Vol-2: 096. Training Players

096. Training Players

Although only 31 players from the Murloc Guild were willing to accept Li Aozi's quest, this was exactly the number he had expected. Li Aozi was very satisfied, and after awakening their Omega Energy, he began teaching them techniques and class knowledge hands-on.

These players would be stationed in Triangle Town for a long time, undergoing Li Aozi's training. Once they completed all the training, they would receive the generous 50,000 experience points Li Aozi had promised, but this valuable experience would soon be reclaimed through "learning skills" and "renting Omega Energy."

However, Li Aozi still provided the players with plenty of ways to develop economically. He specifically booked the Triangle Town dueling arena for players to spar and compete, facilitating the selection process for the cosmic quota. The duels would attract spectators, generating ticket revenue, and players would receive a share of the profits.

Additionally, the people of Triangle Town appreciated these hard-working and enthusiastic Tianhuan players. On one hand, though the players had no bottom line, they were trustworthy and responsible as long as there were tasks and rewards. On the other hand, they were robust laborers who eagerly took on all sorts of odd, tough, and dangerous jobs. Even for life-threatening reconnaissance missions, the players would rush forward enthusiastically.

"Compared to the vile behavior of Tianhuan scum, at least they can be considered human."

In fact, with the players using "disguise mode," they didn't disrupt the local residents' lives too much. This made Warlord Auckland look at Li Aozi with newfound respect—being able to control such a large group of superhumans meant Li Aozi's status in Tianhuan likely needed to be reevaluated.

But soon, everyone noticed something peculiar about these "Tianhuan people." Sometimes, mid-conversation, they'd suddenly close their eyes and disappear, reappearing from who knows where. After killing monsters, they always seemed to want to rummage under the bodies.

Of course, their most significant feature was that they seemed impossible to kill.

No matter how severe their injuries were, they could lie on the ground, calling out to their teammates with full vigor, "Help me, help me!" Their teammates would calmly walk over, tap their knees, give them a shot of adrenaline, or apply a meaningless bandage, and somehow forcefully bring them back to life.

In response, the lord sent people to find Li Aozi, expressing concern: citizens were starting to suspect these people were some kind of biochemical experiments. After all, while the four nations weren't entirely evil in their biochemical labs, their sins were still too numerous to record, and they had left deep scars on the outside world.

Li Aozi didn't bother hiding much and subtly hinted that these players were already outliers in the four nations. If you treated them well, they would work hard for you.

"You can call them... 'Descenders.'"

Auckland, being a warlord, immediately started to scheme after seeing the Descenders' impressive abilities and unique traits. "If I could get more warriors like this, maybe..."

"If you want to command them in battle, it's not impossible, but they might not be as useful as you imagine. Small-scale infiltration is fine, but forget about anything else."

Li Aozi brushed him off casually.

The level cap for version 1.0 was only level 20, and these players definitely wouldn't reach that in the short 15-day beta period.

Even if they made it to Alpha rank, everyone knew the realities of frontline warfare. On average, it took 220,000 rounds of ammunition to kill a single soldier in the four nations, and in a localized battle, they might consume 160,000 artillery shells and 40 drones in a single day. To take over a village, they might send in one or two thousand soldiers.

You could be a legendary elite soldier or a martial arts prodigy, but it wouldn't matter. The moment you jump out of an armored transport on the battlefield, a reactive armor fragment from a mobile tank could kill you.

In war, personal strength and numbers were just statistics. Even at Gamma rank, if the four nations truly wanted to, they could coldly treat you as high-grade cannon fodder.

Wealth, productivity, logistics, diplomatic influence, willpower, and strategic thinking—in other words, comprehensive strength—were the real measures in warfare.

Auckland wasn't foolish and quickly put his schemes aside—though he had no idea that in a distant future, with players averaging level 280, they'd be bouncing around like mad dogs in Star Abyss, causing headaches for even narrative-level civilizations.

There was still some time before the formal start of the Kowloon Meeting, and Li Aozi had reached a bottleneck in his strength, so he had time to personally teach the players how to avoid the early pitfalls of the [Mutant] class.

After the Gulant battlefield, he had no more reliable sources of experience, and low-level enemies and monsters were no longer rewarding due to experience penalties. It was better to improve the players' combat abilities to prepare them for infiltrating the Beitiao Group.

The key issue was that the quests Li Aozi had were too difficult and were stuck in his hands.

To be more precise, the completion condition C of the quest "Remember It" involved rooting out the sponsor behind the Abyss Humanitarian organization, and Li Aozi might be able to find a breakthrough from N4.

But as for the quest "White Frost-Plated Bones," Li Aozi had no clue where to start.

For quests of this level, each of the four nations probably had their own main storyline that would trigger upon reaching a certain point.

Each nation had its own problems: the gender conflict in Frost-Plated, the internal strife in Red Arrow, the military turmoil in Tianhuan, and the developmental stagnation in Zhengxu—all of these issues could be traced back to the disappearance of the sun caused by the Calamity. But while it was easy to talk about, getting the four nations to admit their problems were related to the Calamity, to reach a consensus, and to work together to find a breakthrough—that was nothing short of a pipe dream.

Compared to dealing with those issues, training the players was far easier.

Players were great at spreading techniques and styles, and as information conduits, Li Aozi had control of the forums. Now, with a group of workers, word of the improved [Mutant] class spread. Many video creators even made guides during the beta phase, offering reasonable analyses of the class's features and future potential.

But in the short term, it wasn't likely that the players would show any meaningful results.

While teaching the players, Li Aozi also obtained some medical knowledge and skills through channels in the Red Arrow Empire. He learned them all and applied them to his [Biochemist] class, using his class talents to raise his [Constitution] stat, just in case he encountered enemies dealing real damage and needed to prevent being critically injured.

Naturally, this included the subject Li Aozi had longed for: "Pharmacokinetics." As soon as he acquired it, he leveled his proficiency up to the bachelor's level. After a few experiments, the new DM-303 reagent showed immediate effect upon ingestion. Without hesitation, Li Aozi expanded production, putting all the production lines into making the new Omega Energy reagent.

He sent some batches to Sislon to increase the number of superhumans, sold some to players for their luck with rare draws, and kept most of the supply for himself.

For the next period, Li Aozi essentially became "Changshu Arnold," constantly injecting himself with the latest Omega Energy awakening reagents. Once he reached Beta rank, mutation occurred every 10 levels, so he freely used the reagents without worrying about side effects from choosing mutation directions.

After all, to him, the body was just a biological machine with implants. If it broke down, he could just transfer his consciousness along with his Omega Energy to a new one.