Rowan spent the entire night browsing the internet to jolt his memory back into shape.
Since he no longer needed sleep or food, he could not bring himself to just sit still in his room all night and waste it.
With the information he gathered he learned about the current hunter landscape before conscription happened, something he had never bothered to do in his past life.
When morning came, before his mom woke up, Rowan quietly slipped out of the house. He was afraid of getting questioned about why he was wearing shorts and a t-shirt to go to work.
Formal shirts were fine and all, but he preferred clothes that were easy to move in.
And with a bag full of Mana Cores he needed to sell them without his mom seeing.
With all that sorted, Rowan arrived at the hunter district at 4:30am sharp by bus.
Gates and hunters ran around the clock so the shops were always open. For an early bird like him there was no line or queue to wait in.
At the automated Mana Core drop point run by one of the largest banks in America, he quickly sold everything and walked away with 10k in cash, then immediately followed it up by paying off his entire debt.
"I love being debt free." With about 8k left to spare he headed back to the gun shop.
"Hello sir, what can I help you with today?" A gentle voice called out from a well dressed man, then his eyes widened in surprise. "Oh my, back so soon?"
"Haha, something happened so I needed a new gun. Budget is up to 8k this time though." Rowan welcomed the hospitality as he walked up to the front shelf and took a seat.
"Color me surprised." This time Rowan was willing to spend it all because it was not debt.
Nothing but pure cash here baby!
"Well, can I ask what happened with our gun? Was it a jam or just not to your liking?" The seller asked with both concern and excitement. It was not often a hunter came back to revisit. Most who found the limitations of firearms usually dropped them and went back to conventional weapons, so Rowan was a rare case.
"I was fighting wolf type monsters. Fast, pack hunters, very durable. The buckshot could not finish them and the slug was just not fast enough. So it got bitten out of my hand and broke." While part of it was his own fault for not dodging the giant wolf's attack, the gun's lack of damage was also a factor.
"Ah, common problem." The seller nodded. The penetration force of a firearm was undeniably superior to a sword, but the raw damage was far less. Without hitting a vital point you were essentially poking a needle into a monster, a very common complaint about modern firearms.
"If you still want traditional guns and given your fondness for shotguns, I recommend this." The seller pulled out an AA-12, a fully automatic shotgun. "20 rounds, easy reload, good for finishing off a horde."
Rowan picked it up and tested the grip and control. 'This is nice!'
The problem with the Benelli was the limited ammo. With this he could gun and run through an entire room of monsters.
"And there is always an assault rifle, though you run back into the damage problem. More range and rate of fire but less stopping power per shot." The seller gestured toward the array of rifles on display, from the P90 to the classic AK.
"It's okay, I'll stick with shotguns for now." Rowan knew how useless assault rifles became further down the line.
At D rank gates most bosses would be too large and thick for a single bullet to make a difference, unless you were putting something like a 50 caliber round into them.
'Come to think of it, would Soul Devourer work with explosives?'
"You wouldn't also sell hand grenades here would you?" Rowan just asked.
"Haha, we don't have them in stock as you can imagine, but you could place a special order through us." The seller smiled. "Seems like you are going all in on firearms. Am I correct?"
"Not exactly. I plan to switch to melee weapons down the line, but for the foreseeable future, yeah." Rowan looked around thinking about picking up a pistol just in case.
The seller's smile brightened at that. "If that is the case, would you like to check out something special?"
"Oh?" Rowan's interest was piqued. "What is it?"
There was nothing about guns that had ever struck him as particularly special.
'Wait... there WAS something!'
Something he had heard while enlisted.
A rumour about a prototype series that never continued due to not being commercially viable.
The seller ducked under the counter. A few beeps on the lock pad later, he took a deep breath and with both hands hauled a massive gun up onto the shelf.
It was almost double the size of an AA-12 but looked similar, just with a barrel nearly twice as wide.
"I present to you, the AA-20." The seller was beaming, the same wide smile plastered across Rowan's face. "A gun made specifically with hunters in mind."
"It's real?!" Rowan's heart was pounding as he set down the AA-12 and picked up the AA-20.
The first thing he noticed was the weight.
The AA-12 felt like nothing in a hunter's hands.
This thing felt like holding a massive heep of metal.
He had thought it was just a myth. These things actually existed!
A modern weapon, made with hunters in mind!
"The caliber and firepower are doubled, but the recoil is the tradeoff. Each shot hits with the same force as firing an anti-tank sniper round." The seller explained proudly.
He had been waiting a long time for someone to finally buy this gun and put it to use.
"Custom order ammo is another consideration." The seller kept his composure but stayed upfront about the drawbacks. On top of everything else, it was still an experimental weapon with no guaranteed reliability.
"How much?" Rowan did not care about any of that. He wanted this gun.
"The manufacturer has a 20% discount running so it comes down to 7k, included with 20 rounds of drum ammo. For 500 more you also get a specially made Dragon fire round." The seller knew the price was steep for something so niche.
He had customers show interest before, but at this price most people stopped and walked away.
For 7k you could kit out an entire build from weapons to armor, so it was a hard sell.
Not for Rowan.
"TAKE MY MONEY!!"
That amount of money he could make back in a single day.