Fatal Shot

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Peng!

Behind a towering sand dune more than 700 meters from the core of the Desert Ant nest, on the reddish-yellow dune, a huge pile of sand particles was suddenly sent flying upward.

Bursting out together with the sand particles was a heap of premium-grade energy crystals and eight semi-transparent Fire Ant eggs, each half the size of a fist, as well as a pair of silvery-gray Warrior gloves.

Feng Luo, holding the Eye of the Thunder and with 24K on its belly on his shoulder, knelt onto the ground to pick up the items. As expected, these Desert Fire Ant eggs were of Perfect Grade. Furthermore, since Lin’s mission had only required two, he had absolutely overperformed one this mission.

As for the energy crystals, they were only a bunch of gray and white crystals that would total up to 1,000 credits at most, nothing much. On the other hand, the attributes of the pair of Warrior gloves were something else.

Power of the Fire Ant (Gloves)

Grade: Excellent

Defense ­+50

Defense Coefficient: D

Vitality +5

Fire Energy Defense +2%

Required Level: 40

The Manipulator’s energy conversion, the Sniper’s rifle, and the Warrior’s armor were similarly categorized under “suit”; after collecting equipment of the same set, the effects of the equipment attributes would be enhanced.

Even though this pair of gloves was only a Level-40 Excellent-grade piece of equipment, its attributes were relatively good, and it was likely to be exchangeable for 7,000 to 8,000 credits when combined with a “Desert Fire Ant” card into a set.

After Feng Luo had placed all the items into his bag, a brown claw—which looked like that of a scorpion but much bigger—emerged from the ground in front of him.

An enormous brown Gatherer Beetle slowly wiggled half its body out of the sand.

It was a Gatherer Beetle with a length exceeding half a meter—much longer than a typical beetle of 10 to 20 centimeters in length. Its stomach was even larger, making it look disproportionate to its six stick-like legs.

At that moment, the stout Gatherer Beetle stretched out its head, widening its mouth to the maximum, and vomited onto the ground.

Poof!

A tattered, dull, red-colored corpse of more than a meter in length, with its wings and head battered beyond recognition, had been spat out. After vomiting out the female Commander Ant’s corpse, the Gatherer Beetle shrank in size, becoming only about 80 centimeters, though still more than two times larger than a typical beetle.

“This… 24K, your little brother is so smart!”

Seeing the female Commander Ant corpse at his feet, Feng Luo was overwhelmed with surprise. Immediately, he praised 24K via mental link.

24K swayed its head, now colored once again by Feng Luo with camouflage oil paint, and waved its little claws, seemingly proud of its little brother’s performance.

“Haha…” Feng Luo laughed, then turned his attention to the Gatherer Beetle more than two times larger than typical Gatherer Beetles and with a darker brown shell.

Gatherer Beetle (19 Level, Commander). Talent: Mucus Hardening (B). HP: 3800. Maximum Storage Capacity: 3.8m. Skill…

There was no mistake, it was a Commander-grade Gatherer Beetle that had been hatched by the Commander Rank Desert Lizard from before!

Feng Luo was absolutely sure that today was his lucky day!

It was important to note that even though it had been said that a Commander-grade monster corpse technically had a certain probability of hatching a Commander-grade Gatherer Beetle, the probability was definitely not high. Even Feng Luo would have dared to say that it would be very low. He had recently used up over 10 Elite-grade monster corpses to hatch beetles. In the end, only one had resulted in an Elite-grade Bladed Beetle. One could only imagine how high the probability of hatching a Commander-grade beetle from a Commander-grade monster’s corpse was.

Feng Luo thought that the only possible reason could be that the luck point in his hidden attribute was especially high today. War players had a hidden attribute category known as “luck.” This category randomly changed every day and could even fluctuate multiple times throughout the day.

The “luck point” acted just as its name implied; it could cause a player’s luck to surge, allowing one to achieve miracles in the game. Such miracles included increased power when facing a Boss, obtaining ultra-rare items, obtaining rare items even when fighting small monsters, etc.

As such, the luck point was known to War players as the most significant attribute value!

However, one’s luck point was completely hidden and unknown to the player. Also, even among the most superior and rarest equipment ever known, none had ever been known to be able to be enhanced by “luck.”

Nonetheless, Rare equipment was not all the game had to offer… Perhaps enhancement by “luck” would still appear in more powerful equipment.

******

It was worth mentioning the attributes of this Commander-grade Gatherer Beetle.

3800 HP might not have seemed high, but considering the fact that it was not even at Level 19 was enough to showcase its prowess. Even though the Gatherer Beetle did not have much attack power, its rate of HP recovery was sufficient for it to collect equipment amid a shower of bullets. As for the maximum storage capacity, it was a unique attribute to this type of Gatherer Beetle.

Feng Luo only learned after the hatching that the Gatherer Beetle did not only simply collect crystals and Crystal Cores for its king. It had another important purpose, which was to collect monster corpses and take them back to its nest for its king to carry out “egg injection” and hatch new beetles, as well as to help its own species collect ore for strengthening their shells after consumption. The collection of these items relied on storage capacity!

The structure of Gatherer Beetles was extremely unique—the many sections of their brown shells and their scorpion-like bodies were huge cavities capable of storing objects.

Furthermore, their bodies could be extended outward to a large extent, and, like a snake, they could even swallow objects more than 10 times larger than themselves. Because of this, the half-meter-sized Commander-grade Gatherer Beetle could effortlessly carry a one-meter-long Female Ant Commander.

Moreover, even though the Mucus Hardening ability of the Gatherer Beetle was only ranked B in the system assessment, this talent had a significant purpose.

In the process of collection and movement, the Gatherer Beetle could secrete a special type of mucus from the surface of its body. This type of mucus could cause changes in the physicality and even the chemical structure of matter! For instance, it could compress loose grains of sand and soil so that they could be more easily moved underground, and it could also soften hard rocks so that the beetles could use their claws obtain fine fragments of crystals from within…

When the SUV from before had been charging toward Feng Luo, it had been this Commander-grade Gatherer Beetle that had used its mucus and storage capacity to dig a hole up from beneath the sand, quickly creating a “trap.” Unexpectedly, that SUV had changed its course near the trap, avoiding it.

Even though the Commander-grade Gatherer Beetle didn’t have much attack power, it could nonetheless achieve a surprise win if it was well-utilized.

“Since you’re the first Commander-grade beetle, let’s call you ‘Unify’!”

Feng Luo thought for a long while before finally deciding to give this Commander-grade beetle a name.

After that, he turned his attention to the Female Ant Commander at his feet. He thought to himself, Another Commander creature!