[The Art of Forgery]
Type: Rare Book
Effect: After use, learn techniques and skills to create forgeries indistinguishable from genuine articles.
Requirements: Generator Level 2, Professional Knowledge Skill x1, Forged Item x15, 100,000 Apocalypse Coins
Description: A book written by a master forger, highly sought after in certain niche circles and considered a professional bible.
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[On Precious Art and History]
Type: Rare Book
Effect: After use, learn to appraise precious items and understand their history.
Requirements: Precious Item x5, Regional Renown ≥ 1, Historical Artifact x3, 200,000 Apocalypse Coins
Description: A renowned work in the art world.
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[Bullet Theory and Practice]
Type: Rare Book
Effect: After use, learn to craft various types of bullets with different models, functions, and categories.
Requirements: Generator Level 2, Bullet Processing Room Level 1, Explosives Skill x1
Description: Trust me, the importance of bullets on the battlefield far exceeds your imagination.
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[Birth of a Gunsmith]
Type: Rare Book
Effect: After use, learn about gun modification, conversion, and crafting.
Requirements: Generator Level 2, Lighting Level 3, Gun Modification Room Level 1
Description: Gunsmith is the highest title for a firearms engineer.
---
These four rare books were obtained from Mad Dog, The Butcher, and Caban.
The other two were fine, but the two from Mad Dog's safe, "The Art of Forgery" and "On Precious Art and History," truly surprised Thomas. He never thought such books would exist.
Moreover, their learning requirements were surprisingly consistent, both demanding a large number of Apocalypse Coins.
"It seems that art, whether real or fake, is not something the poor can touch!"
Thomas checked the requirements and found that the only book he could currently learn was "On Precious Art and History."
"Bullet Theory and Practice" required the Bullet Processing Room to be completed.
"Birth of a Gunsmith" similarly required a facility called the Gun Modification Room, but Thomas had learned his lesson.
Caban must have taken his collection with him when he fled from Mad Dog.
Among his dropped items were two blueprints.
One of them was the construction blueprint for the Gun Modification Room, corresponding to the rare book "Birth of a Gunsmith."
[Gun Modification Room Blueprint]
Type: Rare Blueprint
Effect: Allows construction of a Gun Modification Room in the hideout.
Requirements: Generator Level 3, Lighting Level 3, Hideout Security Level 3, Wood x30, Bolts x15, Nuts x15, File x1, Tape Measure x1, Tool Set x1
Construction Time: 2 hours
---
Confirming he had all the materials, Thomas immediately began constructing the Gun Modification Room next to the Bullet Processing Room.
"Perfect. In two hours, after both facilities are complete, I can start learning the skills!"
Thomas was very satisfied. It seemed the items dropped by the three refugee leaders were designed to be learned together, perhaps a bonus for new players, though the acquisition difficulty was rather high.
The Butcher specialized in bullet processing, Caban in gun modification, and Mad Dog in… fakes… no, [simulated] items. Thomas found the term too convoluted and simply called them forgeries.
Thomas looked at "On Precious Art and History." It was time to learn from this book.
He hadn't expected it to cost not only 200,000 Apocalypse Coins but also require Regional Renown ≥ 1.
Ridiculous.
He took five precious items from his inventory.
For the three historical artifacts, he used three Commemorative Coins, perfectly meeting the requirement.
[Commemorative Coin]
Type: Precious Item
Description: A commemorative coin issued by Sparrow City to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the city's victory in the war. Rumor has it some people are collecting these.
However, when Thomas clicked to learn from the book:
"Item requirements not met!!!"
The book's interface flashed a clear warning.
All conditions were met except for the five precious items, which remained grayed out.
Huh?
Thomas was dumbfounded.
Impossible!
Weren't these the precious items he took from Mad Dog's room?
Why wouldn't they work?
They were clearly…
"Holy crap…"
A possibility flashed through Thomas's mind, and disbelief spread across his face.
"I've been freaking played!!!"
"That bastard Mad Dog… could that entire wall of precious items be… fake?!"
He was instantly agitated.
He quickly took out all the "precious items" looted from Mad Dog's room and compared them one by one.
The result…
"Mad Dog, I'll be damned… I… you son of a…"
Thomas was utterly speechless. He had thought he'd hit the jackpot with a room full of precious items.
But in the end, apart from the three Calamity Coins in the safe…
None of the other precious items were real!!!
This guy was a true "genius" (moron). A refugee leader with a passion for forgery. Thomas now understood why Mad Dog had "On Precious Art and History."
He purely wanted to make his forgeries more convincing!
But Thomas made a significant discovery.
He picked up a fake bronze lion sculpture and opened its panel.
[Bronze Lion Sculpture]
Type: Precious Item
Weight: 7.2kg
Size: 3x2
Description: An exquisite collectible bronze lion, very heavy. Can be used for display or sale.
---
"Indeed…"
Thomas narrowed his eyes, a hint of shock and delight in their depths.
The game interface couldn't distinguish forgeries. Only rare items could be identified.
Which meant these so-called forgeries could be sold as genuine!
Thomas looked at the fake lion sculpture again.
"Bah, what forgery? This is a genuine precious item, acknowledged by the Apocalypse Game itself. Who has proof it's fake? Who?"
A faint smile played on Thomas's lips. A crazy idea formed in his mind.
"The Art of Forgery" was a godsend!
Thomas took the opportunity to use "On Precious Art and History" to conduct a "quality check" on the forty-odd precious items looted from the Trading Center.
The results were as he expected.
None of the 43 precious items from the Trading Center were genuine.
"Damn it, that Mad Dog is ruthless! I was wondering why there were so many precious items in the Trading Center!"
"Turns out they were all fakes Mad Dog used to fool his subordinates, all meticulously copied from the pictures in 'On Precious Art and History.'"
"Genius isn't enough to describe him! He's a prodigy, wasted as a mere refugee leader!"
Thomas was truly at a loss for words.
He noticed a tiny, almost invisible dent on the front leg of the bronze lion sculpture pictured in "On Precious Art and History."
And without exception, all five bronze lion sculptures in front of him had the same tiny dent.
Thomas was completely exasperated.
Putting the forgeries aside, he took out the nine precious items collected from the theater. Even among these, two were fake.
Thomas nearly spat blood.
"What have I done to deserve this?!"
Fortunately, the remaining seven were genuine. He selected the five smallest.
Finally, he successfully learned "On Precious Art and History."
As the rare book vanished, a third skill appeared on Thomas's skill panel.
[Precious Item Appraisal]
Type: Rare Knowledge Skill
Description: A skill requiring exceptional talent and resources, allowing appraisal of precious items from various angles, including authenticity, material, history, and past events. A difficult skill to master.
Effects:
* Increased success rate in judging the authenticity of precious items.
* Increased success rate in analyzing the material and craftsmanship of precious items.
* Increased chance and duration of tracing the history of precious items.
* Reduced chance of forged precious items being detected.
* Chance to transform forged precious items into genuine ones (10% for common, 1% for rare, 0.0001% for epic).
Max Level: 100% appraisal rate for common, 80% for rare, 5% for epic precious items; forgeries below epic level undetectable; significantly increased chance of transformation; can forge rare precious items.
Proficiency: 0/10000
Proficiency Gain: Collecting precious items; identifying forgeries; appraising rare and epic precious items; uncovering the history of precious items; successfully trading forged items as genuine.
---
"Wow…"
Thomas raised an eyebrow, surprised by the skill's description.
The amount of information it contained was substantial.
"Rare and epic precious items…"
Thomas was no longer a novice. After obtaining a rare title and experiencing the forgery incident, he keenly sensed the vast gulf between rare and common items in the Apocalypse.
An insurmountable chasm.
Any item, if rare or above, possessed extraordinary abilities.
Whether books, blueprints, recipes, plants, or anything else.
This was the first time Thomas had heard of rare precious items, yet he hadn't seen any during the first calamity.
That wasn't his fault. It wasn't that he looked down on other survivors.
If he hadn't seen any, other survivors were even less likely to have.
"So, this level of precious item doesn't appear in the first calamity at all!"
With this understanding, Thomas didn't dwell on it. He would encounter them eventually.
Since he now met the prerequisites for "The Art of Forgery," he immediately began learning.
The 15 forgeries used as learning materials vanished, serving their purpose.
A fourth skill appeared on Thomas's skill panel.
[Forgery]
Type: Rare Life Skill
Description: A near-lost art, easy to learn but difficult to master, requiring exceptional talent and resources. However, once mastered, it's a profession that can easily get your hands broken. Proceed with caution!
Effects:
* Create forgeries based on physical objects or related information.
* Increase the realism of forgeries.
* Increase the success rate of forgery.
* Reduce the chance of forgeries being detected.
* Increase realism and reduce detection chance and crafting time by using the genuine article as a reference.
* Chance to transform forgeries into genuine items (10% for common, 1% for rare, 0.0001% for epic).
Max Level: Significantly increased realism; significantly reduced detection chance; significantly increased transformation chance; can forge rare items.
Proficiency: 0/10000
Proficiency Gain: Creating forgeries; learning knowledge skills; appraising other forgeries; appraising genuine items; successfully trading forgeries as genuine.
---
This skill was undeniably powerful, especially when combined with "Precious Item Appraisal."
The effect was explosive. The chance of transforming forged precious items into genuine ones reached 20%, a one-in-five success rate.
Unbelievable!
But Thomas never expected that even in the apocalypse, learning would be necessary to increase skill proficiency.
He shook his head helplessly.
Checking the time, the Bullet Processing Room and Gun Modification Room needed another hour. He couldn't learn the other two rare books yet.
Thomas took out the remaining blueprints.
He had five blueprints and a map.