I Got A Legendary Sniper Rifle - Chapter 9

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 9
Episode 9
After returning home, I showered quickly and left the house again.
Minjeong asked.
“Son, aren’t you going to help your mother today?”
“Mother.”
“Just tell me.”
“I have to visit a client today.”
“Oh, is that so?”
Minjeong nodded as if acknowledging that it must be something truly important.
She thought it must be one of those things—making money from game items these days, apparently.
I felt puzzled by Minjeong’s unusual lack of persistence as I stepped outside.
The story about visiting a client was true.
‘I need to settle my mana stones soon.’
If I registered as a Hunter but didn’t settle my mana stones for too long, it could raise suspicion.
What if she thought, ‘This kid must be hiding something and that’s why he won’t come out?’
That wouldn’t be good.
‘I’ll just sell off the mana stones from the 3rd Floor.’
That amount would be appropriate for an incompetent Hunter’s earnings.
I arrived at the Management Office, which wasn’t far away.
After taking a number for mana stone settlement and waiting, my turn came soon enough.
“What brings you here?”
‘…I took a number for mana stone settlement, so obviously I’m here to settle mana stones.’
For some reason, the civil servant who had handled my Hunter registration last time was sitting here.
‘Are there no other civil servants here?’ But as I’d seen before, there were clearly other windows available.
Still, if fewer people paid attention to me, that was actually better for me.
I spoke.
“I’m here to settle mana stones.”
“Yes, please take them out here.”
The civil servant kept his gaze fixed on the monitor as he slid a small tray toward me.
‘…Is he not working and looking at something else?’
His concentration was so intense it created that illusion.
I placed nine F-rank mana stones on the tray.
The civil servant quickly counted the mana stones and spoke dryly.
“Yes, nine F-rank mana stones. 450,000 won will be deposited to your account, and please fill out this form.”
A simple form containing the mana stone’s rank, quantity, source, and personal information consent, among other things.
I completed it in an instant.
“Yes, you’re all done now.”
The civil servant’s gaze remained fixed on the monitor.
‘Well, I didn’t sell everything I have, but still, 450,000 won. It’s a bit disappointing.’
I felt an inexplicable sense of disappointment.
Still, as I climbed higher floors, my income would increase significantly, so waiting was the answer.
As I listened to the courteous service at another counter and tried to leave the Management Office again.
“Hey, wait a moment! Sir, sir!”
Someone urgently tried to stop me.
Could it be that someone else wanted to apologize after witnessing that earlier discourteous service?
That wasn’t it.
A middle-aged man who appeared to be quite a bit older approached me.
“Sir, you just settled the mana stone, didn’t you?”
“…Yes, that’s correct.”
I nodded reluctantly.
I mean, by appearance, this man who looked about twenty years older than me kept calling me “sir” with every sentence, so I couldn’t quite adjust to it.
“Wow! You’re a Hunter, that’s truly impressive, sir.”
“It was just an F-rank mana stone, nothing special.”
I really wasn’t anything special.
My rifle was what was remarkable.
The man nodded as if in agreement.
“Yes, well, there are so many Hunters these days that you might think that way.”
But hearing that from someone else somehow made me emotional.
I’m Ilgyeok, you know!
Six consecutive floors of S+ straight!
“But do you know what the secret is to creating a special Hunter?”
Of course I knew.
An awakened mana stone rifle.
And fifteen stat points per level, plus the hidden cloak, and so on….
“I’m not sure.”
“Haha! That’s fine. All beginner Hunters are similar. Here, take this first.”
The man handed me a business card and a stiff catalog.
[Top By-Product Processing, Hunter Consultant
Jang Deokhun
P.H. 101-8888(TowerTowerTowerTower)-93972(By-ProductProcessing)
E-mail [email protected]]
A somewhat cluttered and flashy business card that screamed cheapness.
When I read the text written below it, I was greatly surprised.
“!!!!”
“Ah, I see you’re surprised. These days, life is so difficult that such professions have become common.”
“No, that’s not it….”
I alternated my gaze between the business card and Deokhun’s face.
[Age this year: 23!]
“When was this business card made…?”
“What? Of course I dug this year. Here, I have last year’s stock too.”
It was truly astounding.
“Ah… you’re remarkably young.”
“Haha! I often hear that I have a seasoned appearance!”
No, it wasn’t seasoning—it was just severe premature aging.
“Don’t worry! Even if I’m young, I have all the necessary certifications!”
A credential wallet unfurled with a satisfying sound.
Deokhuun was truly an impressive person.
In many ways.
‘They say the gods aren’t fair, after all…’
I had much to reflect on as well.
In any case, there seemed to be a reason why Deokhuun called me “hyung” upon our first meeting.
The business card was one thing, but what about the catalog that followed?
[Beginner Hunters, are you struggling because your income is less than expected?
In times like these, visit Deokhuun at your nearest Management Office!
We offer the highest prices and the warmest service!
Confidentiality guaranteed!]
From the moment he mentioned being a by-product dealer, I’d suspected as much, but the catalog displayed various by-products from the Early Tower along with their prices.
For some reason, it didn’t inspire much confidence.
If he started distributing these near the school, problems would surely arise.
Deokhuun spoke cheerfully.
“Hyung, how difficult must it be at first, mining only Mana Stones? You need to match your equipment, and when it breaks, you need repairs too!”
“Yes, that’s true.”
I hadn’t faced that issue yet, but it was certainly a hardship for other Hunters.
“Please read that catalog carefully, and when you find something good, contact me right away, Hyung!”
“Hmm…”
I paused to consider.
By-products were certainly a useful income source for Hunters.
‘But I need to trust the person first.’
Even if I did find something, I didn’t feel like contacting Deokhuun about it.
Or rather, seeing how hard he was working despite his circumstances, maybe I should contact him…
Deokhuun seemed to misinterpret my hesitation and spoke in a hushed tone.
“Heh, actually, this kind of consulting is something I only share with paying customers.”
“What…?”
“I noticed you seemed to have cleared the 3rd Floor, didn’t you, Hyung?”
“Ah, well.”
I dodged the question slightly.
“It’s fine. There’s nothing to be ashamed of. Even the Divine Archer was at the 3rd Floor once, Hyung. But soon you’ll be moving up to the 5th Floor…”
Deokhuun glanced around as if making sure no one could hear.
Of course, no one was paying attention to us.
“The Goblin Warrior Captain on the 5th Floor is quite vicious, so I’d recommend repeatedly clearing the 4th Floor and raising your level to exactly 15, based on a baseline of 7 stat points per level.”
“….”
What was he talking about?
I’d already cleared the 6th Floor.
I was so taken aback that I forgot how to respond.
Of course, he wouldn’t know I’d cleared the 6th Floor.
What actually surprised me was Deokhuun’s keen eye for detail.
He’d identified the floor correctly from just a distant glance.
However, repeatedly clearing the 4th Floor wasn’t exactly the kind of grand consulting advice worthy of a paying customer.
Hunter Now would have that level of information available anyway.
This was the moment Deokhuun’s credibility dropped even further in my eyes.
I decided it was time to shake off this bothersome person.
“Yes, I understand. Then I’ll be going….”
“As you repeatedly clear, magic stones occasionally drop from corpses! Especially goblin skulls—I hear they’re the latest new material, and people in the know sell them quite well. I’ll even add an extra 10% to the purchase price just for you!”
“Yes, I’ll think it over and contact you.”
I shook off the clingy Deokhuun.
He didn’t follow me outside the Management Office, but he shouted after me as I walked away.
“I sense an aura from you! There’s a whiff of something big about you, you know? You’re in great shape, and you’ll definitely climb very high! Fighting, sir!”
Everything else was fine, but that “sir” business.
I almost pulled out my gun from my inventory.
He had a good eye for detail, or maybe just reeked of desperation.
When I got home, I logged into Hunter Now.
I searched for information about repeatedly clearing the 4th Floor and goblin by-products.
“Hmm….”
As expected, there were plenty of posts and guides.
But Deokhuun had explained things far more specifically than these simple resources.
For whatever reason, he’d specified the exact total stat target, and information about magic stone drops was hard to find on Hunter Now.
Moreover, there was virtually nothing about goblin skulls.
‘What exactly does this guy do?’
Interestingly, the prices in his catalog were also slightly higher than the purchase prices listed online.
Bones from one goblin, excluding the skull, went for 50,000 won.
The skull was another 30,000 won on top of that.
Since intact by-products could be automatically harvested through the system, the price wasn’t particularly low.
And with the extra 10% he was offering me, he might actually be a capable person.
Still, I carelessly tossed Deokhuun’s business card into my desk drawer.
Why?
Boom——!
「All enemies defeated.
You have cleared the 7th Floor.
Grade: S+」
After all, I had just pulled off an S+ clear all the way to the 7th Floor without getting stuck on the 5th!
‘It’s easy enough, though.’
The 7th Floor mixed Goblin Warriors with Archers, and their equipment was considerably better.
But what did it matter?
They died without even seeing me.
I checked the Goblins just to be sure.
There were no dropped Magic Stones, and bones or skulls were hard to come by.
And for good reason.
“It’s a shame to blow away even the bones like this.”
Every time my rifle fired, the upper bodies of the Goblins were obliterated, leaving no intact bones behind.
But manually scraping together bits of bone from this one and that one to make up a full set made me queasy, and it was exhausting work.
For now, I’d have to get by on my severance pay.
As I looked around the 7th Floor, I turned my attention to the rewards for clearing it.
「Item, ‘Choi Ihyeon’s Sniper Rifle’ has leveled up.
Please check your status window.」
Now the sniper rifle was at Level 8.
I’d invested 3 points each in Range and Fire Rate, and 2 points each in Precision and Stealth.
My remaining stat points to allocate were 20.
‘From now on, I can just use all 15 of them.’
This seemed like enough reserves.
「7th Floor Reward.
You have obtained 6 F-Grade Magic Stones.
Please check your inventory.」
“E-Grade Magic Stones still aren’t dropping consistently.”
It was a bit disappointing that I couldn’t raise my mana with Magic Stones, but at the current rate, 31 seemed sufficient for now.
After all, counting my two small, precious feet, I could fire a total of 33 shots.
「S+ Grade Clear Bonus.
A somewhat special Goblin bone will be provided as an additional reward.」
“Huh?”
What’s this now?
“Why not just give me more Magic Stones…”
I was quite disappointed.
If they’d given the S+ bonus as usual, there was a significant price difference between Goblin bones and Magic Stones.
A whopping 300,000 won versus less than 100,000!
Even if it’s “somewhat special,” it doesn’t seem to make much difference, and if I brought it to Deokhuun, he might add maybe 10,000 won more.
“Ah, I had bad luck this time.”
Just as I was pulling the bone from my inventory and looking it over before putting it back,
Vrrrrm—
My rifle, which had been sitting quietly, vibrated.
“…?”
I had a strange feeling I’d tried something like this before.
On a whim, I brought the bone to the mana injection port of my rifle.
….
Nothing happened.
“Haha! Yeah, that’s what I thought. A gun isn’t a dog—it’s not going to eat just anything, right?”
I slapped my forehead with a sound, laughing cheerfully as if I’d expected exactly this.
“….”
But lingering doubt made me try placing the bone against the barrel instead of the injection port.
Ssshhhhk—
“!!!”
And then, to my amazement, the goblin bone melted away and was absorbed directly into the barrel!
“Let me try feeding it everything!”
I shoved all the remaining bones into the rifle.
Ssshhhhk—
Sure enough, every last bone was absorbed.
Once all the bones from that single goblin had vanished.
「Item, ‘Choi Ihyeon’s Sniper Rifle’ has absorbed an unusually special goblin bone.
You have acquired the exclusive skill, ‘Poison Round’.
Function, ‘Magazine’ has been unlocked.」
This notification window appeared.
“This is… insane….”
I was so overwhelmed with emotion that I lost my words.
Humans just digest food and excrete it—that’s all.
But a magic stone rifle spits out all sorts of skills and stat boosts so readily. How could this not be amazing?
First, I checked the description of Poison Round.
Exclusive skills are different from regular skills that appear every five floors.
They have no rank, and therefore it’s impossible to increase their rank.
However, they grow stronger based on the user’s stats, so more is always better.
「Exclusive Skill, Poison Round
Fires a poison round that releases toxic gas upon impact.
The user takes no damage.
Damage is affected by firepower and stealth.
Consumes twice the mana of standard rounds.」
“This is….”
Tears streamed down my face without my realizing it.
Another broken skill.
I’d been a bit disappointed that my first skill wasn’t an offensive ability, but releasing toxic gas—this was truly extraordinary.
And on top of that, the user takes no damage.
As a sniper, this was effective for both offense and survival.
Twice the mana consumption compared to standard rounds?
Mana will keep rising anyway, so it doesn’t matter if I use it.
I was the kind of person who trembled before the supply officer who threw a fit over budget issues just to use a single smoke round during operations.
At least I didn’t have to worry about that anymore.
I opened the newly unlocked feature, ‘Magazine,’ with an expression brimming with anticipation.
What kind of broken feature would it be this time….
「Magazine
Currently empty.」
“…Hmm. Well, it would be empty. Yeah, of course it would be.”
I still couldn’t confirm whether anything existed in it.
There was no explanation, just a single line saying it was empty.
It didn’t seem to be the place where exclusive skills like poison rounds were displayed.
But I wasn’t disappointed.
If the feature existed, it had to have some use.
“Surely it’s not asking me to load Nato Rounds into it….”
Thinking about how the magazine would be utilized going forward actually made me excited.
And somehow, I had a hunch that the day I’d learn how to use the magazine wasn’t far off.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————