Chapter 66: Getting Ready, To the Saltpeter Mine
Su Mo stared at the arrow case that contained the ten crossbow arrows. They were neatly aligned, their broadheads facing upward. Even though there was a slight metallic smell lingering in the air, Su Mo paid it no mind.
It was his first time forging something requiring that much precision and the success of the endeavor filled him with a sense of accomplishment.
Su Mo focused mentally again, and the attributes that were displayed by the system panel took his level of satisfaction to the next level, his heart almost bursting with happiness.
[High-Speed Crossbow Arrow (Excellent x 3, Good x 7)]
Description: ‘Customized’ crossbow arrow made by the quasi-elementary level craftsman ‘Su Mo’. Forged using regular methods, but was upgraded to good quality for inexplicable reasons.
Special ability:
Excellent: Super-fast flying, silent.
Good: Super-fast flying
Comment: From beginner to elementary level, such a transformation!
“Yes!”
“I’m already considered a quasi-elementary level manufacturer now. Looks like the effects of the excellent-quality workbench’s enhancement cannot not be taken lightly!”
The attributes of the new crossbow arrows certainly did not waste its quality enhancement!
Even though the overall enhancement given by the workbench was only a modest 10%, when it came to actual use, it was of great help in maintaining the craftsman’s concentration level.
Ten crossbow arrows—three of them were excellent-quality level and the other seven were good-quality.
Although he had yet to test them out, Su Mo instinctively knew that, from the attributes enhancement, the ones that he created were much better than those made by the system!
Su Mo stood up and adjusted his posture, moving his neck left and right to relieve some of the stiffness.
With a wave of his hand, Su Mo triggered the system and stored the new crossbow arrows into the storage s.p.a.ce neatly.
Then he turned his gaze toward the charging ports and stared at the crossbow, long spear and combat boots on the floor.
Strong emotions emerged from the depths of Su Mo’s heart.
Armed with these equipment, he would dare to fight against more than ten kobolds!
Even though the kobolds’ campsite might be deathly and perilous, he still had to go!
Time pa.s.sed as he patiently waited for the equipment to be fully charged.
In a blink of an eye, it was already noon. Three of the equipment batteries were fully charged, the indicators flas.h.i.+ng green.
Su Mo took out the baguette that he had traded for earlier and put all 2kg of it into the pot to make a bread soup.
He took one-fifth of the soup and poured it into Little Spark and Big Spark’s food bowl.
He scooped out another half and poured it into Oreo’s food bowl.
Su Mo grabbed the rest of the bread soup after waiting for it to cool and chugged it down in one go.
After filling his stomach and getting enough rest, he was once again back to his best condition, raring to go.
Su Mo came to the weapon armament storage and began to equip himself one by one.
First was light armor.
The light armor was designed like the silver lamellar armor worn during the uprising of the Red Turban Rebellion.
He had to start with the cuira.s.s. Su Mo held the armor with his hands outstretched between the holes, and tucked his head in like when wearing a sweater.
The customized cuira.s.s which was made of special steel that aligned perfectly with the body’s curved shape. Also, because it was made with modern methods and materials, the ultra-lightweight armor felt equivalent to wearing a down jacket on a winter’s day.
The lower part of the armor were the faulds that hooked onto the upper-body armor, and it had a belt to secure it from falling off.
After he finished wearing the upper and lower parts of the armor, he picked up the pauldrons and wore them on both shoulders and arms, before securing them.
The size of the combat boots was based on Su Mo’s feet. They were professionally designed and he could put them on easily. Oddly enough, they felt more comfortable than wearing a conventional pair of sneakers.
It’s true that armor boosts one’s courage!
Su Mo’s body structure tended toward a more lean shape due to his previous lack of exercise but, after he put on his armor, he mysteriously felt stronger.
He could not help but start visualizing a battle between a kobold and himself, outfitted in this armor suit!
He then raised a leg and pressed his toes on the ground, resulting in a clink clank activation sound. Su Mo proceeded by trying to take a few steps forward.
“Huh? Does the effect not apply to walking?”
The electrical boots did not seem to detect his movements, so Su Mo switched to running instead.
The next second, a strong force came streaming out from his heels.
That moment, Su Mo felt as if he was being propelled so far forward that he almost fell over.
“That was really fast! Tell me now, who would be able to withstand this speed!”
Su Mo’s happiness was getting obvious as stretched his legs and ran several rounds in circles.
Oreo, who was still licking her food bowl, was dumbstruck; her jaw dropped while looking at Su Mo running around at that speed in the shelter.
The electrical boots did not just boost his running motions.
As the speed went higher, Su Mo tried performing different stunts and they all showed a significant speed boost.
Bang!
He pressed his toes on the ground and ran two more steps before the speed boost effect disappeared.
“What an improvement! If I had been wearing these back at the ruins, the Kobold Mage wouldn’t have had the time to launch that fireball!”
Su Mo had already been surprised by the light armor.
He was even more excited about the fine iron electric spear.
However, before that, Su Mo wore the photometric combat uniform over the armor.
As he was wearing armor, the photometric combat uniform had to stretch larger to cover it. Nevertheless, the material had a strong flexibility and extensibility rating.
The perfectly-fitted combat uniform played its part by adhering firmly onto the armor.
He grabbed the fully-charged fine iron electric spear and switched it on.
The fine iron electric spear buzzed momentarily then returned to normal.
He tried his hand at some practice moves, stabbing and sweeping forward, and noticed that there it emitted a secondary force, making the electric spear move even faster.
When he switched it off, the enhancement disappeared.
Su Mo eyed his set of brand new equipment happily, extremely proud of himself.
Stowing away the fine iron electric spear and electric crossbow into the storage s.p.a.ce, he walked over to the corner and grabbed the kobold.
The kobold, who was still asleep, awoke in shock. At first, he lifted his head in panic, but upon realizing that it was just Su Mo, he ignored Su Mo and continued his decadent behavior.
It had been two days and Su Mo still did not seem to have the intention to recruit him. The kobold had already discarded his imaginations and began to face reality.
“Woof… woof!”
Oreo was excited seeing Su Mo grab the kobold, as she watched from the side.
“Let’s go! Tell him to lead the way. If he lies or leads us in the wrong direction, today will be the last day of his miserable life!”
Su Mo carried the thin and weak kobold in his hands as he moved toward the shelter’s entrance.
Since Oreo heard that they were going out for fun, she barked loudly, communicating with the kobold. After confirming the message with him, Oreo barked twice, hinting that she was done communicating.
Once everything was prepared, the shelter’s entrance opened and Su Mo closed the door carefully after taking a glance at the facilities within. He moved and pa.s.sed through the entrance hallway to the outside.
When there was no disaster, the wasteland’s sun was always blazing brightly during the day, and yellow sand was scattered all around.
Sometimes, one or two vultures flew across, making grunting noises.
Su Mo threw the kobold to the ground and went back into the other side of the shelter’s entrance, placing the door bar at an angle, before turning around and forcefully shutting the shelter doors
A deep sound groaned when Su Mo tried to push against the door. The door bar had been dropped and set, blocking out any potential forces that might come from the outside.
He gave it a few more tries to see if it was possible to open the door from the outside. Failing successfully, Su Mo nodded and walked over to the entrance of the garage.
He lifted the wooden boards that covered the simple and crude garage, revealing the buggy sitting quietly in the spot where Se Mo had left it.
He gave it a once over before climbing inside and starting the engine. He drove the buggy to the entrance of the shelter.
“Woof?”
The kobold lying on the ground was astonished when he saw the buggy, looking at it in disbelief; unable to understand why an iron box would be moving about.
Oreo looked at kobold as if it were a hillbilly. The way she scoffed at it was epic.
“Oreo, please bear with me. You’re going to sit with me today!”
Su Mo put the kobold on the rear compartment and buckled him up. He then bent his body, grabbed Oreo in his arms, and returned to the front seat of his buggy.
Oreo was more than willing when she heard what Su Mo said.
Oreo buried her head bashfully into Su Mo’s photometric combat uniform, lying on his lap, motionless.
After checking everything once again, he engaged the gear lever and looked back at the shelter, a little unwilling to leave.
“Let’s go! Our next destination is the “Kobolds’ Saltpeter Mine!”
Su Mo shouted, sweeping away his reluctance to leave, and stepped on the accelerator!
The buggy was like an arrow leaving its bowstring, shooting forward forcefully.
The deep humming noise from the engine resonated alongside the strong winds of sandstorm as he headed west on the deserted wasteland.