"In your first playthrough, I killed you?"
Melina asked with curiosity, "It seems my story followed a tragic path. Otherwise, I can't imagine my personality changing so drastically that I would end up killing you, Senior."
Sonia experienced a flash of eerie, crazed laughter in her mind, and her expression stiffened.
She swallowed hard, nodded, and pointed a finger vaguely at Melina:
"You don't want to know."
Before Melina could press further, she hastily hammered her own meager chest with her fist:
"Let's skip that. Anyway, our motto is to let bygones be bygones and not rush to judgment, alright, respect!"
Senior had changed in every way, except for this figure... Melina covertly estimated that Senior was around one meter eighty tall, but this A-cup was a bit hard to handle. Though she herself was short, she was a G-cup. Realizing she could never beat her chest and say "respect" like Senior, she simply reached out and bumped fists with her, then cut straight to the point:
"How can I equip Armament and become an Explorer?"
"To answer that question, we first have to trace it back to your traits and the traits of Armament," Sonia said. "The amount of Magic Factor a weapon can withstand does indeed have an upper limit, and what determines this limit is not the [weapon quality] but the [weapon type]. Because of this, your condition will remain hopeless for a significant period in the future."
Although Sonia's words hit Melina's sore spot, this actually gave her a sense of anticipation. You aren't afraid of a doctor who magnifies the severity of your problem; what's truly terrifying and despairing is when the doctor can't even diagnose your issue at all.
"The executioner sword has the lowest capacity, and the musket has the highest, but even a musket with the maximum capacity cannot withstand the invasion of your Magic Factor."
Sonia sighed, "An excessively high talent has instead become your shackles, and the solution to this problem is actually very simple: you just need to use multiple Armaments."
Melina frowned deeply.
She had already tried the idea of using multiple Armaments simultaneously, and each time she had used musket-type Armaments with the highest capacity. But this wasn't a simple 1+1 problem; Armament involved extremely delicate Magic Factor distribution technology, and Armaments always absorbed Magic Factors at full power with no way to lower that power. Therefore, even if two musket Armaments were held in Melina's hands, one would explode first, followed immediately by the other.
Melina relaxed her brow as she thought about the other person being a returner.
Her [future self] might actually have a way to solve this.
Even if the other person used [future Melina's solution] to bargain with her for benefits, that was still a good thing. Never taking loans from the future—that was Melina's philosophy of life.
"Not simply two, not that inferior kind of [multiple Armament] where you hold one in each hand." Sonia reached out and spread her five fingers. "At least five. You are too powerful, Melina. You need at least five identical weapons to withstand your extravagance, and the more, the better."
Five weapons!
Melina pictured the look of holding two in her hands, tying two to her feet, and finally strapping one to her head. She shuddered with a chill, but if it really had to be this way, she was willing to accept it. Obtaining power was the happiest thing in the world for her right now.
However, this comical conjecture was shattered by Sonia.
Reading her expression and roughly understanding what was going on inside Melina's little head, Sonia smiled wryly and waved her hands:
"Oh, not like that. Not the way you're thinking. They're floating weapons. Five weapons floating around you. The future you is a big deal; there are even pioneer tournaments held in the future for morale and entertainment, and you actually have a dedicated column profile. It was precisely because of your column that I was certain of something like, 'This sword maiden is definitely a transmigrator.' But your guard was already too high back then, and I abruptly intruded on you and died under the Twin-Winged Blades—heh, well, that's still understandable."
Five weapons revolving around her... She had to admit, this concept made Melina want to smile happily.
Compared to the version with weapons tied to her limbs, this was certainly much more pleasing to the eye.
However...
"Precise control of Armament floating in mid-air—is that even possible?"
Armament was not just a simple weapon; it contained a series of profound magical knowledge. Performing rapid fire with a single-shot musket, or executing moves resembling instantaneous movement using a one-handed dagger—Armament was not merely a weapon, but a device that turned oneself into a weapon. Once equipped with an Armament, it required lengthy training and study, along with detailed fine-tuning of movements by a training mentor at a maximum ratio of one-to-five.
Finally, after thoroughly mastering the usage of the Armament, minor modifications had to be made to it, such as weight distribution, grips, coatings, and various special accessories.
For an Explorer to master a single type of Armament from scratch took about ten years, and switching to another after mastery required about a week of adaptation period. With equipment this complex, the possibility of using Magic Factor to grip and smoothly control it was practically non-existent, especially when exerting force out of thin air.
The disadvantage was simply too great.
"You can do it." Sonia believed in Melina's talent even more than Melina herself did. "Sister, if you hadn't ended up in a wheelchair, you definitely would have had the potential to surge to number one... Oops, spoke too much."
"A wheelchair?" Melina found it impossible to imagine what kind of pathetic state her future self was in.
"Anyway, sister, respect!" Sonia hammered her chest again. "I invited you to Hamlet Town not just because your sister has a piece of land here..." she said with boundless optimism, "but because in the future, a mineral deposit called Taryi Crystal Mine was discovered near Hamlet Town. That is a crystal that absorbs the energy of the Ley Lines to the extreme. A small piece can replace nearly half a ton of energy crystals, enough to power a ghost-town like Hamlet Town for half a year. This mineral also has the function of absorbing Magic Factors to establish circuits. In other words, although it will siphon off a portion of an Explorer's total Magic Factors, once it is 'full,' it will bring a sensation akin to a third or fourth limb."
Melina roughly understood how her future self managed to become an Explorer:
"So, my ability to control five Armaments in the future is because all five Armaments are forged with this crystal ore... Can other people not do it?"
"They can't." Sonia flatly denied the possibility. "Your Magic Factor reserves are close to the Ley Lines. You must know that even for a Banshee, feeding an Armament to full without blowing it to pieces is considered an impossible feat. This can be said to be an 'external cheat' exclusive to you. At the same time, let me correct one point you made: it's not [forging weapons with this mineral], but [making an accessory out of this mineral to give the weapon the trait of being controllable].'"
This was something to rejoice over, and Melina smiled.
Sonia scratched her hair:
"Rare, Xiaomei."
"Huh?" Xiaomei?
With the attitude of someone she had never met before but with whom she had already built a deep friendship, Sonia expressed her confusion straightforwardly:
"I thought you were someone who wouldn't smile over something like this."
The voice was quite clear, entirely devoid of malice. Melina lowered her head, cast her gaze upon her luggage, and said:
"It seems you don't really know me. Anyone who has to forcibly hold back a smile when about to achieve a long-cherished wish can only be a fool or an idiot."
Melina didn't care at all about showing her jubilation in front of Sonia.
As if trying to dampen Melina's spirits, Senior Sonia said in a teasing tone, "Don't get happy too early. Don't forget you're here to help me out. Among the crises I have to face, creatures capable of effortlessly destroying Hamlet Town with a single breath can be considered the basic tier, and going up from there, there's plus, luxury plus, and the Blizzard Collector's Edition... How dare they sell that for 100 dollars."
"Just one."
Maintaining her optimistic mindset, Melina interpreted it from the perspective of "you are a returner": "Since you chose me, it means I must have the capability to deal with the dragon you want to slaughter. Otherwise, why would you choose me?"
"Is there any possibility that I'm just a super simp who only picks pretty ones?"
Melina shifted to the side, making space between the two of them.
"Whoa! You're being a bit too ungracious and impolite, aren't you? No matter what, your Senior here is a rare beauty, you know? And rich, and talented, and I've even got the ab muscles I recently worked out..."
Ab muscles? Melina unconsciously looked over, only to see the other person about to undo the armor on her abdomen as if to show them off, and hurriedly turned her head away.
She closed her eyes slightly:
"Anyway, just getting rid of one will do, right?"
"Mhm, although there are many, only the first one is the favor I want you to help me with for free. Afterwards, I'll pay you with all sorts of rare treasures and intel."
Melina opened her eyes and turned her head sideways:
"Senior's 'cannot leverage favors for demands' is a bit similar to a scumbag's 'just touching your head.'"
Sonia pursed her lips into a wicked, petty, and sinister smile:
"Perhaps my dear junior sister hasn't done the math and doesn't understand why I said I'd pay with intel on [rare treasures]. Forget it, I might as well tell you about the predicament you'll face after becoming an Explorer. Let's start with a math problem. Tell me, what is the price of a basic iron Armament?"
"A greatsword costs about 100 Gold Lei, a dagger 40 Gold Lei, and a musket 300 Gold Lei," Melina replied.
Gold Lei was the sole circulating currency in this world, and its purchasing power was roughly equivalent to a hundred-dollar bill from her past life. Translated into simpler terms: two top-tier game pack purchases equaled 13 Gold Lei; a dagger cost about 6 packs, a greatsword about 15 packs, and a musket exceeded 45 packs—roughly equivalent to less than three standard-edition 4090 graphics cards.
After rapidly converting the numbers in her mind, Melina's face instantly paled, her lips turned blue, and her hand instinctively covered her mouth.
"Wait... wait a minute? I need to equip at least five Armaments? And upgrade them synchronously?!"
Sonia clicked her tongue:
"And sister, your Armament list didn't have a single cheap item in the first playthrough. It's all about 'maxing out constellations,' all about 'fully whaling out with whale-tier weapons.' Moreover, among the crafting materials you need for your Armaments, many are completely unobtainable through normal means. There are plenty of Armaments that high-level Explorer teams take two years to forge, and you need at least five pieces. Um? Wait, are you alright?"
Melina leaned backward, collapsed onto the sofa, and stared blankly at the ceiling.