Chapter 262: Chapter 139 Overall Base Strength, Enhancement_2, “Take your time with the fusion; while integrating with the Crystal Core, it seems that the energy it contains can also restore the body a bit. You might actually be able to get out of bed in just three to five days!”, “Thank you!”, Lu Gang said gratefully., “What are you thanking me for? You deserve this!”, Wang Tao patted Lu Gang on the shoulder., “No, I meant earlier, during the fight with the hooded zombie. If you hadn’t thrown those two axes at me, hitting the zombie, I would have been dead a long time ago…”, Lu Gang said with a sigh., “That incident? Actually, I had no other choice at the time. Fortunately, you’re tough enough!”, Thinking back to the hunt for the hooded zombie, Wang Tao also felt a sense of relief. If his throws had been off, Lu Gang would have been a goner., “Alas, it’s my fault… I thought I was far enough away that the zombie couldn’t possibly find me. If only I had been more cautious…”, Lu Gang was somewhat annoyed with himself., Fighting zombies for a long time can lead to letting one’s guard down in certain situations. For instance, thinking zombies are brainless or believing they won’t notice him…, “You can’t blame yourself for that; that zombie was simply too formidable. Anyway, we’U remember this lesson and just be more cautious in the future!” “Yeah! You’re right!”, After visiting Lu Gang, Wang Tao went back home and called Gao Hua over. Ding Yuqin was also there., Wang Tao asked them what kind of Crystal Core they wanted., After integrating with the Stealth Crystal Core, both of them could still continue to integrate., “I want Toughness…”, Gao Hua said somewhat sheepishly, scratching his head., Wang Tao glanced at him, somewhat surprised. It seemed like he was planning to max out his defense, with both Stealth and Toughness., “No problem.”, Wang Tao handed him a Toughness Crystal Core., “Thanks a lot, big brother!”, Gao Hua’s face lit up with gratitude., “With your current HP, you should be able to sense whether or not you can continue to integrate with other types of Crystal Cores, right?”, Wang Tao asked again., Gao Hua closed his eyes and felt for a while before speaking:, “I feel like I can integrate two more types…”, Gao Hua had only integrated with Stealth so far, which meant he could integrate with three types of Crystal Cores in total., “Three types, huh? That’s pretty good. Do you have any other types in mind? I have some more Crystal Cores on hand; I’ll give them all to you.”, Wang Tao said with a smile., “Let me think…”, Gao Hua’s eyes shone immediately., He never actively asked Wang Tao for anything, but he never refused anything Wang Tao gave him, not even bothering with a pretense of politeness. He was well aware of his own status, considering himself Wang Tao’s underling. It was a reward for an underling to receive something from their boss, and an underling had no right to refuse., “Could I have a Throwing Mastery Crystal Core?”, After thinking it over, Gao Hua already had two defensive Abilities, so acquiring an offensive Ability wouldn’t be bad either. However, he wasn’t keen on engaging in melee combat, which was his weakness. Thus, he thought it best to choose an Ability that would allow ranged attacks., As far as he knew, there were currently only two types of range attack Abilities: Throwing Mastery and Precision Shooting., He felt that Throwing Mastery suited him better. It was a passive Ability that didn’t consume Mana and didn’t require any basic skills. As long as he integrated with this Ability, he would naturally feel affinity and familiarity with throwing objects., In terms of potential, Precision Shooting was certainly superior. However, Precision Shooting served to enhance the abilities of those who already had shooting skills. For someone like him who had no clue about shooting, Precision Shooting wouldn’t offer a significant improvement., “Sure.”, Wang Tao gave him a red Throwing Mastery Crystal Core., “Thanks a lot, big brother!” Gao Hua thanked him again, then with a keen sense of timing added, “If big brother doesn’t have anything else, I’ll go and start integrating with the Crystal Core.”, “Go ahead.”, After Gao Hua left, Wang Tao turned to Ding Yuqin., “Sister-in-law, what about you? What Crystal Core would you like to integrate with?”, “I don’t know, I’ll listen to you!”, Ding Yuqin, with her arm around Wang Tao’s, said., Wang Tao looked at Ding Yuqin. He thought that integrating her with a Loose Tongue might give a different feeling. But after some thought, he decided against it. It was better for the sister-in-law to remain as she was., “Then you should also integrate with a Throwing Mastery first; it’s always good to have more methods of attack.”, “Okay!”, As for Han Rui, besides her Perception Ability, all her other Abilities were already maxed out. She hadn’t had the chance to encounter zombie perception, so she wasn’t able to improve in that area. Like Wang Tao, her strength had temporarily reached its upper limit., The next day., The Committee announced at the base that they wanted to train another batch of Ability Users., The first batch, not counting the Security Army, consisted only of six people. The number was still quite small, given that the base now housed 700 people., Therefore, many were eagerly awaiting this second chance. They had thought it would take a long time., But to their surprise, just a few days after the first batch of Crystal Cores was distributed, the Committee was ready to train a second batch of Ability Users!, This news excited the survivors., There were now over 700 people in the base, with 300 of them being Hunters., Originally, there weren’t that many Hunters, but as many people who had recently joined the base registered as Hunters, and coupled with the allure of becoming Ability Users, the number of Hunters spiked. After all, everyone knew that Ability Users were chosen from among Hunters., Of course, this increase in Hunters was something the Committee wanted to see, for the more Hunters there were, the richer the base’s resources became.