Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Chapter 881: Chapter 837 [Cheater!!!]_1 Chapter 881: Chapter 837 [Cheater!!!]_1 Matthew logged out to clean the protective gear.

Xu Chun followed suit, not to help out, but probably to supervise the operation.

Though they left, the martial arts hall wasn’t idle.

In numerous different mirrors, NPC Matthew handled countless players who came to challenge the hall.

Lance was doing well.

After dying six times, he basically figured out the fighting style and routine of NPC Matthew and won the seventh round.

But he didn’t move on to the next challenge right away.

Instead, he sat aside and started watching Shuihua’s fights.

There was an interesting aspect to this task—

Although they didn’t need to strictly adhere to the rules of arena matches, items like liquor gourds and hidden weapons could still be used.

But they couldn’t replace a contestant.

The basic rule of one-on-one combat had to be upheld.

However, the fun part was that they could invite a friend to provide guidance from the sidelines.

Just like in many real-world arena matches, there are only two contestants in the ring, but a coach capable enough off the field can often provide high-level guidance.

Source: AllNovelFull.com, updated on ƝօνǤο.сο

That’s exactly what Lance was doing at present.

——The fact that the audience’s count in the live broadcast room doubled when Shuihua participated was a bonus.

Even Victoria was waiting on the side, ready to jump in once Shuihua won.

But Victoria’s play times weren’t as regular, Shuihua had already lost several rounds before Victoria just logged in and joined them.

Yesterday, after Shuihua finished the match, she didn’t move on with the mission.

Instead, she waited for Lance and Victoria to finish their race and then log out to rest—once winter vacation kicked in, Shuihua’s parents started to enforce her bedtime, with the trade-off being that she can play a significant amount of time during the day.

Anyway, the progress of the three of them was in sync again.

The only issue was: the difficulty of the task [First Sword Experience in the Year of the Hairpin] was different for each of them.

Shuihua had a big problem.

Her main weapon is a bow and arrow.

Previously, in combat tasks, she was invincible with Lance and Victoria rushing in for close combat while she provided moderate distance offensive and cover fire.

This wasn’t a freeloader job, she seemed to have a talent for archery—or perhaps, it was because Cloud Dream’s skill system was so powerful that Shuihua couldn’t tell, but she did feel natural with her bow and arrow, scoring high rates with not just accuracy but also providing precise assistance to her teammates during fast-paced combats, blocking the enemies’ attacks.

Among the trio, Shuihua’s role as a long-range combatant was crucial.

But in the arena challenge, bows and arrows didn’t seem to be effective.

This wasn’t reality.

Both players and NPCs had ways to deal with long-range attacks and due to the confined battleground, kite running tactics can’t be implemented and she would often get chased and killed by NPCs.

As Shuihua mostly engaged in team battles, she had learned martial arts secrets like [Nine-curve Continuous String], [Wild Goose Flying Through the Clouds], [Exquisite Arrow Array] etc.

All their special effects were along the lines of “rapid fire”, “quickshot”, “energized shooting”.

In short, she didn’t learn close combat routines.

Once an elite NPC chased her down, even if she drew her sword to fight back, she didn’t stand a chance.

After Lance tried to guiide her a few times on the sidelines, he realised he couldn’t keep up the verbal guidance and then started to wonder if they should supplement Shuihua’s fighting system.

“How about we stop for now, and try to find some martial arts secrets that involve using the bow for close combat?

Cloud Dream surely wouldn’t leave such an obvious shortcoming unattended, right?”

After losing numerous times, Shuihua inevitably felt a bit disheartened and nodded in agreement.

The viewers in both live-streams started to provide advice seeing Shuihua lose:

“Why not save up some [Talisman], then activate invincibility and trade tackles with the opponent?”

“That’d be too wasteful!

The drop rate of [Talisman] is so low, and it’s so expensive!

It’s better to buy stimulants from the guy in yesterday’s horse racing.

If horses can eat it, people should be able to.”

“Right, right, right!

He should be short of money!”

“Can we get a hand crossbow?”

…

While the viewers were expressing their opinions, Victoria suddenly waved her hand and said, “Why does it need to be so difficult?

To deal with this kind of NPC, you only need one move!”

Lance, Shuihua, and the viewers in both live-streaming rooms all turned their attention to the bold Victoria.

Lance and Shuihua were full of question marks, while the viewers in the live-streaming rooms couldn’t believe it:

“Are you serious?

We have been watching so many live-streams and we have never seen anything capable of taking down the opponents instantly!”

“Big Sister, do you by any chance have some misconceptions about your own strength?”

“Or maybe not…”

…

But Victoria didn’t seem like she’d change her mind.

She straightened her back, walked to the middle of the martial arts hall, and once she was seven steps away from NPC Matthew, the battle was triggered.

The NPC who had automatically recovered to his peak state drew his sword and, after a formal salute, decisively rushed up.

And then——

“Bang!”

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Victoria pulled out a flintlock pistol from the weapon storage box and shot NPC Matthew’s head!

——It was just a visual effect, the NPC’s health bar only dropped by one third.

But the dazed NPC fell straight to the ground, being pushed forward by the inertia until he stopped at Victoria’s feet.

The battle ended the moment it began.

He truly just used a single move.

But this one move not only floored the NPC, but it also left all the spectators dumbfounded.

A flood of question marks instantly filled the live streaming room:

“???”

“What the hell?

A gun?”

“Why do you have a gun?”

“Is there a bug in the Weapon Storage Box?”

“Give us a tutorial!”

“I’m reporting it.”

…

Not only were the audience stupefied, but Lance and Shuihua at the scene also widened their eyes.

Shuihua remained wide-eyed and dumbfounded, asking, after Victoria walked over to her, reloaded the flintlock and handed it to her:

“Why do you have a gun?”

Victoria shook her head: “A fan gave it to me, I also don’t know where he got it from, but he assured me that there was no exploitation of the game bug, so you can rest assured.”

Shuihua blinked and took the flintlock.

*

“Bang!”

The origin of the flintlock, the former metropolitan [Freedom Day] champion team member – Burning, exploded the head of the NPC across with a single shot.

But the health bar of this NPC wielding twin axes was really thick.

After being hit in the head with a bullet, it didn’t fall down, but instead used his axes to protect its heart and head, charging up quickly with zigzag movements.

But unfortunately, this move was useless against Burning –

“Bang!”

A gun suddenly appeared in his empty left hand, accurately hitting the NPC’s fast-moving thigh.

The NPC finally went down unwillingly.

Burning stylishly twirled the gun with both hands, accurately returning it to its holster at his waist.

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He was the earliest player to recreate firearms in “Chang’an”.

The biggest problem with making modern guns in ancient times lies in materials, precision, and bullets.

The design ideas and blueprints are not big issues as they already exist.

Finding them on the modern Internet is not difficult at all.

Of course, the gun in his hand is not a modern firearm, but a somewhat backward flintlock.

Because the bullets for modern firearms are a big problem.

Whether it’s the precise processing of bullet casings or the manufacture of primers, it’s all very difficult.

So, Burning decisively took a step backwards – giving up on modern firearms and manufacturing simpler flintlock pistols.

He even used the meteorite iron obtained from the main quest [Heavenly Meteorite] in the making of these two flintlocks, instead of upgrading weapon grades like most players.

As a result: he got two flintlocks.

Although they only fire one bullet each, they pack a huge punch!

The two bullets that took down NPCs are proof.

Although it’s a bit embarrassing to have to load bullets by himself after completing tasks, it’s really cool to use!

But Burning also had one worry: the gun, after all, is an alternative gameplay outside the cold weapon combat system and there is no corresponding proficiency or skill bonuses.

It can only rely on the player’s own performance.

The ceiling and difficulty of getting started are pretty obvious.

When he made the flintlock and successfully fired it for the first time, the System bizarrely popped out a silver achievement –

[Cheater!!!]

This proves that the developers of Cloud Dream had expected the emergence of firearms, but they didn’t limit it, instead letting this happen.

This means that the developers believe this weapon won’t affect the overall situation and may even be weaker than a high level hand crossbow supported by skill effects.

But Burning and some players who are keen on “climbing the technological tree” have a different idea:

So what if there’s no system support?

Weapons can still be upgraded!

So many high-level firearm blueprints are still unused!

Then there are revolvers, trigger guns, rear-loading single/multiple-barrel pistols, rear-loading revolvers, automatic pistols …

So many upgrade methods are waiting for them and the power continues to climb.

For materials, they can always melt down master-level weapons for high-quality materials!

If the designers think that without system support, players can’t upgrade to higher-level firearms, then they are greatly mistaken!

*

Warehouse Bird doesn’t know about the existence of firearms, let alone the ideas of these tech nerds.

But if he knew, he would definitely tell them: “The designers probably don’t think that way.”

Because just seven minutes after he entered [Mechanism City], he was fatally headshot by a [Mechanoid] that appeared from eighty meters away!

Although it was too far to see clearly and the weapon in the Mechanoid’s hand didn’t look like the firearms he had seen in other games, Warehouse Bird was one hundred percent sure –

That was definitely a gun!