Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Chapter 900: Chapter 899: Exploiting System Loopholes Is Just Basic操作

If Fang Zheng’s creation of a gun surprised Liz, his next operation practically left her speechless — he could actually wield a gun in one hand and a sword in the other to launch skill attacks!?

How on earth did Fang Zheng achieve this?

At this moment, Liz couldn’t care less about keeping her composure; she almost rushed over to grab Fang Zheng and demand a clear explanation.

Her excitement was understandably overwhelming; after these days of ”survival,” most players had already grasped some understanding of the game’s skill and combat systems. One of the rules was — [skills can only be used once the weapon is fully equipped].

To illustrate, a one-handed sword has a skill called [Horizontal Slash]. As long as a player holds a one-handed sword, they can activate this skill, and it doesn’t matter if the other hand is empty or holding a shield.

However, conversely, if a player equips two one-handed swords, then they cannot trigger [Horizontal Slash]. The reason is straightforward; since this skill is a ”one-handed” sword skill, equipping both hands with weapons means it can’t be a ”one-handed skill,” and naturally, it can’t be used!

That’s why Liz was so excited. To know that her crafted Monster Cleaver belongs to the category of one-handed swords and needs the other hand to be empty to release skills. But Fang Zheng could shoot and release skills simultaneously? Are you kidding me? Is this some kind of system bug?

Faced with Liz’s inquiry, Fang Zheng’s answer was quite simple.

”Because my left hand isn’t holding a weapon.”

”......???”

Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s words, Liz was momentarily dumbfounded. She glanced at the gun in Fang Zheng’s left hand, then looked up at him, displaying a ”Are you kidding me?” expression. If this isn’t a weapon, then what is? If you ask around on the street, ten out of ten people would agree this is a weapon!

”That’s the truth, I’m not lying.”

Seeing Liz’s nearly pouncing posture, Fang Zheng shrugged his shoulders but still explained the reasons to her.

In fact, it was just an inspiration Fang Zheng got from his playful maneuvers moments ago.

Initially, Fang Zheng wanted to create a gun blueprint similar to the Monster Cleaver, but unexpectedly, as soon as he completed the drawing, the system promptly displayed [Cannot Draw Blueprint]. Obviously, the game had considered this issue; since the cartography skill was designed, the designers surely thought about players creating various things, like, if you made a sniper rifle to pick off enemies from eight hundred meters away, what would be left for others?

Or if you made a Gatling gun, wouldn’t everyone just quit the game?

But Fang Zheng is also a game designer, a professional peer; if you deny me, I’ll retaliate by not playing your game, isn’t that disgraceful?

Back in the day, didn’t I... oops, I mean, earn hundreds of thousands of player assets? Do you think your petty tricks can stump me? Unlikely!

And indeed, Fang Zheng found a solution, which was the scene Liz perceived as him going crazy earlier.

In truth, Fang Zheng wasn’t losing his mind; he verified a fact through his previous actions — that the physics engine in this game is remarkably... well-crafted.

Thinking carefully about it, this is logical. As a fully immersive game, if you simulated lunar or Martian gravity, players might end up floating in real life after playing. Thus, the game itself must closely mimic reality to provide the best player experience.

That solves it effortlessly!

What is a gun?

Of course, it is a type of weapon.

But how is a gun manufactured in reality?

Certainly not like in games, where you clink away with a blueprint to produce one; you need various components, then assemble it.

This makes it easy; I can’t create a gun blueprint, but I can design component blueprints — what can the system do then?

Reality proved that this system truly couldn’t do anything about Fang Zheng. It’s ultimately a program with established limitations, akin to someone in Fang Zheng’s previous world stacking pixel blocks to shape a bishoujo image in Minecraft; the system lacks such capabilities, but high freedom allows players to exercise creativity, enabling them to stack enough blocks to display an anime girl, where you could even spot panties from afar.

Currently, Fang Zheng employed the same method; even if every player in the game’s world considers what he’s holding as a gun, the system doesn’t perceive it as such. It only detects Fang Zheng holding a component in his left hand — that’s all. To the system, it’s akin to a bracelet, glove, ring, or similar object, and won’t be classified as a ”weapon”!

Thus, even if Fang Zheng is wielding two fierce weapons, the system detection would only recognize him as holding one weapon...

And since it’s considered one weapon, naturally, it won’t restrict skill activation...

As for how this gun operates, that’s simpler; since the game’s physical characteristics mimic reality, logically speaking, these components should work in the game’s environment as they do in reality.

However, even so, this gun has many flaws.

Firstly, its range is less than twenty meters; through Fang Zheng’s tests, the effective range spans approximately five to ten meters. Moreover, it requires manual reloading — as the system detects Fang Zheng holding a ”component”, it won’t grant automatic reloading privileges, so he needs to manually reload after each round.

Even with a magazine added, Fang Zheng can only fire twenty consecutive shots at most. This means that in a battle, you need to reload after twenty shots, considering the number of monsters in the game world, this demands a substantial amount of bullets, which are quite expensive, especially since critical materials like gunpowder are forgeable resources available for trade, yet fifty units of Core are required for one portion, making two portions worth one hundred. A magazine with twenty bullets costs 1000 Core.

Currently, in the game world, 1000 Core is enough for a player to eat and drink well for two to three days, no problem. Keep in mind that previously, Gabriel only requested 2000 Core from Fang Zheng to buy equipment, translating to just two magazines.

Additionally, the gun itself doesn’t deal substantial damage; Fang Zheng tested it out earlier, and upon hitting the target, the system displayed ”Piercing Damage”, with the damage value even lower than a weapon’s normal strike by half. As a weapon, it’s essentially worthless.

But what Fang Zheng valued wasn’t its attack power, rather its ”function”.

Earlier, it was mentioned that in the game world, players need to counter monster or BOSS skills by attacking, interrupting their skill execution.

Eiriri in the first Lord BOSS battle utilized this logic to block the Kobold Lord’s attack, causing it to stagger, allowing Fang Zheng to finish it off.

However, this tactic has a clear issue: every strike shared cooldown time, if you staggered the enemy, you’d also stagger yourself, hence needing to switch — having another player attack.

But in such a scenario, the staggered player faces considerable risk; solo combat can be managed, however, surrounded by enemies raises the odds of getting struck by sneaky monsters.

With the gun, however, this problem doesn’t exist.

If another battle against a BOSS ensues, Fang Zheng’s plan goes roughly as follows:

[BOSS charges towards Fang Zheng]

[BOSS activates skill]

[Fang Zheng fires]

[BOSS skill interrupted]

[BOSS staggered]

[Fang Zheng launches skill attack]

On one hand, because the system considers skills interruptible by attack damage, Fang Zheng’s shots can effectively interrupt BOSS skills. On the other hand, due to the gun in Fang Zheng’s hand not recognized as an official weapon by the system, Fang Zheng shooting doesn’t induce a staggered state, allowing him to directly launch skill attacks!

Going further, Fang Zheng even considered using shot rounds instead of standard bullets. These rounds have a short range but scatter, covering a wide area. A single shot can potentially encompass the entire body of a BOSS in such a condition, with any projectile hitting the BOSS’s weapon or activating limb easily interrupting the skill.

This is considerably safer and more efficient than recklessly swinging a one-handed sword forward, eliminating the necessity for constant dodging and blocking, only requiring aiming at a charging BOSS before pulling the trigger!

Even if problems arise, there would be ample time to evade, unlike failing to block and subsequently getting hit by the BOSS.

In essence, this gun significantly bolsters Fang Zheng’s team’s abilities!