He had originally been worried that revealing his strong desire would prompt the other party to raise the price on the spot—a common tactic in transactions. But then he considered that Gehrman Sparrow was already well-known, and with Anderson, the strongest hunter of the Misty Sea, as a witness, Oakefa Cannacross, though possibly a Sequence 5 powerhouse in the past, had long retired from the adventurer circle and only wanted a peaceful life. He certainly wouldn't dare offend Gehrman, fearing that the mad adventurer might not act then and there but would sneak into his manor in the dead of night.
Thus, his effort to maintain a detached attitude became purely a matter of maintaining that persona.
Seeing that Gehrman Sparrow was carefully examining and studying "Death Knell," Oakefa introduced in detail: "Its ability is actually quite simple: reaping lives. There are three ways to use it: "First, weakness attack—no activation required; just infuse spirituality and pull the trigger. It lets you discover the target's weakness from a mystical perspective, i.e., the place with the weakest defense, and provides the necessary accuracy, resulting in terrifying damage beyond normal.
"Second, lethal attack—you must cock the hammer before firing. Its feature is that no matter where you hit the target, it counts as a weakness attack. And if you actually strike a true weak point, it can kill a target with weak defenses in one shot. For targets skilled in defense, it can take care of them within three shots, including 'Guardians,' provided the intervals between shots don't exceed five seconds.
"Third, 'Massacre'—on the basis of weakness attack, you additionally supply over double the spirituality. This turns normal bullets into a shotgun effect, simultaneously attacking a large number of enemies in the direction the muzzle is aimed, making it area damage. To enhance the damage, you can use it on the basis of lethal attack by supplying over double the spirituality, which places a considerable burden on the user.
"It can also be combined with bullets of different properties to deal with different types of enemies."
Sounds like it corresponds to Sequence 5 "Reaper" of the "Hunter" pathway… Klein glanced at Anderson beside him and asked thoughtfully: "If the target is a dragon with physical strength reaching Sequence 4, how many lethal shots would it take to kill it?"
Oakefa was stunned for a moment and shook his head dazedly: "I've never encountered a dragon."
Let alone a dragon with a demigod-level physique!
Was Gehrman Sparrow planning to use this gun to slay a dragon? A demigod-level dragon at that? Wasn't that a bit too crazy? Oakefa suddenly felt that adventurers nowadays were completely different from when he was active—they didn't even consider the possibility of death!
Anderson coughed twice, cleared his throat, and said: "That depends on luck. Really, trust me, luck is very important!
"If you encounter a dragon that's already been beaten to the brink of death by someone else, then one shot will do it. If not, my suggestion is to run away quickly. Yeah, living is more important.
"Of course, if a demigod-level dragon doesn't defend itself and just stands there letting you shoot, then about five lethal shots should kill it."
Oakefa looked at Anderson, then at Gehrman Sparrow, and decided not to continue this topic. He turned and said: "Anderson told you about the negative effects of 'Death Knell,' right? After each use, you gain a new weakness that didn't exist before, or an existing weakness gets amplified and becomes more extreme. This effect lasts for six hours. Once, I became so afraid of cats that even after I had just finished killing a notorious pirate, I found myself in front of a newborn kitten, my legs weak, kneeling on the ground, screaming for help, crying and begging for mercy.
"Just carrying it isn't a big problem—only a bit thirsty. Drinking plenty of water and frequent trips to the restroom solve it."
Having an extra weakness could cause a lot of unexpected trouble… but relatively speaking, it's bearable… Klein deliberated and said: "Name your price."
"9000 pounds. Anderson should have mentioned it, that's my bottom line." Oakefa looked at the "Death Knell" revolver in Gehrman Sparrow's hand. "That's already cheap enough. If I weren't worried that getting to know more Beyonders would have a negative impact on my current life and actively trying to sell it, I could definitely get 12,000 pounds for it."
Indeed, for a magical item of this level, as long as the negative effects aren't too severe, meeting the right buyer could fetch a sky-high price… Normally, 10,000 to 12,000 pounds is reasonable… Klein was tempted to haggle, but the price Oakefa offered was so low that he felt embarrassed to take advantage further. So he said, "Mm, let me test it. If there's no problem, we'll close the deal."
He of course wasn't going to actually test-fire it, as that would give him an extra weakness. His method was to use spiritual exploration combined with divination lie detection to check. He did so quite candidly, paying no attention to Oakefa's and Anderson's gazes.
He planned to confirm later on the gray fog… However, Oakefa probably wouldn't dare deceive him. He must be very afraid of the mad adventurer's retaliation, since he had returned to a peaceful life with a wife and children… Klein put "Death Knell" on the table, lifted his suitcase, and took out 9000 pounds in cash that he had prepared in advance, brought from above the gray fog to the real world to "air out."
Oakefa took the money and quickly counted it, preliminarily verifying its authenticity and total.
"As expected of the most famous adventurer recently. It's rare to see someone who can come up with 9000 pounds in cash at once. Even some wealthy people don't have that much liquid capital." He stacked the bills one by one and sighed sincerely.
I once bought a key for 5000 pounds… Klein watched the 9000 pounds disappear into Oakefa's drawer, feeling a sudden emptiness inside.
I've roamed the seas for so long, saved up so much money, and it's all gone in a short time… Now I only have 2683 pounds in cash plus 6 gold coins, not even enough to buy a decent manor… Klein sighed inwardly, took out his ordinary revolver from his underarm holster, removed the bullets, and loaded them one by one into "Death Knell."