NOVGO.NET Chapter 1560: The Road to Caplock (5)
Chapter 1560: The Road to Caplock (5)
Ttang! Ttang! Ttang!
Watching molten sparks fly off the anvil, Ryvrthe watched Valyr in silence as the latter devoted himself to the quest of upgrading his arquebus.
Noticing that the young man consistently hammered every component he was modifying to the point of obsession, the man could not help but ask himself, ’What’s with the excessive hammering?’
’I know blacksmiths hammer things a lot more than they should to smoothen things out… but isn’t he hammering them a bit too much?’
Ttang! Ttang! Ttang!
Although he hadn’t acquainted himself with the world of blacksmithing in his current life, some of the lives Ryvrthe had lived in the past had touched upon them, allowing him to have an opinion on Valyr’s current actions.
However, even if he were to consider that the current forging style the young man was using was unconventional even according to his first life’s standards, the man still could not stop himself from thinking that the incessant hammering was absurd.
Ttang! Ttang! Ttang!
Fortunately, just as Ryvrthe was wondering how much longer Valyr would continue hammering on that one component, the latter had finally moved on from it, allowing the upgrading process to reach its final process.
“[Breath of Beginnings].”
Activating the strongest buff his forging hammer could give during the forging process, Valyr went ahead and began to reassemble the arquebus, utilizing both his and Ataraxia’s vision to make sure every part of the reassembly was done perfectly.
Stopping every once in a while to give Ataraxia’s vision the time it needed to refresh, the young man eventually finished assembling the firearm’s new trigger mechanism, allowing him to reattach the barrel he had upgraded to be more sturdy.
Then, once he made sure that the hammer attached to the trigger mechanism reached the spot he had in mind for its striking point, he then reattached the flash pan, only to attach the frizzen on top of it after that.
After putting in a couple of springs in their rightful places, as well as making a few minor adjustments according to both his and Ataraxia’s shared vision, Valyr eventually let out a faint sigh of relief, seeing that only one step remained before his arquebus could now be called a true flintlock firearm.
“The flint.”
As these words softly escaped his mouth, the young man picked up a well-chiseled piece of flint off the anvil with his energy.
Inserting the flint into the groove he had made on the hammer beforehand, Valyr then proceeded to squeeze the firearm’s trigger a couple of times, making sure that the flint struck the frizzen before its sparks spread to the flash pan.
Readjusting the hammer and the frizzen once more after that, the young man hammered the firearm a couple more times, eventually feeling that the upgrade was now finally complete.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Just as he thought that the firearm was finally upgraded, a series of notifications began to ring in his mind all of a sudden.
At the same time, a ray of light appeared within Ryvrthe’s chambers out of nowhere, shining down on the upgraded firearm as if it were being blessed by the heavens.
“Wha…” Not expecting the ray of light whatsoever, Ryvrthe’s eyes widened in both surprise and disbelief as he looked at Valyr to see if he had any idea as to what was going on.
Unfortunately for him, even the young man didn’t know what caused the ray of light.
’…Did it turn into an artifact?’ Though, after giving the current sight a bit of thought, it did not take long for Valyr to come up with an explanation.
Allowing the ray of light to die down, the young man suppressed the excitement he felt as he opened up his notifications with both curiosity and anticipation.
Ding!
[Your title ’Forger of Legends’ has activated, enhancing the properties of your modified item by one level.]
[You have successfully modified an item into an artifact.]
[You have successfully created the item: Original Flintlock of the First Gunslinger (Artifact). Quality has been reevaluated to be Transcendent.]
’Holy shit.’
’It did turn into an artifact.’
Thanks to the first few notifications he read confirming his earlier hypothesis, the young man decided not to suppress his excitement any further.
“LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”
Clenching his fists as he yelled out of pure joy, the young man’s sudden change in mood unexpectedly caught Ryvrthe off guard, prompting the latter to wonder to himself what caused Valyr’s mood to suddenly undergo a 180-degree shift.
Though, considering the things that occurred just a moment earlier, it did not take long for him to figure out the cause behind the young man’s excitement.
“[Sage’s Inquisitive Eye].”
Confident that the cause behind Valyr’s excitement was the upgraded firearm, Ryvrthe went ahead and examined the firearm with the help of an identification skill.
“What the…”
“This is…?”
While the sage was left at a loss for words at the item’s stats, Valyr proceeded to look at the other notifications that came along with the upgrade after calming down from his earlier burst of excitement.
[Originally a prototype that marked the revival of a bygone era, you have improved the ancient arquebus into a weapon that achieves the lethality and speed of an arrow that has a usage level akin to a sword.]
[However, discontent with this improvement, you have sought the knowledge of far more advanced eras, reducing the usage difficulty of the arquebus to a level of ease that would leave any person of the medieval era dumbfounded.]
[To a world full of fantasy, the idea of technology being able to match what’s normally done with magic astounds many.]
[But to you, it merely acts as a gateway to the other things technology is capable of. A foundation of things that have yet to come.]
[The heavens are both impressed and proud to see your efforts coming into fruition. Though, considering your track record thus far, they await what other improvements you might bring to this weapon of the future.]
Feeling the flames of motivation being stoked by the words the system gave him, Valyr took in a deep breath as he closed the notification screen he brought up.
Closing his eyes for a bit to dispel the words that were still lingering in his mind, the young man eventually let out a calming sigh, only to raise his eyebrow once he noticed Ryvrthe staring at the firearm in dumbfounded silence.
“Hmm?” Taking note of the translucent screen in front of the man, Valyr quickly understood that the cause of the former’s silence was none other than the stats of the newly-made flintlock.
Curious as to what about the flintlock caused Ryvrthe to react that way, the young man went ahead and used his identification skill on it.
…Only to end up being stunned silent by it as well.