My Players Keep Grinding in the Post-Apocalyptic World

Chapter 27: Unexpectedly Obtaining the First Skill

[Radiant Flower]

[Category: Material]

[Despite its vibrant colors, it contains deadly radiation. Perhaps it can be used to create something.]

"Material."

African Thin Dog rubbed his nose bridge, then nodded.

"That's right, since the game has a crafting system, it naturally has a synthesis system. It can probably be used to synthesize some new items?"

Ghost Face Fox held up the [Radiant Flower] and asked the machine's display screen:

"How can we use this kind of material?"

Zero: "Materials can be used in equipment crafting to add extra attributes to new equipment. This material may also be used to make certain inlays, provided you find the corresponding recipe."

"I see! Thank you."

Lin Tang grabbed one of the flowers from above and handed it to Xiao Xiao.

"You owe us a spear. Try adding this when you craft the next one."

Xiao Xiao: "Uh, but my crafting process doesn't include adding flowers... Never mind, it's a game after all. I'll try crushing the flower and smearing it on the weapon."

African Thin Dog and the others collected 12 [Radiant Flowers], gave one to Xiao Xiao, and temporarily stored the remaining 11.

Lin Tang muttered to himself: "Next time we go to the radiation crater, we should collect more. As long as it's material, it's never wrong to hoard more."

The other four strongly agreed.

The Hoarding Party never loses!

After receiving the flower, Xiao Xiao began crafting a new stone spear.

Forgiveness Hat didn't have this skill, so naturally, he didn't feel right asking African Thin Dog and the others directly for their biological materials. He borrowed a crowbar and went down the mountain by himself.

African Thin Dog was also very generous in sharing his gaming experience from these two logins with Forgiveness Hat.

Now in the pioneering stage with scarce resources, African Thin Dog and the other two unanimously believed that players needed to unite to develop faster.

Especially when dealing with raider camps with dozens of people, it's truly impossible to fight with too few people.

African Thin Dog glanced at the time: "It's almost time. Let's quickly break down the spoils. Oh right, leave one raider corpse for Xiao Xiao. Let's try breaking down mutant animals to see what good stuff we can get."

"Mm, I was thinking the same. Based on general gaming experience, different creatures will definitely have different drop rates and items."

The three helped Xiao Xiao throw a raider corpse into the [Clone Creation Warehouse], and Xiao Xiao's task progress changed to: 1/3.

Then the three placed a raider corpse, a mutant hyena, and a mutant vampire rabbit on the [Spoils Generator].

Ghost Face Fox: "Wait! That's not right."

"We can't break down everything. Unlike raiders, mutant animals themselves are a resource that can be utilized without transformation. For example, fur is a material for making clothes and armor, meat can be used as food, and the whole animal can be traded with caravans."

Lin Tang also recalled trading with the caravan in the game this morning.

"Although I couldn't understand what the caravan was saying... these prey should be hard currency, able to exchange for various resources from them. Thinking about it this way, the prey itself does have value."

"Then let's break down one mutant hyena first to see. After all, bunnies are so cute, they must be delicious!"

African Thin Dog made the final decision, taking out the nearly 1-meter-tall giant mutant blood rabbit that was standing up from the decomposition warehouse.

"Although these genetically mutated creatures all look somewhat ferocious, they should taste good. After all, they're wild, so the texture and chewiness must be great."

Ghost Face Fox shook his head: "If there's no special need and it's just for satisfying hunger, I think it's better to exchange for beans with high satiety. At least they're easy to store, and in terms of exchange, we'd get more in quantity, allowing us to recover strength multiple times."

Lin Tang: "Fox Big's words make sense. If you want to eat something, order takeout in reality. In the game, as long as we can fill our stomachs, it doesn't matter if we eat shit or meat."

Ghost Face Fox's mouth twitched: "...There's no need to eat shit."

"Ahem! Anyway, let's break these two down first."

After clicking start, the three waited for a moment, and the machine's conveyor belt rolled out the spoils.

Two items from the raiders were a bottle of blood medicine and a necklace.

[Bone Charm of Aggression]

[Quality: Superior]

[+14 Attack Ability]

[+3 Health Recovery Speed per second]

The mutant hyena only yielded 1 item.

A thin, long red bone spike.

[Serrated Spike]

[Inlay (can be used on all weapons, shields, and off-hand arcane focuses)]

[3 Piercing Damage]

[9 Bleeding Damage over 3 seconds]

[+12% Bleeding Damage]

[Grants Skill: Armor-Breaking Aura]

[Enhances your and your teammates' attacks, allowing them to penetrate armor. Range: 10 meters. This skill needs to be continuously activated to remain effective.]

[Activation will reduce energy cap by 50 points, consuming 1 energy per second.]

[7 Piercing Damage]

[+25% Piercing Damage]

Lin Tang: "Holy crap? We got top-tier items? Two top-tier items at once? 666!"

Ghost Face Fox held the equipment and began analyzing.

"The charm is worn around the neck, so it definitely won't conflict with ring bonuses. This 3-point health recovery speed, if used well, can help our small team quickly recover health in the wild. As for the attack ability attribute... African Thin Dog, you explain it, is the bonus noticeable?"

African Thin Dog said confidently: "The bonus is very noticeable. During combat, I react faster and deal damage beyond my expectations. It's like being in a hyper-aware state, you know? When facing great danger, the brain enters overload operation, your mind becomes incredibly clear, everything seems to move in slow motion, and you can instantly make quick and accurate decisions. The increase in attack ability isn't that exaggerated, but it's developing in that direction."

"I speculate that if I can stack my attack ability very high, I could directly enter a hyper-aware state."

"So, although attack ability doesn't directly boost strength values like weapons and rings do, its effect is not small at all."

Ghost Face Fox nodded repeatedly as he listened.

"African Thin Dog is still professional, as expected of a rich guy with a personal trainer. If that's the case, then attack ability can be considered a power enhancer, right? After stacking it high, it can bring out combat performance beyond one's inherent abilities. Is my understanding correct?"

"Absolutely accurate! Fox Big knows how to summarize."

Lin Tang said directly: "Alright, alright, let's fast forward to giving this charm to African Thin Dog. I get it. Now look at this thing... Wow, the attributes on this inlay are equivalent to two pieces of equipment. Isn't this too overpowered?"

He was holding that thin, long red bone spike, which felt extremely tough to the touch.

The attributes on it made the three click their tongues.

African Thin Dog: "The basic attributes it adds are okay, and the bleeding damage should be quite considerable when accumulated. But overall, it's not much different from the [Boiling Fresh Blood] dropped by raiders. However, it comes with an aura skill, which is pretty awesome. One person inlays it, the whole team benefits! I didn't expect our first skill to come from an inlay rather than learning from an NPC."

"Let me quickly calculate the actual bonus... For me personally, it increases piercing damage by 10 points, plus 25%, so that's an extra 12.5 stable piercing damage per hit. Our own base attack power is only 10 points, and the weapons Xiao Xiao crafts only have 10~20 attack power. Add to that 3.3 bleeding damage per second, and it's like giving me another weapon!"

"For teammates, it calculates to about 8.75 piercing damage. Everyone's output collectively increases by a level!"

Ghost Face Fox nodded and then shook his head: "Your calculation is correct, but... you've overlooked that the weapons Xiao Xiao crafts come with a 5~7 point piercing damage bonus, so the benefit from this 25% will be even higher."

Lin Tang: "Hiss~~ Then won't I really be able to go on a killing spree?"

As the three were marveling, Cheng Shaofeng walked over.

"Soldiers, it's dark. You should rest now."

"Ah! But I haven't played enough!"

"This is an order. You have 3 minutes to organize your things."

"Oh, alright then."

The three collected all their gains into the simple hut they had built, then lay down together.

[Players African Thin Dog, Ghost Face Fox, Lin Tang have logged off]

Cheng Shaofeng turned his head to see Xiao Xiao, who was still polishing weapons, looking at him pitifully.

"Lord, I... just logged on for a little while."

"Soldier, the nights in the wasteland are very dangerous, but if you don't go down the mountain, I can allow you to stay in the base for a bit longer."

"Thank you! I'll just stay here making weapons!"

Xiao Xiao continued excitedly grinding the [Radiant Flower].

The sunset faded, and it gradually grew dark. The other player, Forgiveness Hat, hadn't returned yet.

Cheng Shaofeng was a bit worried.

"With his abilities, he should be able to return safely, right?"

Tonight, the leaders of all the raider camps in the Four Mountains area and surrounding regions received a signal to head to the radiation crater.

There will be another chapter later tonight.

(End of Chapter)

Read ahead up to chapter 400 at