Chapter 5: Abilities and Candy
Su Xiao opened his personal information and began considering which attributes to display. As a summoner, his true strength attribute of 129 and true agility of 128 points obviously couldn't be shown—he wasn't a summoned creature himself.
His true stamina of 127 points was worth considering, since summoners typically pursued survivability. But... that was problematic! Too much stamina; he couldn't display it.
His true intelligence of 124 points could be shown. There was nothing wrong with a summoner having high intelligence—intelligence attributes could enhance summoned creatures and were a primary stat for summoners. Su Xiao added intelligence to his display list.
His mana pool of 9,926 points was also added to the display. How could a summoner's mana be low?
As for the most critical charm attribute, Su Xiao glanced at his 2 points of charm and decided not to display it.
Su Xiao's charm attribute was indeed low, but Bubu Wang's wasn't. This could be used to his advantage.
Su Xiao began checking his skill list. There seemed to be little he could display. Should he show Blade Grandmaster Lv.32? Devouring Core? Dragon Shadow Flash? Melee Combat Grandmaster? Aura Release?
After searching, Su Xiao was pleased to find two displayable passive abilities: Goddess's Favor Lv.50, and the passive ability gained after breaking through the intelligence barrier—Nature's Heart. This looked the most like an ability a summoner should have.
After organizing everything, Su Xiao displayed his "Personal Information," and blue text gradually materialized before him.
Seeing that Su Xiao only showed partial information, the one-eyed man wasn't surprised. Unless someone was foolish, no one would reveal everything in this kind of temporary cooperation.
"What about charm?"
The one-eyed man muttered, looking at the intelligence attribute at the top. His expression stiffened, and when he saw the 9,926 mana points, his face gradually went blank. He had only seen this amount of mana on some bosses before.
As for Goddess's Favor, an ability that could permanently increase luck attributes, the one-eyed man felt a mix of envy, jealousy, and hatred. He only glanced briefly at Nature's Heart.
"Uh—"
The support girl was momentarily stunned, looking at Su Xiao as if she were seeing a rare creature.
"Is there a problem with my information?"
Su Xiao spoke. If the answer was wrong by even one word, someone would die.
"Big... friend, no problem at all."
The one-eyed man almost blurted out "big shot." 124 intelligence points and nearly ten thousand mana—this was a super powerhouse!
"Is our overall strength not enough to join?"
Baha seemed to be mocking, but was actually probing.
"It's... it's fine. Enough."
The one-eyed man coughed awkwardly, then looked at his other four teammates.
"Isn't that too much mana? Is there no problem?"
The support girl spoke, more cautious.
"What problems could there be with a signed contract? Besides, summoners need to consume mana to maintain their summons. With this amount of mana, it's probably from equipment or some ability's bonus. Not abnormal."
The healer clearly had no hostility toward Su Xiao, as she also had equipment that increased mana. However, Su Xiao's "summons" were somewhat special—Bubu Wang was a follower, Amu was an attached follower, and Baha was an alchemical creature.
"Everything else is fine, but as a summoner, shouldn't you show your charm attribute?"
The youth holding the long knife spoke.
"We'll observe later."
After saying this, the one-eyed man looked at Su Xiao again and said, "Friend, let's sign the contract. What should I call you?"
"Kukulin."
Su Xiao omitted the last two characters. He didn't believe he'd meet any acquaintances at the fifth rank. In the fifth-rank war world, all the fifth-rank contractors from Apocalypse Paradise who had seen him were dead.
As soon as Su Xiao finished speaking, he received a contract. Its contents were interesting. First, maliciously attacking teammates would result in a forced deduction of 50% of attributes. Su Xiao ignored this directly—he was signing the contract under Reincarnation Paradise's influence, so the contract's penalty mechanism was ineffective against him.
Another important point in the contract was the battle contribution ratio. This battle contribution was temporarily formulated by the team.
During combat, all actions would affect battle contribution—scouting, healing, even every decision would increase or decrease battle contribution.
After successfully killing an enemy, the spoils would have their battle contribution price determined based on quality, purpose, etc. Team members would then use battle contribution to purchase items.
If two people wanted the same item, compatibility would be judged. The person with higher compatibility had the purchase right. If compatibility was similar, an auction would be held.
After carefully reading the contract, Su Xiao signed it.
[Tip: The Hunter has joined the "Ranger Squad."]
[Tip: The Hunter has completed signing the enemy contract.]
[Tip: The Hunter has successfully joined the enemy squad.]
[Tip: Invasion progress increased by 5%. If invasion progress reaches 10%, the Hunter can open the Apocalypse Paradise world channel. On the world channel, the Hunter can communicate with enemy contractors in this world.]
[Tip: If invasion progress reaches 20%, the Hunter will receive additional rewards.]
...
Su Xiao's expression remained unchanged. Clearly, communicating with enemy contractors became an opportunity for him to gain benefits. Signing contracts with enemies and forming teams both increased invasion progress. As for how to increase it further, that remained to be explored.
After signing the contract, the one-eyed man basically let down his guard. In his understanding, once a contract was signed, things were stable—at least that had been the case from first rank to fifth rank.
The current situation was no longer a wolf mixed into a flock of sheep, but a blood-soaked beast mixed in.
"Now that the contract is signed, we're on the same side."
The one-eyed man stepped forward and patted Su Xiao's shoulder to build rapport. This simple action triggered Su Xiao's instinct repeatedly. If he hadn't actively restrained himself, he would have already cut off the man's head, blood spraying three feet.
A man wearing jungle combat gear covered in branches and leaves leaped from a ruined building's window. He carried a sniper rifle less than two meters long, with camouflage paint on his face.
The original team had six members. With Su Xiao, it became seven. Under the one-eyed man's leadership, they entered a three-story ruined building.
On the third floor, the furniture had long since rotted to dust. The walls were full of cracks, exposing rusted steel bars. A barrier could be seen at the window—this was the Ranger Squad's rest point.
In the center of the room was an extinguished fire pit, with a few piles of crushed bones nearby. Noticing Su Xiao's gaze, the one-eyed man smiled somewhat sheepishly.
"This world seals food and fresh water. The food we brought was eaten long ago. If you still have some, you'd better conserve it. The food we've been getting is barely edible."
The one-eyed man sat in a corner, looking tired. The other five also sat down in various spots around the room.
"I only have 'candy' left."
Su Xiao's storage space had been temporarily reduced, so he naturally didn't have much food or water. As for "candy," it was actually Soul Crystal Fragments.
"Let me introduce you. This is Zosa. Call him Zo."
The one-eyed man used his thumb to point at the youth holding a long knife, who wore a half-smile. Zosa was leaning against a corner, eyes closed, humming in acknowledgment as a greeting.
"This is the firepower specialist. He handles most of the team's firepower."
The man called the firepower specialist—a middle-aged man carrying an oversized shotgun—smiled.
"Over there is Gulasai, responsible for sniping and scouting."
The one-eyed man pointed at the sniper. Sniper Gulasai was taking a nap, so he didn't respond.
"That one over there is 37D..."
"No, just call me Little Healer."
Little Healer hugged her impressive chest with both arms, closing her eyes and leaning against the corner. The youth Zosa opened one eye—his young heart stirred, but he still maintained his "aloof" demeanor.
"Last is Doro, support type. The reason we dared to come here is because of her ability."
The one-eyed man looked at the petite girl wearing a white shirt with her left sleeve rolled up to her elbow, dressed in a neutral style.
"Hi~"
Doro raised one hand, her gaze fixed on the handheld game console in her hands.
"As for myself, you can call me Captain. If you want to be the captain and have strong enough command skills, I have no objections."
The one-eyed man, now the captain, smiled at Su Xiao. The others also turned their attention to him.
"I'm not good at commanding."
Su Xiao took out a "candy," tossed it into his mouth, and crunched it.
[Tip: Soul Devourer talent activated. Your soul strength has permanently increased by 1 point.]