Watching the two of them complete the task, Mogansha’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head. Never forget, this wretched man had failed to acquire the "Annihilation of the Colossal Spore Mortar Defense Tower" mission. While Reef was studying the mission description, Mogansha attempted to test if Fang Senyan could share the Human Faction side quest with him, only for the Nightmare Imprint to instantly transmit a merciless notification:

“You have already refused this mission once, therefore the mission shared by Subject Number 1018 cannot be accepted.”

Faced with this cruel reality, Mogansha could only weep silently while clutching his Golden Ratio. In truth, if they had sufficient manpower and time, there were numerous other side quests lurking nearby to be discovered: the destruction of Whiskey Base was bound to cause turmoil among the surrounding Human bases, suggesting that missions to eliminate the local Zerg forces would likely appear, perhaps even tasks to re-establish the Whiskey Base… However, adhering to the principle of not biting off more than one can chew, Fang Senyan decided to abandon these probable side quests. They had already left the Black Thorn Tribe for nearly four hours, and the worry that the Red Stripe Tribe might launch a full-scale assault on the Black Thorn forces prematurely spurred them onward; they wasted no more time and hastened back.

During the flight, Fang Senyan pondered for a moment before tactfully expressing his desire to view Reef’s attributes, which would help finalize future arrangements. Reef, having experienced betrayal and narrowly escaped death, now viewed all privileges with detachment. He was utterly disheartened by his tenure as the team leader and no longer harbored any ambition for the role, so he readily provided Fang Senyan access to all his data:

Subject Number 770123 (Number is merely a genetic code, unrelated to entry sequence) Strength 21 Points (18+2+1) 21 Agility 27 Points (23+3+1) Stamina 38 Points (30+3+4+1) Perception 9 Points (8+1) Charm 8 Points (7+1) Intelligence 9 Points (8+1) Spirit 10 Points (9+1) Awakened A-Rank Talent Ability: Ironclad - Physical damage taken by the owner is reduced by 22%, and the duration of abnormal status effects on the owner is reduced by 50%. Basic Melee LV7 Basic Footwork LV7 Basic Endurance LV7 Basic Meditation LV2 Basic Perception LV2 Basic Advancement Ability: One-Handed Weapon Proficiency LV6 Basic Ultimate Ability: Gallantry - Can only be used on allies. Cooldown is 15 seconds. After use, the target’s next instance of damage will be borne by you, and this damage will be weakened. Basic Advancement Ability: Shield Mastery LV6 (Grants additional bonuses when using a shield) Basic Ultimate Ability: Heavy Shield Mastery LV1 (Grants the ability to use heavy shields and provides additional bonuses) Basic Attribute Reward (Bonus for base Stamina reaching points without gear): Bodybuilder (Health +100) Basic Attribute Reward (Bonus for base Agility reaching 20 points without gear): Blur (Chance to evade all attacks +3%) B+ Rank Passive Ability: Brutality LV3 (Current Proficiency 1135/3) Normal attacks launched against enemies have a chance to inflict area-of-effect bonus damage equal to 15% of the normal attack damage, but no less than 10 points. Enemies hit suffer a reduction in Movement Speed and Attack Speed of for a duration of . This ability gains 1-3 proficiency points each time it takes effect. The ability level can only be increased after proficiency is maximized. A Rank Active Ability: Heart-Rending Roar (Cultivation A) - Unleashes a furious bellow, dealing damage equal to 3 times the caster's Stamina to enemies within 20 meters, reducing their Movement Speed by 50%-70% and Attack Speed by 25%-70%. The duration is calculated as the caster’s Stamina minus the affected target’s Stamina; if the target’s Stamina is higher than the caster’s, they only suffer damage and are not affected by the related debuffs. Additional Effect: This ability costs no resources to cast and has a one-minute cooldown. Additional Effect: This ability can be cast again even during its cooldown, but it requires sacrificing 25% of the caster’s current health (minimum 20 points) and the damage effect is halved, while the slow effect remains unchanged. LV A Additional Effect: When Heart-Rending Roar affects multiple enemies, for each additional enemy affected, the damage effect of Heart-Rending Roar is increased by an extra 10%, up to a maximum increase of 50%. The slow effect of this ability is subject to the 40% rule when engaged in combat against other Contractors. Fifth Tier Talent Ability: Mantle of Conviction (Currently cultivated to the fourth tier) - When activated, instantly generates a powerful mental energy shield on the surface of the body. The armor has 100 Health Points and 10 Defense, lasting for 300 seconds. Upon destruction, the owner recovers 100 Health Points over ten seconds. (Upon reaching the fifth tier, this can be cast on others.) Casting this ability consumes points of Spirit. Main Equipment: Processed Xenomorph Skull Source: Adult Xenomorph Equipment Rarity: Silver Story Grade Materials: Chitin + Testosterone + Formic Acid + D+ Pro-rhizopterin + Interleukin etc. Attachable Device: Spikes Equipment Slot: Left Hand Equipment Type: Medium Shield Weight g. Equipment Usage Requirements: Strength must be 15 points or higher, Stamina 30 points or higher. Durability 131/200 Equipment: Reduces your Critical Hit Rate by 10%. Equipment: Defense +15 (Shield Mastery LV6 grants an additional 5 Defense and 50 Health bonus) Equipment: Chance to Block Enemy Attacks +45% Equipment: Stamina +4 Effect: Acidic Blood - Every time you successfully block an opponent’s attack, there is a chance to splash residual acidic blood from the skull towards the opponent, inflicting 7-27 Acid Damage. Effect: Tenacity - The material of this shield, forged from a Xenomorph skull, is incredibly dense. Even when used to block enemy attacks, there is only a 33% chance that the shield’s durability will be consumed. Ability: Tongue Spike - After this shield accumulates 500 points of absorbed damage, it releases the hidden Xenomorph tongue within to stab the opponent in front, ignoring 50% of the enemy’s defense. This attack inflicts 100 Fixed Damage + (Strength Damage x 2) and stuns the enemy (Stun Reduction/Minimum Stun Duration is no less than 1 second), with a 120-second internal cooldown. This ability can switch freely between active and passive modes. The switching interval is 30 minutes. Description: Only a Xenomorph skull processed by a Predator can possess such balanced offense and defense, but one must remember that not every alien skull is suitable for crafting a shield, meaning the owner, while focusing on defense, will struggle to find the weaknesses of his opponents. Centauri Plasma Lightsaber (Training Use) Source: Star Wars Equipment Rarity: Black Equipment Quality: Repaired after severe damage. Material Structure: Energy Circuit Board, Charge Focusing Lens, Energy Exciter + Superconductor Attachable Device: Slot is damaged. Weight: g. Equipment Usage Requirements: Strength must be 20 points or higher, Agility 15 points or higher. Before each use, it must consume 2000 Merit Points / 10 Force points to charge the lightsaber. After charging, regardless of whether it is used or not, it will expire after half an hour. Durability: None Equipment: Attack Power increased by points. Equipment: Attack Speed increased by 45% Equipment: Your attacks have a chance to ignore 5 points of the opponent’s Armor Value. Passive Ability: Light Refraction - When blocking, dodging, or parrying enemy attacks, there is a chance for the lightsaber's energy to form a barrier to protect you, and to reflect incoming ranged attacks from the enemy. The damage protected or reflected cannot exceed 30 points. Description: Its weapon spirit has been permanently destroyed; you can no longer imbue it with any sentience. (Reef’s remaining equipment is all Blue or Deep Blue, purely increasing base attributes or evasion chance, so they will not be detailed here.) Gazing at Reef’s personal stats, Fang Senyan couldn't help but marvel at the importance and might of a cohesive team. Reef’s total base attributes reached points, and even excluding equipment, they summed up to points. Meanwhile, even with the temporary + points boost to Stamina from his accessories, Fang Senyan’s total base attributes from gear only amounted to 108 points! Furthermore, Reef’s chances of parry, block, and dodge were at least three times higher than Fang Senyan’s. This was the quintessential close-combat defense warrior, built up by the collective power of the entire team: high resilience, high health, and possessing area-of-effect crowd control capabilities! Then Fang Senyan looked at Reef’s talents and his expression turned to shock.

“So you…”

Mogansha, accustomed to such things, interjected: “That’s perfectly normal, isn’t it? In a new team like this, it’s standard practice to disguise one’s data; proving one possesses the requisite defensive talents is enough to qualify.”

Fang Senyan forced a bitter smile: “In terms of insight, that is indeed my weakness.”

As the saying goes, you don't know the bad until you compare it to the good. Compared to Reef’s lengthy list of abilities and attributes, Fang Senyan appeared quite amateurish. However, Fang Senyan’s strength lay in his strategic planning and innate talent abilities, often seizing opportunities where he could maximize the application of his specialties—this was where Reef lagged far behind him.

Though Reef had narrowly escaped death, his heart was filled with frustration and bewilderment. Mogansha, on the other hand, didn't fully grasp why Fang Senyan had abandoned the main quest to save Reef. An ineffable, awkward silence settled within the host’s transport chamber for a time.