[(+10) Supreme True Arquebus] (Level 55)
Rarity: Epic
Foundation Tier: 1st Tier
Attack: 14,022 - 23,370
Cooldown: 10 seconds (6.72 seconds)
Forge Quality: Exceptional
Additional Attributes:
> STR + 49
> DEX + 94
> PER + 39
What was once to be the next step on the path of ranged weapons, this weapon has been remodeled and reworked by the blacksmith that brought it to life in the first place. Now, it has been reborn into a form that's greater and more in-line with the blacksmith's original motives.
Forged by a truly prodigious blacksmith, this weapon has taken inspiration from a similar weapon of a bygone era, only for the blacksmith to add a few more modifications to it.
In its current state, it still resembles the weapon of old. Nevertheless, it has adopted a few of the conveniences that weapons far deeper on the path would have.
Perhaps, in due time, the blacksmith would be able to reforge it once more, bringing it closer to what they truly seek to obtain.
<Innate Skill 1: Grand Burst - Allows the user to infuse mana into the weapon, combining with the gunpowder loaded within the weapon to deal a devastating amount of damage. Deals 250% of the user's Attack stat as damage. Cooldown: 2 minutes. Cost: 3,000 MP.>
<Innate Skill 2: Mana Overdrive - Allows the user to infuse mana into the entire weapon, empowering all of the shots fired with the weapon within a certain duration. Increases the damage dealt by the weapon by 10% for 2 minutes. Cooldown: 10 minutes. Cost: 8,000 MP.>
<Innate Skill 3: Extended Charge - Allows the user to ignite the gunpowder within the barrel beforehand, accumulating the firepower within the ignition through the use of mana. The longer the user stores the firepower within the barrel, the greater the effects are.
Allows the user to extend the charge of the attack by 15% to 450% of the weapon's base cooldown time. Depending on the duration, the attack coefficient of the weapon increases by 5% to 150%. Cooldown: None. Cost: 1,000 - 15,000 MP.>
Remarks: Recreated from the ground up, it has now taken a step closer in embodying the greater future.
Reading through the description of the newly improved arquebus, Valyr briefly whistled in admiration as almost every part of it had undergone quite the substantial upgrade.
For one, the Attack stat the arquebus now gave him was about twice as much the firepower it had before, giving him the ability to land more devastating attacks if need be.
Aside from that, the time it would take for him to load the weapon had been reduced by five entire seconds, increasing his damage output with the weapon even further.
Of course, a few parts of the weapon had been adjusted in accordance to this great reduction in cooldown, such as the fact that Valyr now needed to wait 450% of the weapon's base time to reach the limit of [Extended Charge].
Then again, with a bit of calculation, the young man was able to figure out that he would just have to wait the same amount of time he did in the previous iteration of the arquebus.
And that was more than fine with him.
"I wonder if it would stack," muttered the young man to himself at some point, taking note of the arquebus' new innate skill.
Though the damage increase brought by the skill wasn't as impressive as what [Extended Charge] offered, it did make up for it with the fact that it lingered around for longer, giving him the ability to stack its effects with multiple shots of the newly upgraded [Grand Burst].
"I'll have to do a damage test sooner or later," said Valyr to himself, satisfied with the improvements the upgrade brought.
As he took out a couple of potions from his spatial bracelet to replenish his drained reserves, he shifted his gaze towards Arcaelus, only to find out that the man was looking in his direction with his mouth agape in shock.
Slightly wondering why that was the case, the young man let out a slight chuckle after seeing the translucent screen in front of the man, not taking long to understand what was going on.
"Hey, Arcaelus. I think the five days are up." Grabbing a vial of rousing before downing it in one go, Valyr called for the man's attention the very moment he felt energized.
"Huh?" Realizing that he had been staring at his screen for a bit longer than he initially expected, Arcaelus scratched the back of his head as he let out an awkward chuckle in response.
After that, he took in a deep breath, his expression gradually turning solemn as he opened his mouth.
"Now that five days have passed, it is now time to tally up the results and see who emerges as the winner of this fight."
At those words, Arcaelus headed towards the pile of items he had forged before laying them at the front of his workshop in a long line.
Seeing that, Valyr stared at him for a bit before doing the same thing as well, moving all of the items he forged to the front of his workshop before laying them out.
However, by the time he was finished arranging all of his items, the young man then took out a couple more items before placing them on the ground with the others.
Of course, those items were none other than Gray Fortress and the Supreme True Arquebus.
"Alright." Letting out a low sigh as he finished laying down all of his items, Arcaelus turned to look at what Valyr was doing, only to wryly smile soon after.
Taking in a deep breath to compose himself, he then began to look at the lines the two of them had made, pushing his perception to its very limit to make sure he did not miscount.
"In total, I have forged a total of 18 items within the span of five days," said Arcaelus, projecting his voice throughout the area with the help of his mana.
"On the other hand, Valyr was able to forge 25 items within the span of five days, as well as upgrade two additional items within those five days," added the man soon after.
Feeling a slight twinge in his chest at those words, the feeling soon disappeared as he recall what the young man had shown him.
"With the rules I have placed before the fight, Valyr has forged a total of 27 items, thus declaring him the winner of this fight."
What would have normally been followed up by a series of cheers was instead followed up by a single person clapping, prompting the smile on Arcaelus' face to turn a bit more wry.
Watching the young man continue to clap as he moved closer to him, Arcaelus took in a deep breath before composing himself once more.
"You've definitely surprised me, Valyr," said Arcaelus, recalling the preternatural feats the young man had shown within the past few days. "If you didn't introduce yourself to me, I would have thought you came from an incredibly affluent forging clan."
"Who knew the Zeihardt clan known for their superb combat prowess would actually give birth to a descendant that's highly skilled in production?"
"You compliment me too much," replied Valyr in response, chuckling not long after.
Noticing that the man was sneaking glances at the arquebus he had just upgraded, a thought soon surfaced within the young man's mind, prompting him to suggest something to the man.
"Say… do you want to try using the arquebus?"
As if the inner child within the man had been unearthed, Arcaelus looked back at Valyr with slight amazement as he asked, "Really?"
Understanding that the question itself was already an answer, Valyr let out a bit of laughter as he taught Arcaelus how to operate the arquebus.
Naturally, having taught another memory image to operate a firearm reminded the young man of how he taught Sven how to operate the matchlock pistol he forged during the first fight.
Nevertheless, he quite enjoyed teaching Arcaelus how to use it, especially after seeing a few aspects of the man that he had not seen during the past five days.
Such as the immense sense of the childlike wonder the man had actually kept hidden throughout their fight.
Aside from that, the man had also imparted him a few adjustments he could make to the arquebus if he ever planned on upgrading it again, offering him another perspective to how he should approach the forging of firearms in the future.
Sadly, just like many of the opponents that came before him, Arcaelus eventually started to become more and more transparent in front of Valyr's very eyes.
However, that did not mean that he would stop talking to the young man before he truly left.
"Keep all of the items I've forged," said Arcaelus, causing Valyr to look back at him with a hint of surprise.
Just as he was about to ask why the man had made such a decision, the man kept talking.
"You know very well at this point that the Gates of Awakening would keep everything after a battle is over as long as it is owned by the Gates of Awakening."
Arcaelus wryly smiled. "As I'm only a memory image, I'm also a part of the Gates of Awakening in a sense."
"The same could be applied to all of the items I've forged so far. After all, all of those things were only made possible by the Gates of Awakening."
"However, there is a way for you to keep all of the stuff I've forged," said Arcaelus, prompting Valyr to lend both of his ears.
"Infuse all of the items I've made with your energy before they're reclaimed by the Gates of Awakening and it'll all be yours."
"And I guess… that'll be it for now."
"I wonder if my real counterpart would recognize these items I've made?"
"I hope… you make that happen."
…
…
…
And with that, the sixth fight was officially over.
