Chapter 95: Legendary Fame
Closing the door to the alchemy chamber, Zhou Ning tidied up the workbench, laid out the materials he had bought, and began the process of crafting a medium-sized mechanical construct.
However, just before he started, he froze for a moment and quickly opened the control panel.
Just now, without any warning, he had suddenly gained a point of Legendary Fame.
[Notice: Your fame in the Kingdom of Bryston has reached the threshold. One point of Legend Fame has been converted into Legendary Fame. You currently have 3 points of Legend Fame pending conversion.]
[Legendary Fame (Kingdom of Bryston): The Strikingly Handsome Wandering Gunslinger / Mysterious Arms Dealer, Wayne Sturwell (Legend Rank 1) — "Legend has it that he is an extraordinarily handsome Wandering Gunslinger. He once helped the Sunwatchers defuse an alchemical bomb crisis and also single-handedly killed the fire-element Archmage Elvis. His marksmanship is one of a kind, elegant and unparalleled, and his background is shrouded in mystery. Rumor has it he's also an arms dealer backed by a secret organization that supplies him with a constant stream of advanced and expensive firearms."]
Zhou Ning: ???
What the hell?
It didn't take long for him to piece things together:
He recalled that in the simulator, he had previously earned 4 points of Legend Fame.
The first time was when Vampire Zhou Ning won his third Nobel Prize.
The second was when Vampire Zhou Ning led the Howling Assault Squad to help the Allies win WWII and established S.H.I.E.L.D.
The third was when Pirate King Zhou Ning annihilated the Celestial Dragons and the World Government, establishing a new regime.
The fourth was when Mad Clown Zhou Ning planted bombs that nearly wiped out the Avengers and stormed S.H.I.E.L.D. to seize the Tesseract.
The criteria for obtaining Legend Fame were quite demanding, but there had been no effect in the game world after obtaining them. He had assumed it was a mechanic exclusive to the simulator, but now it turned out fame was needed to convert them into actual Legendary Fame in the game.
Now this was interesting…
Legendary Fame was the hardest attribute to earn in the game—bar none. You usually had to save the world or reach the pinnacle of some field to even have a shot at it. With Legendary Fame, you not only gained the upper hand in negotiations with NPCs and factions, but also received bonus experience gain—5% per point of Legend Fame.
Of course, it also came with the risk of attracting attention from cultists—or even the Church of the Earth and the Ascetics' Church might start noticing him.
In a way, that wasn't necessarily a good thing. Zhou Ning smirked, stopped worrying about it, and got to work on the medium-sized mechanical construct.
According to the blueprint, the construct required 62 silver ingots, countless silver bolts, a mithril rod, yellow crystal, silver plates, and more. As for the firearm… Zhou Ning rather mercilessly stripped the mini mechanical warrior of its firing capability.
Unlike crafting the mini mechanical warrior, creating a medium-sized construct was a major undertaking. The final product would stand about as tall as a person and contain several relatively complex alchemical arrays. Even with the [Tony Stark] talent bonus and his expert-level precision mechanics, Zhou Ning found the process extremely taxing.
From 10 AM to 4 PM, it took him nearly six hours just to complete the core construction of the medium-sized mechanical construct.
It stood close to 1.7 meters tall, armored in silver-white plating, with an additional pair of mechanical arms mounted on either side of its torso that radiated a powerful, efficient strength. Clutched in its hands was the flintlock rifle salvaged from the mini mechanical warrior. The thing looked remarkably like Ultra Magnus from Transformers—formidable and impressive.
As Zhou Ning tightened the last screw, a prompt appeared:
[You have completed a perfect mechanical creation. Quality: 107. Gained 9500 EXP. Due to your Extraordinary Charisma, the construct's stats have been increased by 15%. Your mechanical creation's quality has improved!]
[Medium Mechanical Construct]
[Type: Mechanical Creation]
[Quality: Rare]
[Base Attributes: Attack Power 57–82, Defense 9–15, HP: 690/690 (enhanced)]
[Weapon: Pirate General Viktor's Cursed Pistol]
[Note: A combat-type mechanical puppet that can be equipped with any small- or medium-sized firearm. Suitable for combat and defense.]
"Perfect!" Zhou Ning was genuinely pleased. He hadn't expected to trigger a critical success in crafting, and with the bonus from Extraordinary Charisma, the final product's quality had been bumped all the way to Rare—meaning he wouldn't need to upgrade it again for a long time.
The hardest part was done. The next step was to draw a large alchemical array to seal the construct into a card.
Zhou Ning had done this before, and it didn't take him long—less than 20 minutes to complete the task with practiced ease.
[You have created the card: Medium Mechanical Construct. Gained 7500 EXP!]
[Card: Medium Mechanical Construct – Use to summon a combat-specialized medium-sized mechanical construct. Duration: 40 minutes. Cooldown: 40 minutes.]
Mission complete!
Zhou Ning happily picked up the card containing the sealed mechanical construct. The rewards for making this card were generous—between crafting and sealing, he'd earned a total of 17,000 EXP. Even his proficiency had jumped by 19%, making him feel the urge to keep grinding until dawn.
But reason prevailed: he really ought to go out.
As a newly minted legendary figure, it was rather embarrassing not to have a proper suit.
According to the "weather forecast," it was supposed to rain tonight. Zhou Ning grabbed an umbrella and headed out the door, taking a public carriage to a nearby tailor's shop.
He bought a refined black tailcoat, white shirt, black vest, bowtie, and dress shoes—altogether costing 30 Vecktas, equivalent to six months of his teaching assistant stipend. Quite expensive.
But the results spoke for themselves. Zhou Ning felt like he had just stepped out of a comic book—his looks elevated to another level.
He glanced at the time: 4:40 PM.
Closing his pocket watch, he boarded another public carriage headed to Levia Street in the west-central area of Darkland. This street was near the Darkland Fortress and mainly inhabited by nobles.
The West estate was located at No. 15 Levia Street—an extravagant mansion complete with two football field-sized gardens. In one of the gardens stood a towering monument over ten meters high, commemorating the West family's founding patriarch, Duke John West.
After showing his invitation, Zhou Ning was respectfully led in by the gatekeepers, who looked at him with awe. Soon, he met the guest of honor: the chubby young Alan West, who ran over with excitement and gave him a hug that nearly knocked him over. "I'm so glad you came, Brother Wayne!"
Next to Alan stood a middle-aged man with a similar face and a fuller figure. Once the two separated, the man stepped forward and greeted Zhou Ning, "I'm Alan's father, Vernon West. Thank you for saving him. You're even more handsome than the rumors say."
Vernon West… head of the West family and the current Head. Don't let his bulk fool you—his true power was probably on par with Kien West. Zhou Ning removed his hat, held it to his chest, and gave a slight bow with a smile. "Thank you for the compliment, Mr. West. You're younger than I imagined."
After some pleasantries, Alan led Zhou Ning into the mansion. He opened a side door, revealing about a dozen young noble men and women in colorful attire—clearly the second-generation elites of the Kingdom of Bryston.
"Everyone, allow me to introduce the man who saved my life—Wayne Sturwell," Alan said with a smile as he made the introductions.
"You're the legendary wandering gunslinger Wayne Sturwell? You're even more handsome than I imagined!" a sweet-looking noblewoman exclaimed excitedly. The others showed various expressions of surprise and curiosity, all clearly impressed.
That's the power of even a single point of Legendary Fame… Zhou Ning was in a good mood and greeted everyone warmly. No one here put on any noble airs—instead, they chatted with him quite happily.
Dinner wasn't scheduled until close to 7 PM, so Zhou Ning was invited to join them for a few rounds of Weather Cards. Small blind: 1 Roshen. Big blind: 2 Roshens.
Zhou Ning, after all, was a man with intermediate gambling skills. The match didn't last long. After he won a straight flush with Light Rain, Moderate Rain, Heavy Rain, Thunderstorm, and Downpour, several noble youths folded and dropped out. Alan, busy coming and going to greet guests, barely got in a few hands—and lost them all miserably.
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