plumnovel Chapter 63 : Legendary Mage
Chapter 63 : Legendary Mage
Legendary MageThe advantages of reinforcing the gunstock were obvious.
Literally speaking, upgrading this option would allow her [Rose Maid's Silver Dinner Knife] and [Ornate Vampire Elite Flintlock Pistol] to be combined together, effectively turning her short-barreled flintlock pistol into a handgun equipped with a bayonet.
Influenced by the attack power of the silver dinner knife, not only would the bullet's power be greatly enhanced, but the dagger's attack range would also more than double. Although this wasn't explicitly stated on the interface, one could infer it with basic common sense.
However, the drawbacks of reinforcing the gunstock were even more apparent: a significant reduction in accuracy and reloading speed. This meant that Cecilia's ranged combat capabilities would be greatly weakened.
Not only would the reload speed become slower, but whether the bullets would even hit the target would also become a concern.
After staring long and hard at the transparent interface and silently pondering, Cecilia finally made her decision.
Reinforce the gunstock—confirm!
It wasn't due to any deeper reason. Mainly, she wasn't left-handed. In usual combat, she wielded a knife in one hand and a gun in the other, which made at least one weapon awkward to use. But if the two weapons could be combined into one and operated with her dominant right hand, it would certainly be much more convenient.
Besides, it's not as though the dagger and flintlock pistol, once combined, couldn't be separated again.
Just like a bayonet on a rifle, it could be installed when needed for close combat and removed when not needed. Ordinarily, the flintlock pistol's accuracy and reload speed would not be affected, but in bayonet form, both weapons' power would be greatly increased.
Thinking of it this way, [Reinforce Gunstock] was far more worthwhile than the other three options.
After pressing the confirm button, Cecilia quickly noticed a new T-shaped slot at the bottom of the flintlock pistol's barrel, where it met the stock.
'System notification: Your [Stock] has been upgraded to Lv.2. The "Attach Bayonet" feature is now unlocked! In this mode, off-hand weapon attack power is increased by 430, main weapon attack power is increased by 75, but off-hand weapon accuracy and reload speed are reduced by 30%!'
"So this is it?"
She looked at the silver dagger in her left hand, then at the flintlock in her right; both were quite the right length. Cecilia decided to try combining the two weapons.
She picked up the short-barreled flintlock pistol, then aligned the hilt of the dagger with the newly unlocked T-shaped slot beneath the barrel and gently slid it in. With a crisp mechanical click, the two weapons were tightly joined together. They fit perfectly, so tight and steady, there was no wobble at all.
At the same time, the weight of the gun sharply increased—after all, the dagger was mounted at the very front of the barrel, which seriously affected the balance when firing. Cecilia knew then that the side effects of adding the bayonet had already begun to show.
She casually slashed twice; the grip felt a bit lacking due to holding the gunstock, though it wasn't bad for a straight thrust. However, testing like this wouldn't be meaningful. With dusk approaching, Cecilia decided to find another group of wild monsters to test the effect of the bayonet-equipped flintlock.
After searching across the prairie for a few minutes, darkwing Demon Bat sent a report: two kilometers southeast of her current location, there was a large herd of grassland sheep, along with a human nearby. It wasn't a player but apparently an NPC shepherd tending the sheep.
Finding an NPC in the wild usually meant there was a hidden quest, possibly linked to a world-class boss. Cecilia didn't dare to be careless and quickly adjusted her heading to follow the bat's marker.
A few minutes later, Cecilia halted. In front of her was a huge flock of sheep, and at the center, a human woman in linen robes, slowly driving the sheep with a long whip.
As soon as she noticed a stranger approaching, the shepherd girl put down her whip and walked towards Cecilia. Under the dim sunset light, Cecilia saw her clearly: long brown hair down to her waist, a bit dry and tangled, giving her a slightly disheveled look. Her pupils were wolfish green, features delicate, freckles on her nose, petite and thin, yet still a bit taller than Cecilia.
Approaching Cecilia, the shepherd girl said uneasily, "Honored adventurer, may I help you in any way?"
"No, not at all."
Cecilia shook her head, a bit awkward.
Given her friendly attitude, Cecilia couldn't possibly bring herself to harm the sheep.
Hearing this, the shepherd girl clearly breathed a sigh of relief, rubbing her rough, callused hands and offering Cecilia a shy, self-conscious smile, her cheeks reddened by embarrassment.
"You truly are generous and kind," she said sincerely after a pause.
From this reaction, Cecilia guessed that other players had probably been targeting the shepherd's flock lately.
After a moment's hesitation, Cecilia, still a little unwilling to give up, asked, "By the way, do you know of any powerful monsters nearby? Maybe I could help you deal with it."
"Powerful monsters?"
The shepherd girl pondered, then shook her head slowly. "Thank you for your kindness, but I'm sorry, I haven't heard of any monsters nearby."
Cecilia wasn't surprised by this answer; she'd just been taking a chance. If information on world-class bosses were that easy to obtain, there wouldn't be so few epic sets in the game.
"All right, thank you."
She thanked the girl casually and was about to head off to the next area to farm monsters. After a whole afternoon of killing wild monsters, her red criminal status above her head had faded a great deal; at this pace, another ten or twenty monsters, and it should disappear completely.
However, just then, the shepherd girl suddenly called out to her.
"Um, I also have some goods here. Would you be willing to trade with me?"
Trade?
The word piqued Cecilia's interest. "What kind of goods do you have? Can I take a look?"
"Of course."
As the shepherd girl spoke, a semi-transparent trade interface opened in front of Cecilia. The list was short—no equipment or blueprints, mostly unprocessed materials and a few food ingredients.
[High Quality Wool], [Roasted Coffee Beans], [Block Butter]...
Probably because there was no middleman, the prices were low. Though Cecilia didn't need these items immediately, thinking ahead, she still spent a few silver to buy everything in the shop.
After bidding the shepherd girl farewell, minutes later Cecilia found another pack of grassland wolves nearby. This time, she tested both the combined and separate forms of her flintlock, and arrived at a conclusion.
With the bayonet attached, the gun's bullet damage was nearly doubled, though the bullets would dip slightly downward, and the effective range was reduced by 30 to 40 meters.
This had an effect but wasn't a deal-breaker; up to 50 or 60 meters, accuracy remained reliable—she wouldn't shoot for the head and end up hitting a foot.
But farther than that, things became less predictable.
In short, the result was still acceptable.
Additionally, after hunting down the wolves, by the end of the afternoon, Cecilia's red name status had finally disappeared completely. Glancing at the clock, it was already 6:20 PM, and Gu Yanxi still hadn't logged in.
Just as Cecilia was about to log off, a private message flashed in the bottom left—it was from Dawn's Light.
[Dawn's Light: The money was transferred at noon. Did you get it?]
[Cecilia: No problem, pleasure doing business with you.]
[Dawn's Light: Good, pleasure doing business. By the way, do you know how to hatch this egg?]
... That's what you really wanted to ask, huh?
Cecilia could only smile wryly. She wasn't a hen, how would she know how to hatch an egg?
But since the item was already sold, basic after-sales service was necessary. After rubbing her forehead and thinking it over, Cecilia still replied:
[Cecilia: I'm not sure, but I found the egg on a patch of sand next to a small lake. It was buried in moist sand—maybe that's how it's supposed to hatch. Try it out yourself.]
After sending the message, Cecilia ignored Dawn's Light. She'd just made a suggestion; if the Boss egg failed to hatch, it wasn't her responsibility.
But just as Cecilia was about to close her friends list, two golden words suddenly appeared next to Yuewu's ID, catching her attention—
——Legendary.
She'd actually ground out a full thousand-win streak?
Cecilia paused. On instinct, she opened Yuewu's arena profile, and sure enough, her rank had changed from Gold to the shining "Legendary Mage".
Her win streak: exactly 1,000 matches.
She wasn't sure about other servers, but the national server's first legendary title actually got unlocked this quickly. That, Cecilia hadn't expected.
But on reflection, it made sense. Lately, no matter how early or late Cecilia logged in, Yuewu was always in-game, and always in the arena.
It was easy to get the impression that she hadn't logged off in days.
Where there's a will, there's a way; effort would always be rewarded. Yuewu winning the first legendary title didn't bother Cecilia. She opened the chat and casually typed a few words:
[Cecilia: Legendary Mage, congratulations.]
Seconds later, Yuewu replied with a grinning emoji.
Clearly, she was genuinely happy.
Earning the first legendary title on the national server—and possibly worldwide—despite Cecilia's own monopolizing presence, now that was something special.
But she didn't dwell on Yuewu's happiness for long. After a pause, Cecilia still had to ask:
[Cecilia: After you hit Legendary, is there any reward besides the title and points?]