The next morning, the rain finally stopped. The air in the Slums smelled like wet concrete and old garbage.
Inside the small apartment, Donald was staring at his heavy steel wrench. He swung it once, listening to the whoosh sound. Then, he placed it on the floor and sighed.
Evelyn was sitting on the bed, wrapping a thick gray scarf around her head and neck to hide her face.
"You’re right," Donald said. "The wrench won’t work. It’s a blunt weapon. Hitting a D-Rank metal Golem with this will just break my own arms."
"A Junk Golem is made of thick scrap armor," Evelyn agreed. Her voice was muffled through the scarf. "You need a piercing weapon. Something that can punch a hole straight through the metal to reach its mana heart. A spear, or a spike."
"I have two hundred credits left," Donald said. He opened his empty hands. "That’s barely enough for a rusty kitchen knife."
Evelyn stood up. She pulled her broken leather jacket tight. "There is a place near the edge of Sector 4. Old Man Jin’s Scrap Yard. He buys broken weapons from dead Awakeners and sells them for cheap. Most of it is total trash, but sometimes, you can find a piece of sharp steel."
"Are you sure you should go outside?" Donald asked, looking at her disguise. "The assassins..."
"I’ll keep my head down," Evelyn said. "Besides, you don’t know what a real Awakener weapon looks like. You need my eyes."
Donald didn’t argue. He actually didn’t need her eyes, because he had his [Valuation Eye], but he couldn’t tell her that.
They left the apartment and walked through the busy, dirty streets. People pushed past them. No one looked twice at a poor boy and a woman wearing a hood.
Ten minutes later, they arrived at a large lot surrounded by a tall wire fence. Inside, there were huge piles of rusted metal, broken armor, and chipped swords. It looked like a graveyard for heroes.
An old man with a missing eye was sitting on a broken chair near the gate. This was Jin. He didn’t even look up as they walked in. "Fifty credits just to look. Two hundred credits for any weapon in the front pile," Jin grunted.
Donald paid the fifty credits. He only had one hundred and fifty left.
They walked over to the front pile. It was a mountain of junk. There were bent spears, swords broken in half, and shields with giant holes in them.
"Start digging," Evelyn whispered. "Look for a weapon made of dark steel. Dark steel holds its edge even when it’s old."
Donald nodded. He activated his [Valuation Eye].
Instantly, his vision filled with floating text. Almost everything in the pile had a gray box over it.
Target: Broken Longsword
Value: Junk
Combat Value: Zero
Target: Rusted Iron Spear
Value: Junk
Combat Value: Zero
He spent ten minutes moving heavy pieces of metal. Evelyn pointed out a few items, but Donald’s System showed they were all completely useless.
Donald was starting to lose hope. Then, his eyes caught a faint, dull gold glow near the bottom of a pile.
He dug his hands into the rusted metal, pulling heavy shields and broken pipes out of the way. His new Level 2 strength made it easy.
At the bottom of the pile, covered in thick black grease and mud, was a heavy metal tube. It was about two feet long, as thick as Donald’s arm, with a handle on the side. It looked like a piece of a broken car engine.
But the System text floating above it was bright gold.
Target: Type-3 Kinetic Pile Bunker (Damaged)
Original Value: B-Rank Weapon
Current State: F-Rank (Jammed. Requires sudden burst of Mana to clear the kinetic chamber).
Combat Value: Extremely High (Armor Piercing).
Required Investment: 10 Mana Points to unlock.
Donald’s heart jumped. A Pile Bunker was a weapon used by heavy frontline fighters. You punched the enemy with it, and a thick steel spike shot out of the tube with explosive force. It was literally made to crack heavy armor.
He pulled it out of the mud. It was incredibly heavy, weighing at least thirty pounds.
Evelyn walked over and looked at what he was holding. She shook her head. "Kid, that’s just a broken piece of construction equipment. A hydraulic piston. You can’t fight with that."
"I don’t know," Donald lied, acting like he was just guessing. "It feels solid. I think I can use it like a hammer."
Evelyn sighed. "Suit yourself. But you are going to get yourself killed."
Donald carried the heavy, greasy tube over to Old Man Jin. "I want to buy this."
Jin opened his one good eye. He looked at the tube and laughed. "You want to buy a broken truck part? Fine. Give me one hundred credits."
Donald handed over the coins. He now had exactly fifty credits left to his name.
They walked out of the scrap yard and stopped in a quiet alley.
"Evelyn," Donald said, placing the heavy Pile Bunker on a wooden crate. "Watch this."
He placed his hands on the thick metal tube. He closed his eyes and focused on the pool of warm energy inside his chest. He had 17 total Mana points now. The System said it needed 10 to unlock the weapon.
He pushed the mana down his arms and directly into the cold metal.
Clank.
A bright blue spark flashed from the side of the tube. The thick layers of black grease suddenly burned away like dust.
HISSSS.
A burst of high-pressure air shot out of the back of the weapon. The heavy metal clicked and shifted. The rusty, jammed gears inside suddenly snapped perfectly into place. The dull metal now gleamed with a dangerous, dark gray shine.
Evelyn gasped, pulling her scarf down. Her blue eyes were wide with total shock.
"That... that’s a Type-3 Kinetic Pile Bunker," she whispered, stepping closer. "Those are restricted military Guild weapons. How did you know what it was under all that dirt? And how did you fix the mana seal?"
Donald picked up the weapon by its side handle. It fit perfectly over his right arm. It was heavy, but his SSS+ Investor strength handled it easily.
"I just got lucky, I guess," Donald said with a small smile. He aimed the weapon at an empty brick wall and pulled the heavy trigger on the handle.
BOOM!
A thick, silver spike the size of a baseball bat shot out of the front of the tube with explosive speed. The sudden kickback nearly knocked Donald off his feet. The spike smashed into the brick wall, blowing a hole straight through the solid stone. A second later, the spike loudly retracted back into the tube with a sharp clack.
Evelyn stared at the smoking hole in the wall. Then she looked at Donald.
"Lucky," she repeated slowly. She didn’t believe him for a second, but she was too amazed to argue. "You just bought a B-Rank armor-piercing weapon for a hundred credits. A weapon that can blow a hole in a tank."
Donald smiled and patted the smoking metal tube. His [Valuation Eye] really was the greatest skill in the world.
"Are you ready to go hunting for a Golem?" Donald asked.
Evelyn pulled her scarf back up, a fierce, excited look finally returning to her eyes. "Let’s go break some metal."