plumnovel Chapter 62 : Flintlock Pistol Enhancement
Chapter 62 : Flintlock Pistol Enhancement
Flintlock Pistol EnhancementThe sky was vast and blue, the wilds boundless. The sky seemed like a dome, covering all four corners of the land.
In July, the grasslands sang with birds and were fragrant with flowers; orioles flitted through the dense, tall grasses.
At this moment, Cecilia was crouched within a stretch of knee-high grass, peering through the blades to observe a herd of wild cattle grazing leisurely not far away.
Ever since that last time she rashly gave up her first life, Cecilia had developed a careful and cautious approach toward any wild monster she encountered for the first time.
No matter how strong her current stats panel might be, acting cautiously was always the right move.
She observed for a minute or two; just as Cecilia was starting to get impatient and ready to act, all of a sudden, a giant wild bull with sleek black fur and standing about two meters tall abruptly raised its head, its coppery, bell-like eyes locking firmly onto Cecilia's location.
An elite monster? And it spotted her?!
That thought flashed through Cecilia's mind, her breath involuntarily catching. Like a startled wildcat, she instinctively arched her body, ready to enter combat at a moment's notice.
However, the wild bull only spared Cecilia a single glance before indifferently lowering its head to resume grazing.
In its eyes, this sneaky human young girl lurking in the grass was far too weak—just like those sheep that roamed the plains, left to others' mercy and no threat at all.
Being dismissed by a monster like this caused a few dark lines to appear on Cecilia's forehead.
No matter what, she represented the highest combat power among players at present. In the ten days since launch, the number of world-class bosses she'd slain could hardly be counted on one hand. And now, to be looked down upon by a mere wild monster—how could she possibly tolerate that?
On reflex, she'd already drawn the silver flintlock pistol from beneath her skirt. Gripping the handle tightly in her right hand, she aimed directly at the wild bull's massive head and steadily pulled the trigger!
[Blood-infused Silver Bullet activated! Generated—Armor-Piercing Shell!]
Bang!
A gunshot laden with gunpowder rang out, shattering the peace and stillness that had persisted across the prairie for ages.
A spray of blood burst from the wild bull's head, and a critical strike mark and red damage value appeared. Yet, she had not been able to kill it in a single shot.
Critical! -697!
Such high physical defense.
Seeing that number, Cecilia couldn't help but click her tongue in mild surprise.
At this distance, if it had been a player around level ten, a shot from her pistol would have killed them outright. However, this elite wild bull monster had only lost less than a quarter of its health.
It seemed the Ornate Vampire Elite Flintlock Pistol worked well against players, but when used on elite monsters of the same level—ones with high defense and thick health—the effect was much less impressive.
Still, Cecilia wasn't disappointed. Taking four shots to kill a tough, thick-skinned elite monster of the same level would already be considered remarkable damage output by any other player.
Besides, this gun wasn't even her main weapon. It couldn't fully unleash her total attack power—at best, it was an added little toy.
After being unexpectedly assaulted, the elite wild bull completely lost its mind. Its powerful hind hooves stomped, leaving deep imprints in the soft earth as it lowered its pair of sharp horns. Its muscular frame moved like a cannonball as it charged at Cecilia.
Though the wild bull was quite fast for its size, Cecilia was even faster. With a reverse pull, she drew out her dagger from behind her back. Not dodging or evading, she lunged straight in. In a flash, she ghosted to the bull's side, her silver-bladed dagger driving deep into the bull's chest—right through its heart!
-3679!
A bright red damage number appeared. The grassland bull let out a muffled gasp, struggled for a moment, then its HP dropped to zero, and it collapsed onto the grass.
"System notification: You have obtained 7 [Untanned Leather]!"
"System notification: You have obtained 2 [Broken Bull Horns]!"
"System notification: You have obtained 5 [Bloody Steaks]!"
"......."
After collecting the spoils and glancing at the identically sized and shaped steak-like items in her backpack, Cecilia fell into thought.
Bloody steak? Just what is this thing? Can it be eaten?
Since the opening of Legend of Kaloran, about ten days had passed. From what she knew, while the game simulated hunger and nudged players offline to eat, there weren't any consumable materials for players yet.
In-game ingredients certainly couldn't replace real food; that contradicted common sense.
So, what exactly were these [Bloody Steaks]? A new material?
With curiosity, Cecilia tapped a finger and looked at the [Bloody Steak] detailed info.
[Bloody Steak]
Type: Consumable
Effect: Eating it will slowly restore 5% of max HP over 15 seconds, but there is a 50% chance of becoming Poisoned, lasting for 30 seconds.
.......
So it could actually be eaten, though she wondered about the taste.
Closing the window, Cecilia didn't hesitate. Wanting to try it out, she took one blood-streaked steak from her backpack, opened her petite mouth, and bit straight in.
There were no spices, no fats—just the taste of raw meat. It was tough to chew and tasted no different from real life.
Other than that, the healing effect wasn't significant. In fact, there was a high probability of becoming Poisoned. Was the game trying to tell players not to eat raw food?
In most games, well-cooked food usually gave better healing.
As for now, this was just useless junk.
"Pft!"
She spat out the raw beef she'd been chewing, tossed away the half-eaten steak, casually wiped her hands on the white skirt above her knees, and picked up her dagger again, searching for her next target.
With her whole focus on it, Cecilia was efficient at clearing out monsters. In about ten minutes, the wild bull herd that once ruled this patch of grassland was wiped out for good.
Her backpack now held over a hundred bloody steaks; her experience bar had increased by about five percent, but level 17 was still a ways away.
The only thing that cheered her up was that the red name ID above her head had lightened slightly. At this pace, after about a hundred more monster kills, she'd be rid of her red flag status for good.
Over the next half an hour, Cecilia found a pack of prairie wolves roaming the grasslands. Perhaps because food was plentiful, the grassland wolves were larger and higher-level than the forest wolves, with greater combat and organizational power.
But with Cecilia's attack power already surpassing two thousand, these wolves didn't matter at all. In just a few minutes, this vicious, deadly wolf pack went the same way as the wild bulls.
With no other choice, Cecilia moved to another area. She didn't know how much time had passed. The blazing sun had begun to sink, and she'd lost count of how many monsters she'd killed—her backpack was almost filled to capacity.
She wondered when the game's storage chest feature would unlock. Carrying everything in her backpack was convenient, but space was limited. As the game progressed and rarer equipment and materials became more common, dealing with old, accumulated materials would become a serious problem.
Just as Cecilia was pondering whether to toss some useless materials, the emotionless voice of System Miss suddenly echoed in her mind.
"System notification: Detected that you have used your off-hand weapon to kill 300 targets. [Vampire Artisan's Glamorous Forging] has been triggered. You have earned one free enhancement for your off-hand weapon."
Staring at the flintlock pistol in her hand, Cecilia was caught off guard.
She never imagined that this pistol was actually a growth-type weapon.
Quickly, as System Miss finished, a semi-transparent, light blue interface unfolded before Cecilia. It displayed four upgradeable parts of the flintlock pistol, with detailed notes and options.
[Barrel Lv.1]
(Rifling Correction): Increases max range by 15 meters, slightly boosts attack and accuracy. (Upgradeable)
[Stock Lv.1]
(Bayonet Attachment): Main weapon and off-hand weapon can be used in combination, greatly increases off-hand weapon attack, slightly boosts main weapon attack, massively reduces accuracy and reload speed. (Upgradeable)
[Magazine Lv.1]
(Quick Reload): Reduces reload time by 10%, all bullets' effects improved by 10%. (Upgradeable)
[Sight Lv.1]
(Optimized Sights): Increases shooting accuracy by 20%. (Upgradeable)
.......
After reviewing the interface, Cecilia understood: All four parts could be upgraded, but the system only allowed her one free upgrade. In other words, she could only raise one part from Lv.1 to Lv.2.
As for the other three, she'd have to wait for future chances to strengthen them.
It was clearly a bit of a scam, especially for a player like her who was notoriously indecisive; whether it was range, accuracy, attack power, or reload speed, every one was a critical stat for a gun.
Honestly, Cecilia wanted them all.
But you can't have your cake and eat it too. To gain certain stats, she'd have to give up others.
If it were most players, they would probably play it safe—ruling out the stock first, and choosing to enhance the barrel, magazine, or sight.
After all, boosting the stock did raise attack, but it also slashed the pistol's accuracy and stability.
The other three upgrades gave smaller improvements, but came with no downsides.
The one comforting thing was, no matter which part was strengthened, the system handled it automatically—Cecilia didn't have to gather any other materials.
So... what should she do?
Staring at the screen before her, Cecilia lifted her hand and gently stroked her chin, unable to make a decision for a long time.