He specifically couldn't wrap his head around what these fleets were up to. The Green Ghost Fleet had already monopolized the Black Stone Mountains—possibly the most useful resource for long-term survival: the spirit stones. And if mana was going to be a thing, there would have to be a use for them." For example, I have these healing mana. If I cultivate them, maybe I'd be able to use the energy to heal myself… and even others." But even then, he wasn't certain where this information about such rare stuff was coming from. Earlier, he'd expected there to already be people who'd gotten their hands on rarer treasure chests through one path or another—like the rumor about Heavenly Demon getting a silver chest. But since it was him who'd gotten the First Slayer title, it meant either she'd gotten a treasure chest not guarded by a guardian, or it was just some false rumor made up by someone." It's likely the work of someone with a divination skill, pulling information straight from the future." But regardless of where the information came from, the fact remained that Black Stone Mountain, Misty Mountain, and perhaps other resource points were getting monopolized by the larger fleets. And if it required violence on the level of Heavenly Demon to get the amount and kind of resources one needed… He heaved a sigh." I should start taking this fleet business a tad bit more seriously too." he turned back to his stat screen, specifically, the free points tab." Hmm, where to allocate these?"