Chapter 1252: 402. Access System
The person who emerged from the combat cabin was tall, standing at a net height of about one meter eighty.
He was clad in power armor with evident repair marks. The armor sported numerous places patched up with metal skins, green in some spots, purple in others, looking both poverty-stricken and shabby.
Noland Lee estimated that he had likely run into one of those professional players who focused on exploration and reputation grinding with factions.
Since it was all for the sake of story exploration, as long as the storyline was acceptable, there was no need to splurge on equipment.
Noland’s gaze lingered on the man’s face.
The man’s head was covered by a power helmet with a transparent glass cover, which had a searchlight emitting light from within.
...
The halo of the searchlight barely illuminated the man’s face, which appeared to be about thirty years old, ordinary-looking, not particularly handsome but remarkably calm and composed, exuding courage.
Even when facing Noland Lee, a “little boss” whose depth was unknown, the man remained poised and collected.
In this, the indestructible nature characteristic of a player was his greatest reliance.
The player commander stopped about thirty meters from Noland Lee.
He pulled an iron box out of the armor pocket on his chest.
After pressing a button on the box, he aimed it at Noland Lee and said:
“Greetings, honored elder of the Prayer for the dead. We apologize for our previous offense and ask for your forgiveness for our impolite actions.”
The iron box was a simultaneous translator.
The words spoken by the player commander were translated by the box into the language of the Prayer for the dead and played back.
“We are legal interstellar mercenaries from the Dikaga Federation. Not long ago, we accepted a contract from the United Bureau’s command division to investigate a mysterious signal being emitted from the Lisom-13 Planet. I am one of the commanders for this mission…”
The player commander paused at this point, his complexion turning somewhat strange, evidently feeling a bit awkward.
Almost one second passed before he continued:
“I am one of the acting commanders for this mission, captain of the interstellar mercenary squad, Crisp Cucumber Slice.”
Ha.
Noland Lee almost laughed out loud.
Had these players never considered that one day they would have to introduce themselves to significant NPCs when picking names for their characters?
What serious person would name themselves “Crisp Cucumber Slice”?
Clearly, the player commander also knew his name was not suited for polite society, so he decided to go all in, converting his personal embarrassment into a collective discomfort.
“I have also brought my teammates: Crunchy Potato Sticks, Sweet Strawberry Juice, Tangy Lemon Water…” noveldrama
The player commander mentioned each of his teammates in turn, triggering a wave of snark from within the combat cabin.
Seeing their group enjoying a laugh without eliciting any desire to attack from the little boss, they couldn’t help feeling a bit more confident.
The player commander cleared his throat, returning to the matter at hand.
These mechanistic-type bosses always follow a fixed routine.
First, one must figure out what game mechanism the boss in front of you uses.
Answering questions, competing, handing over items, or taking on a side quest.
The player commander got straight to the point and said:
“According to our investigation, we’ve determined that buried beneath this planet lies an artifact of the Prayer for the dead, a death artifact. It is this artifact that is broadcasting a mysterious signal to the entire Universe. Together with the Split Bear Star Thief band roaming this star system, we’ve explored this planetosphere. Based on the clues we’ve gathered, the chair you’re sitting on is the Great Gate to the location of the artifact. If we wish to enter the artifact’s location and obtain the death artifact, what kind of price should we be prepared to pay?”
Noland Lee was about to speak his prepared response when he suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, discovered a new system message in his mind that he had never seen before!
[Attention! The massive multiplayer online role-playing game Starry Sea sends its greetings to you!]
[Mysterious and ancient being, you have encountered a Starry Sea player. They are lively life creatures who will run around tirelessly for you for a small favor.]
[When they make requests of you, you can demand items, information, or ask them to join you temporarily.]
[Of course, you can also use force to body them.]
[Before you respond to them, the Starry Sea game system needs to assess your identity and strength.]
[Do you confirm to accept a simple detection by the game system?]
Noland Lee slightly raised his eyebrows, truly not expecting that his own incomplete Deconstruction Core System would be able to receive system information from the Starry Sea game.
But after deeper consideration, it didn’t seem so strange to Noland.
The Assassin Angel had previously mentioned that behind the players—also known as the Undying—there should be an entity known as the Command Plane’s Core.
During the existence of the Supreme Star Palace, the Plane’s Core had supplied a number of deities to the Palace, and the two had a cooperative relationship.
Therefore, a system interface created by the Star Palace being able to intervene in the Starry Sea game also made sense.
The Assassin Angel had a rather positive assessment of the Command Plane’s Core.
Based on this, Noland gradually realized that leveraging the players to help him destroy the Metal Creation Group seemed like a viable course of action.
Noland pondered for a moment, then mentally affirmed:
“Accept detection.”
System information came through.
[The Starry Sea game system is conducting a simple detection.]
[Progress 1%…2%…3%]
About three seconds later, the progress bar reached 100%, and a few more system messages popped up.