By the time they reached the school boundaries and arrived at the spot where Mo Shao had buried her chests, fifteen people had already completed a Dead-binding.
Aside from one slightly chuunibyou male student who felt he needed to be unconventional and chose to Dead-bind an Object-type, the rest had bound Echoes. Mo Shao took note of the name of the lone student who chose the Object-type: Xu Huaan.
Of course, he wasn't completely stupid. The Object-type he had Dead-bound was a very powerful and rare one called “Sinking Sand.”
To the players, it was known as the “Spearhead-bro”—high damage and high movement speed. It had few special mechanics, and its high-damage attacks could be baited out, but it was still a powerhouse.
Moreover, after Dead-binding Sinking Sand, Xu Huaan gained a set of “soldier’s armor” whenever he activated his ability. With a bronze halberd and a full set of bronze plate armor, he looked incredibly cool and was perfectly suited for combat. The chuunibyou youth was quite satisfied.
...
As for the Sinking Sand's ability, in the game, it was:
[Enters the field with 4 [Broken Blades]. Consumes 1 upon hitting a target. When all are consumed, immediately performs a follow-up attack without delay. While holding [Broken Blades], ATK is increased by 70%.]
Reflected in reality, the situation was as follows:
Every battle provided four enhanced basic attacks plus one seamless follow-up attack. Once used, one had to wait for the next battle. It was essentially a front-loaded burst beast, perfect for 1v1 duels. With the addition of armor, the psychological advantage was already established.
Furthermore, this ability came with its own weapon. Once Mo Shao provided him with a shield, his combat power would grow even further.
As a side note, defeating Object-types also yielded drops—[Canned Noon Tea], a drop item from game events. However, aside from drinking it, this thing had no other use—after all, there were no event shops in reality.
But even though there weren't shops of that type, other game shops were a possibility—Villagers being a prime example.
...
By this point, many people were still willing to undergo Dead-binding. However, since the drop rate for Echoes wasn't very high, they could only be armed to this extent for the time being.
Nevertheless, once they geared up here and headed back for another round of farming, they should be well-equipped.
“Keep watch around here; I’m going to dig something up,” Mo Shao called out once she found the mark she had left.
Even though the area was clear of monsters and didn't technically require a perimeter, she couldn't just let them stand around idly. Besides, getting them used to following her orders made leading them easier—a tactic she had been employing since they set out.
“Is that... a chest?! And a donkey?” Little Ka, who was standing nearby, was stunned when she saw what Mo Shao pulled out.
Actually, it wasn't just her; everyone was a bit dazed. Mo Shao hadn't told them a thing about why they were coming this way. This, too, was a form of compliance training. When you do things this way, you had better provide a damn good reason afterward, or your subordinates would become increasingly disobedient. Conversely, if you could provide a perfect reason, they would become even more compliant in the future!
And the contents of these chests were the perfect reason!
...
“Don't be so surprised. Watch this.”
With a slight upward curl of her lips, Mo Shao moved the chests to a flat area and began her work.
She directly pulled out a Crafting Table and began synthesizing items rapidly, focusing on three main things: spears, shields, and bows.
At this point, though they were still a bit confused, everyone began to realize what Mo Shao was doing. A look of excitement gradually spread across their faces.
“Those with Echoes that provide attack bonuses, step forward first!” Mo Shao called out. About a third of the group stepped forward.
She didn't require it to be the main stat because 3-cost Echoes had flat attack as a sub-stat, and flat attributes were stronger than percentages in the early stages.
“Right, each of you take a bow. We'll have to farm Skeletons for arrows later.” Mo Shao distributed the bows one by one.
“Those with defense bonuses, come grab a shield! Those with HP bonuses, take a spear! Resources are limited for now. Later, I’ll get you the full iron three-piece set!”
Given the resources Mo Shao had collected, she could have fully armed every Dead-bound survivor with the spear-shield-bow trio. And since the Echo main stats provided percentage bonuses, the impact was negligible while the Echo levels were generally low.
But that would create a problem: a confusion of combat roles. If people were allowed to choose their own positions, most would choose the safety of long-range combat. Who would want to be in the melee? This was reality, not a game.
That was why Mo Shao categorized them. Once they became accustomed to their combat roles, she would provide the full equipment sets. By then, they would be settled into their own combat rhythms and wouldn't easily abandon their roles.
...
And that wasn't the end of it.
Mo Shao used a pickaxe to dig a trench, then dug out a block in the middle. She placed water on one side and lava on the other. With a hiss, stone was formed! It was a stone generator!
“Who wants to try mining?” Mo Shao raised her iron pickaxe, waving it as she addressed the crowd behind her. If there were people to use, there was no way she was going to do the manual labor herself.
Someone stepped forward almost immediately. Since they had never tried mining like this before, they were naturally curious. In fact, quite a few were interested, and they eventually took turns fighting over who got to mine. They truly were a bunch of natural-born workers.
As the stone was mined, Mo Shao took it and used the Crafting Table to synthesize more items.
“A stone axe for everyone. Half gets stone pickaxes and the other half gets stone shovels. Distribute them among yourselves and carry them strapped across your backs.”
A stone axe could serve as both a tool and a weapon, while the stone pickaxes and shovels could dismantle over seventy percent of the structures they encountered.
As for why she didn't give everyone a full set—carrying too much would hinder their combat. Even she put her bag down when fighting. Moreover, while these stones didn't follow the “cursed calculation” where a cubic meter of stone is impossibly heavy, they were still quite weighted.
...
“Wooo! Long live Sister Hui!”
Once the equipment distribution was complete, led by Xu Huaan, the other Dead-bound survivors joined in the cheering. Not bad—her prestige was definitely growing. Mo Shao nodded with a smile, accepting their cheers.
Amidst this atmosphere and the lure of equipment, and having watched the group slaughter their way here, Mo Shao could see that many of those who hadn't Dead-bound yet were starting to waver. Their eyes were flickering with interest.
Being tempted was a good thing. It was only bad if they weren't interested!
“Now then, let's fight our way back!” Mo Shao pointed her sword toward the school.
“Fight back! Fight back!” Caught up in the moment, the crowd raised the equipment they had just received and roared along with her.
It was lucky that they had cleared out the monsters in the vicinity, or else this noise would have drawn a massive swarm to ambush them.
Rate on N.U.
