The scene after the melta bomb exploded was like a hellish painting.
At the center of C-3 District, the metal walkways and surrounding pipes were completely melted, turning into an orange-red molten pool still emitting rolling hot steam. The dozen or so players at the center of the explosion repeatedly jumped between death and rebirth. As soon as they revived in place, they would be killed again by the terrifying high temperature and the flowing molten metal under their feet, then revive in the same spot a few seconds later...
This cycle of dying and living happened more than a dozen times until the temperature of the molten pool slightly decreased, allowing them to crawl out of that destructive center, emitting black smoke all over. This included the Assassin, who once again successfully used self-detonation to take down the Sir.
Fortunately, no matter how strong the pain in this game was, it was only comparable to hitting a finger with a hammer; otherwise, this repeated melting torture alone would have driven the players' minds completely insane.
A player who had just crawled out of the center gave a thumbs-up to the equally disheveled Mua'dib: "You're truly amazing, buddy. You took down the second boss with another self-detonation."
Another player immediately echoed: "I feel that using self-detonation to take down bosses will become a very popular playstyle in the future, and it should be named after you, called the 'Mua'dib Style'!".
Another player lay on the ground, panting and complaining: "Mua'dib Style? Does that mean strapping bombs all over your body, silently sneaking behind the enemy, shouting 'For the Emperor,' and then dying with the enemy? That's certainly very Mua'dib."
Players on the periphery cautiously approached after seeing the heat subside a bit. The player with the ID "Joker" wiped sweat from his brow and asked with lingering fear, "How many times did this boss kill each of us?"
"I died five times at its hands," a player who had just crawled out and was lying on the ground playing dead grimaced, "Can someone finish me off? I want to reset my status; I feel like my legs have a debuff from being scalded by that molten metal."
"When we fight the genestealer cult later, I'll definitely get my revenge!" a player said indignantly, "I'll also strap myself with explosives and blow them all up!"
"We'll save the melta bombs for you then, and blow all those pureblood genestealers to kingdom come."
"Good idea."
"Haha."
"That would be amazing."
"Count me in."
Amidst these few echoes that sounded like conversations with an AI, Mua'dib interrupted them: "The self-detonation style is satisfying, but it's actually a skilled job. Blowing up bosses is hard, and blowing up small soldiers won't make a profit. After all, the more powerful the explosive, the more merit/exp points it requires."
The surrounding players nodded in agreement. This time, facing the pureblood genestealers, quite a few players wanted to try Mua'dib's self-detonation, but they all failed to grasp the timing of the opponent's movements, wasting valuable merit points. It's worth noting that Mua'dib's two melta bombs this time alone were already worth five hundred merit points.
"Why don't you write a post later, big shot?" a player suggested, "Teach us how to play the explosion style and share some tips."
Mua'dib pondered for a moment, deciding it wasn't a secret technique, and readily agreed: "Sure, no problem."
Just as the players were chatting and sharing the joy of successfully killing the Sir again, a crisp system notification sound rang in everyone's ears.
"Killed hidden enemy: Clawed Rex Bright."
"Reward: One random lottery chance (merit points will be settled uniformly after this main quest is completed)"
The players were stunned. Lottery? Gacha?
They quickly opened the system interface and found that the UI indeed had a brand new lottery page. The interface displayed all the various items that could be drawn, a dazzling array, exactly one hundred of them.
The appearance of this lottery event was entirely Terrabyte's spur-of-the-moment idea.
He had long been dissatisfied with merely creating weapons and equipment for players based on demand. In the warp, to explore the boundaries of his own authority, he had created a plethora of imaginative and rather peculiar gadgets.
These items were full of Terrabyte's unique dark humor and creativity, but most had little practical combat value.
Terrabyte enjoyed the process of "creation" when making these things; once created, they lost their meaning. So he thought, why not just package them up and let players draw them as rewards for defeating special enemies? It just so happened that the players had just taken down a powerful pureblood genestealers, so giving such a special reward was also reasonable.
At this, the players in the material universe became thoroughly excited.
"Comrades, watch me, I'll draw first to test the waters!" a player immediately shouted loudly.
So, he pressed the draw button without hesitation. The icons on the interface began to scroll rapidly, dazzling light and shadow making people dizzy, then slowly stopped. Finally, a thick book settled in the center.
The curious players who had gathered around immediately started asking questions, chattering away:
"A book? What kind of book?"
"Could it be a powerful magic book personally written by Magnus the Red, containing a large number of warp psychic spells?"
"Maybe it's the Astartes Codex!"
"It could also be the Lectitio Divinitatus."
"Ugh, quickly put those two things away, they're bad luck!"
The player who drew the prize immediately extracted the book from the lottery UI. A heavy sensation filled his hand, and when he saw the specific item information, he was completely stunned.
"Name: Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebook Set 3.5e (Complete Edition)"
"Type: Tool"
"Quality: Excellent"
"Function: A rulebook is a rulebook. What, do you expect to be able to hit people with it?"
"Effect: Will make anyone who sees it irresistibly want to start a tense and exciting DND session."
"Note: 'If anyone wants to use it, I've put this in the recreation room. I'll be running another session next Tuesday. Those who want to play, bring your own character sheets.' — Dr. DeVries"
...What is this?" The player holding the rulebook incredulously tried to open it and found that it actually worked! The texture of the pages was excellent, and every line of text was crystal clear, completely containing the contents of the three core rulebooks: the Dungeon Master's Guide, the Player's Handbook, and the Monster Manual.
The surrounding players craned their necks to look, and couldn't help but laugh.
"Don't even say it, with this effect, I really suddenly want to run a session."
"It's okay, brother, look on the bright side," a player patted the winner's shoulder and comforted him, "At least our company will have new entertainment during our leisure time."