Name: Mechanical Sentinel
Type: Defensive Apparatus
Quality: Purple (Precious)
Description: A defense robot developed by Blacksteel International’s Armaments Division to bid on the Gaul Union’s security robot project. It boasted comprehensive functionality, stability, safety, and world-leading AI, making it suitable for various security scenarios. However, its conspicuous trash-can-like appearance led to its defeat by Rhine Lab’s close-protection bodyguard series of simulated security robots. Furthermore, its high manufacturing cost made it unable to compete with low-end security robots, so it was discontinued just three months after launch. Rumor has it, however, that its software system was purchased at a high price by Laiyang Biochemical Company, which was the only thing that prevented the project from ending in the red.
Note: Keep it by your side, and even the stupidest thief will know you’re a high-value target.
…
Achievement: Neglecting the Root for the Branches
Unlock: Complete a side quest but fail to evacuate.
Reward: [Golden Cicada Shell]
Note: No matter how much you accomplish, what good is it if you can’t run away?
…
Entry: Golden Cicada Shell
Type: Trait
Quality: Blue (Excellent)
Effect: Can only be granted to cybernetics exceeding five percent of total human body volume. Activates when cybernetics bearing this Entry are equipped and the wearer suffers a lethal attack. The item is destroyed, the wearer becomes immune to this instance of damage, and enters stealth, lasting until an attack is performed or for three seconds after a skill is triggered. Only one item with this Entry may be possessed per character.
Note: Watch out for the timing!
…
“Oh, not bad!”
Feng Xue was drawn to the Golden Cicada Shell at a glance. Under heaven and earth, one’s little life was the greatest treasure. Whether for his main body or a character, an extra life was always an extra opportunity.
“But five percent… that’s roughly three to four liters. About the size of a forearm with a hand, or half a calf. Considering it has to be sacrificed, it’s better to install it in the hand. That way, if it blows, the impact on running and fighting is minimized. The main body doesn’t really matter, but the character’s left arm is basically bound to the Cinan Arm. To avoid losing combat power if the hand blows, I’ll give this to the right arm (Note ①).”
Feng Xue muttered to himself a couple of times, then turned his gaze to the other Entries—
Entry: Perfect Reload
Type: Trait
Quality: Gray (Basic) (Cannot Be Upgraded)
Effect: Can only be granted to ammunition-type equipment. All actions involving reloading performed by the equipment holder gain increased precision. When equipment possessing this Trait participates in ammunition reloading, the time consumed becomes one-tenth of the original, and the reloading process cannot be interrupted. This effect cannot be stacked; similar effects take the maximum value.
Note: With this, you could toss bullets into the air and they’d fall right into the cylinder.
…
Entry: Charged Strike
Type: Skill
Quality: White (Common)
Effect: The item granted this Entry gains a skill. Upon activation, enters a charging state. The skill holder can terminate it at any time or wait ten seconds for the charge to automatically stop, causing the next attack’s effects to be comprehensively enhanced. The magnitude of enhancement is proportional to charging time. Cooldown: five minutes. Identical skills share cooldown.
Note: I’m charging up. What are you waiting for?
…
Entry: Rapid Fire
Type: Trait
Quality: White (Common)
Effect: Can only be granted to firearms. Fire rate increases by 200%. Similar effects cannot be stacked.
Note: If you could build a lightspeed gun, this thing could probably destroy the world.
…
Entry: Mirage
Type: Skill
Quality: Blue (Excellent)
Effect: The item granted this Entry gains a skill. Upon activation, the item holder enters stealth. While in stealth, the holder cannot be detected or locked onto. Movement speed becomes one-tenth of original. Lasts until an attack is made or one minute per star after skill activation. Cooldown: 30 minutes. Identical skills share cooldown.
Note: In·vis·i·ble Man!
…
Entry: Stealth-Breaking Strike
Type: Trait
Quality: Blue (Excellent)
Effect: Attacks initiated outside the target’s observation ignore defense and guaranteed trigger on-hit effects.
Note: Although it’s called Stealth-Breaking Strike, taking a shot from eight hundred meters away or stabbing from a manure pit also works.
…
Entry: Precognition Eye
Type: Skill
Quality: Blue (Excellent)
Effect: Can only be granted to ocular cybernetics, granting them a skill. Upon activation, footage entering the field of view over the next three seconds will play at 30× speed. Skills with the same name can only be used three times per day.
Note: The point of seeing the future is changing it.
…
Entry: Body Temperature Maintenance
Type: Skill
Quality: Blue (Excellent)
Effect: An item possessing this Entry gains a skill. For 30 seconds after skill activation, the item holder’s body temperature is locked at 36 degrees Celsius. Cooldown: 1 hour. Identical skills share cooldown.
Note: The dream skill of every hacker.
…
Entry: Army-Breaker
Type: Trait
Quality: Purple (Precious)
Effect: Items possessing this Entry deal five times normal durability damage to other items. When dealing durability damage to an item, grants one Army-Breaker token. When an item’s Army-Breaker tokens exceed ten, the item is destroyed.
Note: If I were you, I’d absolutely never use this thing during training!
…
“One gray, two white, four blue, one purple—a bumper harvest!”
Feng Xue’s eyes shone as he looked at this haul, utterly ecstatic!
Setting aside that he happened to need a shooting-focused character, just the inherent quality of these Entries alone was quite formidable.
Gray-tier Perfect Reload was practically the gospel for reload addicts, greatly compensating for the biggest weakness of firearms. Though you still had to reload, this thing could be slapped onto magazines and similar accessories! It basically didn’t occupy a main Entry slot, and it improved accuracy just by being equipped. What more could you ask for?
Charged Strike was even more of a heavyweight. As long as the numbers weren’t poisoned, it could absolutely find a place in sniper builds. Moreover, the comprehensive boost meant skill effects were enhanced too. In gaming terms, it scaled incredibly well with buffs—a perfect example of having strength early on and even more potential in the future.
Rapid Fire was a bit weaker than the previous two, but triple fire rate was still shocking enough. Moreover, judging by the note, this acceleration probably transcended material science into the conceptual realm; it could likely even raise the fire rate of charge-type firearms.
Judging by how they were all ammunition-type Entries, these three likely came from those three types of defense robots in the factory. Next up were the Entries from that “Counter-Terror Mobile Unit” (the protagonist didn’t know the official name).
Mirage needed no explanation. Capable of ambush and escape, it was a must-have for home and travel. And it had no slot requirement, so his main body would get it immediately.
Stealth-Breaking Strike was a god among gods. Whether paired with Mirage for melee or Charged Strike for sniping, it was excellent. Unfortunately, the only on-hit effect Feng Xue had was the Heavenly Martial Killing Way, which targeted himself…
“No, wait! Source Energy! Does Source Energy count as an on-hit effect?” In that instant, memories of his massacre among the robots seemed to pierce through the back of Feng Xue’s skull like a laser sniper rifle, causing his imagination to burst wide open!
If Source Energy counted as an on-hit effect, then this defense-ignoring blow would be utterly terrifying!
In comparison, Precognition Eye, this seemingly time-type ability, was rather less surprising. Though it was three seconds of future and possessed the possibility of changing that future, it was too hard to use in actual combat. If it were permanent, that would be better, but three times a day made it difficult to accumulate experience through practice. For now, he’d just slot it onto a character; only after accumulating enough experience could it possibly enter a regular loadout.
As for Body Temperature Maintenance, just as the note said, this was a hacker essential but useless for other classes. However, maintaining a constant temperature might help against flamethrowers and similar high-temperature damage.
Truthfully, Feng Xue didn’t think much of purple-tier items. Even the Flesh Maitreya, without Hell Sword, would be worthless. But this Army-Breaker wasn’t weak. It wouldn’t show against squishies, but the greatest defeat in Feng Xue’s career was, of all things, that monstrous insect. Moreover, Hell Sword’s unity of man and sword could grant the sword’s characteristics to the body. In other words, with this, Feng Xue’s entire body would be Army-Breaker!
Note ①: The Cinan Arm has a blueprint, so it can actually be augmented with Traits. However, the Cinan Arm itself is tied to Hell Sword. The skill itself doesn’t really matter, since Feng Xue already knows it himself. But the physical sword of Hell Sword is bound to the Cinan Arm. If the Cinan Arm blows up, the sword is gone. Though he could still use sword qi, the power would definitely drop. Moreover, the Cinan Arm also comes with a low-cost recovery Trait. As long as the hand is there, it’s essentially a mana recovery cheat. Therefore, adding a combat Trait to the Cinan Arm is the more cost-effective choice.
PS: This chapter has a lot of data. Though I think part of the fun of this kind of book is watching all the weird combinations, and I basically only write the same thing once. But considering that back then, Investigator had full status screens only five times in the entire book and still got flamed, I’ll ask: if you think it’s padding, I’ll try to scatter the Entry descriptions in the future. For example, introduce a few that will be used immediately, and only mention the names of the others, explaining specific effects when they’re used later. But this would make the reading experience feel very fragmented, since it’d be really out of character for the protagonist to look at Entry descriptions and whatnot later. Or I could mark chapters with large numbers of Entry descriptions in the previous chapter title and this chapter title—read if you want, skip if you don’t? Dear readers, any suggestions? Forget about paragraph comments, because the platform’s moderation system will filter and review them (and it’s not even the same review standard as the author side). Besides, my later-added notes will also be delayed; readers following the series might not see them. Late additions are troublesome too, and I can’t check them from the backend. Yeah, give your opinions while it’s still free. Once it goes premium, it won’t be easy to change, because VIP chapters have modification limits. Not only do they not let you change old chapters retroactively, but too many edits can get you banned.