Chapter 40 - Badge of Honor
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Badge of Honor of the Town of Exiles
Grade: Rare
HP +350
MP +250
All Basic Attributes +5
All Energy Resistance +5%
Non-tradeable, non-droppable
Bonus Effects: Increases the drop rate of red name players by 50%!
Level Requirement: 40
Overall Evaluation: Perfect
Seeing the silver badge with red borders that looked like a military badge in the opened box held by the guard captain, Feng Luo’s eyes shone. He was pretty satisfied with the “Mystery Reward.”
In War, equipment could be classified based on three categories: weapons, defensive gear, and decorative items. Among them, decorative items that seemed inconsequential were actually more expensive than defensive gear. Their value might not even be all that much lower than a main weapon. This was because the total number of decorative items in the game was incredibly low. Decorative items above the Fine grade were less prevalent than Rare-grade equipment.
The rings on both of Feng Luo’s hands were white goods bought from shops. Together, they only increased 50 HP and 30 MP. Basically, it was simply a case of “something being better than nothing.” As for badges like this, stores did not even sell them. They were only obtainable through missions. Moreover, most badges obtained through missions had the “non-tradable and non-droppable” condition. This was because badges were set up as rare items that signified honor. They were like “Titles” in other games, showcasing an honorable experience achieved by the player.
historical
For example, the Badge of Honor of the Town of Exiles in front of him had a rare attribute was increased the drop rate of red-name players by 50 percent! This attribute, without a doubt, corresponded with its identity as originating in a Red City.
Although the limits of this attribute were quite large—it was only effective against red-name players—it was still an extremely valuable rare attribute. Red-name players with a PK value of one would drop a piece of equipment 100 percent of the time, and as the PK value increased, the probability of dropping extra equipment also increased. However, the badge directly increased the probability of red-name players dropping items by 50 percent. This could be understood as creating a 50 percent chance that a red-name player would drop two items. For Feng Luo, who had the identity of a bounty hunter, there were even more benefits.
After Feng Luo received the Badge of Honor from the guard captain, a system notification rang in his ear. A message popped up.
Player Feng Luo completed the “Kill Mission.” Obtained Experience 5,000. Congratulations! Your level has increased to Level 40!
At the same time, a white light flashed by, and Feng Luo’s level finally passed the huge Level-40 threshold.
Initially, after completing the previous hunting mission, Feng Luo’s experienced had reached around 20 percent beyond Level 39. Over the past few days, he had also hunted several monsters, and before reaching the Town of Exiles, his experience gauge had already reached around 60 percent beyond Level 39.
On the first day he arrived at the Town of Exiles, his experience went up even faster. Whether it was the Boss Beetle, the rebel army commander, or the Tiger Robot, all of them gave him a huge amount of experience. After adding in this “Kill Mission,” which awarded 5,000 experience points, the fact that he had leveled up was not unusual. And now that he was at Level 40, Feng Luo could equip the Badge of Honor of the Town of Exiles in his inventory.
After equipping the silver military merit badge with a red border on the chest of his combat uniform, Feng Luo looked satisfyingly at his HP. It had increased to 3,700, and his MP also increased close to 700. In addition, all his attributes increased by five points. In terms of attributes alone, he was probably not that much weaker than Level 45 players. After all, after equipping this badge, it was almost as if he had one extra piece of equipment compared to others.
After exchanging a few words of pretense with the captain of the guards, but before leaving the Battle Command building, Feng Luo changed the badge setting to the “Hidden” mode. The otherwise distinct silver badge gradually faded from the front of his chest.
Decorative items in War could be hidden. After being hidden, not only would others not be able to see them, but they would also be unable to touch them. This sort of setting was mainly out of consideration for players in combat. For example, for the Gunner profession, wearing a ring would undoubtedly affect one’s grip on the gun and, as a result, the ability to shooting. Moreover, the light reflected from a decorative ring would expose one’s position.
Another thing with a similar setting to decorative items was the backpack. The anti-gravity spacial backpack used by players could also be set to hidden. It would only appear temporarily when in use. After all, it was still all right for a Gunner wearing combat uniform, but for a Manipulator wearing a luxurious and beautiful robe, a huge backpack would definitely look out of place.
******
The Town of Exiles had removed the “at war” status temporarily. Since the commander had been killed, the rebel army had given up their offensive against the Town of Exiles. Instead, they withdrew all their forces back to their base in the Forest of Exiles.
However, Feng Luo estimated that the story wouldn’t end just like that; although the rebel army had retreated, the regular army of the Federation and all kinds of war machines kept pouring into the Town of Exiles. Large-scale transportation vehicles even appeared in the air, sending in huge amounts of army supplies. This proved that the war was not really over. One could even say that it had only just begun!
However, Feng Luo had no plans to take part in the consecutive missions. Currently, he just wanted to get his hands on the blueprint for the “Eye of the Thunder” and search for the materials so that he could assemble this Rare-grade sniper rifle.
There probably weren’t many Gun Mechanics who had entire sets of a Rare-grade sniper rifle blueprint in the entire game. Moreover, to personally manufacture a top-class sniper rifle was undoubtedly a meaningful task.
The location to exchange medal points was not in the mission hall. It was in the resource center. However, by the time Feng Luo rushed outside the resource center, he found out that there were already three extremely long lines of players. The players who had come to make exchanges formed a queue that reached the corner of the street and even wrapped around the corner.
“Hey, Brother Feng! Over here!” Just as Feng Luo was looking for a queue to join, a familiar voice greeted him.
“Older Brother Dan Hen!” Feng Luo turned around and discovered that Dan Hen was together with a few players also waiting in the queue. Since he knew during the previous mission that Dan Hen was 32 years old, he did not feel odd calling him “older brother.”
“Come here and let me introduce him to you,” said Dan Hen. “This is my friend, Feng Zhi Luoye, whom I met in my previous mission. He’s an expert Sniper with amazing marksmanship and awareness.”
By the time Feng Luo walked over, Dan Hen had already finished talking to the players around him. He was smiling, and his tone implied that he was complimenting him. Then he pointed toward the five people beside him and introduced them.
“Brother Feng, these are my brothers and sisters from the Veterans Tribe,” he said. “Ultimate Heavy Armor, Frozen Red Giant, Ion Flame, Skynet, and Grassy.”
Among the five players, Ultimate Heavy Armor was a Level-45 Heavy Armor Warrior. Frozen Red Giant was a Level-45 Light Armor Warrior; Ion Flame was a Level-47 Fire Manipulator; Skynet was a Level-44 Sniper. And Dan Hen was Level 46.
“Excellent marksmanship? Big Boss Dan Hen, I’m hurt.” The player with the ID “Skynet” complained jokingly. He was a young man in his 20s with a handsome face. “I don’t think you’ve ever complimented me on my marksmanship.”
“Although Skynet is also a Sniper, when compared to you, Brother Feng, his skills are still quite a ways from yours,” said Dan Hen. “When we were in the army, this kid was a machine gunner on a land cruise vehicle through and through. But, in the end, he stubbornly chose the Sniper profession in-game. Kept saying that apart from being able to look cool, this profession would also help him hit on chicks.”
Dan Hen did not show any mercy in revealing his true assessment. One could see that he held a leadership position among this group of players.
“Because I couldn’t take it anymore in the army,” said Skynet. “I was pulled into the game by my brother immediately after I retired, okay? Also, Snipers are definitely cooler and more handsome than Machine Gunners. Isn’t that right, Brother Feng?”
Skynet’s comments made a couple of his associates giggle, and his words also attended to Feng Luo. Feng Luo laughed. He never would have thought that he would actually encounter a real-life machine gunner who had opted to change his profession in-game to a Sniper.
However, in the end, the one who surprised Feng Luo most was the player with the ID called “Jie Bian Xiao Cao,” since she was actually a petite young lady who was around 1.6 meters tall. Her profession was that of a Doctor. She seemed to be more introverted and only smiled at Feng Luo before lowering her head. With a white medical box on her back, her body seemed to be weak and fragile, and judging by her appearance, she did not look like she was from the army. The Veterans Tribe didn’t recruit army personnel only, so it was not strange for her to be a member of the Veterans Tribe. It was, however, rare to see a Doctor player inside a Red City, so it was inevitable for one to do a double take.
“Oh, right. Brother Feng, you also came here to exchange some items, right?” Dan Hen asked.
“Yeah. I just went to the Battle Command to receive the reward for defeating the rebel army commander,” said Feng Luo. “I did not expect such a long queue here.”
“I would have forgotten if you hadn’t mentioned it,” said Dan Hen. “You’re the one who got the last hit on the rebel army commander. Your honorary citizen level must have gone up one level. So, how was it? Have you decided on what you want to exchange?”
Dan Hen did not ask what the Mystery Reward was that Feng Luo had received. After all, they had not yet reached that degree of familiarity.
“I want to purchase a couple of blueprints!” Feng Luo said without hiding anything.
“Gun manufacturing blueprints?” Dan Hen asked. He knew his life profession.
“Gun manufacturing blueprints? Brother Feng is also a Gun Mechanic?” asked Ultimate Heavy Armor. His appearance fit well with his name—a body bound with muscle and a height of 1.9 meters. Compared to the players around him, he looked like a crane standing in a group of chickens.
“Brother Feng is not just any Gun Mechanic; he’s a Gun Mechanic Expert,” Dan Hen said, smiling.
“Expert-level! Amazing!” Ultimate Heavy Armor’s face was filled with respect. He raised his right hand and gave a thumbs up.
They all knew that getting a life profession to the Expert level was no easy feat. In fact, even among the entire Veterans Tribe of 5,000 members, the number of players with Expert-level life professions could be counted on one hand.
“Oh, that’s right!” Skynet suddenly interrupted. “Brother Feng, don’t tell me the blueprint you want to exchange is the blueprint for a sniper rifle!”
“Yeah,” said Feng Luo. “I want to exchange a set of blueprints of the Eye of the Thunder!”