Arena Chapter 157:
Chapter 157 – Neilson R8
“How strange that was . ”
The oldest examinee in the Nordic Exam Group, Neilson Aslan, mumbled as he came out of the exam waiting room .
“Did something happen?”
Odin and Marie, who came out after finishing the exams, approached him .
Neilson said .
“My exam this time around . ”
Neilson was the oldest, but he always treated Odin, who was the leader of the Nordic Exam Group, with great respect
“As always, did you receive a mission to make guns?”
“You’re right . The gods of whoever they are shoved me into a remote place alone for years and made me make guns . ”
Neilson was grinding his teeth .
“It’s admirable that I didn’t go insane . ”
“Haha, but you are now used to that too . You read books and study while you’re alone, Mr . Aslan, so you are probably the most knowledgeable examinee . ”
“You are too kind . Anyway, the last mission was a bit strange . ”
“Even though you made guns as you always have?”
“Yes . It would be better if I just showed you . Summon, Neilson R8!”
Paat!
Odin was completely surprised .
The gun that Neilson summoned was the largest rifle he had ever seen .
He estimated its length to be at least roughly 2 meters .
The size of the muzzle was almost to the point of making one wonder whether this was a cannon or a rifle .
One thing for sure was that this was an anti-material sniper rifle .
Neilson shrugged his shoulders .
“That was my exam . They told me to create the most powerful sniper rifle I could . ”
“A snipe rifle means……”
“I basically copied the NTW-20 . ”
The NTW-20 has a 20 mm caliber and is an anti-material sniper rifle from the Republic of South Africa .
It weighs 31 . 5 kg and has a length of 1,975 mm . It is a monster rifle, famous for being the strongest amongst all the various types of anti-material sniper rifles .
Neilson used the NTW-20 as its foundation and created a new rifle .
Its basically a replica . But with special gun making skills, Neilson’s product was a much more powerful object .
“It is the Neilson R8 . Who do you think such a gun would be for?”
“I can only think of one person . ”
The person Odin was thinking of was none other than Kim Hyun-ho . Kim Hyun-ho had the most accomplishments up until now with shooting and was the examinee that had eliminated one of the 6 high priests .
“So far I have not received a mission to make something for a specific person . But this time was just too obvious . ”
“I see . ”
“That is what I find strange . ”
Neilson continued to say .
“He is already strong enough to rank in the top 10 and progressing at such a fast rate he’s already eliminated a high priest . On top of that, he is also approaching the ultimate goal of the missions . ”
“He is an extraordinary examinee . He has incredible skills like the virtual space and flame of life too . ”
“Its as if the gods and angels are paying close attention to our friend Kim Hyun-ho . Enough so that it makes me think the gods made me a gun maker for the sake of Kim Hyun-ho . ”
“……”
Odin’s face hardened into a serious expression .
The real world and Arena .
It might be that Kim Hyun-ho holds the key that could change the fate of both worlds .
‘It’s like he’s been picked as the protagonist in a novel . Its like they had picked Kim Hyun-ho from the beginning to be the examinee to fulfill the exams’ final mission . ”
Neilson spoke to Odin, who was still deep in thought .
“Anyway, let’s call Kim Hyun-ho . Since we have to give him this Neilson R8 . ”
“Ah, yes we should . ”
“Then is Hyun-ho coming?”
Marie’s eyes shone bright .
Neilson looked at her and tsk tsk-ed .
***
It was decided the place to ranch the Big Rats will be the basement of the Korean Arena Research Agency .
There are lots of basement floors and they’re quite expansive, so it is adequate for the Big Rats .
And the Korean Arena Research Agency was originally a secret facility already .
In anticipation of all kinds of accidents that might happen when examinees were involved, the facilities had lots of security and fortifications .
On the bottom most 5th floor, everythi8ng was demolished .
The 5th floor basement was originally a shooting range, but it would now be a model ranch for the Big Rats .
This Big Rat ranch business started with the joint venture between the government, me, and Jinseong Group but the business split was 3:4:3 .
I was the largest shareholder with 40% . Because without me this business could not be established .
The management and maintenance would be handled by Jinseong group and the government so for me it looks like I’ll be making easy money .
I released the three pairs of big Rats into the 5th floor basement, which was now outfitted into a ranch,
I gave them some live chickens and the rats ate them in the blink of an eye .
“Just at a glance they have big appetites . Will this be manageable?”
I mumbled .
“As they grow and propagate, finding enough for them to eat will become a problem . ”
Said Cha Ji-hye .
It was when I was thinking about bringing back another animal instead of the Big Rats when Chairman Park Jin-seong, who had been watching them with us, said .
“They eat whatever, right? We can just give them the overflow of food waste . We can turn some space nearby into a food waste disposal site . ”
Ah……
I was awed by Chairman Park Jin-seong’s idea .
Every year, the country had an overflow of food waste and if we fed that to Big Rats, no matter how many of them we have, it wouldn’t matter .
We were watching the birth of this Big Rat ranch when .
Buzz, buzz .
My smartphone suddenly started to vibrate . It was Odin .
“Hello?”
-Mr . Kim Hyun-ho
“Yes, Mr . Odin . ”
-I have a gift to give you, come by when you have a chance .
“A present?”
-You can look forward to it .
A present?
What could it be?
Since it’s a present from the Nordic Exam Group, there is a good chance it’ll be useful for the exams .
“Understood . I’ll look forward to it . ”
I ended the call and said to Cha Ji-hye .
“We need to go to Denmark . ”
***
Blank………
I stared blankly at the incredible object before me .
I felt nothing but awe .
-Neilson R8: a bolt action sniper rifle created by the only gunmaker in Arena . Uses a large caliber 20 mm bullet and therefore boasts incredible power .
*Useable distance: 1,985 m
*Useable bullet: 20 x 110 mm
*May be transfered to someone else or exchange for it for karma .
An anti-material sniper rifle that uses 20 mm caliber bullets .
The AW50F with 12 . 7 mm is already powerful, so 20 mm, how monstrous it must be!
“What do you think?”
Asked Nielson with a confident expression .
“You’re really giving this to me?”
“Yes, its yours . There’s no one else who could use it . ”
“Thank you!”
I thanked him with head bowed down over and over .
The Neilson R8’s heavy weight brought me joy .
“Using this ammo, your shots will be much more powerful . ”
Saying that, Neilson threw me a bullet . As expected of a 20 mm caliber bullet . It was huge .
“What is this?”
“High explosive (HE) . ”
An HE is a bullet with explosives inside .
There was an explosive in the bullet so when it hits the target, it would explode .
“However, because it is not a sniper rifle bullet the shoot accuracy will fall, but that doesn’t pertain to you . ”
Neilson’s words in went in one ear and out the other . I looked, fascinated, at the HE bullet .
My shooting method using spirit summons was already powerful enough to rip through an aura shield .
And if I added an HE bullet on top of that?
And at the moment of impact, what if I increase the explosion using Kasa?
‘That’ll be incredibly powerful!’
Odin smiled as he approaches me .
“Want to give it a go?”
“Yes!”
“Haha, follow me . ”
Together we went outside to the back of the Nordic Exam Group headquarters .
At the foot of the mountains there, Odin said to me .
“Try shooting it once . ”
“Alright . Summon, Neilson R8!”
And then a large piece of metal, 2 meters in length, appeared in my left hand .
It was a massive gun weighing in at 30 kg but for me, with the physical strength buff intermediate level 5, I could hold it in one hand with ease .
Standing while holding the 2-meter-long anti-material sniper rifle, getting into position felt pretty awkward .
But because I’m familiar with the AW50F I didn’t find it difficult and aimed straight down the range .
“Sylph, Kasa!”
-Meow!
-Bark!
The cat and dog appeared on each shoulder .
Kasa was nearly the size of a full-grown dog and he looked like he was just hanging onto my shoulder .
In my head I conveyed to the new shooting method to the spirits .
Then I pulled the trigger .
Tuaaang!
Kwaaang!
The incredible gunshot and blast rang out almost instantaneously .
Through Sylph’s power, the rotation of the bullet was increase, and the moment of the impact, Kasa increased the explosiveness of the explosive within the bullet .
Then, as if hit by a missile, a 3 m diameter crater was formed at the foot of the mountain .
“Wha……!”
Odin was awestruck .
“Wow!”
Marie’s eyes went big and round .
“Uh……”
Neilson couldn’t close his mouth .
Cha Ji-hye didn’t have an change in expression but her eyes were a little wider .
And I……
‘What, what is this?!’
Did I just shoot a rifle or a missile?
I did tell Kasa to strengthen the explosiveness, but not enough to make this much of an impact .
So, what in the world happened? It was far more powerful than I anticipated .
‘Ah! The bullet revision!’
I realized the reason shortly after .
It’s the bullet revision mastery!
The synthesis skill that strengthens the effect of the bullet .
The skill that strengthens the effect of the bullet was also used on the explosiveness in an HE bullet!
“Huh? Did I create a siege weapon?”
Mumbled Neilson in disbelief at what he had just seen .
More than anything WAS the point that this wasn’t even my maximum power .
If I told the spirits to put in more power, it’ll be multiple times more destructive than this .
Because I could tell Kasa to make it more explosive!
I looked at Odin and joked .
“Would you like to spar with our weapons?”
“Haha, I’ll have to turn you down on that!”
Odin rejected the notion with flourish .
This present from Neilson was the best . There was no better weapon than this .
“Next time I’ll really have to make you a cannon . ”
“That would be good too . Since if I shoot it it’ll never miss the target . ”
I thought about it and it was really incredible .
The bullet revision would turn whatever was hit by a cannon into dust .
Neilson must have thought I was being serious because his face turned white .
“Are you planning on going to war by yourself? There is a limit to how excessive your requests can get too you know…”
“Aw, I’m not asking you to make me a nuclear weapon or anything . ”
“Shush! Anyway, it took my years to make that in Arena so just be grateful!”
“Haha, thank you, really . ”
I have made the high priests and the Aman Kingdom my enemy so Neilson giving me such a powerful weapon made me feel extremely thankful towards him . With a weapon like this, I felt like I could defeat an average army on my own .
After receiving the weapon, I vacationed around northern Europe for some time .
Marie tagged along so the three of us had fun touring around .
Marie was distracting me from my time with Cha Ji-hye, but she was so cute and bright so I didn’t really mind it at all .