"No, why on earth am I thinking about what comes after promotion? There’s still a third of Raccoon City left to clear out.
Next, I should continue upgrading my skills. I still have 2120 soul points remaining. Although I could barely level up the Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil to LV.7, this time, I’m going to prioritize Gun Master and Fighting Master first."
Based on the patterning of Technique Immunity and Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil, there’s a high probability that leveling up Gun Master and Fighting Master to LV.6 will grant a new additional attribute.
Therefore, though it also costs 1600 soul points, upgrading Gun Master and Fighting Master would be much more cost-effective compared to upgrading Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil, which is why Zhang Yanhang has been so set on increasing the skill levels of Gun Master and Fighting Master.
"Choose! Skill level up!"
[You’ve obtained the skill ’Gun Master LV.6’, and an additional attribute is being randomly selected.]
[Do you wish to choose the additional attribute for ’Gun Master LV.6’?] Fresh chapters posted on novel•fire.net
[Option One: Fast Gunman (By choosing Fast Gunman, ’Gun Master LV.6’ will acquire a suffix term ’Fast Gunman’, specializing the original skill’s bonus effects to some extent.
Specific specialization includes but is not limited to a slight reduction in remote attack power bonus, a moderate increase in related ’Hit’, ’Energy Storage’, ’Burst’ judgment attributes, and the addition of an extra ’Quick Shooting’ effect...)]
[Option Two: Sniper Master (By choosing Sniper Master, the ’Gun Master LV.6’ skill will completely transform into ’Sniper Master LV.7’.
Specific transformations include but aren’t limited to a significant reduction in remote attack power bonus for mid and short-range (within 1000 meters) attacks, a moderate increase in remote attack power bonus for long-distance and beyond visual range (over 3000 meters) attacks, and a moderate increase in related ’Armor Penetration’, ’Precision’, ’Deadly Strike’ judgment attributes...)]
[Option Three: Remote Attack Power +20%]
"Hmm? What’s this situation? Why does it seem different from when Technique Immunity and Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil were upgraded to LV.6?" Zhang Yanhang distinctly remembered that the Technique Immunity skill and Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil skill automatically gained a new additional attribute after reaching LV.6, but this Gun Master skill required a choice.
"But having the choice is also a good thing to a certain extent, as I can now select the most suitable additional attribute for myself." Zhang Yanhang began closely reviewing the three textual option boxes in front of him, wanting to find the one best suited for himself.
Firstly, Fast Gunman, just by hearing the name, Zhang Yanhang had already passed on this option; the term was too ambiguous, he didn’t want to tell people he was a Fast Gunman when introducing himself, and besides, he wasn’t aiming to be some obsolete Wild West cowboy, so definitely no.
Even though the effects of Fast Gunman seemed quite interesting, unfortunately, Zhang Yanhang wasn’t interested, "So, Fast Gunman is really out of the question, how about the second option, Sniper Master? Doesn’t seem too impressive either."
While choosing Sniper Master would mean a free upgrade, the problem was Zhang Yanhang wasn’t short of 1600 soul points, and more importantly, after choosing Sniper Master, it was likely that his combat style would undergo a massive shift—from a close-combat brawler who would not hesitate to throw down into a sniper that preferred to take out targets from a distance.
Being a sniper is indeed safer, but being a sniper obviously doesn’t fit the current situation in the Ashen World. If Zhang Yanhang wanted to hunt monsters, close combat and direct shooting would certainly be more efficient.
Long-range sniping wouldn’t be effective, and his hunting efficiency would inevitably be reduced, which would mean a slower rate of becoming stronger, signaling that he would need to put in more effort to catch up with the top-tier Awakeners who had Awakened their powers and entered the Ashen World six months earlier.
Therefore, a mere 1600 soul points clearly weren’t worth Zhang Yanhang making such a big sacrifice. If it were possible to upgrade directly from Gun Master LV.6 to Sniper Master LV.MAX, Zhang Yanhang might have hesitated a bit, but LV.7 simply doesn’t cut it—it’s not alluring enough.
Moreover, had the Sniper Master not reduced the remote attack power bonus for shootings within a kilometer, then Zhang Yanhang might really have considered this skill, after all, as his Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil skill continued to improve, his perception range would surely expand. Eventually, with his perception range, he should be able to easily achieve what’s called beyond visual range shooting.
At that point, not only could he rely on his perception to precisely locate the enemy, but he could also anticipate the enemy’s next move, achieving a hundred shots and a hundred hits from beyond visual range, confusing the enemy all the way to meet the King Yan. So, if in that scenario, he could have the effect from Sniper Master on top of that, it would definitely be great.
But the problem is, without the Sniper Master skill, Zhang Yanhang could accomplish this with his own prowess. Sniper Master would, at most, offer a bit of remote attack power bonus in the process, but require a great sacrifice in terms of remote attack power bonus at closer ranges, which seems rather ineffective.
And there’s another important issue: Zhang Yanhang currently doesn’t have a sniper rifle. Using an M4A1 rifle for sniping wouldn’t be realistic.
The bullets from an M4A1 would start drifting erratically after traveling over a thousand meters or so, and considering distances over three thousand meters? Don’t even think about it—the bullets would fall due to kinetic energy loss before reaching that distance.
In the Main World, he could look up the blueprints of sniper rifles and craft one with Alchemy, but this is the Ashen World. He doesn’t have any resources for research, and he hadn’t seriously followed such matters, so relying solely on his own exploration, who knows when he could forge a usable sniper rifle.
But one thing is certain: the first few sniper rifles he would forge would have a high probability of barrel explosions. So, he’s not going to do something so senseless.
"I choose Option Three! Remote Attack Power +20%." Yes, additional attributes like Option Three that offer a simple and straightforward increase in remote attack power are exactly what Zhang Yanhang prefers.
After making his selection, Zhang Yanhang immediately checked the skill effects of Gun Master LV.6.
[Gun Master LV.6 (Passive)]
[Skill Effect: Increase Remote Attack Power by 60% (+10%), improve proficiency in firearms and related long-range combat abilities.]
[Additional Attribute: Remote Attack Power +20%.]