Arena

Chapter 71 – Gunsmith (Part 2)

The design of the card I got from the bank is different than a usual bank.

Unlike an average card, it was heavier in weight and appeared to be made out of metal rather than plastic.

The outside was in a matte black finish.

The front of it had the letters ARENA engraved and on the back, the card’s number itself was engraved too.

Other than that, there wasn’t anything else for the design and it made it even cooler.

It made me think of cards given to VVIP.

‘This is really cool!’

When I check out and I take out this card, I think it will draw some respect.

I am in awe when Lee Soo-hyun explained to me.

“It is called a check card.”

‘Interesting.’

On our way back to the hotel, I touched the card the whole time. Having something like this, I felt like I am some kind of amazing person.

This must be why rich people go crazy over unique cards.

As night drew in, we took in the nightscape in Geneva and toured around. We walked together and laughed and talked, and it was a fun time.

Then the next day.

In Geneva, from the morning, we toured the places we missed and around noon, we got on a plane and headed to Denmark.

***

“Take care of them please.”

“Yes.”

At my request, Lee Soo-hyun nods her head.

“Have a good visit, oppa.”

“We’re going to go have some fun first~!”

Min-jeong and Hyun-ji waved their hands and disappeared with Lee Soo-hyun.

While I go to meet Odin, they’re going to tour around Copenhagen.

I went to the basement restaurant I went to last time.

I give my name to the worker at the counter who then verifies something then nodded his head and guided me.

We get to the front of a room and knock and I heard Odin’s voice.

“Come in.”

I opened the door and went in.

Inside the room were two people.

One of them was a blonde and young handsome man, Odin.

And the other was man in his mid-50’s with an awesome beard

“Is that the friend?”

Asked the middle-aged man with the awesome beard. Odin nodded his head.

“It is. Mr. Kim Hyun-ho, welcome.”

“Yes, it’s been a while.”

We shook hands. After, I shook hands with the middle-aged man as well.

“I am Neils Oslon.”

“I am Kim Hyun-ho.”

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This ajusshi named Neils must be the gun maker.

Odin introduced Neils.

“Oslon is a 13th turn examinee, and the missions he’s cleared is small, but he has spent a considerable amount of time in Arena.”

“I think I’ve spent about 30 years in Arena.”

For a second I doubted my ears.

“30 years?”

“Yeah, I got old and died from a chronic disease and got made an examinee. Exam or whatnot, I should have just died, for some reason I said sure, I want to live and whatnot and now I’m in this boat.”

“Hold on, then, how old are you?”

At my question, Neils answered.

“You really are a rookie.”

“Yes...”

“My age is 57 years old. If I combine the years I’ve spent in Arena, I’m nearly 90 years old, but no matter how long a time you spend in Arena, you do not age.”

I learned this truth for the first time.

The time spent in Arena does not age your body. That means...

“That means it is possible to receive a test where you have to spend a long time.”

“Indeed. That’s why I’m a 13th turn but have spent 30 years there. It really is tiresome.”

“Just what kind of test were you given?”

I asked.

Neils shivered his teeth as he spoke.

“I was told to become an apprentice at the town’s blacksmith. That was my first exam.”

“...”

“A blacksmith is a really penniless slave life. I had to beg to be used and bossed around as a free slave to the blacksmith.”

There are exams like that.

I learned that too, that not all exams are a matter of life and death, from my own 4th exam.

“My exam that took the longest was the one where I had to make a rifle.”

Neils continued to mumble talk.

“As a muzzle loading gun, I got the general shape of it, then gave it to a wizard and asked him to put a spell on it. Using a method of using magic to shoot out the bullet and thus creating a gun, was I able to clear the exam.”

“Huh? Is that the muzzle-loading magic rifle?”

“It is. I created the first one of those.”

I became blank.

Odin provided a simple paraphrase.

“All the items you get from karma prizes are things you can find in Arena.”

The muzzle-loading magic rifle that Neils invented was, for a short while, popular in the northwest provinces, but production costs and performance were incredibly poor and died out.

“Thanks to that magic rifle, I was able to safely pass my 2nd exam.”

“You cleared the mission using a piece of crap like that?”

Neils had a surprised look on his face. Even the creator of the gun admitted its poor performance.

Then again, if it wasn’t for Sylph, I wouldn’t have been able to use it.

“To have used an item like that and be able to make good use of it, you are that good at target shooting? You are worthy of getting a gun.”

“It’s all thanks to the spirit summons.”

I explain to him simply about Sylph. Neils slapped his knees and shouted.

“That’s it! With that, even a crap gun, you could shoot well with!”

“Yes, as long as it doesn’t break while shooting.”

“I don’t make guns so poorly they break while being shot.”

Neils said it like he liked me.

“Alright, for you, you deserve to get a gun I make. Well, I already have debts to pay to Mr. Odin here so I would have given it to you anyway.”

I looked at Neils with eyes of anticipation.

What kind of gun is he going to give me?

If he can, might as well it be an automatic, no, even if its small, a semi-automatic gun would be good.

With every shot I shoot, having to cock back the bolt, that bolt action is too much effort.

Because of that, with Leon Silver right in front of my nose I wasn’t able to shoot him.

He saw my muzzle direction and my finger pulling the trigger and avoided it.

With a semiautomatic or automatic gun, I could have shot in succession and even at best he wouldn’t have been able to dodge them all.

“Tell me about the gun you want. Of the ones I’ve made, I’ll give you the one closest to it.”

At his words, I replied right away.

“Automatic firing system would be preferable. If not, at best, a semiauto would be good.”

“The ones you’ve used thus far were pieces of crap muzzle-loading magic guns and Mosin-Nagant’s, those two, so I see why you think that. A Mosin-Nagant... that’s what maniacs use to goof around with because it is cheap.”

Neils let out a sigh of regret and shook his head.

“I have yet to create a gun with an automatic firing system. Of the guns I’ve made, as for semi-automatics, I have one rifle and a couple revolvers.”

“In that case, I will take the rifle.”

“Think it over carefully.”

“Excuse me?”

“Why do you want a semi-automatic gun? If you want to overcome a little discomfort of use, with the Mosin-Nagant you can show a good show of force and power. But the aim and the reload and the bolt action, Sylph does all of it?”

“...”

“If the situation is not in your favor because of the bolt action, that would only be when you are in a close combat situation.”

At those words, I couldn’t help but relive the day Hye-su died.

...that’s true.

The bastard was in very close range to me.

“If it is for attacking an enemy when it is close, how about a revolver? If it’s a revolver, I can give you two.”

“Two of them?”

“You’re not taking the aim anyway, right? Sylph does it. Then if you grab a gun in each hand and wave them around aimlessly, they’ll both hit accurately anyway, won’t they?”

At Neils’ idea, I couldn’t hide my surprise.

After hearing that, yeah, that’s true!

If it’s a close combat fight, that method is a lot stronger.

If it’s a far distance, I can have Sylph shoot with the Mosin-Nagant like she does now.

“You are incredible. To come up with an idea like that!”

“In an area without anybody, the short exams were 2 years and on the longer end it was 6 years; while clearing my exams, how do you think I survived the boredom?”

“...”

“I spent my time playing and doing all sorts of things. Because I was bored.”

Living alone for years is the perfect recipe for losing your mind.

It’s easy to image a middle-aged man playing, wielding a gun in each hand.

Neils summoned two revolvers and gave them to me.

“Take them.”

“Thank you.”

I took the two revolvers and checked my board to verify.

-Neils H2: The one and only gun maker in Arena, creator Oslon’s semiautomatic revolver uses.357 magnum rounds.

*Load: 9 + 1*

*Effective range: 200 m

*You cannot transfer to others or exchange for karma.

(TN: I think this means 9 rounds in the magazine and 1 in the chamber. It doesn’t really explain.)

“It’s more impressive than I thought.”

“Because I practically copied the desert eagle.”

“Ah.”

No wonder, the design of the gun looked like I’d seen it a lot before.

“A magnum (bullet) has strong force but in exchange it also has a strong recoil so it is difficult to use. But of course, that doesn’t apply to examinees?

“Yes, that won’t be a problem.”

My physical strength buff is intermediate level 1, making my wrists the same as steel.

Having two revolvers I can use in close range made my heart skip a beat in joy.

In addition to these weapons, the physical strength buff and the reflex ability, the divine protection of the flame and divine protection of the wind, even the leader of the silver clan, Leon Silver, wouldn’t be a problem.

I wondered if it was possible to get a shooting related skill somehow.

‘Maybe if I combine the guider skill with the gun, I can make a skill like that?’

Sounds possible.

When I combined the physical strength buff and guider, I got the reflex ability. It gave me a skill to know the path to move my body in.

So then if I combine the gun and the guider, it seems only reasonable that a shooting skill would be created.

I think maybe so I ask Neils.

“Do you, by any chance, have a gun you are planning on throwing away?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I have a situation.”

“The guns I make cannot be given to others or exchanged for karma, you know that?”

“Yes, I saw the explanation.”

A gun that is made my Neils Oslon can only have an owner that its creator, Neils Oslon, chooses.

“You know the muzzle-loading magic rifle? Because of the exam, I have about 10 of those.”

“That would work. It is shameless I realize, but would it be possible if I could have one of them?”

“It doesn’t matter. They’re no use anyway. If you gave it to me I wouldn’t take it.”

Neils summoned a muzzle-loading magic rifle and gave it to me.

‘Nice!’

With all this, coming to Denmark was definitely worth it and then some.

The deal was finished and we shared a meal and drink and shared some stories.

When the drink went in him, Neils spilled all of the life he lived in Arena and he was indeed a person that went through a lot of adversity.

The most ridiculous one was the 7th turn.

‘To go out to the remote land where no one ever goes and take root there, that’s a bit harsh.’

Here, I was able to hear a very important piece of information.

“Did you know why the angel bastards sent me to a no-man’s land for an exam?”

“I’m not sure. Was it not to avoid having your gun making skills influence the society of the Arena residents?”

“There is that. But there was a more important reason.”

Neils drank his beer in a single shot, emptying it and spoke.

“It was to eliminate the errors in the flow of time.”

This was his explanation.

He started his exam at the same time as Odin, but while Odin spent 40 days for his exam, Neils spent 3 years.

In order to eliminate the problem of the time gaps, the angels sent Neils to a place without anybody else around.

That view makes sense. I’ve thought of a similar idea before as well.

If you look at it that way, the reason examinees first start in a place like the outskirts without anyone else around might be because of this conflict of time flow.