nycdaug Chapter 35: Sufficient Firepower
Chapter 35: Sufficient Firepower
After issuing the mission, Zhang Qiming didn't sit idle. The Blood Jar Gatekeeper Valentin Cronin was only LV40, while his total level had already surpassed the opponent's. However, level is only part of the stats; skill proficiency and equipment quality are also very important.
He currently has 4.3 million experience points.
The experience points displayed on the panel were substantial, but maxing out all the skills for a first-tier class would consume nearly eight million points, far exceeding the total requirements for class leveling itself. Zhang Qiming knew very well that he couldn't pursue maxing out all skills right now; he only needed to max out the skills he would use in the upcoming battle.
So he simply opened the skill bar and poured in two million experience points.
[Experience Consumed: 2000000]
[精神冲击LV7→MAX]、[灵能屏障LV7→MAX]、[精神伪装LV6→MAX]、[武器失灵LV9→MAX]、[机械过热LV9→MAX]、[校準射击LV9→MAX]……
His experience pool suddenly dropped.
Current experience pool: 2300000
Zhang Qiming didn't stop; instead, he opened his weapon inventory and poured experience points into it.
[Experience points consumed: 100000]
[Weapon mastery level is full!]
[Intelligent Assault Rifle - White Night Eagle → Intelligent Assault Rifle - White Night Eagle - Modified]
[Quality Improvement: Blue → Blue+]
A new progress bar then pops up.
[Current Weapon: Smart Assault Rifle - White Night Eagle - Modified]
[Growth Progress: 0/500000]
Zhang Qiming looked at the 500,000 experience points needed for the next stage without even blinking.
"continue."
[Experience points consumed: 500000]
[Weapon mastery level is full!]
[Intelligent Assault Rifle - White Night Eagle - Modified → Intelligent Assault Rifle - White Night Eagle - Daytime Death]
[Quality Improvement: Blue+ → Excellent/Purple-]
[Progress Development: Your current skill level is insufficient for the next stage of advancement!]
This time, the White Night Eagle has changed significantly.
He could sense that inside the weapon bay, the White Night Eagle's gun shell had emerged from its original matte black with a very faint platinum pattern, the muzzle brake had been compressed into a more streamlined multi-segment structure, the built-in fire control module seemed to have opened a calm eye, and the machine spirit echo in the weapon bay had become clearer, like a falcon that had finally sharpened its claws.
[Current Weapon: Smart Assault Rifle - White Night Eagle - Daytime Death!]
[Quality: Excellent/Purple-]
[Attack Power: 210-420]
[New entry]:
[Daytime Death Lock-On: For targets that are already injured, unbalanced, or have broken shields, projectile tracking is enhanced, dealing +20% damage]
[Three-Point Hunt: After hitting the same target three times in a row, the fourth attack triggers "Hunting Modifier", dealing an additional penetrating damage.]
Looking at the new panel of White Night Eagle - Daytime Death, Zhang Qiming finally showed a hint of satisfaction.
He then glanced at the remaining experience points.
Current experience pool: 1700000
There are 1.7 million left. Keep this experience for future use, as it will be needed for on-the-spot skill upgrades, mission changes, and any unexpected situations.
As for the supporting ammunition and tactical equipment, Zhang Qiming did not intend to develop them from scratch.
Armor-piercing rounds, prosthetic body destruction rounds, electromagnetic interference mines, short-duration EMP pulse nails, and high-frequency heat dissipation destruction rounds—these are all equipment specifically designed for the Blood Tank Gatekeeper.
Zhang Qiming contacted Belissau Caul directly.
In Stellaris, blueprints are of great significance to professionals who walk the path of myriad machines. They are the legal basis for creating all functional mechanical creations, and contain complete material formulas, manufacturing processes, energy circuits, and structural designs.
A true master of manufacturing is one who has mastered a blueprint; relying solely on experience and disassembly can at best only repair, modify, and roughly imitate items, and it is difficult to reliably replicate the complete function of an item.
However, those who choose the blueprint route will have more freedom. They do not need to spend extra experience or skill points to learn from existing blueprints. As long as they meet the prerequisite knowledge, job level, and manufacturing conditions, they can directly add them to their manufacturing library.
For players, obtaining a suitable blueprint often involves running quests, grinding reputation, running dungeons, and currying favor with NPCs.
After receiving the blueprints, they still have to collect materials, find workshops, and pay handling fees. In the end, they may even lose a batch of resources due to a manufacturing failure.
Zhang Qiming's master creator is primarily based on the Machine Soul, and among the remaining two auxiliary paths, he chose drawing and invention.
So now his task is much simpler—call Doraemon.
He told Doraemon that he needed blueprints so he could build it himself later, and also asked Doraemon to build it for him first, since time was tight and the task was heavy, and he was too lazy to make it by hand.
After hearing his request, the mechanical sage didn't ask any further questions and immediately sent him a package of five blueprints.
[You have obtained the blueprint: White Night Eagle Armor-Piercing Round]
[You have obtained the blueprint: Prosthetic Destruction Bullet - Nerve Severing Type]
You have obtained the blueprint: Swarm Electromagnetic Interference Mine.
[You have obtained the blueprint: Short-duration EMP Pulse Nail]
[You have obtained the blueprint: High-Frequency Heat Dissipation Destruction Bomb]
Zhang Qiming felt quite pleased as he watched the continuous stream of notifications. This was the true value of the Leader Pool's Science Officer; not only did they provide blueprints, but they also helped him build equipment.
Half a day later, new news came from Kaul's side.
"The equipment is ready. I've had a mechanical clone place it at the No. 3 underground maintenance outpost near you. All ammunition is compatible with the White Night Eagle, and the explosives and jamming equipment have been secured with safety locks."
After reading the message, Zhang Qiming went directly to Repair Site No. 3.
He arrived at the stronghold soon.
The hideout was located beneath an abandoned cooling station, with a sign outside that read "Old Pipeline Repair Company," but inside it was filled with workbenches, packaging boxes, and cryogenic storage cabinets.
Several bots manufactured by Kaul were charging in the corner, welding torches hung from the robotic arms by the wall, and there was still a metallic smell in the air after precision machining.
Zhang Qiming unlocked the permissions, and the encapsulation box popped open layer by layer.
The first row contains ammunition pouches, the second row contains tactical throwables, and the third row contains several pulse spikes individually secured in shock-absorbing slots. Each piece of equipment bears a meticulously labeled Kaul-style tag, with its serial number, purpose, hazard level, and target user all written on the side.
He picked up the first box of ammunition.
[White Night Eagle Armor-Piercing Rounds]
[Type: Special Ammunition/Kinetic Armor Penetrator]
[Compatible Weapon: Smart Assault Rifle - White Eagle Series]
[Base Damage Modifier: Weapon Attack Power × 115%]
[Armor Penetration Correction: +45%]
[Armor Structure Damage: +30%]
[Deals an additional 18% structural damage to targets with prosthetic skeletons/mechanical shells]
[Special Effect: If the target is in a state of shield breakage, imbalance, or armor damage, the armor penetration correction for this attack is increased by an additional 15%]
……
The second box of ammunition had a shorter bullet with fine red guide lines engraved on its surface, and the inside of the cartridge case contained a micro-damage chip specifically designed to interfere with neural interfaces.
[Prosthetic Destruction Bullet - Nerve Severing Type]
[Type: Special Ammunition/Cybernetics Destruction]
[Compatible Weapon: Smart Assault Rifle - White Eagle Series]
[Base Damage Modifier: Weapon Attack Power × 105%]
[Cybernetic Damage Modifier: +40%]
[Neural interface disruption rate: baseline 12%]
[When the device hits a prosthetic docking point, operating system interface, prosthetic joint, or spinal wiring: the rate of neural interface disruption increases to 28%]
……
Next were three gray-black cylindrical mines with honeycomb-shaped heat dissipation holes on the outside and a set of small split-type electromagnetic pulse generators inside.
[Swarm-type electromagnetic interference lightning]
[Type: Tactical Throwings/Area Disruption]
[Area of effect: 12 meters radius]
[Duration: 4 seconds]
[Interference intensity of electronic devices: Medium]
[For small drones/low-level automated turrets: 45% failure rate, 60% error rate]
[For standard prosthetic modules: 25% chance of triggering loop hysteresis]
[Effectiveness reduced by 50% against highly resistant military equipment]
[Special Effect: The swarm pulse will perform three short-interval scans within the range, with each scan independently determining the interference effect.]
……
Zhang Qiming placed the electromagnetic interference mine into the tactical hook, and then took out the several individually packaged black nails, each only the length of a finger, with a disposable pulse trigger button embedded at the end.
[Short-duration EMP pulse nail]
[Type: Close-range sabotage device/Targeted pulse]
[Installation methods: manual nailing/magnetic fixing/mechanical force-assisted embedding]
[Pulse range: 2 meters radius of the target contact point]
[Duration: 2 seconds]
[After the prosthetic shell hits: 35% probability of local loop short circuit]
[Large mechanical targets: Cannot be completely paralyzed; only the hit module is locally affected.]
[Special Effect: If inserted into a target heat sink, power pipeline, neural interface, or operating system node, the pulse effect is increased by 40%]
The last compartment contained three special ammunition bullets with relatively long warheads. The cartridge cases had a thin silver-white stripe on them, and inside were encapsulated a high-frequency turbulence structure designed for the heat dissipation system of heavy prosthetic bodies.
……
[High-Frequency Heat Dissipation Destruction Bomb]
[Type: Special Ammunition/Heat Dissipation Destruction]
[Compatible Weapon: Smart Assault Rifle - White Eagle Series]
[Base Damage Modifier: Weapon Attack Power × 105%]
[Heat load accumulation: +25 points/heat load]
[For prosthetic targets under overload conditions: heat load accumulation doubles]
[Additional Status: High-Frequency Thermal Disorder - Reduces the effectiveness of the target's prosthetic body's cooling-related skills by 20% for 6 seconds]
[Synergy Effect: If the target is also affected by [Mechanical Overheat], this projectile deals an additional 15% mechanical damage.]
……
These items are all aimed at Cronin's weaknesses.
After inspecting the equipment, Zhang Qiming nodded in satisfaction; the old man was always reliable.
The players are already gearing up, and we're also well-prepared. We're about ready to start our first Skyward team-building activity.