Matan’s Shooter

“Ha Leeha-nim…”

Blaugrunn approached to comfort Ha Leeha. Although he felt a strange sensation, Ha Leeha soon managed to smile and speak.

“Well, it’s quite sad but it was something I could have expected. Rather than that, we should look into the ‘White Reaper’ and the unification with firearms.”

“Yes! With the power of Pyrot-Cocri roaming around, there’s no time to be sad!”

“Hehe, we also need to inform Lord Bahamut about this.”

“Absolutely, absolutely. We have a mountain of work to do!”

Hearing Blaugrunn’s words of encouragement, Ha Leeha stepped outside.

What should he do now?

The quickest way was to confront it head-on.

“The snow is falling! No need to use Snow Storm. Blaugrunn! Step aside!”

Ha Leeha lifted the Black Bass.

Fortunately, the area near the ruins was free of wandering NPCs.

It was the perfect place for testing something, so Ha Leeha loudly shouted the name of the skill.

“〈White Reaper〉!”

Ha Leeha utilized the skill.

『Using White Reaper.

Starting unification with the rifle.』

“Oh, oh, oh!?”

Ha Leeha hastily changed his stance from the typical aiming posture.

White particles of light slowly gathered on his right arm holding the Black Bass. The barrel and stock of the Black Bass melted into his body and were being absorbed.

“Ha Leeha! That—”

“Watch closely, watch closely! This is what I wanted to talk about last time! Hahaha!”

Ha Leeha let out a strange laugh as he aimed forward.

The black gun of the Black Bass began covering itself in the white light, intertwining with Ha Leeha’s arm.

The light clustered so intensely that it seemed like it would explode, and Ha Leeha could feel a peculiar sensation of controlling his arm.

It was as if his arm had lengthened and become heavier, with a hot energy gathering at the end!

“Ahh, great, great! Is this how Luger felt when using ‘Acht-Acht’? Now I just need to fire―”

Although it was his first time using the skill, Ha Leeha instinctively knew the timing to ‘fire’.

“Let’s go! Black Bass, we’ve finally become one!”

Since his right arm had already melted into the Black Bass, he didn’t even need to move his index finger to pull the trigger.

The rifle had truly become part of his body now.

“Uraaaaaaa――――!”

Ha Leeha fired towards the snowy clearing and the snow-filled sky as if with a loud yell.

And at that moment, a system notification window appeared before Ha Leeha’s eyes.

『The rifle has rejected the user.

Unification with the rifle has failed.

『Final Unification Rate: 55.5%』

White Reaper (Limit) has been fired.』

“Huh? What—”

『───────────────!』

“—Ah!”

Ha Leeha’s body was flung backward and tumbled into the snow.

As his body flew back as if kicked by someone, the 〈White Reaper〉 clearly extended out from his body in the opposite direction.

“Phew, what kind of recoil is this? I guess I’ll need to use some joint locking skills. Blaugrunn! How was it?”

Tumbling several times in the snow, Ha Leeha brushed off the snow that had entered his ears and approached.

Although the system notification made him feel uneasy, hadn’t he definitely felt the ‘recoil’?

That meant, after all, 〈White Reaper〉 had activated!

What would an NPC destined to become an adult dragon say about the power of 〈White Reaper〉?

Ha Leeha honestly wanted to hear Blaugrunn’s evaluation.

Contrary to Ha Leeha’s expectations, Blaugrunn shook his head with a disappointing look.

“Hmm… I’m really disappointed.”

“Yes?”

“You told me that beams of light reflected on the snow and ice and endlessly split… burning everything and evaporating enemies completely, right?”

“That’s correct! Of course, since there were no enemies now, it was just a spectacular light show—”

“It was three beams.”

“—there was—what?”

Blaugrunn sighed and explained.

The moment the laser touched the snow-covered ground, it dispersed.

The laser, bifurcated into two, touched the snowflakes falling from the sky.

And then it disappeared altogether.

“What did you say? It disappeared?”

“Yes. It split with a buzzing sound forming a V-shape. Initially, it was one beam, then it split into two when it touched the ground. In total, three beams evaporated immediately. It wasn’t the enemies that disappeared; the attack itself evaporated.”

“W-what are you talking about! The 《White Reaper》 is supposed to be incredible—oh, wait, wait.”

Ha Leeha was somewhat flustered by Blaugrunn’s words, but he soon understood.

Indeed, the system notification had indicated that the skill was not perfect.

‘Let’s see, what kind of nonsense makes them talk like this about the strongest skill—’

He then opened the skill window.

〈White Reaper—Limit〉

Description: “The beam that will track, reflect upon snow and ice, and annihilate enemies.”

An attack transferred with fraction of the power of the 《Arcane Bullet》, affected by the power of the rifle used. Currently, a substantial part of its abilities is sealed.

Usable by: Arcane Sniper or White Reaper

Use conditions: 100% integration with the rifle

『Current integration level 55.5% (Details)』

Effect: (Limited) A beam attack dealing 120% of the user’s attack power

Mana: (Limited) 3,000 on initial fire

(Limited) 1,000 for each split beam

The second job’s attack skill and the 〈White Reaper〉’s ultimate skill indeed had a different structure and content from the usual skill window.

“There’s no duration… no cooldown… Hey, is this a joke!”

3,000 mana on initial fire.

1,000 mana for each split laser beam.

Blaugrunn could only see three laser beams. Ha Leeha’s current total mana was 5,455.

It used 3,000 on firing and 1,000 for each of the two newly split beams.

‘What is this? Why isn’t this integrating?’

He had understood from the start that it was a restricted skill.

The very quest given by the White Reaper, Shimo, was about perfecting the integration with the rifle.

The reward for that was the unsealing of 〈White Reaper〉.

So, it was natural for the current skill to be restricted.

‘But the restriction is…’

The skill window, uncharacteristically for Middle Earth, provided extensive information.

It showed what the limitations were and at what level they were set.

‘Even with these restrictions, it deals 120% of my attack power. This is superb! I can’t even imagine how powerful it will be when fully unleashed! But the mana cost is unbelievable!’

Was the mana cost so high because of the restrictions?

‘I’m going crazy. What good is 120% attack power if it consumes so much mana! It’s better to spam multi-warhead missiles!’

Would he be able to reproduce the power shown by Shimo once the restrictions were lifted?

Ha Leeha found a clue to unsealing the restriction in the skill window.

“Integration! How to integrate with the rifle—oh, details? I can press this?”

“Yes?”

Blaugrunn cast a worried glance at Ha Leeha, who was muttering to himself.

『Current integration level 55.5% (Details)』

There was no longer an NPC to guide him, so the skill itself contained detailed information.

Ha Leeha, without responding to Blaugrunn, pressed the (Details) button in the skill window.

〈White Reaper—Limit—Firearm Integration〉

Integration Rate: 55.5%

Description: The rifle 『Black Bass』 has absorbed 『The Mosin-Nagant from the legend of the White Reaper』, fulfilling all conditions to use 〈White Reaper〉 more powerfully, but it is refusing integration with its user. Facilitate the release of all abilities the gun possesses to become its true master.

“… Ah…”

Ha Leeha felt as if he could hear Black Bass’s voice.

He started to understand a little why the Bottleneck had made that ‘ugh’ sound.

It would guarantee stronger and smoother usage than the typical 〈White Reaper〉.

So, release all my seals.

“Do I need to clear all the Black Bass quests…?”

『Sealing of Black Bass—6』

Description: Kill a monster of level 300 or higher from at least 5,000 meters away with one shot (0/1).

“…But why is it at 55.5%? Shouldn’t it be at 71.4% after clearing five out of seven?”

How could it be at 55.5% after clearing five quests?

What did that percentage mean?

‘If I calculate it, umm, umm. If the denominator is 9 and the numerator is 5, it comes out to 55.5555—’

Weren’t the Black Bass quests supposed to be seven?

Why was the denominator 9?

“No way…”

“What’s wrong?”

“I, first! We need to head to Gaza City, quickly!”

Ha Leeha’s mind started to race.

* * *

Ha Leeha stared at the auction house window with desperate eyes.

‘Please, please, please—’

Category: Weapons—Musket. Grade: Legendary. Search!

“…As expected, it’s not there.”

Musket is a weapon rare even at the Heroic or Rare grade.

Even with legendary weapons, the most in-demand items like one-handed swords were rarely or never listed at auction, so it didn’t make sense for a musket to be there.

“Ah… this is driving me crazy.”

Ha Leeha’s first idea was to find a new legendary gun.

Even if it wasn’t a 〈Legendary Mosin Nagant of the White Reaper〉, he hoped that having at least one legendary gun would allow him to achieve some kind of gun unification.

So, with a desperate heart, he came to the auction house!

‘Bottleneck is really too much. I told him I’d somehow provide the money…’

“Why do you need a legendary gun when you have Black Bass?”

“No, it’s urgent now. Never mind the performance; just make me a legendary class one.”

“City finances aren’t great these days, are they? Besides, considering I only work on 〈Legendary〉 creations, I can’t just ignore the performance. To include special resources or abilities, I need a medium… and in the current situation, I can’t immediately obtain such things, so it’s unrealistic.”

“Bottleneck, just hide your name and give me anything legendary—”

“Hmm, lord. As Chief Engineer, I must advise you. Even I don’t know if I can create a gun comparable to Black Bass. And in terms of performance, it can never match up to that. To create such a ‘living’ gun, I would have to give up my position as Chief Engineer and devote my whole life to it…”

It was a tactful refusal. Using the term ‘make do’ in front of an NPC who had already reached the ‘Legendary’ tier was naturally not going to work.

Especially when the comparison was 〈Black Bass〉.

Ha Leeha felt a pang of resentment for having Middle Earth’s strongest gun at times like this.

“I can’t make a legendary one… I can’t buy a legendary one…”

In the end, only one path remained.

To clear all of Black Bass’s quests as quickly as possible.

Ha Leeha’s weary steps led him to the Sacred Gryll.

Blaugrunn was not with him.

—Blaugrunn, how did it go?

Ha Leeha had returned to Gaza City with Blaugrunn, but he immediately remembered something Blaugrunn had to do and sent him to Bahamut’s lair.

—Lord said with a serious face that he understood. But he mentioned that no signs were detected by the alarm magic…

—Yes. They likely left before the alarms or gateway closures kicked in. This means we need to search…

—We will continually use nearby dragons for detection. Lord advised that rash action could lead to unknown consequences, so we must report everything to him directly.

—Okay. That should do for now. Understood.

A clone of Pyrot-Cockri or some other undead.

That was in the northernmost part of Shazrashian.

Ha Leeha hoped that Bahamut would immediately scour the entire region, but he knew from the start this was impossible.