Book 6: Chapter 9: The Final Selection

“Done!” Master Francis tiredly took off the glowing helmet on his head. The colorful light on the photon reactor slowly dimmed. The old gnome struggled to open the reactor and took out the renewed Burial of Light and Darkness, along with two matching bullet molds, one white and one black.

“This is my most successful work in recent years!” A trace of relief and joy appeared on Francis’s tired, old face. He reluctantly handed the black and white guns to Qin Lun.

Looking at the introduction of Burial of Light and Darkness on the Death Notice, Qin Lun showed a relieved smile.

Burial of Light and Darkness (Firearm Set)

Quality: Legendary First Tier

Set Right: Angel’s Praise (Dark Gold Firearm)

Set Left: Demon’s Song (Dark Gold Firearm)

Main Materials: Divine Light Platinum, Hell Black Gold, Eternal Flintstone

Single Gun Weight: 1125 grams

Total Length: 325 millimeters

Caliber: 9 millimeters

Effective Range: 280 meters

Socket Slots: Unicorn Soul (Proof of Jungle), Meisha’s Life Core

Equipment Law Abilities: Enchanted Bullets, Burial of Light and Darkness, Artifact Spirit Critical Strike

Enchanted Bullet One: Angel’s Praise could add Divine Light properties to bullets, dealing extra damage to dark, necro, and chaos type creatures. Passively carried the “Unicorn Charge” from the “Unicorn” bullet mold, greatly increasing armor-piercing ability.

Enchanted Bullet Two: Demon’s Song could add dark curse properties to bullets, causing continuous corrosive damage to any creature with life characteristics. Passively carried the “Witch’s Howl” from the “Dark Witch” bullet mold, accelerating stamina consumption, reducing health recovery speed and healing effects.

Artifact Spirit Critical Strike: Burial of Light and Darkness had a certain chance to activate the artifact spirit power of the two types of bullets, causing them to burst with higher initial speed and spin, and carry the spiritual attacks of their respective artifact spirits.

Burial of Light and Darkness: When the two types of bullets from Angel’s Praise and Demon’s Song came close enough on parallel trajectories, the light and dark forces would reach a certain balance. The two bullets would combine into a spiral trajectory, greatly increasing attack damage. Burial of Light and Darkness was an active skill with a three-minute cooldown.

Additional Note One: Burial of Light and Darkness had a sacrificial magical array engraved at the bottom of the grip, allowing various gem crystals with unique abilities to be socketed.

Additional Note Two: The materials of Burial of Light and Darkness had memory ability, allowing slow repair of barrel damage caused by shooting, possessing an indestructible property.

Additional Note Three: Burial of Light and Darkness had established a law connection with the “Unicorn” and “Dark Witch” bullet molds and could no longer use other types of bullets produced by other bullet molds.

Equipment Evaluation: Burial of Light and Darkness was an early excellent work by Samuel Colt, later modified by firearm forging master Francis. It considerably unlocked the potential of this pair of dark gold revolvers, making them legendary firearms.

Equipment Usage Conditions: The user must possess advanced firearm mastery to use the three law abilities of the firearms.

After reading the introduction of Burial of Light and Darkness, Qin Lun took the two bullet molds, one white and one black. The white bullet mold was engraved with an elegant unicorn, pure white all over, rearing up and neighing loudly. The black bullet mold was engraved with a Witch Maiar wearing a pointed witch hat, holding a crystal ball in both hands.

“The consumption is even greater!” After checking the material requirements of the two bullet molds for bullets, Qin Lun sighed quietly.

These two bullet molds were both dark gold quality. The upgraded Burial of Light and Darkness had lower requirements for bullet materials, but the cost was still higher than the original purple bullets. Each bullet cost no less than 100 Shattered Crystals.

“Thank you, Master Francis. I am very satisfied with your work!” Qin Lun took out his Identity Plate to settle the bill. “Also, please make another batch of bullets for me. I’ll come to pick them up in two days!”

Walking out of the blacksmith shop, Qin Lun felt a slight sting. The Mid-Magic World Silver Card was out of the question. Due to exchanging for more equipment materials later, plus the bullet cost, he spent over 70,000 Shattered Crystals in total, which was quite a heavy blow. Before coming here, he had nearly 170,000 Shattered Crystals on him, but now he had less than 100,000.

The cost of this upgrade for Burial of Light and Darkness far exceeded expectations. Especially after losing the blue Combat Gauge, the original Mid-Magic Silver Card was meant to buy other high-quality combat gauges. Otherwise, his Mental Will could not support Clock Eye.

Now, without the Mid-Magic Silver Card, he still had to buy a small equipment piece that increased Mental Will. This exchange not only cost him a high-quality combat gauge but also consumed Shattered Crystals equivalent to six or seven intermediate magic scrolls.

…

“Alright, you two go back. Frank, remember to practice more at the Training Ground!” Qin Lun smiled and waved at the hunchbacked servant and little Didi standing on the villa steps.

“Young Master (Master), be careful!” Frank looked very frustrated and muttered under his breath.

Not to mention he hadn’t undergone Class Change yet; even if he had, Qin Lun wouldn’t take him to the Metropolis Domination War. In battles without continuous recovery items, Frank would be easy prey for other Apostles. This time, Qin Lun could only rely on himself!

After walking some distance from home, a faint smile appeared on Qin Lun’s face. His preparations had reached their limit. If he still couldn’t survive the Metropolis Domination War like this, then it was just fate.

Five days ago, after returning from the Demiplane Trading Floor of the Chaos Alliance, Qin Lun had been spending all his time at the Training Ground these past few days. He not only had to re-familiarize himself with the three skills of Burial of Light and Darkness but also practice Clock Eye, Swift Wind Step, and Detection Aura.

Qin Lun’s Storage Space was now truly empty. Even the Maiar Crystal Ball and three fused crystals were exchanged for other items and magic scrolls. He also bought a small blue ring that added 1 point of Mental Will, so he could use the third pointer ability of Clock Eye.

To prepare for this Metropolis Domination War, Qin Lun not only filled the three spell slots of the “Sacrifice” glove but also bought five other magic scrolls. Besides two earth-type sixth-tier defense magics, there were two low-tier wind-type Light Body Technique scrolls and one shadow-type seventh-tier magic scroll “Shadow Cloak”.

It was just a pity that he couldn’t buy treasure-grade recovery items on the market. Perhaps because of the upcoming Metropolis Domination War, even the prices of magic scrolls became much more expensive, basically marked up by 50%.

Today was the final selection match for the Metropolis Domination War in Devil’s Horn. This would be a battle among the three major Apostle Alliances: “Chaos Alliance”, “Apostle Monument”, and “Order Front”. Each Apostle who had already received an internal card invitation letter or advanced through a wild card would compete to determine the final representatives for the Metropolis Domination War.

Qin Lun soon arrived again at the bell tower headquarters of the “Chaos Alliance”. This time, he went straight past the demiplane portal and walked directly towards the corridor at the back. Reaching the second floor of the bell tower, an Iron Golem checked his Invitation Letter again, then pushed open the door behind it, signaling him to enter the room.

It was a stepped auditorium. On the stage at the front of the hall, over ten glowing portals were lined up. At this time, the stepped auditorium sparsely seated nearly one hundred and seventy Apostles. Most of these Apostles wore masks and hooded cloaks, hiding their identities.

They were all low-rank Apostles below the Second Order. The selection matches for mid and high-rank Apostles had already been completed. Mid and high-rank Apostles in Devil’s Horn were mostly well-known strong individuals. Their selections were much more convenient, and because they were quite familiar with each other, casualties rarely occurred.

When Qin Lun entered the auditorium, the final round of selections had just begun. The Invitation Letters in their hands now automatically displayed a sequence number. When the sequence number began to glow faintly, the Apostles whose turn it was would silently stand up from their seats and walk towards the glowing portals.

Qin Lun’s Invitation Letter sequence number was 97, in the middle position. He casually found a seat in the back row and sat down to wait.

“I wonder if that guy Hansen managed to get a wild card.”

Qin Lun’s thoughts drifted. Actually, the wild cards in Devil’s Horn were not as easy to obtain as he initially estimated. Most Novice Apostles who received Domination War invitation letters were very cautious. The selection matches were also conducted very secretly. Apostles who weren’t invited found it difficult to intercept invitation letters from others.

As time passed, groups of Novice Apostles who entered the glowing portals began to return one after another. After watching for a while, Qin Lun’s expression turned grave. Most of the returning Apostles had unsteady steps, with bloodstains on their bodies, and their numbers were less than 80% of those who entered.

The internal selection matches in Devil’s Horn were randomly arranged by the city core. Apart from not encountering Apostles from the same alliance, they could randomly meet those from the other two alliances.

Because these were internal fights, the city core had some protective measures for the losers. In such circumstances, still 20% of Apostles died, obviously because those Novice Apostles chose to fight to the death.

After thinking for a moment, Qin Lun immediately understood. Starting from the wild cards, each selection match required certain collateral. Accumulated to this point, each Apostle’s invitation letter contained items worth at least 50,000 Shattered Crystals.

If they won this final battle, plus the opponent’s invitation letter, it would be nearly 100,000 Shattered Crystals. As long as there was the slightest chance left, these Novice Apostles would choose to fight desperately.

Thinking of this, Qin Lun sighed slightly. Even he was no different. Except for those Novice Apostles deliberately nurtured by large teams, which Novice Apostle would have extra Shattered Crystals now? They either turned into recovery treasures or magic scrolls.

Everyone’s collateral was probably equipment from their own bodies, and very important equipment at that. Once they failed the challenge, not only did they lose their equipment, but they also had no extra Shattered Crystals to buy recovery items. In that case, the next Quest World would be extremely perilous, so they might as well risk everything now.

While Qin Lun was pondering, he suddenly felt something and looked down at his Invitation Letter. At this moment, the sequence number 97 on the invitation letter began to glow faintly…