Chapter Forty-Four: Rocket Launcher (Frost Hawk Exclusive)

“Lifetime quest for low-grade artifact is now being initiated. You have been detected as a rare class. Evaluating rare class [Frost Hawk]…”

“Evaluation complete. Due to the rare class [Frost Hawk] having exceptionally high growth potential, your lifetime quest difficulty for low-grade artifacts is increased by 500%.”

“Searching the artifact vault for equipment suitable for [Frost Hawk] class—none found. The quest reward will automatically be converted to [Low-Grade Artifact Essence]. Conversion rate: For every 1% quest completion, you will receive 1 Low-Grade Artifact Essence.”

“???”

What is going on?

Did my hidden class offend someone? Not only do I not get an artifact, but now the quest difficulty is increased by a whopping 500%? How am I supposed to play like this?

Huang Yunshuo vented furiously, but it was useless. The artifact gift box remained unmoved, displaying the same prompts over and over.

“Forget it. I'll see what this Low-Grade Artifact Essence is when the time comes. Since it's related to artifacts, it must be something pretty amazing.”

Feeling a bit more spirited, Huang Yunshuo clicked on Quest One.

“Quest: Defeat Level 10 Plastic-grade boss, Rooster Cluckcluck.”

“Completion Condition 1: Deal at least 20% damage to Rooster Cluckcluck.”

“Completion Condition 2: Land the final blow on Rooster Cluckcluck.”

“Completion Condition 3: Do not die during the process of killing Rooster Cluckcluck.”

“All three conditions must be met for the quest to be considered complete, granting 1% quest completion reward.”

Ha.

You go ahead, I'll just eat lemons.

That’s all Huang Yunshuo wanted to say now.

Defeating a level 10 boss, jumping through a bunch of hoops, and only receiving 1% completion? He suddenly felt a bit grateful.

Luckily, there were no Frost Hawk class equipment in the artifact vault. Otherwise, he'd be like those mortgage slaves in Earth's past civilizations—doomed to spend a lifetime shackled to artifact quests.

His quests were 500% harder than the average player’s. If it became unbearable, he could simply refuse to do them. After all, the more completion, the more Low-Grade Artifact Essence he’d get. The thought was comforting.

“A level 5 bunny already has 50 attack. The real Rooster Cluckcluck must have several hundred. I’ll revisit this matter later.”

With a cold snort, he realized two hours had passed. Rolling up his sleeves, he headed eagerly to find Wang Dachui.

“Brother Wang, how’s it going? What’s the situation?”

No sooner had Huang Yunshuo greeted the sweat-drenched Wang Dachui than he was captivated by a gleaming, gun-like single-soldier rocket launcher displayed on the counter.

It was 1.2 meters long, with a barrel diameter of 15 centimeters. It had a magazine, a grip, and a trigger, but no stock—just looking at it, it seemed incredibly heavy.

The magazine was empty. Huang Yunshuo counted six slots for rockets, each about 20 centimeters long.

Rocket Launcher [Frost Hawk] (White) *Rare, Level 10

Attack: 25–30

Agility: -10

Skill 1: Rapid Fire—Increase weapon firing speed by 5% or reload speed by 10% for 3 seconds; cooldown 15 seconds.

Skill 2: Knockback—Fire a knockback rocket to push targets within a 3x3 area away; cooldown 30 seconds.

Rage Skill: Fire Suppression—Fire 10 rockets within one second, saturating a 3x3 area.

Unique Passive: Targets hit directly are knocked back, suffer a [Severe Injury], and are inflicted with 10 seconds of bleeding and 1 second of stun; those caught in the blast are pushed away and slowed for 3 seconds.

“Drip.”

Huang Yunshuo heard the sound of his own saliva hitting the floor and quickly wiped his mouth: “Can I take it now?”

“Of course. It belongs to you,” Wang Dachui replied, his gaze full of parental affection as he looked at the rocket launcher.

Huang Yunshuo noticed a coin-sized opening under the thick barrel, presumably the knockback rocket’s muzzle.

Stowing away his battered iron sword, Huang Yunshuo lifted the rocket launcher into his arms.

“Whoa, this must weigh at least 20 kilograms.”

No wonder it deducted 10 agility. Even with his 104 strength, it felt close to 20 kilos. For players with only 10 strength, this thing would crush them flat.

Attack: 51–58!

Explosive!

With an attack bonus of 25–30, it surpassed the combined stats of two battered iron swords. One shot could take out a third of the health of players with over 20 defense!

“A ranged weapon, with area-of-effect damage, knockback, stun, and slow—this is insane. I can’t wait to PK!”

Huang Yunshuo’s face lit up with excitement as he caressed the rocket launcher, unable to put it down.

The moment he acquired the weapon, his rage meter unlocked. Dealing or receiving damage, or simply accumulating over time, would gradually fill his rage.

Once rage was full, he could unleash Fire Suppression!

Ten rockets in one second, totaling over 600 damage.

“I just want to ask—who else? Who else? Who else!”

Standing on the street outside the smithy, Huang Yunshuo laughed into the sky, repeating his question three times. Pride surged through him, and he felt invincible.

“What is that thing?”

Huang Yunshuo was already familiar to most of the level 10 players in Stone Platform Town, but seeing the white-tier weapon in his hands—a massive contraption—left them stunned.

This thing looked just like a rocket launcher, though not shoulder-fired; rather, it resembled a hand-held cannon for exosuit soldiers.

Was it really his weapon?

Excuse me.

How are they supposed to compete?

While they struggled with feeble feather dusters, he had a white-tier iron sword—and now this monster to intimidate them?

“I really want to fire it, just to see what happens—even if it’s just at the air.”

Huang Yunshuo’s heart itched, but then he froze.

Right, he had no ammo.

He quickly checked the equipment. A prompt informed him that rocket ammunition needed to be crafted from materials.

“…”

A sense of foreboding crept over him. He instinctively clutched his waist, though there was no wallet there.

Materials for crafting rockets (each batch of 6):

Gunpowder x6, Low-Carbon Steel x6, High-Carbon Steel x1, Red Copper x1, Mercury x1.

Huang Yunshuo felt the urge to cough up blood, holding onto the wall and slowly sinking to the ground.

It felt like a knife to the chest, truly.

Since the server opened, materials had been scarce. Of the items needed for rockets, he knew the price of two.

Red Copper: 3 copper coins per unit. Mercury: 10 copper coins per unit.

Gunpowder and the steels weren’t ordinary either. Let’s assume 3 copper coins for each. Six rockets cost 52 copper coins?!

One rocket: 8–9 copper coins. How could anyone afford this? Might as well call it a night.

This class was simply unplayable; better to stick with the iron sword.

A hundred rockets would be gone in less than two minutes, costing nearly a thousand copper coins. Each rocket cost about as much as a 50-health healing potion. It was soul-crushing.

“Well, no matter what, I’ll try it out first.”

Thankfully, all crafting materials were available in the system shop. With a sigh, Huang Yunshuo entered the store.