The Bastard In The Zombie Apocalypse Chapter 84: Eternal Village 3

"What does 'unawakened' mean?" said Nathan.

"The act of awakening an item is blessing it with the powers granted to us by G.o.d and is cla.s.sified into two tiers: First Tier and Second Tier. Once an item is awakened, it will give bonus stats such as STR, VIT, AGI and INT to the wearer," said the blacksmith

'Oh… So the equipment I am wearing are awakened items?' Nathan thought. "Are the stats random?"

This was an important issue for Nathan. Regardless of whether you're a Chosen One or not, having the right combination of bonus stats was crucial, especially in the case of Chosen Ones where they only have one skill.

"Each equipment [Grade] has its maximum number of bonus stats. And I as I already mentioned, they are divided into two tiers. As for the stats that will appear once it's awakened, it depends on the wishes of the customer." The blacksmith grinned and looked at the two large sacks of nuclei that Nathan was carrying.

Nathan was getting impatient because he was short of time. "Tell me all the information right away. Also, do you have [Grade C] equipment here? Can you re-awakened a piece of equipment that's already awakened?"

"Please forgive me, Great Chosen One. For a [Grade D] equipment, each item costs 100 [Grade D] Nuclei. As for the tiers, the First Tier gives +3 bonus stats and costs 50 [Grade D] Nuclei, while the Second Tier gives +4 bonus stats and costs 100 [Grade D] Nuclei."

"..."

"Unfortunately, I don't have any [Grade C] items here. But I can re-awakened them if you have one. But of course, the price is higher -- 150 [Grade D] Nuclei for the First Tier which gives +5 and 200 [Grade D] Nuclei for the Second Tier which gives +6."

Nathan narrowed his eyes.

At the moment, he had 1246 [Grade D] Nuclei and 32 [Grade C] Nuclei. He gave 5 [Grade D] Nuclei to the young man earlier.

But despite that, it was still too expensive and he has yet to go check the Item Shop and the Tavern.

Nathan turned to the young man who was acting as his guide and threw him the ring given to him by the priestess.

"Go to the Item Shop and tell the owner to wait for me. Return here right away once you're done."

"Yes, Great Chosen One," said the young man and left the Blacksmith Shop.

"What's the worth of a [Grade C] Nucleus?" Nathan asked the blacksmith.

"[Grade C]? Wow, you have that. That's worth 50 [Grade D] Nuclei each. Not many --"

Nathan was short of time so he cut him off.

"How long does it require to awaken or re-awaken an item?"

"It will only take a second."

"Is it possible to awaken a weapon?"

That blacksmith shook his head. "There are no weapons that give bonus stats but there are weapons imbued with elemental powers. If you want to try to purchase one, it's at the Tavern, but it's quite expensive and it all depends on luck. Though I do have some Magic Arrows and Bolts."

When Nathan heard the word "luck", his heart immediately sank. If it was just expensive, he would've purchased one. But given that it requires "luck", he couldn't help but a.s.sume that it was a form of gambling so he decided not to.

"You mentioned Magic Arrows and Bolts? Show me your range weapons."

The blacksmith pointed at the bows lined up at a corner.

There was a [Grad D] Short Bow, Bow, Long Bow and Crossbow.

"This is it?"

Nathan was displeased. He wanted a gun or something.

He pulled out his sawed-off double-barrel shotgun and showed it to the blacksmith.

"Do you have something like this?"

The blacksmith looked at the gun and shook his head.

"I'm not familiar with that item. What does it do?"

"It shoots a metal ball. Can you awaken it?"

"No, because I don't sense any magic from the metal being used."

'Sense any magic? So the material used to create the System items emit magic? I never thought of that… But what if --'

"Shoots metal, huh. Hmm…" That blacksmith took out a mini crossbow. "Well, I have this [Grade D] Mini-crossbow that you can attach to your forearm. It can shoot 5 bolts in one reload and is as powerful as a crossbow but reloading it takes a lot of time. If you're not interested, I also have throwing daggers and darts," the blacksmith interrupted Nathan's thought process.

"What about the bolts? Are they part of the System?"

"Part of the System?" The Blacksmith's brows knitted together in confusion.

"Umm… f.u.c.k! Um… I mean, is it 'blessed' by your G.o.d or 'awakened' or do they have a [Grade]?" Nathan didn't know how to properly explain it so he just said the words, hoping the blacksmith would understand it.

"Oh… Arrows and bolts are 'gradeless' but they've been 'awakened' through a special procedure so they're not your typical arrows and bolts. Do you want the awakened Normal Bolts or the awakened Magical Bolts? 1 [Grade D] Nucleus gives you 50 pieces of the former or 10 pieces of the latter. Also, please keep in mind that an awakened Magic Bolt can only be used once and requires 10 mana points to cast. After that, it will turned into an awakened Normal Bolt."

"What's the difference between a Normal Bolt and Magical Bolt?"

"Magic Bolts have a tracking feature. However, before shooting it, you need to lock on your target for 3 seconds first. It also requires 10 mana points to cast -- Oh, I think I already mentioned that."

"How much?"

"This [Grade D] Mini-crossbow? 100 [Grade D] Nuclei."

Nathan checked his status chart.

Level: 25

Exp: 0.4425048828125%

Stats:

STR - 38

VIT - 36

AGI - 33 (+27)

INT - 33

Equipment:

[Grade D] Large Axe (12/12)

[Grade D] Sword (12/12)

[Grade D] Long Dagger (12/12)

[Grade D] Helm (15/15): +3 Agi

[Grade D] Heavy Leather Armor (15/15): +3 Agi

[Grade D] Heavy Leather Gloves (15/15): +3 Agi

[Grade D] Heavy Leather Boots (15/15): +3 Agi

[Grade C] Ring: +5 Agi

[Grade C] Ring: +5 Agi

[Grade C] Amulet: +5 Agi

Skill:

Level X [Coward's Way]

'I have 1246 [Grade D] Nuclei and 32 [Grade C] Nuclei…' Nathan thought

'If I want Second Tier awakening, I will need to spend 400 [Grade D] Nuclei for my helm, armor, gloves and boots, and another 600 [Grade D] Nuclei for my rings and amulet. There's also the [Grade D] Mini-crossbow that's worth 100 [Grade D] Nuclei. As for the bolts… 4 [Grade D] Nuclei for the normal bolts and another 10 [Grade D] Nuclei for the magic bolts…'

'With that, the total amount is… 1,114 [Grade D] Nuclei! My G.o.d! This amount is for me alone?! This is crazy expensive!'

The fact that he still had to check the Item Shop made his heart bleed and a desire to strangle the blacksmith welled up inside of him.

But of course, he didn't…

'I still need to divide my stats...' Nathan recalled his experiment earlier. The threshold is 30 stats. More than that, there will be an imbalance.

As a matter of fact, just having a difference of 30 points alone already feels some imbalance but it was still manageable.

After mentally computing his stats, he immediately his equipment but was stopped by the blacksmith.

"You don't need to remove it if it's just for awakening. But if you want it to be repaired, then okay."

"Make my rings and amulet +6 AGI each. My helm, armor and glove +4 AGI, and my boots +4 STR. I will also buy the [Grade D] Mini-crossbow, 4 [Grade D] Nuclei worth of normal bolts and another 10 [Grade D] Nuclei worth of magic bolts "

Nathan handed the blacksmith 1,114 [Grade D] Nuclei.

"Prepare the bolts," said the blacksmith to his son and then looked at Nathan. "Don't worry we will also provide you 6 quivers for the 200 awakened Normal Bolts and 100 Magic Bolts for free, which can carry a maximum of 50 bolts each."

'Sigh… Another baggage… But what choice do I have? I must be prepared.'

While the son was busy preparing the bolts, the blacksmith awakened the equipment of Nathan by just touching them one by one and inwardly offering a prayer. He also gave him a quick course on how to use the [Grade D] Mini-crossbow.

During this time, the young man that Nathan instructed to go to the Item Shop came back as well.

After the awakening and the quick course, the son gave Nathan the 6 quivers along with the bolts.

"By the way, do you do any custom jobs?" Nathan asked. This was what he was thinking earlier but his thoughts were interrupted by the blacksmith.

"Of course, but it would take time. Take for example a one-handed sword with no intricate designs. This would take me between 3 and 4 hours," answered the blacksmith.

Hearing this, Nathan thought, 'Given that the entrance limit to the Divine Tower is only 12 hours and it takes between 3 and 4 hours for this blacksmith to make a sword, I guess no one from outside can take advantage by ordering custom-made System weapons or vehicles…'

It was then an idea popped inside his head.

'Wait, what if I place an order today and then get it the next time I visit here?'

However, right after thinking about it, he immediately shook his head as he recalled the mind-resetting phenomena he witnessed earlier when he tried to force some answers from the young man.

"I see. Thank you then."

"Thank you for your purchase, Great Chosen One. May G.o.d bless us all in the Holy Night Ceremony."

Nathan left one of the sacks before heading to the Item Shop.

It was already 11:56 am.

Although he was very worried about the time, the priestess did say that she would try to delay the ceremony for 10 minutes, so he only had about 14 minutes left.

He could only hope that she would keep her word but he would try to finish his business at the Item Shop as soon as possible. If not, then as the priestess mentioned earlier, he would face G.o.d's wrath if he fails to enter the portal.

As for the Tavern, there was no time for that. Maybe next time, if he will survive whatever was waiting for him inside the portal and return here.

Author's thoughts:

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Thank you for reading!

h.e.l.lo, as you may have noticed, last week and this week, I've been posting the weekly chapters by bulk. The reason behind this is because I'm currently traveling for the holidays and I don't have proper access to an internet connection.

Nevertheless, I would like to thank you all for all your love and support. I really appreciate it.

And as for when will my release schedule will return back to normal, it will be on January 6, 2020 -- hopefully, if I don't get overwhelmed by the workload from my other jobs.

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By the way, I also posted the draft of [Chapter 83] and [Chapter 84] there.

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