A single-player post-apocalyptic game, but with an all-female teammate mod.

Hold both hands in each hand and thrust forward simultaneously.

The stone spear pierced the mechanical dog's throat with a whooshing sound.

The spearhead, like a venomous snake, pierced the white energy cluster, then passed through the throat and reached the abdomen.

"Kara".

With a crisp sound, the sensation of shattering a solid piece of glass traveled from the stone spear to Aono's hand.

The next moment, the mechanical dog, which had been seemingly invincible, collapsed to the ground as if it had run out of power.

Immediately afterwards, a dozen gold coins and several unfamiliar materials appeared on the ground.

"Successfully killed!"

Aono was overjoyed as he looked at the freshly dropped loot.

But before he could examine them closely, the materials and gold coins transformed into streaks of golden light and flew into his backpack.

Seeing this, Aono stopped paying attention.

Experience and gold coins can be taken care of later; the most urgent task is to deal with the siege of mechanical dogs.

"Dudu, find a way to stick it into their bellies."

Aono, carrying his stone spear, turned back to help the girl fight off the mechanical dogs that were attacking her, and at the same time told her how to kill the mechanical dogs.

Aside from charging up energy, these mechanical dogs will also open their mouths and bite during close combat.

However, if you want to take advantage of the opportunity to break in, you need to seize the right moment.

Moreover, it consumes a lot of stone spears.

These mechanical dogs have a very strong bite force; even a beginner's weapon like a fire axe or a stone spear can be broken in one bite.

Fortunately, stone spears can be crafted at the crafting table by picking up some stones, so Qingye has stockpiled a lot of them.

After killing five mechanical dogs in close combat, Aono had three and Dudu had two.

The two separated again, luring the mechanical dog to charge up its power.

The mechanical monster, which only acts according to predetermined logic, is very cooperative.

After easily taking down three more, Aono and Dudu once again widened the distance between them.

Compared to melee combat, it's much easier to use mobility to repeatedly harass these rigid monsters.

Three, three, four.

After repeating this process three times, the remaining ten mechanical dogs were also eliminated.

During the battle, Aono discovered that, apart from what appeared to be the core inside the stomach, the joints of the mechanical dog were also a weak point.

If its limbs are severed, the mechanical dog will lose its ability to move.

However, it will stand still, open its mouth to gather energy, and launch a ranged attack.

If you cut off its neck, the mechanical dog will still be alive, but it will completely lose its ability to move.

In response, Aono speculated that there was a CPU-like chip inside the mechanical dog's brain.

Therefore, once the connection is lost, the body completely loses its ability to move.

"No wonder the blue light was flashing wildly when I hit the neck before. It seems that the correct way to fight monsters is to cut off their limbs and head."

While keeping a close watch on the mechanical spiders and androids, Aono shared information with Dudu.

Due to its body structure, the mechanical dog can directly attack the core inside its stomach through its mouth.

Unlike androids, mechanical spiders are much harder to attack directly, as their core positions are obviously difficult to reach.

Moreover, these mechanical monsters should be the most basic monsters in this level.

The only way to kill it is to attack the well-hidden core...

This level is far too difficult.

Just then, a system notification appeared in front of Aono and the other person.

[Forward] [Exit]

"Phew, that's more like it..."

Looking at the options before him, Aono raised an eyebrow and let out a long breath.

The situation is now clear: if we choose to move forward, the next wave of monsters we'll face will be mechanical spiders.

Of course, it's also possible that mechanical spiders and androids are together.

Exiting is even simpler.

As the name suggests, exit this building.

Although I don't know why the enemies didn't appear in waves but all at once, this actually made the decision easier to make.

"Aono-nii, what's the choice?"

The beautiful girl with long orange hair stared warily at the motionless mechanical spiders on the ceiling.

Instead of making a hasty choice, she asked Aono.

"Let's go back first. These spiders hanging from the ceiling look much harder to fight than the mechanical dogs."

Without hesitation, Aono decisively said, "Go back and upgrade the shop, replace some weapons, and it would be best to upgrade it a few more times before coming back."

"Ah."

The young cook nodded, and followed Qingye in choosing to "exit".

The next moment, the previously closed door slid open silently again, just as quietly and smoothly as when the two of them entered.

After the two left the building, the blinding red light turned white again.

The remaining mechanical spiders and combat androids also returned to the walls.

32. Upgrade the store

Upon returning to the Ark, Aono immediately went to the console and selected the upgrade shop.

He had only accumulated enough basic materials to upgrade one building, so he decided to wait and see for a while.

Now that they've discovered their weapons are outdated, upgrading the shop is the obvious priority.

The high-quality and inexpensive weapons inside can effectively improve monster-killing efficiency.

Higher monster-hunting efficiency allows for faster accumulation of materials and gold to upgrade other buildings.

In other words, this is how to snowball the snowball effect more effectively.

The shop upgrade is complete as the shop building icon flashes on the control panel.

[Shop Level 2]

The newly added shop icon appears to be slightly larger than the other level 1 buildings, but otherwise there are no other changes.

Aono didn't care; as long as the function was good and practical, that was enough.

He glanced at the control panel and saw the materials needed to continue upgrading the shop.

As expected, it's the same as the Ark upgrade.

Upgrading from level 2 to level 3 no longer requires materials dropped by mycelium zombies, such as [Mutant Mycelium Core], [Hardened Bone Fragment], and [Sharp Claw].

Instead, they are materials dropped by mechanical monsters, such as [Mechanical Fragments], [Precision Gears], [Energy Batteries], and [Control Chips].

The only difference is that the Ark requires a much larger amount of materials than the shop, and also one [Mechanical Heart].

Knowing in advance about the materials needed to upgrade the Ark was one of the reasons why Aono reacted immediately upon seeing the mechanical monster appear.

On the way back, Aono had already roughly looked at the loot dropped by the mechanical dog and the experience it provided.

Just as he expected, the experience gained from killing monsters increased significantly, roughly three times.

Killing a regular mycelium zombie grants 30 experience points, while killing a mechanical dog grants 90.

The number of gold coins also increased, from three or four to about ten.

Then there are the dropped materials, which are all lower-grade materials needed for upgrades.

Scrap metal, gears, lithium batteries, circuit boards...

Only elite monsters and bosses have a chance to drop upgrade materials directly; ordinary monsters will only drop low-rank materials.

Three lower-level materials can be combined to create one required material.

Aono was already very familiar with this process; he simply went to the manufacturing room to synthesize the items and then submitted them directly to the console.

Of course, if you don't want to submit it, you can put it in the warehouse or backpack first, and submit it when you need to upgrade.

To save time, Aono always submitted his work first, since Ark would definitely need to be upgraded anyway.

Once it's full, leave it as is, and submit whichever one needs upgrading.

Aono had already handed this task over to Dudu.

Today is no exception.

While he was upgrading his shop, the little cook was organizing crafting materials in the workshop.

Actually, this should ideally be done by someone who can join the manufacturing department, as they would not only gain experience but also likely receive additional bonuses.

But until a suitable professional teammate appears, we can only trouble Dudu for now.

Without disturbing Dudu in the manufacturing room, Aono went to the store alone.

Level 2 shops don't look significantly different from level 1 shops, except for some additional patterns and decorations on the signs and buildings.

Aono walked to the counter and opened the shop.

This time, instead of wasting gold coins, I cleared out all the items.

The supplies he bought last time were enough for him and Dudu to use for a long time, and even if there was another Thunder General, it would be more than enough.

Moreover, the shop refreshes daily, and the refreshed supplies are more than enough for everyone in Ark.

There's absolutely no need to hoard supplies; what you should hoard are the materials that refresh daily.

The mycelium zombies are gone; if you want mycelium-based materials to upgrade buildings, you'll have to buy them from the shop.

Indeed, not selling the materials and letting the store recycle them was an absolutely correct decision.

The level 2 shop unlocks all materials in the mycelium series.

Aono flipped through the list and found that the level 3 shop did indeed offer materials dropped by mechanical monsters.

Not only are there materials dropped by mechanical monsters, but also a complete set of captain-exclusive equipment.

Weapons, a shirt, trousers, shoes, a hat, and a belt.

Currently, only the name can be seen; the specific attributes and set effects cannot be viewed.

The shop's level is limited by the Ark's level, so even if he wanted to spend a lot of gold to upgrade the shop first, he couldn't.

To obtain your own exclusive equipment set, you must first pass this level and defeat the BOSS to get the Mechanical Heart.

It's truly torturous to only be able to see but not possess.

Aono simply chose to ignore it and only looked at what she could buy right now.

"First, let's talk about weapons. Stone spears can be completely phased out. Let's buy a standard long spear blueprint first... to replace the stone spears."

"Then there's the fire axe... Should we switch to a cooler weapon?"

After thinking for a while, Aono decided to continue using the axe.

His preferred weapons were stone spears and axes.

Of the two, he used the axe more often and was better at it.

Stone spears are generally only used when a ranged attack is needed.

Aono also wanted a cool weapon, but cool weapons often require a lot of effort to practice the skills.

He had Raiden General's naginata in his backpack, and he tried wielding it against the mechanical dog today.