Chapter 8 Upgrade!

There were two things that Hax needed to address. The first one is the access points he just received, and the other one is the manufacturing bot blueprint he got from completing a mission.

"I should choose some skill first." Hax willed for the skill shop to show itself.

"What should I pick?"

The hologram showed a long list of fields of sciences. There was knowledge in natural sciences, engineering, medical, agriculture, and even social sciences. Social sciences weren't very important in his circumstances, so he could put that out of the way for now. Hax focused his eyes on natural sciences and engineering.

Both of these types could improve his weapon-making capability. The question was, what type of weapon should he create? Should he make rifles? He was confident that this world had no firearms because they focused on magic. With the firepower of a rifle, Hax was confident that the age of cultivator would end immediately. But was that true? The only cultivator he had seen was Gaelin, and Hax had never seen his power.

Bodin told him that the strength of cultivators was different according to their level. There were low, mid, high, and they were cut down to stages from 1 to 9. Stage 3 was the peak of the low level, while stage 9 was the peak of the high level. Each level substantially differs in strength.

Can his pistol kill a stage 3? He didn't know. The lack of information troubles him from choosing what knowledge to pick.

"Bodin told me that my pistol is comparable to a level-1 magic weapon. This means that my pistol could at least kill a stage 1 cultivator. I think I should upgrade my physics knowledge. With that, I can make a rifle or better weapons without a blueprint. A rifle should at least comparable to a level-2 magic weapon."

Now that he thought about it. Knowledge was far more useful than blueprint because he could make his own blueprint. Of course, getting blueprints from the system was still essential, because studying them could improve his ability.

"It's decided, then." Hax picked the physics skill and a transparent panel popped up.

[Physics (Student)]

Upgrade cost : 1000 Access Points

Hax took a deep breath. "Upgrade."

His vision blurred as he felt someone rub their finger inside his brain. Physics knowledge churned out of nowhere and forced its way inside his brain. It was like a needle injecting something into his body. A needle didn't hurt that much, but it was a different case if it was as big as a finger. Everything about matters, motion, energy, and force came into his mind. He started to know some theories, their implementation, and incomplete research. Other than that, some of his past flashed in his brain.

After a while, the pain subsided and his vision turned normal.

He then checked his status.

[Status]

Name: Hax

Race: Human

Access Point: 0

Attributes: Strength 6, Dexterity 4, Endurance 5, Intelligence 12, Concentration: 10

Skills:

[Mathematics]: Lv 1

[Mechanics]: Lv 1

[Physics]: Lv 2

Hax waved the panel away and massaged his head. Nothing except physics changed. "Human Universe, Human Empire." He couldn't believe what he learned. "Humanity has conquered an entire universe?" He also got a glimpse of some alien race that humanity had fought for millenniums. They were strong, cunning, and intelligent. What led humanity to victory was their unity. No human was divided by states, culture, religion, or skin.

"How is that possible?"

Shaking his head, Hax tried to put the thoughts away. "It's useless to think about that right now. What I need to do is figure out how to return to my old universe. And the only way I know to do that is to get as strong as possible."

Just as Hax thought of how to get stronger, Bodin stormed into the forge room.

"Hax I got some bad news and I got some good news!"

...

Elaith was a stage 1 swordsman in the Nefarious Sword. He had joined a few years ago and was nominated as a great disciple by many. Even the sect leader took notice of him. This made him proud and confident. He also had many friends within the sect, and they sometimes brought him to other cities to kill a rival sect member. Their group had never been defeated because a senior would accompany them most of the time.

Overall, life was good. If he and his friends didn't kill enemies, then they would be bullying the norms. They were weak humans who had no power at all, so he could do anything he wanted to them. One time he and his friends tell a few dozen norms to run away while they would try to hit them with a rock. Those who had the most hit win. It was fun, and he won every time.

Elaith laughed every time he thought of how weak norms were, but not this time.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Elaith run! Tell the sect leader that the norms must not be underestimated.

Elaith watched his senior brother fall to the ground with a bloody hole in his chest. This senior brother had always protected him. He was undefeatable. Even when someone strong from a rival sect came, his senior brother would defeat them. Yet, how could he die? How could a bunch of norms defeat him?

Elaith peeked from behind the rock. A lot of his friends lay dead on the ground. Tears welled up in his eyes. Those were his brothers and sisters. They had fought together many times. How could they die! How could they!

Shaking in anger, Elaith turned his eyes towards the norms that scoured the forest. He and his friends were about to hunt a magic beast until these bastards came out of nowhere. They had something weird in their hands. A small object that they had used to defeat Elaith and his friends.

"I swear! I will kill the one who makes those things! I swear!"

A norm approached his dead friend and kicked his corpse. That action almost made Elaith jump and strangle the man.

"A few years ago," the norm said. "You cultivator kidnapped my daughter and blasted her head with a rock." The norm kicked again. "Now look at you. Where is your immortal power! Where is your indestructible body! With this gun, I can kill you a hundred times.

Elaith gritted his teeth. How dare he kick his friend! The man was a norm, while his friend was a cultivator! Even if his friend killed the man's daughter, The man should be grateful that his friend didn't kill his entire family.

Elaith took a step back. He must report this to the sect leader and tell him that the norm must be eradicated. Only that way would these norms know who was in charge.

"Who's there?" The man pointed the gun at the rock where he hid.

Not good, he needed to distract the man. Elaith looked at a rock under his feet. He had never missed his throw.

Elaith grabbed the rock and with great force, threw the rock straight at the man. The rock spun and pierced through the man's chest.

"Cultivator!" Someone shouted. "Kill him!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

They fired their guns at him, but the rock protected him.

"I have to run!"

Elaith grabbed a handful of dirt and threw them at his enemy. He also threw a few to the air. Using that distraction, he ran away, using as many obstacles like boulders and trees as cover.

Chips of wood and stone flew in every direction. He kicked up dust, to hide his movement.

As he ran, Elaith noticed a small round object flying towards a tree beside him. That must be the projectile! Just like an arrow, that thing shot this small iron towards an enemy. But something like that had a weakness. As a swordsman sect, the Nefarious Sword had long learned of their shortcoming against long-ranged weapons. And they had created a technique to defend against it.

Elaith unsheathed his sword and slapped the bullet upward.

Clang!

More bullets then flew towards him, but Elaith was trained in this. He slapped the bullet left and right.

...

"What's the bad news?" Hax asked.

"Knowing that your weapon can kill a cultivator, a group of norm mafia stole the gun from our buyer and stormed a sect in Ashbourne City."

Hax already expected this to happen. "That's not bad news."

"It shouldn't be, but the sect in question knows that you are the weapon manufacturer and I'm afraid that they will hunt you down."

"How did they know?"

"Well, a lot of people asked me if I was the one who make the pistols. But I don't dare to take credits so I told them your name. Considering how many people know your name, the sect would probably know too."

Now that was bad news. "What's the good news?"

"Demands have spiked, and a lot of rich people want to join in."

"So?"

"So I suggested them to invest in us and they did. We have more than 100,000 gold in our hands. With this much money, anything is possible."

Hax Widened his eyes. Earlier, he had to argue back and forth with Bodin to get a few thousand golds, and now they had more than 100,000. "You are right, anything is possible. But we should hire bodyguards first. If the Nefarious Swords killed me, then I cannot create a stronger weapon than the low-caliber pistol."

Bodin nodded. "That is indeed a problem. If your gun cannot kill a cultivator then there is no way for you to live, but now we can make more pistol and hire norms to protect you."

"How strong is this Nefarious Sword. Judging by their name, I don't think they will settle for negotiation."

"They took the entire Ashbourne City as their territory, and they constantly fought against rival sects. So manpower and battle experience are abundant to them."

"Well, what are you waiting for then. Go hire a thousand people or something. Send more men for me to teach and expand this forge room. I don't want to smell the sweat of 60 muscled men in a cramped room while I make my pistols."

"I have taken care of that," Bodin said. "Our investors knew of our trouble and supported us with supplies and manpower. They will arrive in two days, let's just hope that the sect isn't in a hurry to kill you."

Hax frowned. "I believe they will be in a hurry. Our only chance is the mafia. If they can distract the sect for a while, then I can make more guns."

"I have sold the gun you gave me. I believe they will fall into the hands of the mafia."

"Good."

Hax then proceeded to make more guns. He even called back the 60 muscled men to help him. It didn't matter if the gun lacked quality. He needed more guns and Ammunition!

"And I should look at the manufacturing bot blueprint too. Maybe that thing could help."