"A ranged weapon? What type?"
Kurosaki Rei paused mid-step. He had just sold off the Godslayer Sniper Rifle. It wasn't that he didn't need ranged weapons—he simply wasn't good with firearms.
"Bows," Titan replied. "Not sure if you've got the relevant specialization. If you don't need it, that's fine—maybe you can help ask around among your friends."
As he spoke, Titan took a longbow out of his storage space. A trace of sorrow appeared on his face.
"This was my brother's bow. He fell in the last world. Before he died, he traded it to me. We originally planned to recruit another ranged physical DPS, but these days most explorers who go ranged focus on sniper rifles. In the end, we have no choice but to sell it."
"Captain… are we really not going to wait a bit longer?"
The stall owner, Little Wolf, also looked visibly moved upon seeing the bow, sorrow written across his face. Clearly, this weapon held special meaning for them.
"No waiting," Titan waved his hand. "Top-tier talent is hard to come by. Right now, only two snipers have joined the team, and I just bought them new guns this morning. Too few people use bows these days."
He'd only come over because of Little Wolf's description—guessing that Prison Demon was a powerful solo explorer—and wanted to see if Kurosaki Rei might be interested.
Bows were notoriously hard to sell. The skill ceiling was extremely high. Unlike modern firearms—where a basic specialization plus an aiming system was enough to land hits—whether you could hit anything with a bow depended almost entirely on technique.
Their team's former third-in-command, the archer, was said to have been a three-time Olympic archery champion before entering the Space. That was why he'd wielded a bow with godlike precision.
"Let me take a look first," Kurosaki Rei said.
He examined the dark brown longbow.
Its design was ancient and austere, the tips curving outward like bull horns, exuding a sense of heavy, brutal power. At a glance, it was obvious this wasn't something just anyone could draw.
Barbarian King's Bow
Origin: Native World No. 87123
Quality: Legendary
Equipment Type: Bow (Main Weapon)
Durability: 200/200
Enhancement Level: +8
Enhancement Effect · Godspeed:
Initial arrow velocity +30%
Toughness: 45
Effective Range: 10–30 km
Requirements:
Strength 40, Agility 40, Master-tier Bow & Crossbow Mastery
Details:
A bow passed down through generations of the Kabak Tribe—the Barbarian King's Bow. Drawing this bow requires immense strength. Whoever can draw it becomes the new Barbarian King of the tribe. If your strength is insufficient, do not attempt to draw it lightly, or you will suffer severe injury.
Equipment Skill 1: Arrow of Nature (Active)
Effect: Ordinary arrows cannot withstand the Barbarian King's Bow's immense power. In addition to special arrows, the pioneer may consume Soul Source to activate Arrow of Nature. The bow absorbs natural energy, condensing it into a high-density energy arrow with exceptional toughness and sharpness.
If the Arrow of Nature hits and penetrates the enemy, it will explode the instant it enters the body, dealing 400% mixed damage based on the explorer's Strength attribute.
Cooldown: None
Equipment Skill 2: Savage Force (Passive)
Effect: Arrows fired from the Barbarian King's Bow are empowered by immense brute force, gaining powerful penetration. If they fail to penetrate the target, they instead cause a strong knockback effect.
Equipment Skill 3: Enchantment (Active)
Effect: The pioneer may enchant the arrow to be fired in various ways. The enchantment persists for one second after the arrow leaves the bowstring.
Equipment Score: 400+
Evaluation: Carry brutality to the extreme—one shot to pierce the earth!
To be honest, Kurosaki Rei was stunned by the bow's description. It was love at first sight.
It wasn't that he lacked ranged options—Kidō worked well enough—but those were spell-based. Compared to his usual attacks, most Kidō, aside from a few high-consumption advanced spells, were mediocre in power.
That was why he rarely used Hadō offensively in combat, relying more on Bakudō for control and support.
The Barbarian King's Bow, on the other hand, was a traditional ranged weapon: simple, direct, and brutally violent. It perfectly matched Kurosaki Rei's aesthetic taste in weapons.
As for the requirements—his base Strength and Agility didn't meet them, but once he activated his various states, hitting those thresholds was easy. Specialization wasn't an issue either.
His Firearms Design Mastery was only at a basic level, but his Bow & Crossbow Mastery was genuinely at Master tier.
That was thanks to his master's "old-fashioned" upbringing. Archery, as one of the traditional Six Arts, had naturally been part of his training. If not for social and economic limitations, his master had even wanted to teach him mounted archery.
Kurosaki Rei learned martial disciplines incredibly fast. By a young age, he could already hit targets with unerring accuracy from a hundred paces. Compared to cold, modern guns, he found traditional weapons like bows far more intuitive.
This bow would perfectly fill his mid-range, long-range, and even ultra-long-range combat gaps. With it, he'd have no real weaknesses left in battle and could adapt to almost any mission world.
The only problem was that the bow was too good.
A Legendary main weapon, full-score, enhanced to +8—it definitely wouldn't be cheap.
He currently had only 90,000 Terminus Coins left. And he couldn't spend it all; he needed at least 10,000 as reserves for pre-mission preparation and recovery supplies. That left him with only 80,000 he could realistically spend.
"Pretty good bow, huh, Prison Demon?" Titan asked with a grin.
Despite his burly appearance, Titan was sharp. He could tell at a glance that Kurosaki Rei was extremely interested.
That surprised him. He'd only tried on a whim, hoping at most that Kurosaki Rei might help spread the word among other solo explorers.
But Kurosaki Rei's eyes said it all—not only was he interested, he actually met the usage requirements.
Titan glanced at the blade at Kurosaki Rei's waist, increasingly convinced that this man wasn't simple. A Master-tier bow specialist whose main weapon was a blade—what did that imply?
It meant Kurosaki Rei's blade mastery was at least Master-tier as well. Possibly even more.
Was this really a Tier-2 explorer?
As expected—any solo explorer who thrived was a monster.
"It's an excellent bow. To be honest, I'm very interested," Kurosaki Rei said, looking away.
"But I probably can't afford it. What price are you asking, Titan?"
"100,000," Titan replied simply.
"What a shame. In the hands of the right person, it's worth that much," Kurosaki Rei sighed, shaking his head.
He truly needed this bow—but he just didn't have the money. He had to keep at least 10,000 for contingencies, leaving him with only 80,000 to spend.
Titan fell silent, pondering. After a few seconds, he spoke again.
"How much can you offer?"
"Eighty thousand. I need to keep some funds for preparation," Kurosaki Rei answered honestly.
Titan hesitated—but only for a few seconds.
"Alright. Eighty thousand it is!"
Kurosaki Rei froze. He hadn't expected Titan to agree.
This was a full-score Legendary main weapon, enhanced to +8.
Even with a Lucky Forging Stone, pushing equipment to +8 wasn't cheap. Under normal circumstances, it'd take at least 20,000 Terminus Coins to get there.
"Are you sure?" Kurosaki Rei asked.
Titan gave a bitter smile. "Don't ask again, brother, or I might regret it."
He knew it was a bargain sale. But the problem remained—they couldn't recruit anyone proficient with bows. And conversely, very few explorers could actually use this weapon.
It was amazing, yes—but the pool of viable users was tiny.
Their team was entering a new world next week. They couldn't let the bow sit unused. Selling it for 80,000 was acceptable—it would at least improve the team's survival odds.
Kurosaki Rei didn't say anything more. He initiated the trade request, and under Terminus Space's impartial arbitration, the transaction was completed.
The Barbarian King's Bow was now his.
"Prison Demon, add me as a friend," Titan suggested. "If we get good stuff in the future, we can contact each other first."
Kurosaki Rei agreed. Networking with strong explorers never hurt—future trades would be far more convenient.
After the deal, Kurosaki Rei was officially broke.
With nothing left to worry about in terms of spending, all he had to do now was train and grow stronger.
Leaving the trading market, Kurosaki Rei headed straight to the Arena. His old title had become invalid after his promotion, so he wanted to see if he could earn a new one in Tier 2.
[The pioneer has achieved a 300-win streak in the Arena. Current ranking: 29th]
With the system notification, Kurosaki Rei was teleported out of the arena and back into the rest room.
For the past two weeks—aside from daily training—he'd been grinding the Tier-2 Arena nonstop.
Compared to the Tier-1 Arena, Tier-2 was far more difficult. After breaking into the top 30, every fight became exhausting.
At this bracket, many of his opponents had 50-point attributes—at least in their main combat stat. They were just waiting for the next world to complete their advancement tasks and become Tier-3 explorers.
With all buffs active, Kurosaki Rei's overall attributes reached around 45. Being completely outmatched stat-wise, reaching this rank was already an impressive feat.
He relied entirely on combat technique, kiting, and seizing brief openings to end fights in a single decisive burst.
Still, Kurosaki Rei wasn't anxious.
There were about two weeks left before the next world opened. He could already feel his attributes on the verge of another breakthrough. Once that happened, he'd try pushing for first place.
Leaving the Arena, Kurosaki Rei headed straight for Commercial Street.
Today was the agreed pickup date with the sailor-uniform girl.
Passing through the alley and reaching the shop entrance, Kurosaki Rei found the door closed, which puzzled him.
Just as he was about to contact her via mail to ask what was going on, the door creaked open.
The sailor-uniform girl appeared—hair disheveled, eyes unfocused, looking like she'd been cultivating nonstop for days. She stared at Kurosaki Rei blankly.
Once she recognized his face, her expression shifted, becoming extremely unnatural.
"What's wrong?" Kurosaki Rei asked.
Seeing her reaction, a sense of unease crept into his heart.
Don't tell me it flipped…
According to the contract, he wouldn't lose anything—but he didn't have time to wait another two weeks for a remake.
"Something… a small situation happened," the sailor-uniform girl said awkwardly.
"Let's go inside first."
"What do you mean, 'small situation'?" Kurosaki Rei frowned.
Had he overestimated her? Maybe her equipment-forging skills were just average, with all her talent invested in making beds?
She pulled him inside, led him to the innermost workbench, lifted a cloth covering the item, and said cautiously:
"The quality I made… didn't quite meet the standard."
"What do you mean by 'didn't quite'?" Kurosaki Rei emphasized those words heavily.
"Well… that is to say… what I made is a purple-tier item."
She nervously twisted the hem of her skirt, clearly ashamed.
"It's such a disgrace… using materials that good and ending up with a purple item."
Kurosaki Rei felt terrible hearing that, but he didn't immediately cancel the order. Since he was already here, he wanted to see what she had actually made.
He looked at the workbench.
On it lay a ring—white-blue in color, translucent, with a crystalline sheen.
One look made his heart skip.
She hadn't lied. It was a purple-tier item.
But—
This ring was a growth-type equipment…
Tomorrow: entering the new dungeon — One Piece
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