rpbooks Chapter 35 : A Negotiation of Gunfire
Chapter 35 : A Negotiation of Gunfire
A Negotiation of GunfireAt 3:30 in the afternoon, after lunch, Cecilia and Gu Yanxi squeezed onto the narrow single bed and once again entered the game together.
When Cecilia opened her eyes again, she found herself still in the bustling central plaza. She had already planned her next steps—rent a Forging room to craft that epic off-hand weapon. Gu Yanxi, meanwhile, would continue fighting in the arena. After a brief discussion, the two went their separate ways.
Suppressing the various curious or fervent gazes around her, Cecilia quickened her pace and, in a few minutes, arrived at her most frequently-visited blacksmith shop. After handing several silver coins to the boss (female shopkeeper) for rent, she secured a Forging room.
Standing before the Forging table, Cecilia first took out the equipment blueprint and carefully looked it over one last time.
[The Vampire Artisan's Glamorous High-grade Flintlock Pistol], purple epic quality, the first off-hand weapon on the whole server, and also the first firearm—a true dividing line in the era.
"Another epic weapon."
Looking at the blueprint in her hand, Cecilia felt a rush of excitement. Including her currently equipped maid outfit, this would be the seventh epic equipment she'd crafted.
However, she soon remembered that her current success rate for forging epic equipment wasn't yet one hundred percent. Her enthusiasm was instantly dampened, as if someone had poured a basket of cold water over her.
To craft epic equipment, the main materials must also be epic grade, and such materials were extremely rare—a backup supply was almost impossible to prepare in advance.
The five [High-grade Mithril] were manageable—even if she ran out, she could still farm points in the arena and ask others to exchange for more. But there was only one [Heart of Bloodthirsty Tree]; if this Forging attempt failed, she might never have the chance to craft this flintlock pistol ever again.
With this in mind, Cecilia felt even more pressure weighing on her chest.
No wonder there were so few Forging players in the game—anyone too fragile mentally simply wouldn't last. One tiny slip-up in an epic weapon Forging project like this, and materials worth hundreds of thousands of yuan could go straight down the drain.
Still, worrying about it wouldn't help—she simply had to get on with it.
Taking a deep breath, Cecilia forced herself to calm down. She neatly arranged all the primary and auxiliary materials, along with the purple gemstone, on the tabletop.
Everything would be decided by what happened next.
"First, pour two pieces of High-grade Mithril into the furnace to cast the flintlock's core, then melt the remaining three for the barrel, carve spiral rifling..."
Muttering the blueprint's instructions under her breath, Cecilia found herself totally lost.
As a law-abiding citizen of the twenty-first century, this was her first time dealing with firearms—she had absolutely no experience and could only follow the blueprint's instructions step by step.
Wasn't this what people called 'building a car behind closed doors'? This was really too much to ask!
Isn't rifling supposed to be engraved on the inside of the barrel? How was she supposed to do that?
The barrel's so narrow—what, was she supposed to reach her hand inside to carve it?
Frowning, Cecilia decided to read through the blueprint from start to finish once more to avoid making any mistakes.
Just then, with a sound like windchimes ringing, system Miss's voice suddenly rang in her mind:
"System notification: Detected that you are Forging a Vampire-exclusive weapon. Passive skill [Vampire Artisan's Glamorous Forging] has been triggered! For the next 60 minutes, your success rate at Forging epic equipment increases to 80%, the success rate for rare equipment increases to 100%, class proficiency increases by 20%, and all equipment stats receive a 5% boost!"
Whoa! Could there really be something this good?
Cecilia was stunned. She quickly found a chair and sat down, stroking her chin with interest as she reviewed the blueprint again.
Time passed quietly in the still Forging room; ten minutes slipped by in silence.
She looked over five or six thick pieces of blueprint paper again and again, and, little by little, her frown smoothed out. Since the system activated her class skill BUFF, Cecilia's understanding of the design grew steadily deeper. It felt like she was sculpting a model in a software program—step by step, the image of a silver-and-red old-fashioned flintlock assembled itself in her mind.
"So that's how it works."
Finally, after playing through the entire process in her mind and confirming everything, Cecilia set down the blueprint and rose confidently to her feet. At this point, she thoroughly understood the flintlock pistol and its core principles.
As everyone knows, ordinary firearms can generally be divided into four parts by appearance:
Barrel, stock, magazine, and sights.
As one of the earliest firearms, the flintlock pistol's structure was much simpler: a metal barrel and a wooden grip, possibly an ignition mechanism, with the sight being just a small bump on the barrel—no magazine at all. All ammo and powder had to be loaded from the muzzle.
Not only did this look silly, it was also cumbersome.
After firing a shot, you had to clean out the residual powder from the barrel, reload, ram in the ball—all before you could shoot again. The gap between shots was several dozen seconds—enough time for your enemy to close in and attack you a dozen times over.
Cecilia wasn't the smartest, but she wasn't a fool either. If this weapon truly were so useless, she'd never pay the steep price to craft it.
In fact, what distinguished this particular weapon from common firearms was that it didn't require manual reloading. By using the [Heart of Bloodthirsty Tree] for the handle, the weapon could automatically absorb its user's blood and convert it inside into [Blood Bullets], which could then be fired with the trigger.
This meant she could totally skip the tedious reloading process. She didn't need to carry powder or bullets—just the gun itself. As long as she had enough HP, the bullets would be limitless and she could fire as much as she wished.
And if there was one thing Cecilia never lacked, it was HP. After most battles, her passive health absorption left her total HP several times above her max HP—she absolutely had enough to go wild.
Once she triple-confirmed that she'd missed nothing, Cecilia began Forging in earnest.
The crafting process was dull and repetitive, especially for epic equipment. The slightest mistake could spell disaster, so players needed to keep their focus razor-sharp at all times. Often, they had to multitask, watching temperatures and material status in separate furnaces.
Fortunately, Cecilia already had experience Forging purple equipment, and this flintlock wasn't especially difficult. Though beads of sweat formed on her brow and nose, time slipped gently by as she entered her 'zone,' undistracted.
After over half an hour, she had finally completed all the gun's components perfectly. Only assembly and gemstone inlay remained.
That was always the final step for most conventional equipment.
Since she'd made every part herself, the assembly was effortless—her fingers moved so fast they left afterimages. In just a few seconds, a brand new, short-barreled flintlock appeared in her hands.
The dark red wooden grip looked classical and elegant, the silver barrel gleamed bright and straight, and from muzzle to butt ran an engraving of silver rose patterns. Cecilia gently picked up the gun. The grip and trigger seemed tailor-made for her; the feel in her hand was a perfect fit.
The heat from the crafting process still lingered on the metal, searing to the touch.
She slowly lifted the gun, pointed the muzzle at the blazing fire in the nearby forge, closed one eye, and pulled the trigger without hesitation!
"Bang!"
The flames wavered slightly, but there was no projectile—without a gemstone, the gun was complete in form but not yet functional.
Opening her backpack, Cecilia carefully selected the largest gemstone she had. Holding her breath, she pressed the dark purple gem onto the wooden grip where the craftsman's mark lay.
As the gem fused slowly into the grip, purple light blazed. The rose pattern on the barrel seemed to come alive, dancing and pulsing as waves of dazzling light radiated outward.
A few seconds later, the light subsided. At the same time, system Miss's voice sounded in Cecilia's ear.
"System notification: You have successfully Forged [Vampire Artisan's Glamorous High-grade Flintlock Pistol], proficiency +676!"
It's done!
Holding the solemn, exquisitely crafted firearm—an artwork in itself—Cecilia was filled with accomplishment.
Tell me, which boy hasn't dreamed in childhood of owning his very own knife or pistol?
That childhood dream had finally come true, yet now, she realized she could never return to those days...
The sentiment lasted only a moment before she tossed it aside. After all her hard work, she had to check her new off-hand weapon's stats.
[Vampire Artisan's Glamorous High-grade Flintlock Pistol]
Type: Off-hand weapon
Rarity: Epic
Class Restriction: Vampire Prince only
Minimum Level: 15
Attack: 585—117 (decreases with distance)
Stability: 89%
Attack Frequency (reload speed): 1 shot per 5 seconds
Magazine Capacity: 1
Max Effective Range: 120 meters
Ammo Cost Per Shot: 60 HP
Unique Passive [Blood-Infused Silver Bullet]: The bullets from this gun are formed from your own blood; every hit randomly inflicts a special effect.
Explosive Shell: Increases dmg to 180%.
Armor-Piercing Shell: Lowers enemy physical defense by 25% for 10 seconds.
Anti-Magic Shell: Lowers enemy magic defense by 25% for 10 seconds.
Venom Shell: Inflicts blood poison; deals 25 true dmg per second for 8 seconds.