For the time being, level B7 remained inaccessible to players, Ample Time’s theory was still just speculation. But some observant players had already noticed that NPC shops were quietly expanding their inventory.

The clearest example was the Hummingbird drone.

Previously unobtainable, it was now purchasable on the official site, one per citizen-ranked player, priced at 10,000 silver coins, equivalent to a full Light Cavalry exoskeleton.

Compared to the New Alliance’s Y-series drones, the Hummingbird offered a superior camera view, greater agility, and excellent stealth, essentially a miniature satellite darting through the ruins.

Of course, to protect player privacy, privately owned drones of that model were prohibited from flying inside safe zones or exceeding five meters above ground, and could only be used as follow-cams.

In addition, the administrator’s Nitrogen-Powered Hammer was available in the NPC shop!

However, it wasn’t cheap, word was that the production process was extremely complex, and each hammer cost 200,000 silver coins, almost the price of a Gauss rifle!

That was right, players could now even buy the pre-war Type-20 Thorn in the NPC shop! It was the same one the administrator himself often carried!

This weapon was even more advanced than the Type-15 Python gauss rifle that Night Ten was so fond of. Not only did it feature a unique barrel-less design, but it could also fire random scrap metal like nails or shards of iron, an absolutely broken ability!

If the hammer still made some hesitate, the Thorn rifle didn’t. The moment it appeared in the NPC shop, the entire stock was sold out, over 100 units gone in a day!

That one item alone brought the New Alliance 20 million silver coins in a single day, leaving Chu Guang grinning ear to ear. He immediately ordered Little Seven to queue another production batch to restock the shelves.

Though Ample Time’s prediction about limited-edition gear turning into common equipment hadn’t fully come true yet, it was clear that the transition had quietly begun...

...

Meanwhile, in the eastern ecological protection zone of Clearspring City. A starving mutant hyena crouched in the jungle shadows, hungrily eyeing a nearby Cruncher swaying its head like a fool.

While Cruncher flesh was considered inedible for players, that fact didn’t apply to creatures like mutant hyenas, cockroaches, or vultures. And with winter only recently ended, most mutants were starving. Even if Slime Mold didn’t taste good, hunger made them reconsider their standards.

After confirming there was no danger, the hyena let out a low growl and lunged forward like an arrow loose from a bow. But what happened next would forever change its life.

The Cruncher, who had been standing there slack-jawed, suddenly turned its head, gave a weird grin, and kicked the hyena square in the gut!

It had never seen such an agile Cruncher. The blow landed hard, sending the hyena yelping and rolling across the ground.

Before it could recover, something even more unbelievable happened, the dull Cruncher pulled a pistol from somewhere!

Seeing a human’s weapon in the hands of a Cruncher, the hyena immediately forgot its hunger and bolted in sheer terror.

The Cruncher raised its twig-like arm, waved the pistol clumsily, and fired.

Bang!

Unfortunately, the shot missed. The bullet whizzed past the fleeing hyena and vanished into the dense underbrush.

Undeterred, the Cruncher fired several more shots in that direction until the magazine clicked empty.

Sadly, its strength stat was maybe around 2 or 3 at best, so the later shots practically went into the sky.

When the prey disappeared, the Cruncher went back to its blank, lifeless stare, standing still like before.

In the nearby bushes, three players climbed to their feet, cursing as they brushed off mud, leaves, and grass.

“Goddammit! This thing’s dumb as hell!” grumbled Silver's Father, yanking the pistol from the Cruncher’s hand and holstering it himself.

Using them as cannon fodder was fine, but expecting it to hold a frontline alone? That was pure fantasy.

Maybe I should’ve bought something pricier... Maybe a Creeper, or even a Tyrant.

Silver Sword sneered at him. “Ever consider maybe you’re just bad?”

Silver's Father scowled. “Bad? Don’t make me laugh! You try using one of these and see how hard it is to control. It’s not as easy as it looks!”

Silver Shield sighed and cut in. “The real problem is your Intelligence’s too low. I heard some newly awakened intelligence types can control these things to march in formation with rifles.”

He shook his head helplessly. “You idiots insisted on picking strength types when choosing genetic sequences, now look at you, all playing catch-up.”

Silver Sword couldn’t resist snapping back. “Oh, please! Who was it that changed his mind last minute, huh?”

Silver Shield froze, his face turning awkward. Right... That had been him.

Seeing the tension rise, Silver's Father cleared his throat. “Alright, alright, drop it. That’s ancient history. Give your old man some face. Worst case, we’ll just go for mechanical ascension, ”

Silver Sword snapped instantly. “Shut up! Who’s my old man?! Bah, I’m your old man!”

Silver Shield cursed. “%@#&!”

The Silver Squad’s squabble was just a small episode in the protection zone.

Judging from forum feedback on the Beta 0.6 update, most players who adopted entities were having a blast.

Especially intelligence type players who were LV20, or even LV30. The new system practically freed their hands entirely!

Take Eye Owe Money, for example. When he realized the white-haired, red-eyed succubus entity was unavailable, he shrugged, pulled out 10,000 silver coins, and bought 120 Crunchers instead, each armed with a dirt-cheap, mass-sold iron-pipe rifle.

Sure, Crunchers couldn’t aim for crap, but quantity beats quality!

Not only that, he even built himself a makeshift palanquin, strapping steel bars to a chair and had four Crunchers carry him around.

Leading his mighty horde, he scouted the eastern suburbs for half a day before finding an unlucky mutant grizzly bear.

Without hesitation, Eye Owe Money ordered his Crunchers to form a firing squad, raise their rifles, and aim.

“Fire!” he screamed in ecstasy.

The bear, pawing at a captured hyena, barely turned its head before a wall of muzzle flashes erupted.

Bang, bang, bang!

In seconds, both it and the hyena were shredded by a storm of 7mm bullets.

Watching the corpse riddled with holes collapse to the ground, Eye Owe Money burst out laughing maniacally. “Gahahaha! I’m a one-man army, you hear me?!”

Standing beside him, Construction Boy couldn’t help snarking despite his envy. “Yeah, right. Your ragtag crew? A single dump truck could flatten you.”

He was a strength type.

Though he’d barely hit 10 INT, after reading the forums full of strength type players complaining about the system, he had given up on being a summoner altogether.

Eye Owe Money just chuckled dismissively. “Pfft, you don’t know shit. You think I’d just stand there and let you hit me? Boys! Show him what we can do!”

Closing his eyes, he furrowed his brow like he was constipated.

Immediately, the row of Crunchers under his direct neural link began moving in unison, stacking themselves into a human pyramid like circus acrobats.

Construction Boy stared at the scene with wide eyes.

Good lord...

Watching the bizarre scene, Sideline Slacking glanced sideways at Escaping Mole, his tone dry. “... I’m starting to think Brother Light is using us to train his machine learning models.”

Escaping Mole chuckled, “Wouldn’t surprise me. Sounds exactly like something he would do.”

But then again, so what?

It’s a game.

As long as it’s fun! 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

And in that short moment, Escaping Mole’s mind was already spinning with a dozen insane ways to exploit this new system for creative operations.

Unfortunately, with the Tide recently ended, the New Alliance had entered a peacetime development phase. For the sake of Lifestyle Profession players, there wouldn’t be any major wars for a while.

Testing those crazy ideas would have to wait, at least until the next expansion dropped.