In the Name of God - Chapter 106.1
We soon reached the boundary where the red carpet and blue carpet areas ended.
Beyond that lay a calm, heavy gray carpet, distinctly different from the previous zones. It had a desolate color, as if scattering the ash of burned-out remains or unsmoked gunpowder powder.
The moment we entered the firearms handling area, the noticeably changed air touched my skin.
‘It feels like only this space has a different air.’
If the red carpeted area we just passed through was the domain of beasts echoing with blood, sweat, and crude iron, this was the domain of reason dominated by refined oil scent and cold metallic nature.
Inside the display cases lined up left and right, murderous weaponry called the essence of modern engineering and mana circuits were holding their breath.
From palm-sized handguns to anti-materiel rifles the size of an adult man’s upper body.
On every firearm that caught the eye, silver circuits were geometrically engraved above the steel barrels to increase mana conductivity.
Among them, there were monster-like ones whose barrels were decorated entirely with the bones or teeth of giant monsters, or where cooling water tubes were intertwined like blood vessels. The disposition to crave mana like a living creature was unmistakable.
I began examining the firearms that came into view one by one, using Hawk Eye coated with mana.
‘The mana circuits are too clumsy. It feels biased solely toward versatility.’
Unlike their flashy appearances, the interiors of the numerous firearms examined with Hawk Eye were excessively simple.
Swords, spears, and other ranged weapons are generally operated that way because simply pouring and wrapping mana around them is powerful, but firearms like guns are different.
For firearm-type artifacts, ultra-precise control that circulates mana along fine internal circuits and loads it onto bullets is the lifeline.
If you mistakenly control the output of mana, the internal circuits will burn out, or at worst, it is prone to exploding. That is why as the rank goes up, Awakeners who use firearms as their main weapon become extinct.
Looking just at Black Tail’s 1st squad, Park Jung-geon was the sole Awakener who used a firearm as his main weapon.
Therefore, the firearms displayed here were without exception nothing more than compromise products biased solely toward stability to prevent mana backflow and ‘versatility’ that anyone could handle easily.
Instead of complex circuits that push output to the limit, they chose a safe design method that reduces mana resistance and increases durability. That way, even if an unskilled Awakener grabs it, accidents where the gun explodes can be prevented, and it can serve at least as a secondary weapon for Awakeners using other main weapons.
‘However, what I need is…’
While browsing the firearms in the display case with disappointed eyes, I suddenly stopped at a certain spot.
A pure white handgun shining alone amongst the forest of black, crude steel.
Its graceful, curved body, which looked like it should belong in an art gallery rather than a battlefield, caught my eye.
‘That is… White Mithril?’
It was not painted. It was the inherent glow emitted by the material itself.
After the holy war, special minerals were occasionally mined in dungeons generated inside the sanctuary. Unlike general minerals, these were light, sturdy, and excelled even in mana conductivity, coming to be called ‘Mithril’ collectively.
Among them, that pure white White Mithril, of which only an ultra-minority was said to be discovered, boasted insane mana conductivity two to three times superior to general mithril.
However, unexpectedly, compared to its rarity, the value of White Mithril was scraping the bottom.
The reason was that its resistance value against mana was severely low.
Ordinary metals moderately resist and adjust the flow when accepting mana, but that thing is different. It sucks in injected mana completely without brakes.
It meant that if you pulled the trigger with a light heart, the speed at which your mana was sucked out might be faster than the bullet fired by the gun, causing you to collapse from mana depletion in an instant.
‘It is certainly a dangerous item. But…’
To someone like me who had thoroughly ‘adapted’ to the complete guide of mana manipulation, it did not pose a major problem.
Above all, what was attractive was the price.
While other weapons around it had astronomical price tags that made you sweat cold water, the handgun before my eyes using White Mithril bore a modest price tag of just 1 billion.
‘To think the day would come when I would describe 1 billion as “just”.’
That was how tongue-cluckingly expensive the artifacts here at Prestige Market were. If not for the 1.5 billion received as a contract deposit when joining Black Tail, I would not have dared even gaze at it.
Eyeing the White Mithril handgun, I asked Kwon Jeong-han.
“Kwon Jeong-han, you said custom orders are definitely possible here, right?”
“That is true, but… isn’t this your first time with a weapon-type artifact? Then it won’t be easy to settle on the direction for customization, right?”
Just as Kwon Jeong-han said.
If I had been using a supply-grade revolver as my main weapon, it would have been safe to pick a standard artifact similar in sensation and go through an adaptation period. Because just handling the artifact-specific mana circuits would require no small amount of effort.
However, since I had thought it through sufficiently, I tapped Kwon Jeong-han’s shoulder lightly.
“It is fine. I have a plan.”
“Well, if you say so…”
Looking at me dubiously, Kwon Jeong-han obediently led me to the custom staff member.
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