Chapter 94: Chapter 94: The Garuda Beast and the Rule-Bound Convenience Store

This module, hidden deep within her personal information interface, was extremely discreet. Bai Cheng couldn’t recall ever seeing the feature before.

She immediately leaned closer, her interest piqued. "Could it be a structural change that unlocked after the trains merged?"

Yu Nian didn’t hesitate, immediately tapping the prompt to expand the sub-menu.

[First, congratulations on stepping into the extraordinary!]

[Cultivation Composition: Life Weapon + Armored Core (Once either component is bound, it cannot be altered. Exceptions are only permitted during train merges prior to reaching Elite-grade.)]

[Life Weapon: Your exclusive combat armament. It can be freely forged with multiple attributes and linked directly with your Armored Core to unleash cataclysmic, world-destroying power.]

[Forging Matrix: [Shaping Fusion Material] × 1 + [Any Equipment (Weapon) as Material] × 4]

Notice: Click ’Produce’ to instantly deploy to a dedicated station to forge your Life Weapon. The weapon’s baseline level will be determined by the grading of the fusion materials used.

[Armored Core: The active skills and parameters you acquire will depend entirely on the innate attributes possessed by the installed Armored Core.]

Prerequisite: You must reach Elite-grade before you can utilize the [Cultivation] function.

Both girls stared at the screen, stunned by the wall of text. Bai Cheng was the first to snap out of it.

"It looks like this function has absolutely nothing to do with the train merger. It must have quietly popped up the exact moment I advanced to Elite-grade."

Yu Nian’s eyes went wide with shock. "Wait, Xiao Cheng... you’re already Elite-grade?!"

Bai Cheng rolled her eyes affectionately. "Did you lose your memory? Remember when I told you I had secured a breakthrough slot for you?"

"Ah!" Yu Nian smacked her own forehead as the pieces clicked. "Something chaotic happened right after that message, so it totally slipped my mind."

Without wasting another second, Bai Cheng opened her terminal and formally transferred one of her promotional slots directly to Yu Nian.

With this action, Yu Nian was officially spared from having to grind through a grueling, resource-draining progression task. Furthermore, since they were now operating as a single unit on the same train, forcing Yu Nian to complete an independent progression scenario would have been a massive waste of precious time and fuel.

As for this new cultivation system, the logical progression was simple and clear.

Even though Bai Cheng had broken through to Elite-grade, she still didn’t possess any specialized class skills or high-tier personal weaponry. Without those, she was essentially no different from an ordinary human on the battlefield. A slightly larger ant, at best.

Therefore, the system had introduced the [Cultivation] module precisely to bridge the massive power gap survivors faced immediately after crossing the transcendence threshold.

Speaking of materials, Bai Cheng had unexpectedly looted a rare item of [Life Weapon Shaping Fusion Material] back when she and Yu Nian cleared the Snow Mountain Castle Station. This meant she already possessed the foundational component required to forge her weapon. Furthermore, because that specific catalyst had no tier quality assigned to it, it couldn’t be upgraded anyway and was ready for immediate deployment.

However, she still hadn’t found an Armored Core with attributes that perfectly suited her build. Fortunately, the system had previously rewarded her with a custom Armored Core voucher, which would make tailormaking her ideal statistical attributes significantly easier.

"Let’s make it a priority to forge our Life Weapons the absolute second we leave this terminal," Bai Cheng stated, laying out their immediate itinerary. "And Yu Nian, we need to push your personal level up as fast as possible."

Yu Nian nodded eagerly. "On it!~"

Bai Cheng glanced over at her friend’s current personal status. It was still sitting at Ordinary Fifth Tier, leaving quite a massive gap before she could trigger the Elite-grade breakthrough. But realistically, Yu Nian’s progression speed was already blistering for the average survivor. Her awakened talent wasn’t designed for active combat, and the total volume of monsters her low-tier employees could slaughter on their own was severely limited.

"Oh, right, Xiao Cheng! Let’s check out Qing Niao’s updated stats?" Yu Nian suddenly suggested, breaking her train of thought.

"Oh, wow, right!" Bai Cheng blinked, completely startled. She had almost forgotten about their newly evolved crew member. After all, this was the first Epic-quality employee card she had ever laid her hands on. How could she not be deeply curious?

Yu Nian swiped across the display, bringing up the crew directory which now featured the avian warrior’s complete readout.

[Employee: Qing Niao]

[Race: Garuda Beast]

[Level: Elite First Tier (0%)]

[Quality: Epic]

[Trait 1: Thunder-Infused Body — Can channel the latent power of thunder to coat his entire physical frame, drastically augmenting his close-quarters combat power.]

[Trait 2: Endless Feathers — His wings possess a functionally infinite supply of razor-sharp feathers that can be violently discharged like high-velocity throwing knives to shred distant enemies.]

"Elite First Tier?"

"Elite First Tier!"

The two girls spoke the words simultaneously, then immediately spun around to look at each other in realization.

"What tier was Qing Niao sitting at before the merge?" Bai Cheng asked, trying to calculate the scaling math.

"A little bit higher than my personal rank, but the exact number... I honestly forgot," Yu Nian admitted, her face lighting up with excitement. "An Elite-grade combatant! Xiao Cheng, doesn’t that mean we just gained an absolute powerhouse general?!"

"Mm," Bai Cheng smiled, refusing to dampen her friend’s pure joy. She nodded in agreement. "It’s an incredible pull. Having an employee with true flight capabilities is going to make scouting and wilderness mapping a hundred times easier."

At the very least, his long-range deployment options meant he could seamlessly transition from an aerial scout into a heavy initiator during outdoor encounters.

But looking closely at Qing Niao’s profile, his two active traits aligned perfectly with what she had predicted. An Epic-tier employee possessed exactly one less trait than a Legendary-tier powerhouse, and when compared side-by-side, the raw, reality-bending scale of the effects was noticeably dialed back.

"Did he have any active traits when he was just a Blue-tier recruit?" Bai Cheng inquired.

Yu Nian nodded like a pecking chick. "Yes, but it was just a basic passive skill used to temporarily boost his raw physical attack power."

The explanation made perfect sense to Bai Cheng. Given Qing Niao’s diminutive size prior to his evolution, if his baseline skills hadn’t been entirely dedicated to scaling his raw physical output, he probably would have struggled to kill ordinary wild beasts in the snow.

With the primary updates to the locomotive thoroughly audited, the girls finalized their inventory organization, listing their surplus, non-essential gear onto the global market exchange to clear out the grids.

Bai Cheng stood up, rolling her shoulders as she prepared to step out into the terminal and log into the station directory alongside Yu Nian. The moment they stepped across the threshold of the train cabin, Zi Yuan came bounding over, her eyes sparkling. "Young Miss! Zi Yuan wants to go exploring with you too!~"

The mechanical laws governing experience point distribution hadn’t shifted after the train merge. Any experience points generated when veteran employees like Chi Yan slaughtered monsters would still flow directly to Bai Cheng exactly as before. If Yu Nian wanted to farm experience points to hit her breakthrough, she either had to execute the killing blows herself or siphon the experience directly from Qing Niao’s combat loop.

Because Yu Nian’s personal level was still dangerously low, Bai Cheng knew they would need to bring Qing Niao along to act as her primary power-leveling engine.

Right then, Lü Duo stepped forward as well, her silent, hopeful expression making her intentions self-evident. Only Chi Yan remained standing foolishly in place, staring blankly into the distance.

"Lü Duo, you’re on train security detail for this rotation. I’m taking Chi Yan into the zone with us," Bai Cheng commanded smoothly.

"Understood." Lü Duo’s shoulders slumped dejectedly as she stepped back into the shadows of the carriage, immediately cursing herself for stepping forward so eagerly. If only my relationship with the Young Miss could be as close and effortless as Zi Yuan’s...

Accompanied by their three chosen employees, Bai Cheng and Yu Nian walked up to the heavy mechanical security door at the edge of the platform.

Bai Cheng stepped forward to initiate the authentication sequence. The localized terminal screen mounted beside the frame flared to life, streaming real-time data regarding the zone ahead.

[Arriving at Station: #3 Lava Convenience Store Station]

[Station Classification: Multiplayer Hub]

[Sector Overview: Houses a vast assortment of rare commodities and features flawless hospitality and rest services—provided your financial reserves are sufficient!]

[Station Protocols: The convenience store proprietor possesses an incredibly volatile temperament.

1. Absolutely no loud noises are permitted within the premises!

2. Do not purchase odd-numbered quantities of any item!

3. Under no circumstances may two individuals holding the [Train Conductor] title enter the convenience store simultaneously!]

[Remaining Time Until Departure: 6 Hours]

The two girls locked eyes, a look of pure, unadulterated delight mirroring on their faces.

"Wow," Yu Nian whispered. "Is the system actually being nice for once and handing us a pure welfare drop?"