"Sixty percent of the new price my ass! You'd be lucky to get thirty percent for it!" talhand waved An Jing off. "One look and I can tell that you're not used to haggling. That price is more or less right. I won't make a sucker out of you, don't worry."
"But I really haven't used it before!"
"That's obvious enough. These things suck up much more qi than is safe for a budding cultivator like you. Soone in Spirit Awakening like you can barely activate it. It looks like a small unit from Luofu got wiped out in the wilderness and you were just lucky enough to happen upon their corpses."
talhand rubbed his temples in thought before he went to the storeroom to take out two guns. "The Iceburst Beta rifle uses special bullets and fires extrely stable shots. Once the bullet hits, the wound freezes over. It also barely makes a sound while firing, which is perfect for hunting sensitive prey. This other one is the Hawkeye Type 3 sword case. You can shoot long distances with it, optionally remotely, and even adjust the trajectory. Essentially, it's like a drone. However, it consus a lot of energy.
"I have a rough idea what you want them for. You want to hunt three-legged flacrows, right? The expedition bureau's missions are tempting indeed. They're offering fifty rits for one flacrow. Even I'm feeling like hunting down one or two, but going to the badlands is far too risky. I treasure my life, you see.
"Either way, this rifle and sword case fit your requirents. However, your OverSight sword case would crush these two in comparison."
"Is that so?" An Jing made a ntal note of the reward for hunting three-legged flacrows. He was glad that talhand assud the reason he wanted to buy weapons, relieving him of the need to make up an explanation.
When he had learned that the spirit-beam guns were actually called sword cases, he almost did a double take. Sword cases were real? Wait, no. You guys just applied the label of flying swords and sword cases to one type of gun that you use!
He observed the guns in his hand carefully. Iceburst Beta appeared just like any traditional rifle with so special sights. It glowed slightly as a proper artifact would. The Hawkweye sword case, on the other hand, was almost identical to the sword cases he had foraged from the ruins in the cave, just smaller. It had tallic rails that seed to accelerate the projectile and a white-jade crystal at its center. It also ca with three sword-shaped projectiles.
Oh, so those corroded tiny daggers on those corpses were projectiles that were shot out of sword cases! Sword cases worked based on simple principles. Two tallic rails accelerated the tiny sword projectiles, while the white-jade crystal at the center was the core that powered the acceleration and also served as the control chanism for the projectile's trajectory.
While sword cases could still fire sword beams even when they weren't loaded with specially made projectiles, the very sa spirit beams An Jing had seen, they worked best with proper projectiles. Essentially, sword cases were more railgun than firearm.
"I'm not lying either. The Hawkeye series are basically copies of the OverSight series. The latter's military-grade core is much better than the Hawkeye's in all regards. If you have the ans, you should get a spirit-qi crucible to power the OverSight. That way, you won't even have to buy these guns from ."
talhand looked at the OverSight sword case in An Jing's hand with an intense expression. An Jing could guess what he wanted and said, "Obviously, it's not that easy, right? if I have to buy a crucible just to use it, the rest will be even more troubleso. It's a military-issue sword case, so it definitely cos with a custom operating system that a chipless badlander like can't use, right?"
talhand laughed. "You can use it as long as you're able to crack it."
The older man proceeded to explain so basic concepts to An Jing on account of him being a badlander. Lots of equipnt in Skysource, complex ones like sword cases, in particular, could only be used with the right authorization. Unauthorized users would simply be locked out of them, so stolen equipnt couldn't be used imdiately.
Locks opened if they were cracked.[1] Apart from cracks, spirit usurpation could be used to deal with authorization issues. It was a spirit-based technique that cost much more, but was safe and didn't risk triggering the self-destruct chanism of a piece of equipnt in the event of a failed crack.
talhand naturally wouldn't know how to perform spirit usurpation. He was a law-abiding businessman who would at most do a couple cracks here and there. It just so happened that he was really interested in An Jing's OverSight.
talhand rapped his fingers on the counter in thought. "How about this? Since you saved Qing, I will crack the OverSight for you at no cost. Just leave it with for one day."
"That sounds too good to be true... You must stand to gain quite a bit from this too."
talhand didn't answer his doubts directly. "It isn't every day that I get a chance to take a crack at military-grade cores. Even then, other people might not dare to do it if they had the chance. Let be frank here. There are only five people in the entirety of Mortality Plains that are able and willing to crack equipnt from the Luofu Group, and I'm one of them."
An Jing's lips curled into a smile. "How about this? Since you're so amazing, Boss, can I just trade this sword case in exchange for the Hawkeye and the Iceburst? It's a steal, right?"
"Haha. I'm no badlander, so I don't have any legitimate explanation of how I ca across military-issue equipnt. If soone like is seen using sothing like this without proper authorization, I'd get a one-way ticket to prison. Not to ntion, your sword case is rather old. I'll crack it for you and do so restoration on it for no cost."
An Jing could tell that talhand really was doing him a favor, and not just to repay him for saving Huo Qing. He genuinely did like him. Was it because of his power, or did the old man see sothing in him that he had unintentionally revealed? Or was it due to his celestial arc's influence? He shook his head and dispelled those thoughts.
He was also certain that talhand was genuinely interested in the Luofu Group's products, most likely due to the military-grade core. He must also have so other personal reason that drove him to want to try his hand at cracking it. Perhaps he had plans that required access to a military interface.
"Fine," An Jing agreed. "But I also need a whole set of flying-sword projectiles, spare parts and so other supplies."
An Jing got another spark of inspiration. "Also, if you have drones, I want to buy so too."
The Iceburst and its accessories, scope and compatible bullets, were worth 145 rits. The Hawkeye and other associated parts were worth 175. A spirit-qi crucible would cost around 150 rits at least, while better ones were worth 320.
Since An Jing wasn't chipped, he had to use physical rit bills. talhand used this as yet another reason to place a surcharge on him. "You don't have a chip, so there's a fee for processing cash. Though you have many spoils, I can only offer you 850 rits for them, and that's taking into consideration how you helped Qing."
At that amount, An Jing would have more to spare after buying the weapons, accessories and spirit-qi crucible as well as food supplies. An Jing knew, however, that he was going to need far more than that. A world that could produce remotely operated sword cases could surely produce drones too, which would give him an edge at scouting in Void Embrace.
"I don't have drones. I can give you bullets and supplies since they're cheap. However, drones are relatively more technologically advanced. I'm not authorized to deal with them. In fact, there are only three companies in the city that are allowed to legally sell drones."
"Legally?" An Jing picked up on the operative word.
"That's right, legally. Badlanders like you won't even be allowed into cities, let alone buy useful drones. However, there's the black market..."
1. A phrase inspired by the famous "people die if they are killed." The author also has a different work titled "Monsters Die If They Are Killed" that references the sa . ☜
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