After collecting the spoils of war, with the keen intuition of a seasoned, top-tier power-leveler, Chen Luo immediately noticed that the surrounding environment had changed quite a bit. The broken, crumbling structures of the abandoned industrial park seemed to have grown denser, firmer, and abnormally solid. Although he could not yet pinpoint the exact nature of these transformations, he was certain that a major structural topography and ecological "migration" had quietly taken place last night—a shift that ordinary people would find hard to notice.
Just as a hint of doubt bubbled up in his heart, the system's notification sound rang out to interrupt his train of thoughts:
-"Ding! Congratulations to the player for successfully logging in on Day 2. The Closed-Beta countdown has 350 days remaining. Congratulations on acquiring the skill 「Extended Crafting」 and unlocking the system feature: 「Recipe Book」."
-"Ding! Completed the first quest of the Survival chain quest — 「Survive the First Night」. Rewards received: 「Skill Points」 x10, 「Free Attribute Points」 x25, and unlocked the skill-cum-achievement 「Weapon Master」. Wishing the player early completion of this achievement."
Description:
「Extended Crafting」: A specialized occupational skill unique to the Crafting branch. It significantly broadens the owner's innate crafting knowledge base, allowing them to access and manufacture advanced items and equipment far beyond their current stage.
「Recipe Book」: An interface storing all the crafting recipes the player has mastered, featuring an exclusive privilege: it can be used to impart crafting techniques to NPCs or other players.
「Weapon Master」: The supreme skill-cum-achievement of the multi-weapon system. When proficiency with various weapon types reaches a certain threshold, the physical body will automatically generate a series of corresponding, overpowered passive skills, comprehensively enhancing overall combat prowess.
This time, it was truly an astronomical surprise!
The rewards from the survival chain quest were so immensely valuable that even a top-tier pro like Chen Luo couldn't help his eyes from lighting up. Not to mention the Skill Points and Free Attribute Points, just the crafting-branch skill and that dual achievement-skill entry alone were enough to make Chen Luo fully realize their true significance.
If 「Extended Crafting」 could be considered an omnipotent lifebuoy during this desolate apocalyptic era, then 「Weapon Master」 was the golden key leading straight to the pinnacle of combat. The difficulty to trigger its passive skills was brutally merciless—demanding that the user reach the realm of "weapon soul integration" across multiple diverse weaponry types. However, once successfully unlocked, the resulting surge in power would be completely limitless.
According to urban legends within the professional gaming circle of the year 2150, it was rumored that pushing 「Weapon Master」 to its maximum level would grant a player a completely unique, one-of-a-kind title. A few freaks of nature had actually pulled it off, but immediately afterward, they all chose to go into hiding to avoid the public spotlight, because that title acted like a juicy piece of bait attracting every bloodthirsty challenger in existence. After all, who wouldn't want to defeat the owner of the 「Weapon Master」 title just once?
"System, open the detailed status panel."
"Player request to view status panel detected. Please review."
-------- STATUS PANEL --------
Name: Chen Luo
Age: 17
Level: Level 1 (0/100) EXP
Title: Unequipped
Faction: None
Role: NPC
Moniker: None (Players can set this themselves after fulfilling specific requirements)
Fame Points: 0
Reputation Points: 0
Class: Unemployed Vagabond (Unclassed)
Core Indicators:
Attack Damage: 15 (+5 [Military Dagger])
Magic Damage: 0
HP: 20 (+10 [Full Leather Armor Set])
Mana: 150
Crit Rate: 0%
Crit DMG: 250%
Agility: 315
Piercing: 0 | 0%
Magic Piercing: 0 | 0%
Att Speed: 5 (1%/200%)
Armor: 0 (+6 [Full Leather Armor Set])
Magic Armor: 0 (+3 [Full Leather Armor Set])
Effect Resistance: 0%
Cooldown: 0%
Lifesteal: 0 | 0%
Magic Lifesteal: 0 | 0%
Auto Regen HP: 0.5/s
Auto Regen Mana: 5/s
Base Attributes:
Strength: 15
Stamina: 25
Intelligence: ??? (Locked)
Knowledge: ??? (Locked)
Brave: ??? (Locked)
Ingenious: ??? (Locked)
Luck: 5
Resilience: ??? (Locked)
Free Attribute Points: 25
Skill Points: 10
Owned Skills: 「Deboning & Butchering」, 「Dismemberment」, 「Slowed Breathing」, 「Extended Crafting」, 「Weapon Master」 (Unactivated)
A quick sweep over the panel left Chen Luo inwardly shaken. What bothered and concerned him the most was that the system had completely retained the entire hardcore data calculation framework of 《Infinite Class》.
Though mental and willful attributes like Intelligence, Knowledge, and Brave remained locked as potential energy, he shockingly discovered that his basic attack speed and agility were abnormally high compared to a standard Level 1 NPC. This was obviously a "hidden perk" granted by the Omnipotent system privilege he possessed.
Wasting no time, the brain of a professional power-leveler instantly went into overdrive to figure out the optimal allocation for these 25 free attribute points.
-"System! Attribute allocation: 5 points to Attack Damage, 5 points to Strength, 5 points to Stamina, and 10 points to Agility."
-"Allocation command recorded. System is updating status data..."
A warm, golden glow suddenly erupted from beneath Chen Luo's feet, surging frantically along his meridian system before enveloping his entire body. His muscle groups contracted slightly and then grew taut and sturdy; the exhaustion and sluggishness accumulated since yesterday were instantly swept away.
That's right, exactly like this. The reason was quite simple—this distribution was an intensely pragmatic tactical calculation: boosting AD and Agility maximized kill-securing efficiency and movement-kiting capabilities (Hit & Run) during actual combat; adding Strength and Stamina ensured his physical vessel had sufficient endurance to avoid falling into a "exhausted" state during high-intensity exertion. Chen Luo would have loved to dump all 25 points into Stamina, but during this impoverished early phase, severely skewed stat distribution was practically suicidal.
Flexing his fingers, Chen Luo let out a satisfied grin. For the first time since years of self-isolation and late-night college gaming marathons, he felt this refreshing, vigorous vitality surging from the depths of his bone marrow once more.
-"Time to move, let's go hunting."
Chen Luo glanced down at his physiological status bar, where the stomach icon was flashing an orange-yellow warning—his satiety was currently down to 50%. In a world as ruthlessly realistic as this, hunger meant combat stats would suffer severe, precipitous drops. He needed meat, tons of resources to stockpile before the ruins' next ecological evolution cycle struck.
Drawing lessons from yesterday's battleground, Chen Luo began methodically mapping out a meticulous hunting strategy. His primary target remained the 「Fierce Star Boars」. Even though the monsters around this industrial park might have leveled up following the nocturnal anomaly, they still served as the most stable source of protein and raw materials at the moment.
He sat down beside the fireplace, opening the newly acquired 「Extended Crafting」 interface. The blue light of the virtual screen illuminated the sharp contours of the 17-year-old youth's face. He pulled out the sharp, awl-like rib bones stripped from yesterday's wild boar carcass, combining them with a few dry wood strips and pieces of scrap wire picked up from the corner of the room.
System Operation: Splicing 「Fierce Star Boar Ribs」 + 「Rough Wood」 + 「Rusty Wire」.
Progress: 10%... 50%... 100%.
-"Ding! Crafting successful: Acquired 「Crude Bone Spear」 x3 (Rank: C - Common). Physical Damage +3, carries a chance to trigger a minor 「Bleeding」 effect upon striking a bullseye vital point."
Chen Luo picked up the three brand-new bone spears, testing their weight—it felt perfectly balanced in his hand. He neatly tucked them into the leather quiver behind his back, gripping his Military Dagger firmly in one hand and clutching the 「Crude Bone Spear」 tightly in the other. All the leather armor on his body was cinched tight to prevent any sound during movement.
Creeping up to the edge of the half-dismantled stone doorway, Chen Luo pressed his ear against the gap, activating the 「Slowed Breathing」 skill. He listened to the whistling wind howling through the ruined buildings, filtering out ambient noises to search for his target's signature grunts. When a familiar snort echoed roughly two blocks away, a cold, piercing glint flashed across the ex-pro gamer's eyes.
Prey in position. Hunter... moving out!