Chapter Ninety: A Leap of Quality

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Monica said, "This gun is fairly balanced overall, but it has corresponding flaws. First, it is a semi-automatic weapon with manual bolt action."

Wu Hua understood this point as well. In truth, it worked on the same principle as Snow Night Fairy's SVD: every shot required a bolt cycle, and if an enemy closed in, it was all over. But compared with this gun's power, Snow Night Fairy's SVD could only be called a fire poker.

Monica went on, "Its biggest problem is that it is not much constrained by spatial compression technology. It will take up fifty units in your backpack, and it will greatly increase your load."

"Ah?" Wu Hua had never expected that. This meant his movement speed would drop even further. As expected, gain and loss were always entwined; in Star War, there were no absolutely overpowered weapons.

"Sigh." Monica let out a long breath. "I've done all I can. I'm already very satisfied to have made a gun like this. I have no regrets left in this life, and my life should end here too."

Wu Hua hurriedly said, "Master, this isn't your fault. You are an extraordinary master."

Monica said, "I should return to my own world now. Mr. Blood Frenzy, I hope you will cherish this gun in the future. Please believe me, her loyalty to you is beyond what any other weapon can match. In the future, this boutique workshop will also be managed by Miss Coffee. If you need anything else, I can no longer serve you. Farewell."

As she finished, Monica slowly turned into a beam of white light and vanished. It was probably because Wu Hua had completed the quest, and Monica had been retrieved by the system's main intelligence.

"Master!" Wu Hua froze.

"Miss Monica. Miss Monica." Ice Coffee also cried out in alarm.

System voice:

"Esteemed player Blood Frenzy, you have completed NPC Monica's wish quest. Charm increased by 1. The hidden side quest line for the Guardian of the Aegis has been activated."

The workshop was empty. Monica's figure was gone for good. Wu Hua stood there in a daze for a long while, then hugged the gun and walked to the mural on the wall. He bowed deeply and said with reverence, "Master, thank you sincerely for forging this famous weapon for me. I will take good care of her. I will always remember you."

Though Monica had been an NPC, Ice Coffee had lived and worked with her day and night in Star War, and their bond had long since grown deep. Now that Monica had suddenly left, tears spilled down Ice Coffee's face.

When the two of them went downstairs, the young reporter came up to greet them. Seeing Wu Hua carrying that huge gun, he could not help exclaiming, "Wow, what a massive gun. Brother Frenzy is incredible!"

Before he could finish, Ice Coffee had already tossed over the bill. "You've already paid the ten-thousand-credit deposit for the Finnish Star. You still need to settle the remaining balance."

Wu Hua picked up the bill and saw the amount listed for the remainder: 140,000 credits.

"Sigh." Wu Hua sighed. "For the master’s effort, never mind one hundred and fifty thousand. Even five hundred thousand, I’ll pay."

Ice Coffee glanced at him, her attitude improving quite a bit. "Tell me how many rounds of each of the three bullet types you want. But let me warn you, any one of them is very expensive, because the materials are extremely hard to find."

Wu Hua looked farther down the bill:

8.58 mm red-grade explosive rounds, thirty per box, unit price three credits each.

8.58 mm red-grade shattering rounds, thirty per box, unit price five credits each.

8.58 mm red-grade armor-piercing rounds, thirty per box, unit price six credits each.

"These bullets are even more expensive than people. Give me thirty boxes of each type." Wu Hua had no choice. Every time he came to this place, it cost him dearly. "By the way, why are these bullets red-grade this time?"

Ice Coffee said, "This 8.58 mm by 70 mm Lapua ammunition is for special forces only. Even the gun oil has to be produced especially for you. It produces both explosive and fissuring effects. I'm already level 29, so if you want purple-grade rounds, that's possible too. Wait until I reach level 36, then we'll talk."

Wu Hua waved a hand. "I think red-grade works better."

Ice Coffee smiled. "Do you want me to maintain your AUG as well?"

"Yes!" Wu Hua said firmly. He knew very well that this sniper rifle still could not serve entirely as his main combat weapon. The AUG and the M500 had to be used together, and that flying Desert Eagle could only be shelved for the time being.

"Please embed this red-grade gemstone into my SEAL combat suit." Wu Hua handed over the gem.

The payment bill soon came over: remaining balance for the TRG-42, 140,000 points; explosive rounds, 2,700 points; shattering rounds, 4,500 points; armor-piercing rounds, 4,800 points; AUG maintenance fee, 8,988 points; setting fee, 50 points. Total: 161,038 points.

After paying, Wu Hua saw that there were still more than 520,000 credits left on his crystal card. He had not made much money lately.

Now only one last thing remained: he had to add all his attribute points and put on the new equipment, or else he would not be able to lift this gun.

Once the SEAL combat suit, helmet, goggles, belt, boots, and black-ops tactical gloves were all worn, the young reporter could not help praising him. "So this is the legendary aura of absolute dominance? Cool. Too cool."

Ice Coffee adjusted her glasses too. "There's a bit more masculinity now. It looks better than that beggar's outfit you wore before."

"Ahem, ahem." Wu Hua coughed twice and looked at himself in the mirror in the laboratory. He really did have a somewhat heroic and commanding bearing now: his clothes were neat from head to toe, a M500 holster strapped to his thigh, an AUG slung across his shoulder, and a giant sniper rifle on his back. "Damn, have I gotten handsome again?"

This time, Wu Hua distributed his attribute points strictly according to the equipment requirements, even adding his merit points. He added ten points to physique specialization, thirty-two points to strength specialization, and thirty-two points to agility specialization. Because he had previously dropped a level, he still had twenty-one attribute points left, and he simply put them all into physique. At that moment, the attribute panel began to undergo a qualitative change:

Player Blood Frenzy, Gunslinger

Level: 28

Physique Specialization: 46 points + 14 points

Strength Specialization: 35 points + 1 point

Agility Specialization: 35 points + 16 points

Ranged Specialization: 3 points + 23 points

Status Panel:

HP: 5800

MP: 620

Charm: 2 points

Luck: 1 point

Defense: 948 points

General Resistance: 69 percent

Fire Resistance: 82.1 percent

Water Resistance: 80 percent

HP regeneration per second: 36 points, MP regeneration per second: 1 point

Effective vision: 320 meters

Maximum movement speed: 26.17 meters per second

Skills: Focused Strike (E rank), Precise Calculation (F rank), Mimic Stealth (D rank), Environmental Camouflage (unusable)

All firearm-type weapons deal 260 joules of additional attack damage.

...

Looking at those rows of outrageous stats, a flood of images rose in Wu Hua's mind: if Maragobi unleashed a wall of fire at him, the damage per second would not exceed 200 points; even if Snow Night Fairy's SVD sniper rifle put a shot into his chest, the damage would still not reach 500 points; any fire-water master would only be able to flee in panic at the sight of him; ordinary warriors charging in would not be able to catch up to him, and if they did manage to catch him, he could let them eat three consecutive combo chains while still having more than half his HP left...

The greatest strength of this gear set lay in its insanely high defense. Eight-grade alloy equipment had defense above 500 points, twelve-grade above 1,000, while his own was close to 1,000, not far from twelve-grade alloy armor.

If he had obtained this weapon earlier, who would have won that battle against Azure Sky? It would truly be hard to say. Wu Hua very much wanted to know what would happen if the Finnish Star's bullet, carrying 1,026 joules of damage, struck that proudly rising chest of hers. Not to mention that this was blue-grade gear; in a contest of equal-level equipment, there was absolutely no way damage values in the double digits could appear unless Azure Sky herself was truly wearing silver-grade gear.

It was like using a red-grade MP5 against white-grade cloth armor: even if the cloth armor had 100 defense, and even if the MP5 were affected by other factors, the damage would still be at least more than half. There was no possibility of damage numbers that were only one-third, or even less than one-third. Different color grades of equipment were worlds apart in attack and defense.

"So I've become invincible like this?" Wu Hua shouted at the mirror, "Or am I really just this handsome?"

The young reporter toppled to the floor with a yell, and Ice Coffee choked on all her coffee, spraying it across her work clothes.