Gun Skeleton Soldier

The next day, Lola did not come as promised. Instead, she sent someone with a message saying that something unexpected had come up and asking Green to wait two more days.

Green frowned, but according to information he had gathered from other sources, the Tower of Wraiths seemed to have vanished from Landon City not long ago. Even Viscount Paul had mobilized the city's entire military and police forces and used the Anomalies Bureau's channels, yet made no progress. Given the circumstances, it was hardly surprising that Lola had asked for two more days.

Green simply steeled himself and spent the next several days honestly practicing magic at Wilson Castle.

He currently had only three spells: Death Spirit Sight, Soul Summoning, and Bone Spikes. Although Soul Summoning had temporarily reached its limit at [LV3], there were still many techniques and tricks he could refine, such as making the summoned Skeleton Soldier appear anywhere within five meters at will. Bone Spike was the same. When he had rescued Lillisa last time, Green had pushed Bone Spike to its limit in a moment of desperation. Later, he had unexpectedly discovered that Bone Spike had leveled up, rising from [LV5] to [LV6]. Its attack range had grown larger, its effective distance had increased, and he could freely choose between launching a single spike or attacking an area. Its power had completely surpassed that of a first-circle spell and was even stronger than some weaker second-circle spells!

Four days later, at noon, consecutive bang, bang, bang gunshots rang out from the training ground behind Wilson Castle.

Green's Skeleton Soldier stood two or three meters in front of him, wielding a rifle nearly two meters long. A bayonet was mounted on the end of its barrel, and it was firing.

The rifle's thick barrel and numerous carved magic runes did not suit Green's aesthetic taste, but its power was indeed impressive. Old One-Eye had delivered it just now, and Green had immediately come here to test-fire it. The results were quite pleasing: it was accurate, powerful, and, most importantly, the Skeleton Soldier's own Psychic Energy was fully capable of activating the runes on the Enchanted Rifle, which had been designed specifically for knightly battle aura.

These magic runes could not increase the bullets' power, but they could give ordinary rifle bullets a spell-breaking effect. They were a sharp weapon the Kingdom Knights Order used to suppress supernatural beings. Old One-Eye had somehow managed to obtain one—and it was the latest model issued in the Royal Capital. Green's high price of fifteen gold pounds had not been wasted.

However, there were still problems with having a Skeleton Soldier use an Enchanted Rifle. Neither its shooting accuracy nor its speed at reloading could compare with those of a well-trained knight. If this could not be improved, it would severely limit Green's original plan. Fortunately, these Skeleton Soldiers were not completely thickheaded. They still retained their instincts, especially in battle. At the very least, Green had not needed to expend much effort to teach this Skeleton Soldier the basic motions of aiming and firing.

Just then, the Graveyard suddenly displayed a notification.

Green checked it immediately, both startled and delighted. It turned out that the description of the Skeleton Soldiers in the Graveyard had changed!

A new entry had appeared in the graveyard that produced Skeleton Soldiers—Gun Skeleton Soldier, a first-level elite troop type, combat power [6.3], price [10] Psychic Energy...

Green had not expected the Graveyard to recognize his refitting of the Skeleton Soldiers and derive an entirely new troop type, the Gun Skeleton Soldier. Its combat power had risen dramatically, while its price had doubled outright. Green's eyes lit up. He immediately recalled the Skeleton Soldier and entered the Graveyard to observe the changes to the [Gun Skeleton Soldier].

The evolved [Gun Skeleton Soldier] returned to the Graveyard, and an obvious change took place. The brand-new rifle in its hands, which had originally looked somewhat out of place, was corroded by the Graveyard's Psychic Energy and became covered in rust. The runes on the gun twisted, changing from Evocation School runes into Necromancy School runes. At the same time, the Skeleton Soldier's shabby leather armor transformed into light leather-and-steel composite armor similar to that worn by Gun Knights. Its defensive performance had improved by who knew how many times over the original worn-out leather armor.

Green was delighted as he watched. It truly deserved to be called an elite troop type. He also discovered a small bug: recruiting a Gun Skeleton Soldier directly from the Graveyard required [10] Psychic Energy, but recruiting an ordinary Skeleton Soldier and then outfitting it with a rifle required only 5 Psychic Energy plus 15 gold pounds!

According to the price Green and Old One-Eye had agreed upon, if Green bought them in bulk later, the price of the Enchanted Rifles could be pushed even lower.

For Green, gold pounds were nothing. Psychic Energy was the truly scarce hard currency. If he could exploit this small bug, he would effectively save half the Psychic Energy. He even came up with a further idea: could he let the Gun Skeleton Soldiers ride horses and upgrade them into Mounted Gun Skeleton Soldiers? No, this idea could not be implemented for the time being. Horses were living creatures and could not directly enter the Graveyard. To accomplish this plan, he first had to find a way to create undead warhorses.

The next day, Green went to Old One-Eye's shop and directly placed an extravagant order for thirty Enchanted Rifles, totaling 450 gold pounds.

Green had not originally had that much money on hand. Fortunately, after he rescued Lillisa this time, Viscount Paul had been immensely grateful and given him quite a few gold pounds, along with a small manor on the outskirts of the city. It was partly because he truly thanked Green for saving Lillisa, but also because he valued Green's formidable strength even more. Not many people throughout Landon City could kill a Demonic Insect Parasite head-on while fighting two against one.

Green did not stand on ceremony. He accepted the money with a clear conscience, then immediately exchanged it for thirty military firearms whose sale was forbidden by the kingdom.

After the down payment was made, Old One-Eye beamed with joy. The profit from this single order was enough to match several months of sales at his shop. Originally, he had only regarded Green as a down-and-out noble and had not thought much of him. In the past, he had treated Green politely mostly out of consideration for the Wilson Family and Vincent. He had never expected Green to remain silent until making a spectacular entrance, ordering thirty Enchanted Rifles in one go and paying half the deposit up front. He had spent several hundred gold pounds without even blinking, which made Old One-Eye see him in a whole new light.

Once the deal was settled, Old One-Eye thumped his chest and promised that the goods would arrive within three days at the latest.

Green did not linger and was about to leave, but Old One-Eye suddenly seemed to remember something and called him back. "Hey, my friend, I know of some damaged magic items. I suspect you might be interested."

Green's eyes lit up when he heard this. Recently, he had been fretting over having no source of Psychic Energy. He had originally been counting on going to the secret stronghold of the Tower of Wraiths to run a dungeon, but Lola had still not replied. He had not expected Old One-Eye to bring it up instead. Old One-Eye was extremely shrewd. The first time they had met, he had already guessed that Green had some method of determining whether fragments of magic items still held value. But such secrets were not especially rare, and he had no intention of investigating. He was bringing it up now merely to do Green a favor.

Green did not leave either and immediately asked Old One-Eye to explain in detail...

It turned out that Old One-Eye had a friend who had once been a captain and squadron commander in the Kingdom Knights Order, with strength at the peak of an Apprentice Knight. However, he was now old, and after wasting all his savings on drinking and gambling, he lived in extremely dire circumstances. All he had left were some things he had seized or picked up on the battlefield back then. He had sold everything that was relatively intact and worth selling, leaving only some unwanted fragments. Old One-Eye had mentioned them to Green simply to help his friend. If Green happened to want any of them, it would benefit both sides.

After hearing Old One-Eye's explanation, Green's thoughts began to stir. Once anything—even a precious magic item—reached the battlefield, it would become a consumable. If these things had truly been brought back from a battlefield, perhaps some of the fragments really did contain Psychic Energy.