Thomas set the nearly glowing ingot of steel down on the table and opened his blueprint system. He'd been thinking about the design on his Peace Maker and felt it needed some tweaking. The revolver he'd used as a basis felt like it was designed to be reloaded while held in the left hand. Or maybe he'd just found the plans for a left-handed version. Either way, the gun he'd selected used an ejector rod to push the cartridges out a door at the back of the cylinder. Both the door and the ejector rod were located on the right side of the gun meaning he would need to hold it in his left to empty and reload the weapon.
Even though he was ambidextrous, he still preferred to use his right hand as his primary hand. He needed to modify the gun so he could fire and reload it without needing to swap hands. Looking through the blueprint he started to make modifications for it by reversing some of the sections to swap the ejector tube along the barrel and the cylinder door to the left side of the gun. With these modifications, he could fire and reload the gun while holding it in his right hand and using his left hand to eject spent cartridges before pushing in a fresh one.
The next part was a little more complicated. He needed to decide how to get the cartridges to discharge. The bullets the gun was designed to fire used primer caps, something he couldn't easily replicate within AoG. Instead, he needed to design an enchantment to replace the primer. Enchanting the shells of the bullets would be a complete pain in the ass and take up way too much time. It would be much more effective to simply enchant the hammer of the gun. As he thought about it he grinned as he came up with a nice idea.
He could replace the primer with a paper-thin sheet of plain iron. With the firing pin made of sharpened steel, it would easily pierce the thin iron. Once it did he could use a super simple and rather weak fire enchantment to ignite the Firestone powder in the shell and detonate it. Even better, he could then reload the shell just by replacing a small piece of metal. With a grin, he saved the changes he'd made to his plans and decided to get to work.
He picked the steel ingot he'd made up and started to channel his mana. The very first part he needed to make was the frame of the gun. It was the central piece that everything connected to. As he channeled his mana it formed tendrils and slowly began to reshape the ingot. He kept his blueprint system open and stared at the image of the frame of the gun to keep it in the forefront of his mind. He didn't need to watch his ability work, he only needed a firm image in mind and the ability would do the rest.
He paid attention to his mana reserves, he was certain it would take more than a single session for him to create the frame. There were a lot of different details that had to be made perfect from the various holes for screws to the well for the hammer to multiple different little parts that would end up attached. Working on the weapon just gave Thomas deep respect for the original designer. The gun was relatively simple compared to more modern firearms and energy weapons, but it was still a complex piece of machinery that demanded respect.
By the time he felt his mana getting dangerously low, a section of the steel had been moved away from the main section of the ingot. The separated section was still held to the ingot with a thin strand of steel. It seemed that transmutation could weld items together but couldn't cut them apart. It was odd but didn't matter much. His work had come a fair distance but the body was still far from fully formed. It had gained the general shape of the revolver's body and hollowed out the center. The finer details still needed work though.
He spent some time looking over the still somewhat boxy shape of the revolvers body and smiled. He could see how it was taking shape and approved. After setting it back down he used 'Serenity' to recover his spent mana and once it had, he returned to work on it.
It took him two more sessions before the body of the revolver had reached about ninety percent completion. Unfortunately, much like his attempt to give sharp edges to the dagger, he could not make the finer details such as the threads inside of the screw holes. He would need to do some work by hand, but he had an idea for that!
While he waited for his mana to recover, he pulled out a saw and cut the revolver body from the remaining block of the ingot. He used a hardened iron file to clean off a small nub of the unhardened steel. With that done he continued to file different sections that needed some work. After he set the file down he smiled. Normally, he would need to use a machine to craft the tools he would need. Thanks to his trip to the academy he could now cheat. He only needed smooth holes and rods to insert into them, from there he could use his 'Transmutation' to fuse the metal together. It would hold better than any screw.
He looked over the body of the revolver, it still needed some work but he would enjoy the process greatly. He compared the body of the revolver to the blueprint he had copied down and went to work fixing the differences he could spot. To do this he summoned up his mana and started to convert it to the metal element. However, this time he did something different. Instead of letting the element do what it would by default he changed it and infused his intent to turn the normal iron into tool steel.
He watched, thrilled, as the metal began to form. Normally when he used metal magic the metal summoned was pure iron with a polished chrome look. This time, the metal he summoned was dull grey in appearance and seemed much harder than the iron he normally summoned. Tool steel was very hard and useful for working on other metals, but generally not too great for weapons as it was far too brittle.
He shaped the metal he'd summoned into a milling head with multiple flutes designed to carve metal. He needed to sharpen up quite a few sections on the body of the revolver. Using transmutation had saved him a ton of work, but it didn't save him from all work. Using his mana he started making the milling head spin rapidly and using it to grind various spots on the body. He needed to reshape and resize it every now and then for different sections. However, by the time he was done he had less than twenty percent of his mana remaining.
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He studied every angle of the revolver's body and compared it to the blueprint he'd created. It was nearly perfect in every aspect and filled him with a sense of pride and accomplishment. Granted, he was still far from done. However, this proved it could be done and it could be done rather easily. His next step would be creating the cylinder that fit inside of the body. The body, cylinder, and barrel were the largest single pieces that made up the revolver and he intended to make all three of them first.
He wished he had more mana or better control over it, but that would only come with time. He still had unspent experience, but it would not be going into his Magic attribute. He picked up the remainder of his steel ingot and studied it for a bit. Another large section of it would become the cylinder. The best part of using his transmutation was that there was very little wasted metal. Aside from the sections he had to grind to perfect, there were no wasted scraps.
He once again channeled his 'Transmutation' ability and began to reform a section of the ingot. This time he focused on the image of the cylinder. All the measurements, such as the diameter of each bullet chamber, were written out exactly. Even if he couldn't measure the thirty-degree angle between the location of each chamber, just looking at the picture while channeling his mana was sufficient for his ability to do most of the work. It took another two sessions of work for him to get the cylinder almost complete. Like the frame, it required a little bit of work to be completely finished.
Unfortunately, it had grown dark, though the interior of the portable shop was well lit, he still felt rather tired after draining his mana almost completely multiple times. He looked at his work and smiled broadly. If he'd needed to start making the revolver with just a hammer and iron, it would have taken him weeks to get this far. Maybe longer. He pocketed everything he'd worked with and created then banked the coals in the forge. He hadn't needed it for much since purifying the ingots, but if he was right he would be using it a fair bit tomorrow. The steel making up the revolver would need to be hardened and tempered in the near future.
Once he finished cleaning up he stepped out of the portable shop and made his way into the front of Hekrin's shop where the old dwarf was lazily standing around. When Hekrin spotted Thomas, he turned and looked him over, "Ya look to clean to have been doin' much work. What were you doin' in there?"
Thomas chuckled and shrugged his shoulders, "You'll need to wait a day or two to find out. Would it be okay for me to keep using your portable shop until then?"
"Portable shop? Ah, ya mean the U.L.T.R.A." Hekrin looked a little abashed, "My Master has a terrible naming sense. U.L.T.R.A. stands for 'Unreal Legendary Transforming box Ready for Adventuring'. If you decide to go to him to get one of your own, I've got a bit of advice. Never, ever, make fun of the names he picks for his items. He'll hate you if you do."
Thomas tried not to laugh at the name of the portable shop, but couldn't keep himself from sniggering a little. The name was completely over the top and he was certain that Hekrin's master had picked the acronym first and then figured out what it meant. Hekrin's beard moved as he smirked, "Yeah, he's a bit eccentric."
Thomas wondered if Hekrin had inherited a bit more than his master's knowledge. Though not eccentric in the exact same way, Hekrin was still eccentric in his own way. Thomas cleared his throat, "I'll be back tomorrow to do some more work. When I'm done I'll show you the finished item. Until then I'm heading to 'The Swans Nest' for some dinner and sleep. I'll see you tomorrow alright?"
"See ya then, kid."
Thomas left the shop and made his way down the street to The Swans Nest. It felt like he was walking home for the night after a long day of work. As he stood in front of the door to the inn he smiled broadly. He was looking forward to his meal and a good nights sleep in a familiar place. He'd lived at the inn for over a month after all. It was the longest he'd stayed in any place since he first logged into the game. As he opened the door and stepped inside he was immediately grabbed and squeezed into a tight hug by Martha, "Welcome back Thomas!"
Thomas laughed and gave Martha a hug in return, "I'm not sure how long I'll be staying this time, but I'll be staying here until I leave again."
Martha let Thomas go and gave a nod, "That seems to be the way of you otherworlders, always traveling and looking for the next adventure. Come in and sit down. I'll get you some dinner."
After he sat down, Martha scurried into the kitchen and retrieved some food for him. It wasn't long before she returned with a plate bearing a heaping pile of food. She set the steaming plate of food down in front of Thomas with a kind smile, "Enjoy. I'll make sure your room is ready for you."
Thomas smiled and set fifty gold on the table to pay for two nights at the inn up front. Martha scooped up the coins and looked a little awkward after counting it, "I'm sorry, but the cost of a nights stay has gone up a bit since the last time you stayed here. The cost of food has gone up so each night's stay has gone up to thirty gold."
Thomas just smiled and pulled out the difference to pass over to her, "No problem."
After Martha departed to go back to her work, Thomas dug into the food and found it tasted perfectly familiar. He imagined the feeling it gave him was the same he would get if his mother was to come back to life and cook a meal for him. He smiled happily as he ate the orc chops and vegetables provided for his meal. It was definitely not the tastiest food he'd eaten in AoG, but it was definitely the 'homiest'.
Once he finished the meal, which he remembered being a bit smaller in the past, he flagged Martha down and was lead to his room. And it was his room, the exact same one he'd stayed in before. He looked around the familiar room for a bit before making his way over to his bed and sitting on it. He wanted to practice his 'All Seeing Eyes' a bit, but he was simply too exhausted from his work on the revolver.
Thomas stripped off his outer layer of clothing before laying down on the bed to relax. Just before going to sleep he opened his character sheet and looked at the experience he'd gained from completing Hekrin's quest. It was a fair chunk and made him smile. He quickly spent as much as he could to increase his Power, Endurance, and Agility as much as he could. When he was done his Power had increased to 72 while his Endurance and Agility had increased to 73. Once he felt the enjoyable flow of energy going through his body, he lay down and activated 'Serenity' to let himself slip off to sleep.