At the time of seeing the notification, even Zhao Ya couldn’t help but feel a bit excited.
For no other reason.
It’s really because unlocking the brain is just too difficult.
For that one percent progress, Zhao Ya exhausted all means, not only squeezing all available resources of flesh and blood but also wiping out all the evil Exotic Beasts within a thousand miles radius.
Yet even so, it took Zhao Ya several months before finally increasing the unlocking progress to the point of near promotion.
The second piece of good news came from the outside; people from the Mechanical Sect had arrived and brought with them the batch of items he had previously commissioned them to make.
"Temple Master, the items are right here, please check them!" Several disciples from the Mechanical Sect said respectfully.
This wasn’t just because Zhao Ya’s position as the Temple Master of the Azure Dragon Temple, but also due to his relationship with the Mechanical Sect.
One should know that the masters of the three major departments, Thunder and Fire, Heavenly Craft, and Mechanical Technology, all hold good relations with Zhao Ya.
Especially Jing Rou from the Thunder and Fire Department who specifically instructed them to maintain a good attitude before their visit.
Zhao Ya nodded with a smile and casually handed over a few packs of jerky.
"Thank you for your hard work, brothers; have some snacks to refresh yourselves, and leave the rest to us at the Azure Dragon Temple."
These disciples from the Mechanical Sect were naturally overjoyed.
Although their main occupation is in mechanism arts, their own cultivation is also extremely important.
And as long as they cultivate, they can’t do without jerky.
The jerky Zhao Ya handed over was evidently no ordinary product, even without opening it.
"Thank you, Senior Brother Zhao!"
These junior disciples were quite perceptive and immediately changed their address to Senior Brother for Zhao Ya.
Zhao Ya nodded and then reached over to untie the ropes and oilcloth on the carriage.
The whole action was skilled and natural, after all, Zhao Ya originally made his living doing this.
Under the oilcloth lay a dozen or so large boxes neatly lined up, and additionally, a rather exquisite long, narrow box was placed on top.
The box carried a seal that read "To be opened only by Zhao Ya".
"This was specially loaded for you by Senior Brother Jing before we left, as a gift for you."
A gift for me? Zhao Ya was slightly surprised.
But from the size of this long box, Zhao Ya suddenly had a few guesses.
Could it be that?
Could it really have been made?
Thinking of this, Zhao Ya couldn’t help but feel excited, immediately took the small box down, and without greeting anyone, turned and left.
Reaching a secluded place in the back mountains, Zhao Ya carefully tore open the seal and opened the box.
Inside lay a firearm.
This firearm was about one meter long, exquisitely crafted, and resembled a sniper rifle in many ways.
In fact, there was even something resembling a scope atop the receiver.
Zhao Ya could not hide the excitement on his face and reached to take it out from the box.
The receiver, bolt, barrel...
Zhao Ya fiddled with the firearm over and over, the look in his eyes growing hotter.
Indeed, it lived up to the reputation of the Mechanical Sect; he had casually mentioned it to Jing Rou in communication back then, never expected he would take it to heart, and actually managed to make it.
Moreover, both the material and craftsmanship don’t fall short of a modern sniper rifle.
But how about its power?
Zhao Ya enthusiastically fiddled with it for a while before setting down the gun, then took a pack of bullets and a letter out from the box.
The letter was written to him by Jing Rou, the content was simple, mainly about the inspiration he received from Zhao Ya’s idea concerning the sniper rifle back then.
Coincidentally, he had a newly developed Miracle Creation pattern in hand, and thus made it.
In the end, Jing Rou boasted that the gun’s power and accuracy reached a whole new height.
Even the latest product from the Mechanical Technology Department, the Crossbow, could not compare to it.
The only drawback is difficulties in mass production due to the complexity of deciphering the Miracle Creation pattern.
Otherwise, there would be nothing for the Mechanical Technology Department to do.
Zhao Ya automatically ignored Jing Rou’s bragging, put away the letter after reading, took out a bullet from the pack.
The bullet was made entirely of unknown metal, engraved with densely packed, complex patterns.
He loaded the bullet into the chamber and pulled back the bolt, then raised the gun and started aiming.
This scope, of course, wasn’t as clear as modern-day ones, although the principle of a telescope is quite simple, just a few lenses stacked together, yet the Mechanical Sect, despite their strength in mechanical crafting, hasn’t been able to produce qualified glass lenses.
The scope used on the rifle in Zhao Ya’s hand is actually made of high-quality natural crystal.
Yet even so, errors are inevitable.
However, these are not issues for Zhao Ya.
Presently, he can clearly see targets hundreds of meters away purely with his eyesight, hence the scope is largely optional for him.
Soon, after aiming at his target, Zhao Ya directly pulled the trigger.
BANG!
A loud explosion, and Zhao Ya felt as if his shoulder was slammed by an elephant.
This is him we’re talking about; replacing him with someone else, their shoulder would have likely been shattered.
Such massive recoil!
Zhao Ya was shocked, yet his gaze stayed locked onto the distant target.
The next instant, over five hundred meters away, a target about as tall as a person burst into pieces with a bang.
What’s more, even the hard rocks behind it were blasted with many pits and craters.
Yikes!
Even Zhao Ya involuntarily took a deep breath at this point.
Looks like Jing Rou wasn’t exaggerating in the letter. With the power and range of this gun, if it could really be mass-produced, then indeed there’d be no place for the Mechanical Technology Department.
Subsequently, Zhao Ya fired a few more shots excitedly, finding that within a range of a kilometer, both the power and accuracy reached a terrifying level.
And after exceeding a kilometer, its deviation wasn’t too significant, only beyond two kilometers did its power start to decline.
If not for the limited number of bullets, Zhao Ya would’ve loved to have more of a blast.
For it’s completely different from Martial Dao strikes.
Imagine, hiding in the bushes, lightly squeezing the trigger, and dropping a target a kilometer away.
What sort of feeling is that?
At least for Zhao Ya, it felt extremely satisfying.
Simultaneously, he also inwardly apologized in advance to future martial artists who would die under this gun.
Considering a Martial Artist, even not at the level of Meridian Opening, just being in the Fifth Realm, requires long and arduous cultivation.
Yet after years of challenging training, barely achieving some accomplishments, they’re dispatched by a bullet from a kilometer away.
Even if that bullet is expensive, it is still a form of overwhelming force.
Eventually, Zhao Ya reluctantly packed the gun and ammo away, deciding to carry them whenever he travels.
As this filled his last shortcoming.
Long-range by gunfire, close-range with martial arts, and if worse falls, there’s the Thunder Bomb.
Coupled with group attacks via the Poison Dao, solitary battles with blade skills, alongside the exceptional Lightweight Body Technique and near-perverse Golden Body Refining, it covers long-distance, melee, and defense comprehensively, worthy of being called a hexagonal warrior.
Zhao Ya thought to himself, if he encountered someone like himself on the battlefield, the sole conclusion would be to run as far as he could, never provoke.
With that, Zhao Ya finally felt at ease completely.
After putting the rifle safely away and returning to the front, the crowd had already unloaded the items from the carriage and were now counting them.
Inside the boxes, carefully wrapped in oilcloth, were all brand new Crossbows.
This is also a new product from the Mechanical Technology Department of the Mechanical Sect; once launched, Zhao Ya immediately wrote to book five thousand sets.
The reply from Liang Xin’an was, why not just order a hundred thousand?
It must be known that creating these is extremely difficult, just making a single crossbow bolt requires at least three days work by a skilled craftsman, even if counting the dogs guarding the door as labor can’t make five thousand sets.
After a round of haggling, Zhao Ya "reluctantly" reduced the quantity to three hundred sets.
Now is the first batch delivery.