Chapter 80: The Military Core and the Drone

  “Sixty, my foot—if it was even thirty pert hen Heaven must truly have blessed us!”

  Iron Hand waved dismissively. “Anyone could see you weren’t good at haggling. Let’s just call it close enough. I’m not going to cheat you.”

  “But I really haven’t used it before!”

  “Not having used it is actually a good thing. This item swallow all the safely usable spiritual energy of a cultivator in the early stage of Qi Refining. For you, a mere Spirit Awakening apprentice, even p it up would be difficult.”

  Iron Hand pondered. “Looks like some Luofu Squad on a mission died in the wilderness, so you ended up with a bargain.”

  Rubbing his temples, the brawny man closed his eyes in thought for a moment. The up, went into the storeroom, and brought out two rifles.

  “The Type?B Frostfall Firearm—it uses special bullets, and its trajectory is extremely steady. O hits, the wound freezes. Plus, it’s nearly silent when fired, making it perfect for hunting alert prey.”

  “And also the Type?III Eagle?Eye Sword Case, which be remotely trolled for firing and trajectory adjustments. It’s simir to a drone, but its energy ption is enormous.”

  After bringing them out, Iron Hand spoke in a low voice, “I figure I know what you’re after. You want to hunt a Three-Legged Fire Crht? The Frontier Expansion Bureau posted a tempting bounty—each Fire Crow is worth fifty merit points. I’m tempted to go hunt a couple myself.”

  “But going deep into the wilderness is too dangerous. I value my life.”

  “In any case, this firearm and this sword case both meet your requirements.”

  “It’s just that, pared to that ing Sword Case you already have, these two are thhly outcssed.”

  “Really?” An Jing calmly took note of the hat “The Frontier Expansion Bureau is currently a high bounty for Three-Legged Fire Crows.”

  He was rather gratified that Iron Hand’s misuanding vely aligned with his own needs.

  Yet upon realizing the ‘Spiritlight Gun’ in his hand was, in fact, a sword case, An Jing had trouble maintaining his posure.

  —They really do have sword cases here? Wait, you’re telling me yuns are cssified as flying-sword cases?!

  He couldn’t help but pin inwardly, then carefully observed the two long rifles Iron Hand was dispying.

  The first, the “Frostfall Firearm,” had a very traditional long-barreled rifle design, but its scope and barrel were unusual, faintly glowing—clearly marking it as a Magical Artifact.

  As for the sed, the “Eagle-Eye Sword Case,” it was exactly as Iron Hand described—nearly identical to the sword case An Jing had found in the ruin’s cavern, though slightly smaller in size.

  It resembled a handheld metal rail accelerator with a white jade crystal in its ter. The only difference was that Iron Hand’s Eagle-Eye Sword Case came with three matg sword-shaped bullets.

  —So that’s it! Those rotted little daggers on the corpse in that ruin were all sword-case bullets!

  With that parison, An Jing suddenly saw the light.

  The underlying principle behind a sword case was remarkably simple: the two metal rods served as rails to accelerate the small flying-sword bullets, while the jade crystal at the ter funed as both the acceleration core and a troller for fiuning their trajectory.

  Even without specialized flying-sword bullets, the sword case could still emit a sword ray—the very Spiritlight An Jing had witnessed—but its true power was only unleashed when equipped with those -crafted bullets.

  —A firearm was a firearm, and a sword case was basically a railgun!

  “I won’t lie to you: the Eagle-Eye Series was modeled after the ing Series. The ing Series’ military core is superior in every respect. If you have that thing and buy a spiritual energy furo power it, you practically don’t need any firearm from me.”

  Iron Hand eyed the ing Sword Case in An Jing’s hand, his iions all too obvious. Sensing what he wanted, An Jing remarked, “It ’t be that simple, right? Just to power it, I’d have to buy a spiritual energy furnao doubt that’d lead to even more trouble.”

  “Sihis sword case is a specialized military model, its operating system must also be specialized. Someone like me—a barbarian without a chip—’t use it, correct?”

  And as expected, Iron Hand grinned. “It’s usable, all right, but it o be cracked first.”

  Knowing that An Jing was a barbariahoughtfully expihe relevant cepts. In this Tianyuan World, a fair amount of gear—like a sword case, which was a plex Magical Artifact—required authorized permission. If you had someone else’s equipment without permission, it would remain locked. In short, anything obtaihrough robbery or theft couldn’t be used immediately. Of course, if there was a lock, there would be ways to crack it.

  Apart from that, there was also a special teique called “Spirit Seizure.” As the name implied, it targeted the spirit—directly resolving permission barriers. Although it came at a steep price, it was safer and removed the risk of botched crag attempts or self-destru of the artifact.

  Naturally, Iron Hand would never engage in Spirit Seizure. He was a w-abiding businessman—at most, he only did some unsealing or crag work.

  And he happeo have a keen i in An Jing’s ing Sword Case.

  “All right.” Iron Hand tapped on the ter with his fingers, and after thinking for a while, he said, “Because of Ah Qing, I won’t charge extra. Brother An, lehis sword case for a day, and I’ll crack it for you.”

  “That offer is almost too good to be true,” An Jing murmured. “Yaining a lot from this, too.”

  Iron Hand didn’t answer directly. He only said slowly, “ces to crack a military core are rare, and many may not even dare attempt it.”

  “I’ll be frank: in all the Fu Pins, fewer than five people both and dare craething made by the Luofu Group. I’m one of them.”

  “How about this, since you’re so impressive, Boss?” An Jing asked with a faint smile. “I’ll sell you this sword case, and you give me the Eagle-Eye and Frostfall iurn. How about it? I think you’d make a tidy profit.”

  “Hah.” Iron Hand chuckled as well. “I’m no barbarian, so I ’t expin why I’d have a privately owned military sword case. People like me, without authorization, would just end up waiting for a summons from the Surveilnce Bureau. Besides, your sword case is really old. To crack it, I’ll o rework the circuits aore the formation patterns. I’m not charging for any of that.”

  An Jing could see that Boss Iron Hand treated him quite kindly—not only because he had saved Huo Qing, but also because Iron Hand seemed to hold high hopes for him.

  Perhaps it was An Jing’s strength, or maybe he’d revealed some special quality. Or perhaps it was the effect of Celestial Fate?

  The young man shook his head inwardly and chose not to overthink it. He could see that Iron Hand was genuinely ied in the Luofu Group’s ing Sword Case—likely because of its “military core.” He probably had personal reasons, something he hoped to verify by crag that core.

  —Could he be trying to do something with the military port?

  “Fihe thought came a in a fsh, and An Jing immediately sented. “But I want a full set of flying-sword bullets, rept parts, and all sorts of supplies.”

  Then An Jing had ahought. “If… if you have any drones, I’d like to buy some as well.”

  The Frostfall rifle, along with a calibration device, a le scope, and Frostfall bullets, came to a total of one hundred forty-five merit points. The Eagle-Eye Sword Case and its suite of apanying equipment totaled one hundred seventy-five merit points.

  Meanwhile, a spiritual energy furnace capable of p a sword case cost at least one hundred fifty merit points, while higher-quality models went for three huwenty.

  Because An Jing cked a chip, he had to use physical merit-poiificates. Even though Iron Hand thought well of him, the price still had to be adjusted. “Without a chip, you’ll be paying a cash tax and all sorts of extra fees.”

  “You do have a lot of loot, but even ating for how you helped Ah Qing, the most I offer is eight hundred fifty merit points.”

  Eight hundred fifty was more than enough to purchase ons, a spiritual energy furnace, and rations, with some left over for other ies. But An Jing knew he needed more than just ons and supplies.

  In a world that could build remotely trolled sword cases, how could drones ? If he had drones, his intelligence advantage in the Huaixu Realm would be immeasurable.

  “I don’t have any.” Unfortunately, Iron Hand shook his head. “I sell you bullets and other supplies—those are cheap—but drones are high-tech Magical Artifacts. I’m not lised to sell them.”

  “In fact, there are only three specialized panies iy that sell a ‘legal’ drone.”

  “Legal?” An Jing asked sharply. Iron Hand, appreciating his alertness, replied, “Yes—legal.”

  “For a barbarian like you, who doesn’t even have city entry qualifications, you basically ’t buy a drone.”

  “Unless… you go to the bck market.”

  (End of Chapter)