Chapter 87: Weapon Upgrade
Rebecca walked through the monster zone, an arrow already notched against her bowstring, resting there ready without yet being drawn back. Her silver eyes swept steadily across the forest around her, scanning every gap between the trees for anything that might break free of the underbrush without warning.
Somewhere ahead of her, still hidden past the trees, she could already make out the low, steady rush of a river running close by.
She emerged from the underbrush into a small clearing, the trees falling back enough that she could finally see the water stretching out in front of her, and crossed it by picking her way over a line of makeshift stones set into the current, testing her footing on each one before committing her weight to the next.
On the far bank, she found herself settling deeper into her guard, already anticipating denser numbers of monsters the further she pushed forward.
Even so, careful as she remained about everything moving around her, that vigilance had long since folded itself into pure instinct, automatic enough by now that it left the rest of her mind free to drift somewhere else entirely.
A rumor had been spreading through the hunters, one that had traveled far enough to reach even another base entirely, a rumor about someone who had beaten up the son of a guild vice captain.
She had thought it was nothing more than an unfounded rumor at first, until she'd arrived here at this base and found the story taking on more weight than she'd expected.
She'd already started to believe it by then, and once she'd pressed Serena directly and heard it confirmed outright, every last trace of doubt had given way. The truth of it still managed to catch her off guard, even now.
She hadn't imagined something like this could ever actually happen. She knew exactly how cocky Gary carried himself, she'd heard enough stories about him by now to know it well.
The brat leaned hard on the weight of his guild family's name, saying whatever he pleased and provoking people outright, certain enough in the protection of that name that no one would ever risk retaliating against him.
A thin thread of frustration rose up in her chest at the thought, tightening briefly before she forced it back down. There was no use dwelling on it now. What she wanted, more than anything, was to find whoever this person was and understand exactly what had driven him to do it.
Maybe, just maybe, it would carry her plan one step further.
She came to a stop, catching a flicker of color moving through the bushes ahead of her. She already knew what she was looking at before she'd even gotten a proper look, a pixel. She activated her Perception skill.
Her eyes lit with a faint silver glow, and the world in front of her seemed to swell outward, every edge sharpening at once, the trees and leaves pulling into a clarity that made the creature feel as though it had drifted closer to her on its own.
As the image resolved further, she could make out the fine detail of it clearly now, the length of its feathered tail trailing out behind it, the shape and length of its beak, enough for her to place it as a D-rank.
She drew the arrow back the rest of the way and let it go in one smooth motion. The creature never caught the sound of its flight through the air in time to react, by the moment that thin cut of displaced air finally reached its ears, the arrow had already found its mark, driving into the long line of its neck.
A short, pained sound tore out of it before its whole body dropped against the ground, thrashing in short, useless bursts.
Blood spread from the wound both inward and out, and every breath it dragged in came harder than the last, shallower and more ragged than the one before.
Its vision dimmed steadily where it lay struggling against the ground, the edges of the world closing in around it, until the sound of foots approaching through the brush reached it, Rebecca's shape drawing closer through the haze, and then the dark folded over everything at once. Rebecca's eyes narrowed at the sight of it.
She crouched down beside the body and pulled the arrow free with a hard, unhesitating motion, the shaft slick with blood as it came loose.
She slid it back into her quiver and rose to her full height again. "Not exactly what I'm looking for," she muttered.
She glanced off to the side, already certain of the direction she needed to take from here, a stretch of ground that was neither close by nor especially far, somewhere comfortably in between the two and set off straight toward the Hexhorn territory.
***
Meanwhile, Tyler circled the crystal chamber he'd made, an incredible curiosity pulling him slowly around its edges. "This looks amazing," he muttered, working his way around the construct inch by inch, taking in every angle of it.
"Huh. It looks like a bathroom stall." He pressed his palm flat against one of its faces, and his eyebrows rose at what met him there.
Beneath the warmth radiating faintly off the surface, he could feel the same steady thread of energy he'd felt from the crystal itself, still present within the structure, and relief settled through him at the confirmation.
He'd half expected the copied version might not carry that same energy at all. But he could feel it now, plain and unmistakable beneath his palm.
He drew his hand back and muttered, "Dismantle." The chamber gave way instantly, its whole structure folding in on itself and scattering outward into hundreds of crystal shards that clattered loosely across the ground, catching stray light across their edges as they settled.
"Wow," Tyler breathed, crouching down to pick up one of the shards resting nearby. To his surprise, it sat in his palm at almost the exact same size as the crystal the system had rewarded him with earlier, differing only in its shape.
At his mental command, a system panel materialized just above the small crystal, reading:
[ENHANCEMENT STONE: WHEN MANA IS APPLIED TO THIS ITEM WHILE IT IS TOUCHING THE SURFACE OF AN OBJECT, THAT OBJECT'S ATTACK AND EFFECTS WILL BE INCREASED BY 75%.]
*They have the same effect.* He let out a short laugh. *This is awesome.*
He turned his focus toward the scattered crystals around him, and every one of them shimmered with the same faint blue light before disappearing into his inventory, the one still resting in his palm vanishing right along with the rest of them.
*That means I can use these things without having to worry about wasting them.*
He opened his inventory and found one slot now filled with a small icon shaped like shattered glass, the fragments of it rendered in sharp, uneven lines, and beneath it the words: [ENHANCEMENT STONES × 262]
"That's a lot," he said
The panel disappeared, and an idea struck him almost the instant it did. The Tearra Dagger materialized into his hand, and he turned it slowly, studying the smooth flat of the blade where his own reflection stared back at him.
A small crystal materialized in his other hand, and he pressed it flat against the blade's surface, his heart picking up speed with anticipation as he wondered exactly what he was about to see happen.
He pushed his mana into the crystal, his palm still pressed firm against it, and felt the faintest trickle of that mana leaving his body, barely enough to notice at all.
Then, all at once, the crystal burst apart into a fine blue gas. Tyler flinched, caught off guard by how suddenly it happened, watching as the gas hung there for a moment in a thin cloud of small, glimmering particles before the dagger itself seemed to draw them in, pulling the gas toward its surface and absorbing it whole.
A system panel appeared: [ENHANCEMENT SUCCESSFUL]
Another followed it a moment later:
[CONGRATULATIONS, USER HAS ENHANCED THEIR FIRST WEAPON: +1 EXTRA POINT]
"Great, it worked," he muttered. A system panel rose above the dagger, reading:
[TEARRA DAGGER]
[ATK: 263 – 403]
[AGI: 44]
[RED RUSH]
[ONCE THE USER TASTES THE BLOOD OF THEIR TARGET, 52% OF THAT TARGET'S STRENGTH AND SPEED WILL BE TRANSFERRED TO THE USER FOR 180 SECONDS.]
[COOLDOWN: 5 HOURS]
[NOTE: AFTER THE SKILL DEACTIVATES, THE DEBUFF TRANSFER WILL BE CANCELED.]
A small grin spread across his face as he finished reading through the upgrades. "All right," he muttered. "Everything's increased, even the skill." He stared at the weapon for a silent second before reaching into his inventory again, and another crystal materialized into his waiting hand.
He pressed it against the blade the same way as before and pushed his mana into it. The crystal burst into gas once more, and the gas drew into the weapon exactly as it had the first time. But this time, the system panel that rose into view in front of him appeared in red:
[ENHANCEMENT FAILED]
[THIS WEAPON COULD ONLY BE ENHANCED ONCE]
"Oh," he admitted, disappointment creeping into his voice. "Well, that sucks. Does that mean weapons can only be upgraded once." He paused for a moment, reading back over the interface once more.
"No, it said 'this' weapon. Maybe it's different for the others. I have to check." The dagger disappeared into Tyler's inventory, and the silver spear materialized into his hand in its place, its surface catching the sunlight along the flat of the spear head.
Another crystal shimmered into his palm, and he pressed it against the spear and poured his mana into it. The process repeated itself just as it had with the dagger, the spear drawing in the gas the same way, absorbing it fully into the metal.
[ENHANCEMENT SUCCESSFUL]
"All right, one more time," Tyler said. He pressed another crystal onto the spear, and it dissolved into gas the same as before, the spear absorbing it in turn.
[ENHANCEMENT FAILED]
"Damn it," Tyler muttered. *So I can only do it once for this weapon too.* He sighed, and the panel shifted, replaced by the spear's updated stats.
ATK: 70
[Skill: Seven Strikes: The next seven strikes will increase by 50% speed and power, causing 140 ATK with each strike. Mana cost: 52]
*The mana cost increased,* he thought, his shoulders dropping slightly at the sight of the number.
"At least it upgraded. I wonder if there's a weapon that refuses to be upgraded outright. Seems like it's a possibility."
His eyes narrowed as he read back over the description. *The spear did grow more powerful, but the Tearra dagger is still way better. I'll probably use this on weaker enemies.*
The spear shimmered a faint blue and disappeared back into his inventory.
Another light shimmered into his open palm, and the hand cannon materialized in his grip. *Okay, how about this one.* He pressed another crystal against the barrel of the hand cannon, and it disintegrated into gas the same as the others, the weapon drawing the particles in and absorbing them fully. The system panel appeared, the text rendered in red:
[ENHANCEMENT FAILED]
[THIS WEAPON CANNOT BE ENHANCED]
*What? Why?* he thought, frustration surging up through him.
"This would have been the perfect weapon to enhance." He sighed. "Just like I thought, some weapons refuse enhancement on the first try."
The hand cannon disappeared back into his inventory. *I should probably get going. I used too much time here.* He pressed forward, heading toward the Hexhorn territory.
As he walked, another crystal materialized in his right hand. He pressed it against the leather armor covering his chest and poured his mana into it. The crystal disintegrated, and the armor absorbed the gas in turn.
[ENHANCEMENT SUCCESSFUL]
The system panel appeared in front of him, reading: [DEF – 65]
Another crystal materialized in his hand, and he pressed it against the armor once more, repeating the same process as before. The panel appeared again.
[ENHANCEMENT SUCCESSFUL]
A small grin spread across his face as the numbers on the panel shifted to reflect the new total.
DEF – 114
*Can I do one more?* he thought. He pressed another crystal against the armor, and this time the panel that appeared read differently.
[ENHANCEMENT FAILED]
Disappointment never came. He was just glad he'd managed to enhance the armor twice over. With that settled, he felt more confident, better prepared, as he pressed on toward the Hexhorn territory.
After a while spent walking through the trees, something occurred to him that nearly stopped him mid-step.
"Right, I didn't ask for any recipes yet." He slowed his pace, turning the thought over as to what he actually wanted to ask for, though he kept himself moving rather than stopping outright. "Well... the weapon craft skill is at level two now, so I get common weapons every time." He remembered how he'd asked for a firearm before and gotten the hand cannon recipe back.
"Maybe it did that because it was a basic weapon. If I ask now, will I still get the hand cannon?" He came to a full stop this time and said, "System, give me a recipe for a firearm." The system panel appeared, a circular loading bar spinning across it.
The panel disappeared, replaced by another, reading:
Recipe: Matchlock Arquebus
5 Thick Adas Wood + 2 Medium Iron Ingot + Dead Berry Powder