John first feigned an attack, stepping into the hall just long enough to draw the monsters’ aggro and pull them toward the entrance.
Once they were lured out, he retreated back to the safe zone, giving himself a few extra seconds of breathing room. He placed the Iron Codes in a circle around him and opened the Shell window.
"Twenty codes only got sucked in... That’s a good sign," he noted. The Shell ability left only two Iron Codes behind on the ground, while the familiar five code lines appeared for every single Iron Code digitised into the interface.
Just as he had done before, he began the process of writing the final five codes of the sword at the bottom of the window. His mind raced fast, calculating and balancing the nurical parater values to match the mass and quality of the twenty Iron Codes he had provided.
"Please work..."
He knew that a failure now would be a massive setback. Success, however, would pave the path for him to finally get out of this place. Just as he prayed for success and gave the Enter command, the system chid with a notification that wasn’t a success ssage, but wasn’t a total failure either.
[Ding! The codes you provided aren’t enough!]
[Ding! The Coding Structure of the Sword needs more data!]
[Ding! Coding Weapons Proficiency gained 1 point!]
[Ding! You consud 1 ntal Point in your failed attempt!]
"More data?" John was startled, his brow furrowing as he leaned in to double-check his Shell window and the code lines he wrote there. "Like what exactly?"
[Ding! Special effect is needed!]
[Ding! You can set it to be picked by the system to match the specifications of the Iron Codes you have, or you can enter a special effect yourself and risk losing the twenty Iron Codes provided in the attempt!]
"Losing the twenty Iron Codes? No, thanks! You pick it for then!" John didn’t hesitate. He was a hacker, but he wasn’t a gambler, and he didn’t have a clue about this world’s weapons’ Special Effects syntax to risk a manual entry.
[Ding! Acknowledged!]
[Ding! The system needs ten more Iron Codes to fulfil this requirent!]
[Ding! You need to add a special Code line with a Special Effect Parater being selected by the system!]
"In other words... You just want ten more Iron Codes," John rolled his eyes, sighing at the blatant resource sink. "Fine, you greedy system. I’ll bring you the ten Iron Codes you desire!"
He didn’t fully understand the technical requirents the system was imposing, but he could tell the sword he was trying to code now was fundantally different from his first one.
He returned to the hall, fueled by a mixture of annoyance, anticipation, and excitent. He killed ten more Goblins in two efficient batches of five, his movents getting smoother and more fluid with every kill as his Speed stat continued to climb.
"I gained twenty-five more Iron Codes," he checked the loot from the last ten kills. He also found ten of each potion and five more pieces of useless fabric. "I have more than enough to satisfy the system’s needs now!"
He had cleared exactly half of the monsters in the last hall by this point. The vast chamber looked noticeably emptier, though the Boss still sat motionless on his throne, watching. John returned to his workshop in the corridor. He added the extra coding line as the system had requested as thirty Iron Codes vanished into the Shell window.
"Enter!"
John spoke the command out loud, his voice firm. He stood perfectly still, his breath held, watching and waiting.
[Ding! Congratulations! You succeeded in coding a sword!]
[Goblin Long Sword: Level 15]
Stats: Strength: 165 | Durability: 66 | Sharpness: 63 | Weight: 315
Special Effect: Triple Slash Effect!
Triple Slash Effect: Goblin Long Sword special effect. Consus 100 ntal Points per activation.
Condition: The target Defence stat must be lower than the user’s.
Effect: Creates three after-images of the sword, all slashing at the target and dealing 300% damage! If the target Defence stat is higher than the user’s, the effect is halved.
Requirents: Strength: 40 | Defense: 45 | HP: 45 | INT: 50 | ntal Power Cap: 300
Status: Can be upgraded further. Next upgrade requirents: 100 Iron Codes!
Description: A nice sword, can sting!
[Ding! You gained 10 points in Coding Weapons Proficiency!]
"Wow!" John stood in his place, absolutely amazed by the scary stats he read about his new weapon. He looked at his hands, where the long structure of codes had manifested into a beautiful, gleaming long sword that stretched over one ter in length.
The edge shimred with a faint green hue—the mark of the special effect he had been forced to include. "It calculated even the extra ten Iron Codes it sucked from ... That’s amazing!"
He began to calculate his new combat potential, and this ti, the numbers were staggering. By adding the values of the weapon’s Strength and Sharpness, he realised the blade itself provided a base offensive value of 228.
"Just from this sword alone, I can deliver 228 damage points! Adding my own Strength value of 44, it ans my total damage output now is 272!"
His eyes glead with a fierce light. He knew the added special effect made it even scarier.
"All the monsters here have higher Defence than , so that ans the Triple Slash damage is halved. But even halved, against that boss, I can deal over 200 damage points in a single activation, baby! Two slashes and that boss monster is a goner! Hahaha!"
He couldn’t restrain his laughter. A few minutes ago, he was worried and stressed by the re thought of entering the hall. Now, he felt like the apex predator. "The cost though..." He checked the special effect again. Paying 100 ntal Points was a heavy price, especially since his current reserves were low after the intense recent fights.
"I’ll consu these potions then." He hadn’t wanted to use his ergency supplies earlier, but he knew he wouldn’t have many chances to use MP Absorption against a boss that could potentially kill him in one hit, not to ntion he couldn’t use it that much against the Elites so far.
Without any hesitation, he pulled out the glowing bottles and consud eight of them in rapid succession.
[ntal Point (MP): 317/325]
"That’s enough, I guess."
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