“This really is an unexpected gain. From this angle, the cyberware and equipment sold by small nations that can open stores in the Ge Union should all have some distinctive features. Too bad there’s only this one on this commercial street. Later, I can look into what other stores in Saint Lotan are run by companies from small nations.”
Kong Wu walked out of Numbered Heavy Industries’ storefront and opened a roadside storage locker. This could also be considered one of the few places in Saint Lotan that could be called “safe.”
Not because this was a tower district, but because these anonymous lockers were the sort of safe deposit boxes everyone commonly used.
Whether big shots or underlings, everyone inevitably had times when they fell on hard luck. Thus, they often placed anonymous chips, weapons, emergency food, and other survival supplies separately in lockers around the areas they frequented. That way, if one day they were down on their luck and being hunted, they could increase their chances of survival.
Even if they ended up in prison, with their bank accounts most likely frozen, they could use the funds in these lockers to purchase services from those “businessmen” inside that would make life a little more comfortable.
It was precisely because of this that these “untouched anonymous storage lockers” had become an unspoken rule observed by both the underworld and the legitimate side. After all, no one knew whether the locker they pried open might belong to some big shot they couldn’t afford to offend.
After noting down the locker number and password, he continued his shopping trip. But whether it was because his luck was poor or not, after wandering all this way, he actually didn’t encounter many more pieces of equipment with affixes. Even the ones he had taken in, judging from their functions, were most likely only good as fodder.
“Whew… last one.”
Looking at the Chinese-character signboard that clashed with the Ge Union script around it, Kong Wu was somewhat reluctant to go in.
It wasn’t as if he hadn’t visited Yan Kingdom stores before. It was just that he had basically bought all his three-star cyberware from gray-market dealers, while four-star cyberware, though it didn’t have the exaggerated twentyfold tariff that three-star goods did, still carried an average tariff of two to three times the price. As a result, even buying from gray-market dealers wouldn’t make it much cheaper. For example, that previous [Yazi] cyber-eye was only worth around a hundred thousand in terms of performance, yet the gray-market dealer had insisted on charging him over two hundred thousand. If it hadn’t had an affix, only an idiot would have bought it.
But thinking of the ten-million-plus he had on hand, he still stepped into this shop called Xiangjian Pavilion.
His first reaction upon entering was: expensive. Price tags of tens of thousands of points at every turn hung on the walls, making Feng Xue, who had only just escaped poverty a few days ago, feel dizzy. His second reaction was—
“Do you only have swords here?”
Yes, only swords. Whether on the shelves or in the display cases, everything was a sword of one form or another.
“Yes, sir. Our Xiangjian Pavilion specializes in sword-type weapons. If you don’t have a foundation in swordsmanship, we also provide sword technique modules and practice braindances.”
Kong Wu looked at the middle-aged clerk who came up to greet him and sensed something familiar in his stance. With a slight raise of his brow, the sword intent of the Sword of Hell flashed and vanished. The clerk’s eyes immediately sharpened, but in the next moment they turned into a kindly smile.
“So you are an expert. May I ask what kind of sword you’re looking for? Not to boast, but in the Ge Union, Xiangjian Pavilion is absolutely the most professional sword shop you can find.”
Seeing that this clerk could sense his sword intent, Kong Wu understood that the swords here were not merely sword-shaped objects. He immediately said:
“Is there somewhere to test the swords?”
“Of course. This way, please!” The clerk called another colleague over to watch the front counter, then led Kong Wu through a side door. After passing through a corridor, an open space somewhat resembling a shooting range appeared before his eyes.
“These are the swords here that are up to standard, and we have all of them in stock. You may use them as you please. Of course, if you want five-star, we have those too, but that falls under customized service.”
As the clerk spoke, he pulled out a weapon rack from the side, its surface filled with all kinds of swords.
Kong Wu casually picked one up, and the clerk immediately introduced it:
“This sword is named Qiushui. Four-star. It has a constant low-temperature force field, making it very effective against biological materials and equipment that relies on high temperatures for lethality. In addition, some customers who moonlight as hackers also use it as a cooling device. Its energy consumption is low, and it’s suited to defensive sword techniques. A copy of the Qiushui Sword Manual is included with purchase.”
Kong Wu held the longsword level and shook his head slightly.
“Too ordinary. I already have a main sword. I want to find some auxiliary swords.”
“…” Hearing him say this, the clerk thought for a moment. He had never heard the terms main sword and auxiliary sword before, but there were countless schools of swordsmanship, so differences in terminology were normal. Judging by the literal meaning, this customer should already have a commonly used weapon, so…
“Dual swords? Uneven swords? Paired-response swords? Or a thrown sword?” the clerk pondered inwardly, then picked up a crimson shortsword from the shelf.
“‘Chilian.’ Four-star. The blade carries a high-energy particle stream and has extremely strong penetration, especially effective against energy shields. Its drawback is that the structure is relatively fragile and not suitable for clashing against heavy physical weapons.”
Kong Wu picked up the sword and immediately shook his head.
“Do you have anything more distinctive?”
“Distinctive?” The clerk thought for a moment, then took out an inconspicuous black scabbard and placed it on the shelf in front of Kong Wu.
“This Chengying should satisfy you.”
“I hope so.” Kong Wu was noncommittal. Although all he saw was the scabbard, since it was called Chengying, it was only natural for the blade to be invisible.
He grasped the scabbard with one hand, and before he even began searching for the hilt, the prompt from his golden finger had already sounded—
[Unrecorded affix detected. Record it? Note: Recording the affix will cause irreversible damage to the affix carrier.]
“Oh ho~”
Seeing the change in Kong Wu’s expression, the clerk immediately introduced it:
“‘Chengying’ is a force-field sword. This scabbard is the force-field generator. It can adjust the blade’s shape, transparency, and light-shadow effects according to personal preference. Its sharpness is extremely high, and it also has a sensing system. When an object approaches the wielder at high speed, it can spontaneously block it. Please rest assured, this blocking action defaults to an edgeless state and will not cause accidental injury.”
At this point, the clerk changed tack and said:
“However, Chengying’s force-field structure is more suited to cutting than protection. Therefore, if it encounters heavy firepower saturation, the automatic defense system will rapidly overload. In addition, the force field’s maintenance range is limited to within three meters of the generator, so it cannot be used for thrown attacks.”
“Not bad.” Feng Xue nodded. Although the price of eight hundred thousand made him a little dizzy, he still nodded and said:
“I’ll take it. Do you have more of this level?”
Seeing Kong Wu’s straightforward behavior, the clerk was delighted. Although he was somewhat worried that this might be someone here to rob the place, he remained vigilant while taking out another sword.
“‘Chixiao.’ The blade uses p29-grade energy-absorbing alloy, and its strength has also reached d25. It is sturdy and durable. If a four-star high-energy particle cannon hits the blade, its temperature increase will not exceed two degrees!”
“Does it have any other effects besides sturdiness?” Kong Wu picked up the sword. Although he once again received a prompt from his golden finger, if it was only a strength affix, it clearly wasn’t worthy of the price tag of nine hundred and twenty thousand. Moreover, he also had that good thing, [Cai Jian], which didn’t lose durability when used correctly. Unless… this thing’s affix was indestructible.
Hearing Kong Wu ask this, the clerk immediately added:
“Sir, you have keen eyes. You may try injecting some energy into it. Anything will do, and even if it isn’t source energy, that’s fine.”
“Oh?” Hearing this, Kong Wu did not input flesh-and-blood source energy, lest he transform the thing and have to compensate them. He merely circulated Flesh Maitreya and released a wisp of sword intent. The moment it made contact with the blade, it was immediately absorbed. In the next moment, a layer of crimson light unexpectedly appeared over the sword!
“Chixiao possesses energy amplification capabilities. Based on the amount of energy input, it can extend an energy blade. If it is energy-type source energy, or if an external energy core is attached, it is enough to produce a blade dozens of meters long. It can be considered a dual-use sword for humans and mechs. With this sword, a true expert would be fully capable of dealing with those giant beasts. It is very suitable for a great swordsman such as yourself.”
“Not bad!” Kong Wu nodded in satisfaction. The most amazing thing about this item was its material. That meant that even after recording the affix, if he melted down the remnants again, it would become another good sword!
“I’ll take this too. Anything else?!”
“Yes, yes!”
Seeing how easily Kong Wu bought two treasures of the shop, the clerk was extraordinarily excited. After all, the four words “treasure of the shop,” in a certain sense, were actually synonymous with “unsellable.”
In this era, compared with hot weapons such as firearms and cannons, swords—which required more practice even with learning modules—were not particularly popular weapons to begin with. If this were back home, that would be one thing, but the people of the Ge Union had no sword-hero sentiment. Add on nearly triple tariffs, and while there were still some second-generation rich kids with medical insurance who chased trends and acted cool with three-star swords, four-star weapons that cost hundreds of thousands at every turn would not be casually bought even by those second-generation heirs merely for their appearance.
It was just that while this person was confirmed to be a swordsmanship expert, his purchasing power was still in doubt. After hesitating for a moment, the clerk still gritted his teeth and said:
“Customer, these two swords you want are both treasures of the shop. We also can’t possibly give you the old testing units. How about you pay a deposit first, and I’ll have someone transfer stock from the warehouse?”
“Heh.” How could Kong Wu fail to hear what the other party meant? But since the other party chose to be tactful, that could be considered giving him face, so he did not expose him. He casually took out a chip and said:
“One million seven hundred and twenty thousand. Full payment.”
“Certainly!” The clerk swiped a finger across the chip, immediately took out a receipt slip, wrote it up, and handed it to Kong Wu. While notifying the warehouse to retrieve the swords, he swiftly took out the third treasure of the shop.
“The sword is named ‘Longyuan.’ Although it looks ordinary, the technology inside it is anything but ordinary. It can spontaneously form a low-intensity composite interference field. One charge can last twenty days, and it has miraculous effects against wireless signals, non-optical sensing, and equipment dependent on data links.
“To put it simply, it can make auto-aim equipment miss its aim, make reconnaissance drones ‘see’ double, and turn enemies who rely on sensors to fight into blind men. It can be said that the higher the degree of AI assistance, the more powerless one will be before this sword. However, this force field does not distinguish friend from foe, so one’s own AI will also be affected. If you have high-performance cyber-eyes installed, I do not recommend it.”
Looking at the prompt that popped up from his golden finger, Kong Wu did not care in the slightest. After all, once it was broken down into an affix, it would most likely change from a technology-type ability into a concept-type ability. Even if there truly were side effects, [Cai Jian] also had the effect of reducing equipment side effects.
Without even testing it, Kong Wu directly took out five hundred thousand and gave it to the clerk. His straightforwardness almost made the clerk suspect he had received counterfeit money.
“Anything else?”
“Yes, yes. Please look at this!”
Seeing that all three treasures of the shop had been sold, the clerk immediately took out the most deeply stored, heaviest-weight treasure, priced at one million two hundred thousand.
This was a shortsword only the length of a forearm, paired with an exquisite bracer, yet it was clearly not the sort of sleeve sword. Kong Wu picked up the sword and, as expected, received a prompt. But this thing…
“Customer, this one is not meant to be held and used. This is a flying sword.”
Seeing Kong Wu look somewhat puzzled, the clerk explained:
“This sword is called Moye. It is equipped with force-field levitation technology and advanced combat AI, and can coordinate with its owner to attack. Because of Xiangjian Pavilion’s patented algorithm, it is especially skilled in sword technique learning. It can even build models based on its owner’s sword moves and generate matching sword techniques. It also has a sparring function. If used by someone with mental source energy or a high-grade access pod, commands can be issued directly through the mind. Its only drawback is insufficient endurance. At full energy, it only has thirty minutes of combat time. Although we have also paired it with a rechargeable scabbard, fully charging it still takes five minutes…”
As the clerk spoke, even he began losing confidence. The designer of this piece of junk must have read too many novels. In terms of function, it was not fundamentally different from a coordinated drone, but its endurance was far worse. Aside from people with immortal-cultivation fantasies or lonely swordsmen who couldn’t find a sword-practice partner, he really couldn’t think of anyone who would buy this thing.
However, the person before him was a Ge Union swordsman, so he should be the type who needed a sword partner. Thinking that this might be the only chance for this thing to be sold, the clerk gritted his teeth and said:
“Customer, you’ve already bought three swords. If you want this one too, I’ll make the decision and give you a discount. Add another seven hundred thousand, and I’ll sell you this Moye as well! I can also issue you an invoice at the original price…”
“No problem!”
Kong Wu had not expected there to be such a good deal and immediately paid.
After that, he tested a few more items, but either they had no affixes, or their functions overlapped with existing affixes and were not worth spending a large amount on. In the end, Kong Wu only took away these four treasures of the shop worth 2.92 million…
……
Kong Wu returned to the shop. His substitute, which had long since prepared the tools, immediately took the purchased materials and began dismantling them.
There was nothing much to say about the several three-star cyberware pieces. After dismantling them twice, he had figured them out. Although he still had not understood the principles behind a few small components, they had already reached the level of “although I don’t know why, following the process means I can make them.”
In contrast, Feng Xue felt somewhat helpless toward Xiangjian Pavilion’s four treasures. Chixiao’s performance came entirely from its material properties, so he did not even need to dismantle it before the blueprint came out directly. But without the metal formula, having the forging blueprint was useless. As for Longyuan, the precision of that device made him not dare dismantle it at all; it was the sort of thing he knew was hopeless with just one look. Chengying’s force-field generator could be understood, but he did not recognize the core material at all, which made this thing the same as the Demon Breaker blueprint—nothing but decoration until he found the core material.
By comparison, Moye instead gave him a pleasant surprise. The essence of this thing lay entirely in its software, yet his golden finger simply did not look at software. As long as the chip precision met the requirements, that was enough. And Feng Xue had as many as seven different four-star chip design plans on hand. After dismantling it once, the blueprint had already come out. As for the software… the golden finger would help engrave it. Considering Old Jiang’s algorithmic legacy, it might even automatically optimize it.
“Chips are cheap to make. Later I’ll make a few more and use the tools the old man left behind to play around with cracking them. That can count as raising my hacker proficiency too… I wonder if Cai Jian has any amplification in this area.”
As Feng Xue thought this, he directly activated his golden finger. First, he stored away Chixiao’s remains, planning to use cheap goods later to make ten Chixiaos. Only then did he turn his attention to the results (fodder skipped here)—
Affix: Silk Spitting
Type: Skill
Quality: White Common
Effect: Grants cyberware the Silk Spitting skill, allowing it to produce biodegradable protein thread with a maximum single-strand length of twenty meters. The size, toughness, strength, and sharpness of the protein thread can be adjusted as needed. The daily production limit is one hundred meters. Identical skills share production capacity.
Remark: Four hundred aunties!
……
Affix: Heartfire
Type: Skill
Quality: Blue Fine
Effect: Grants cyberware the Heartfire skill, allowing it to release a flame that burns the target’s mind for five minutes. Cooldown: two hours. Identical skills share cooldown.
Remark: It’s not Fire Release, it’s genjutsu!
……
Affix: Multiple Attacks
Type: Trait
Quality: Blue Fine
Effect: Grants a weapon the Multiple Attacks trait. When attacking, there is a 30% chance to trigger one additional attack. The first additional attack can trigger this trait.
Remark: Secret Sword: Swallow… Sorry, bad luck. Allow me another try!
……
Affix: Protect the Master
Type: Trait
Quality: Blue Fine
Effect: Grants a weapon the Protect the Master trait. Designate one target as the master. When the master is attacked, automatically defend. This trait can trigger once every 3 seconds. Identical traits share cooldown.
Remark: Harm not my master!
……
Affix: Energy Emission
Type: Skill
Quality: Blue Fine
Effect: Grants an item the Energy Emission skill, allowing it to convert energy into a ranged attack of the same attribute.
Remark: Water electricity is soft, fire electricity is spicy, wind electricity melts as soon as it enters the mouth; solar is warm, geothermal is mellow, nuclear energy bursts and does not nourish.
……
Affix: Dark Canopy
Type: Skill
Quality: Purple Precious
Effect: Grants cyberware the Dark Canopy skill, creating a spherical domain centered on oneself with a radius of twenty meters. All technology-type detection targeting things within this domain will be misled. Duration: 30 minutes. Skills of the same name can only be used once per day.
Remark: Don’t treat this thing as invisibility.
……
Affix: Sword Spirit
Type: Manufacturing
Quality: Orange Rare
Effect: Add this affix when manufacturing sword-type weapons to give it a sword spirit with growth potential. The sword spirit recognizes a master and is unique. Using this affix again is treated as transferring the sword spirit.
Remark: A good sword has a soul… What do you mean, you moved the soul away?
“Holy shit, what did I get?”
P.S. 1: Since it’s going on the shelves tomorrow at twelve, and there’s another big wave of affixes, I might as well release a big chapter before it goes premium, so you won’t say I started padding as soon as it went on the shelves. Though extra updates can solve that, going premium already means a burst of updates, so it always feels like taking advantage. I can only say I’m still too conscientious.
Next, once Kong Wu is dealt with, the protagonist will enter the revenge arc. There will be a burst of updates when it goes premium. The plan is to first release three chapters, then one chapter every two hours until midnight. After that, there are still the sixteen extra chapters owed from the last book. I remember them all, so don’t rush.
P.S. 2: Free is impossible. This time is mainly because it’s the first day on the shelves. Also, speaking personally, affixes are much harder to write than plot (after all, I have to ensure the wording is as rigorous as possible), so at most I’ll mark them plus add extra updates.
P.S. 3: Nigerundayo only means you won’t be knocked down, blocked, or controlled, not that you won’t die! Super armor means damage still exists! It’s not invincibility! Don’t think he can ram his head into a blade and still live! Rocket Headbutt, on the other hand, won’t make you injured from the collision, but when the two are stacked, it just means brushing past each other. He can’t stop you, and you shouldn’t even think about hurting anyone. Invincible penetration is really overthinking it.
P.S. 4: Because of the mechanism of Genius Operations and this book being posted in the cold sci-fi category, exposure is average, so I won’t chase any ten-thousand first-day subscription goal. Everyone just give me a subscription. Also, from the 29th to the 31st there are double monthly tickets, so those with tickets can save them for a few more days.
As for extra updates, there’s no hurry. Once the first subscription numbers come out, I’ll think of a suitable plan.