Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 254 - 075. When are mutants not crazy? Just holding on until death!

Chapter 254: 075. When are mutants not crazy? Just holding on until death!

After leaving Xi Silong’s office, Li Aozi wandered through the streets, observing the factories, schools, and hospitals that had been heavily bombed by Frost Plated. As he looked at the crumbling walls and saw the homeless warming themselves by fires within the ruins and under the remnants of buildings, he felt a deep sense of melancholy.

No matter what, the people of Grante were bound to face hardships. The extensive embargo policies would deprive the Grantians of sufficient goods, and unemployment and poverty would be long-term problems for the populace.

Li Aozi was powerless to change this.

He went ahead and distributed some food to pregnant women and people with children at home, then he visited Alicxia in the war hospital.

To his surprise, Alicxia’s ward was surrounded by many people, most of whom were current Grante officials and members of Bemudes. When Li Aozi came by, they were huddled outside the ward, listening intently to Alicxia’s speech:

"...The problem with Grante lies not in its lack of energy but in the absence of its own industrial system. The people need to establish their own industry to prevent strangulation by Frost Plated’s embargo. There is no shortage of food, and food can be used to produce alcohol, fertilizer, sugar, and also can be turned into filling medicine for explosives. But in my opinion, what’s most crucial is to unite every force within Grante that can be unified, harness the power of people of Grante descent both at home and abroad, and let the world know of your existence and your just war..."

Seated on her hospital bed and towering due to her height with three pillows propped behind her, Alicxia had a writing board spread out on her lap. With a pen in one hand, she sketched and wrote, while the other hand continuously waved gestures, explaining fervently and patiently.

The identity of this woman from the old era of the Yamiriko Federation had long been acknowledged by the people. In fact, after inquiries, the Grantians were surprised to find out that Alicxia was indeed born on this land.

In the old era, the eastern region of Grante belonged to an enclave of the Yamiriko Federation, which was later abandoned following the descent of the Ersha disaster and the destruction of the Federation. People no longer sought the lands of old days, managing to cling to their bowl of rice under the exploitation of Frost Plated was enough.

From this perspective, Alicxia could even be considered an ancestor of the Grantian people...

Of course, lineage was only the basis of acceptance. What really made people believe in Alicxia was her eloquence and scholarship.

The education level in Grante was low, while Alicxia had received high-level education during the peak of the old era, along with considerable legal practice experience. Most key to her influence was that she spoke in plain language that even a farmer could understand. People could understand it, were willing to listen, and were thirsty for knowledge.

Seeing Alicxia so popular and recovering well, Li Aozi felt reassured.

"She is a prosecutor, and her proper job is to judge crimes and uphold justice. The hands that ought to pick up the gavel are not meant to pull a trigger."

In reality, this was probably the best fate Alicxia could hope for.

After 500 years, she could still do things she was willing and happy to do in her new homeland, and that was enough.

As Li Aozi was about to leave with his Biological Pool, suddenly, the Path System panel popped up:

[Notice: The first person following the Path who is a Practitioner has emerged.]

[You can influence him by implanting your Gene Seed.]

"Finally... one of those three soldier brothers has awakened to Arcane Energy," he said.

The Path System’s influence under [Sovereign] means for every new Practitioner at a specific stage, one slot to prioritize awakening Arcane Energy is granted; this slot can raise the awakening probability to as high as 60% at most.

Currently, there is only one Practitioner at the lowest tier, so only one Arcane Energy could be put in. To add another slot for Arcane Energy’s awakening, one would have to wait for a new [Mutant] at the Alpha Stage to advance successfully.

Glancing over, Li Aozi discovered that the greatest advantage of the Path System was the ability to influence the players or citizens of Azure Star who follow the [Sovereign] series to have higher chances of awakening his Arcane Energy.

With this, the backup candidates for [Meteor Fall Master] would be plentiful. If they were players or residents of Azure Star, there would be a 60% chance to follow the [Meteor Fall Master] Path.

Without hesitation, Li Aozi placed his [Eye of Truth] in the slot for priority awakening of Arcane Energy.

[You have set [Eye of Truth] as your Arcane Energy to be awakened with priority.]

[Current awakening probability: 60%.]

Although [Gravity] is undoubtedly the most powerful Arcane Energy, Li Aozi knew that no matter how strong, [Gravity] is not easy to master. It requires a strong imagination, knowledge of physics, and quick reflexes as a foundation.

Not to mention anything else, Li Aozi assumed that most people would only use [Gravity] to throw stones and control... being able to fly and accelerate would already place them among the elites of ordinary people.

Other Arcane Energies... [Spontaneous Combustion] has high destructive power, but it’s less impactful on the battlefield.

[Inscription Saint Swordmaster] is only suitable for melee and narrows one’s path.

[Severing Life] is actually not bad, but the Arcane Energy has too poor a generality.

[Blood of Eternity] doesn’t tempt players enough, since players are not afraid of death.

[Mountain Armor] is actually just average, and it’s only because Li Aozi’s [Charm] is high enough that he could bolster that Attribute.

And since [Charm], that demanding attribute, cannot be improved through training, Li Aozi’s goods for sale generally provide a significant 3-5 points of [Charm], which is a considerable bonus for early players.

All things considered, Li Aozi felt that the [Eye of Truth] was still the most cost-effective, with low energy expenditure, short cooldown, and high return.

What was this concept? The last weapon that boasted these three advantages was called an automatic rifle.

The quantity of equipment players need to identify is greater and more frequent, and since equipment conditions for players in the early stage are much lower than those of NPCs, the ability to obtain information about opponents becomes especially critical.

After all, the essence of leveling is to pick on the weaker opponents for an advantage.

The most important thing is, with this, Pseudo-Humans would be severely hit, and the game’s community trust, which was destroyed in the previous life, wouldn’t be an issue, hindering normal gameplay anymore.

Li Aozi remembered the most popular saying among the [Mutant] players back then:

"When have Mutants ever been sane? They’re just stubbornly holding on!"

If normal players played like Li Aozi, with the low output power of Arcane Energy in the early stage, they’d only feel like they were imprisoned.

Endurance isn’t as good as that of a Biochemist, tankiness isn’t as good as a Judge, burst is indeed higher than a Martial Artist, but Rangers and Assassins can directly hit the weak armored units in the back line. Can you, a Mutant, do that?

But with the Eye of Truth, that’s a different story.

After all, Spirit Medium is the only occupation with strong information gathering capabilities in the early stage.

Now, Mutants are too.

Simply relying on technical superiority isn’t enough, Li Aozi plans to use the arcane ability, Eye of Truth, to change everyone’s perception of Mutants.

"Since someone has awakened to Arcane Energy, it’s better to go see them and offer some comfort."

Li Aozi simply followed the signal given by the Path System and flew directly over, landing at an abandoned factory in the suburbs of Sipeya. As soon as he touched down, the soldier players immediately tensed up, raising their guns and shouting at him:

"Military facility, please do not approach."

"Don’t be nervous, I’m here to find those three young people who are pursuing Arcane Strength."

Li Aozi was unfazed, the effect of Aura of Goodwill worked on players just the same, and the most direct result for these soldier players was that Li Aozi’s name turned into a friendly green.

At the same time, a notification popped up on each of their systems:

[This unit is a friendly entity of good alignment, attacks are not permitted.]

The soldier players looked at each other in bewilderment, and then, knowing better, they all engaged Camouflage Mode, adopting the NPC’s persona for a natural conversation. Soon after, Li Aozi met the three young men who had come to work for him for free.

Among the three, a young man named Walang Ke had sparkling runes in his eyes. Li Aozi knew he was the first Mutant player. He immediately smiled, extended a friendly hand, and congratulated him:

"Well done, I can feel that you too have harnessed the power of Arcane Energy."

He said, pointing to his own rune-marked eyes:

"It’s the same type of Arcane Energy as mine—this power is called ’Eye of Truth,’ and it’s a very useful Arcane Energy."

Walang Ke quickly entered Camouflage Mode and excitedly said, "Thanks to your help, now I can also protect my homeland."

Li Aozi laughed heartily, and then noticed that this group of soldier players had put up a business license on the wall. He raised an eyebrow and asked curiously:

"Have you guys established a mercenary company?"

"Yes." The one who spoke was the team leader, Liu Wenzhong. He stepped forward, gave Li Aozi a military salute, and then said, "Mr. Leoz, we are very grateful for your great contribution to resisting the invasion of the Frost Plated People."

"It’s nothing," Li Aozi said modestly.

"No, to be honest: I’ve doubted your strength before. Now Walang Ke’s performance has shown me how magical Arcane Energy is. Without drones, radar, or atmospheric satellites, we can obtain extremely valuable information."

Liu Wenzhong’s attitude not only changed, but he also began to greatly value this ability.

Walang Ke’s Arcane Energy, the Eye of Truth, essentially works like the best perspective device and radar. In street fighting and indoor combat, this is much more useful than a heartbeat sensor or echolocation.

As everyone knows, the best way to fight in streets and indoors is not to engage in them, but to use firepower coverage—but most of the time, firepower coverage only adds a heavy burden to logistics. The brutal information disparity in urban warfare means you can only fill gaps with lives.

Until Walang Ke just awakened to his Arcane Energy, they immediately conducted a brief internal exercise. The result was jaw-dropping.

In the simulated killing room inside the abandoned factory, Walang Ke single-handedly took out the 12 warriors who ambushed him.

He was even running and fighting, relying on strong mobility and the perspective ability of ’Eye of Truth.’ While the others were slowly feeling out the rooms, avoiding triangles of death and blind spots, using flash grenades and offensive ones to clear points, Walang Ke would burst through doors and windows without even looking, just raising his hand to shoot and eliminating all his opponents.

Though the soldier players had equipped similar gear in reality, in the game, with the characters controlled by players, the release from fear and full access to strength meant nothing but charging into battle, and they had never seen such an outrageous scenario.

One person versus twelve, nineteen seconds, total annihilation.

The same level of equipment, similar skill in shooting, the difference was entirely due to lack of information.

The soldiers were stunned, and so was Liu Wenzhong. He quickly corrected his prejudices and immediately started discussing specific business cooperation with Li Aozi.

"We plan to purchase a large amount of this potion, Mr. Leoz," Liu Wenzhong insisted. "If we could all awaken to such Arcane Energy, we would certainly thwart the invasion plans of the Frost Plated People."

"The activation speed of the DM-101 Arcane Potion is quite slow, and there’s also no way to awaken to a specific Arcane Energy. These problems... there’s currently no solution."

Li Aozi shook his head regretfully, pointing out some flaws, but just as Liu Wenzhong felt disappointed, Li Aozi suddenly changed his tone.

"However—"

He lifted his hand, the flesh in his palm twisted to form a spiral spore, upon which silver mystical runes dimly glowed, reflecting Li Aozi’s gentle and kind face:

"I can, for a time, lend you my own Arcane Energy."