Chapter 85: The Master of Firearms

After exchanging his points for credit at the Hunter Association, Lin Huang happened to catch sight of a holographic advertisement at the entrance. The ad projection had just flashed past two versions of the Black Eagle 33—one in pistol form, the other as a sniper rifle. At first glance, Lin Huang thought it was an ad for the Black Eagle 33 itself, but after watching for a while, he realized it was actually a game called “Master of Firearms.”

The game, Master of Firearms, was a collaboration between Desert Eagle Corporation and Hack Industries. Lin Huang was no stranger to it; in his memories, this game had already taken the world by storm back when he was still a student. In the past two years, with continual updates, the game had only grown in complexity and depth. Originally a pastime for ordinary people, now even many hunters were playing it.

But hunters didn’t play just for amusement—they used it for training. Numerous gunsmiths and hunters who took up gunsmithing as a side profession used the game to hone their marksmanship. The weapons in-game were perfectly simulated, with ballistics and all sorts of data matching real firearms down to the smallest detail.

From the very beginning, the game had been expensive—a single game ring sold for three thousand credits. After several rounds of upgrades, the price of the ring had now soared to over ten thousand.

The ad ran for about three minutes. Lin Huang stood and watched it all the way through, discovering that Master of Firearms had launched a special server just for hunters. Not only was there a dedicated area for gunsmiths, but the range of weapons had also expanded beyond firearms to include other long-range weapons—bows, crossbows, throwing knives, and more. There was even a special free-for-all zone with no weapon restrictions.

“No wonder they’re advertising in front of the Hunter Association—they’re clearly aiming to promote the game to the entire hunter community.” Lin Huang checked the price of the latest game ring: it was already up to thirteen thousand credits.

That would have been a stretch for the old Lin Huang, but now it was barely a drop in the bucket.

“I’ve never tried it before. I’ll buy a game ring and see for myself if I really have a talent for gunsmithing.” Once the thought struck him, Lin Huang acted immediately, scanning the QR code at the bottom right of the ad and entering the order page.

He glanced at the delivery address—it defaulted to his home in Wulin Town—then hit the purchase button.

A message arrived instantly: “You have purchased ‘Master of Firearms’ V Edition. We will ship your order as soon as possible. To cancel, please log in to the official website within three hours.”

He marked the message as read and closed the order page. Glancing at the time—9:18—he headed into a nearby café.

In this world, there were far more varieties of coffee beans than on Earth—over three hundred and ninety. Most cafés offered more than a hundred kinds of coffee drinks and stocked at least twenty or thirty different beans.

Lin Huang ordered a regular black coffee and chose a window seat at a single table. He had always loved the aroma of coffee; back on Earth, he drank it often to get through late-night work. He picked the most bitter black coffee because its sharpness helped him focus his mind.

While waiting for his coffee, he opened up a map of the wild zones near Wuyou City. He wanted to use the next few days to quickly raise his life energy to the third level of Iron Black.

Most of the wild zones around Wuyou City were first-tier; second-tier zones were at least two hundred kilometers away.

As he was scanning the map, a demure-looking waitress brought his coffee over.

“Would you like some sugar, sir?”

“No, thank you.” Lin Huang thanked her, raised the cup, and inhaled. The scent was even richer than coffee on Earth.

He took a small sip and couldn’t help but frown—not because it tasted bad, but because it was so bitter it could rival even bitter herbal tea.

“These beans really are different from the ones on Earth,” he muttered under his breath, but he still didn’t add any sugar.

He continued studying the map and soon settled on the best spot.

“Ghostface Canyon looks good. Second-tier wild zone, plenty of space, and the mountains flanking the canyon are both second-tier as well. There must be tens of thousands of bronze-mirror monsters there. It’s a little over two hundred kilometers from Wuyou City—should only take a bit over ten minutes on the Violet-Eyed White Eagle. If I get tired of monster-hunting, I can come back to the hotel at night and sleep in a real bed. Much better than camping out.”

After finishing his coffee and paying the bill, Lin Huang summoned the Azure Wolf and sped off toward the stronghold’s west gate.

The waitress who had served him was clearing tables. Looking up, she caught sight of Lin Huang summoning the Azure Wolf and mounting it, and couldn’t help but exclaim.

“What’s wrong?” a fellow waitress asked in confusion.

“That young customer just now—he’s a tamer!”

“You must be seeing things!” Lin Huang had left too quickly for the others to notice, so the rest just shook their heads and laughed.

“I really did see it—he left riding a giant azure wolf.”

“You really need to read fewer web novels, Xiao Liu,” the manager couldn’t help but comment.

“You’re all wrong about Xiao Liu this time,” said an elderly man, leaning on a cane as he slowly stood up. “I saw it too as the young man left—he summoned a first-tier bronze Azure Wolf, and he didn’t use a beast-taming token. He’s clearly a tamer. He looked about fifteen or sixteen. I’ve never seen a tamer that young before.”

The old man was obviously a regular. Once he spoke, the other staff fell silent.

“If Old Jia saw it, then it must be true,” the manager quickly agreed.

Lin Huang, of course, knew nothing of this little episode in the coffee shop.

Riding the Azure Wolf, he dashed along the road, attracting plenty of envious stares.

Once outside the west gate, he recalled the wolf and summoned the Violet-Eyed White Eagle, then soared westward toward Ghostface Canyon.

“A mutated Violet-Eyed White Eagle!”

A hunter squad happened to be passing by and saw Lin Huang summon the eagle. They immediately recognized it as a mutant beast. Their eyes flickered with wariness, and they hastily moved aside.

Only after Lin Huang had flown out of sight did one of the hunters speak. “A tamer that young—I wonder which noble family produced him. People really are born into different lives...”

It took Lin Huang less than fifteen minutes to reach Ghostface Canyon from the west gate.

As soon as the eagle landed, he recalled it and summoned Bai and Black Charcoal.

Riding on Black Charcoal’s back, Lin Huang and his beasts began sweeping through the canyon.