After Thomas and Hekrin returned to town they walked down the main boulevard in the direction of Hekrin's shop. On the way, they came to a stop in front of The Swans Nest. Thomas turned to Hekrin, "I'll see you tomorrow. I should be able to finish the revolver and make a few different rounds to test fire."
Hekrin remained silent as he gave a curt nod and walked off in the direction of his shop. Thomas watched him and briefly wondered if Hekrin lived at his shop. The building was only a single floor and Thomas had seen all of it without seeing a sign of a bedroom. There were a few possibilities but it was really none of his business where Hekrin slept. Thomas turned around and entered the inn with a smile. The smell of good food cooking caused his stomach to roar in protest at not being fed in so long.
Thomas enjoyed a nice hot meal in the dining room before retiring to his room for the night. Inside his room, he stripped down for bed while using his 'All Seeing Eyes' to see in the dark. He wasn't too tired to practice tonight. Though it had been a long day he hadn't overtaxed his magic like he had the day before. He went through the practice with his 'All Seeing Eyes' and when he felt his mana was low he used his 'Serenity' to fall asleep for the night. Without 'Serenity' his excitement for the next day would have kept him up for hours.
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After returning to the U.L.T.R.A. the next morning, Thomas immediately went to work making slugs for his bullets. He spent hours rotating between using 'Transmutation' and 'Serenity' to recover his mana. He found he could make seven copper jacketed slugs before he needed to use 'Serenity' to recover his mana. He'd never felt more grateful for the ability than he did now. If he didn't have 'Serenity' then all his work would end up taking a fair bit longer than it currently did.
The bullets Thomas produced were not full metal jacket bullets. His reasoning was rather simple, they didn't do enough damage. Instead, the copper jacket of the bullet left the lead tip exposed. The exposed tip would allow the bullet to 'mushroom' when it hit its target and cause more trauma to the target. In other words, more damage. Thomas had made five batches of slugs which gave him 35, enough for five full loads in the revolver. He didn't like that and made one more to give him an even six full loads.
Thomas selected three of the slugs and put them off to the side. They would be used for his test firing to see how much Firestone powder he should use for the rounds. This would, once again, leave him with less than a full load but he could deal with his OCD about that later. He pulled three of the formed cartridges from his inventory and went to work on them using his metal magic. He cleaned them up and drilled a small hole in the center of their bases. Once they were ready he pulled out one of the thin metal circles for each round and used a ramrod to set them in place inside of the cartridge.
Once the casings were set he went to the pestle and mortar to grind a small chunk of Firestone into a fine powder, adding a bit to the powder left over from yesterday. When he felt he had enough he began to add the powder to each of the casings. The first he filled to about 50%, the second to 75% and the third got around 90%. Thomas didn't know enough about the Firestone powder to know if he could just fully pack the cartridge or not. Gunpowder contained the oxygen it needed to burn inside of its chemical makeup but did Firestone?
Thomas picked out a fourth cartridge and loaded it, though for the fourth one he loaded it to the brim with Firestone. If this round couldn't fire then he would know that the Firestone at least needed some oxygen to work. With each cartridge loaded with various amounts of Firestone, he marked them so he would know which was which later. He also used a second thin iron circle to act as wadding in the rounds with spare space inside of them to keep the Firestone powder compact.
With the four rounds loaded with powder, it didn't take him long to load the slugs and crimp them in place to finish making the rounds. He looked over the four completed bullets and smiled as he stored them inside of his inventory. While his inventory was open he retrieved the revolver and looked at the frame of the handle. It was time to finish the revolver completely. He walked over to one of the shelves where Hekrin had some materials stored and started looking for something interesting to use as material for the handle.
He looked for a bit before he found something he found appealing. It was a small block of material that felt like wood but had a swirling black and white pattern to it. It reminded Thomas a lot of the swirling ball of Holy and Unholy magic within his body. After he decided to use the material, he carried it over to his workbench and got to work with it. It was easy enough to cut off a section of the black and white block to use for the handle of the revolver. With it cut in half he began the process of giving it a rough shape using files to grind off excess material.
Once the handle halves were roughly shaped he drilled a hole through them, this would be where he used a pin to bind the two halves together. Once he fitted the handle halves on the gun and pinned them tightly in place he went back to using the files to refine the shape and smooth it out. He worked quickly and efficiently as this process was not very different from making the handle for a sword at all.
When it was done the revolver had a smooth slightly rounded handle with swirls of black and white. If the pattern had been more uniform it might have looked like the stripes of a zebra. Because of the randomness of the swirls, it looked more like someone had spilled ink over it that had spread out randomly. As he examined the revolver he finally felt like it was completed.
System Notice: You have created a brand new, never seen before, device. Please state the name of your creation!
Seeing the system notice, Thomas smiled. His suspicion was confirmed. The system only registered something as finished when he felt that it was completed. Thomas didn't even need to think about what to name the revolver, "Peace Maker"
System Notice: Device is now registered as 'Peace Maker'!
System Notice: You have taken a step forward on the path of an Inheritor.
System Notice: You have created a Magical grade Peace Maker. Quality: Excellent. You have gained 3,280 Magitech Engineering experience. You have gained 820 experience.
Weapon Type: Peace Maker Rarity: Magical Quality: Excellent Description: This weapon is made of an unknown material that has never before existed that makes it nearly impervious to corrosion and more durable than it has any right to be. The material it is made of also gives it the ability to channel mana into the weapon to make it even more durable while also imparting a portion of the infused mana into the ammunition fired from it.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
This weapon gives no additional bonus on its own and instead deals damage based on the amount of mana infused into it and the ammunition used. Soulbound: Thomas Darkrose
Thomas looked over the barrage of system notices with wide eyes. The amount of experience he'd gained for his Magitech Engineering was huge. Though he felt it was fair considering how many days of work it took to get to this point. What he found truly shocking though were the properties of the heart steel he'd made. It had a built-in ability to channel mana that reminded him a lot of mithril in other games. Maybe he'd just invented knock-off mithril?
The biggest surprise was the final line of the weapon's description. The Peace Maker would deal more damage based on the amount of mana he infused into it. Thomas found this to be extremely exciting. If he could make other weapons out of the same material he could use them until he found the upper limits of what they could handle. He might not need to replace his weapons for a long time!
The only part that really concerned him through was the fact that the weapon was listed as 'Soulbound' to him. If that meant the same thing it did in every other game it meant that only he could ever possess or use the weapon. If that was the case it was a bit of a double-edged sword. On the bright side, no one could steal it from him, on the downside he could never sell or give it to anyone else. He wasn't too sure how he felt about that. It was also the only thing he'd ever seen labeled as Soulbound in the game, he hadn't even heard of it in his talks with Janice and Victoria.
He stopped worrying about it and held the revolver in his hand to marvel at it for a bit. It really was an excellent looking weapon and he was rather proud of managing to create it. After examining it for a while he retrieved the four bullets he'd made from his inventory and loaded them into the revolver one at a time. He arranged them so that they went from the least amount of Firestone to the greatest amount. This way it would be easier to tell the difference between each shot.
Thomas carried the revolver with him and made his way over to Hekrin's storefront. He wanted to see if the old goat wanted to join him for the test firing of the different rounds. He also wanted to show Hekrin the finished product. As he stepped into the storefront Hekrin turned to him, "Ya done already for the day? It's still pretty early."
Thomas shook his head, "No, not done. Though I did put the final touch on my Peace Maker."
Thomas gently set the revolver down on the counter so Hekrin could examine it in all of its glory. Hekrin looked at the gun and grunted when he saw the material making up the handle of the revolver. He turned to look at Thomas as he asked, "What made you choose that material for the handle?"
"I thought it looked pretty interesting, why?"
Hekrin huffed, "Ya used soul wood. It's made from a very rare tree that grows only in places filled with Holy and Unholy magic. Usually battlefields where Angels and Demons have fought and died. When it's used ta make items the wood acts as an amplifier for Holy or Unholy magic. Though fer you it's completely useless and just 'interesting'." Hekrin shook his head and sighed, "It's rather a waste of material." He turned to eye Thomas, "Next time, make sure ya know what yur workin' with before ya waste perfectly good materials!"
On the outside, Thomas gave Hekrin a solemn nod as he agreed with him. On the inside, he was dancing in excitement. A material that he could channel his Holy and Unholy magic into? Did that mean he could enhance his bullets with those energies now? The description of the revolver said he could channel mana into it to enhance his damage, could he use unholy to add a corrosive or draining effect of some kind to his shots? Just the idea of that was extremely exciting. He only lamented that he couldn't put it to the test right now. If he channeled either Holy or Unholy it would bring him nothing but trouble.
Seeing Thomas taking his words seriously, Hekrin turned back to the revolver and picked it up to examine it closely. Thomas was surprised that Hekrin could actually handle the revolver, it was soulbound after all. Maybe that only meant that Hekrin simply couldn't use it? Or did it mean something else in AoG than what he expected? He'd ask Hekrin later. When Hekrin saw the description of the weapon his eyes widened slightly in surprise, "What the hell?!"
Hekrin slowly took a deep breath and let it out before looking at his 'apprentice' that had not only made an excellent version of his Magitech Tube but had made an all new metal that had never existed before. If the kids Peace Maker had been made as a true Magitech item it would have been perfect. Hekrin couldn't help but wonder just how far the kid would take his inheritance and what kind of changes the kid would bring to the whole world.
Hekrin slowly shook his head and set the revolver back down on the counter, "Kid, yur really somethin' else ya know?"
Thomas laughed, "I guess. So, you want to come with me and take this thing out for some more test firing? I've made four different prototypes of the ammunition to see which is the best to use."
Hekrin stroked his beard as he thought about it and then nodded, "Sure kid. I'd like to see what happens."
Hekrin went about closing down his shop for the time they would be away. Though Thomas expected that there wouldn't be any customers coming by anyway. Once the storefront was secure the two of them made their way toward the north gate of the city. Thomas made sure the Peace Maker was securely stored inside of his inventory. The locals may not recognize it for what it was, but any player they passed on the streets would instantly recognize it. Thomas did not want a bunch of people asking him to make them revolvers. He wasn't even sure if he could at this point. If they were all soulbound he probably wouldn't be able to sell a single one.
As they walked he turned to look at Hekrin as he asked, "What does an item being soulbound to someone mean, Master?"
Hekrin glanced at Thomas before he replied, "It means that the item can only be used by the person it's bound to. Others can handle it but, for example, if I was ta try and use yur Peace Maker nothin' would happen. I wouldn't be able to put it into my inventory or a spacial storage item and I couldn't take it more than a meter from ya. If I tried it would slip out of my hand and fall to the ground." He stroked his beard as he pondered, "For us locals, an item is soulbound until our deaths and then it will choose a new master. Usually, though not always, the next person ta pick it up." He cocked a brow and looked at Thomas, "Though in the case of an immortal like yurself, I'm not entirely sure what will happen."
Thomas mulled over Hekrin's words as they continued to walk toward the northern gate. All he knew for sure was no one could steal his Peace Maker, but he also couldn't sell it. He sighed and said nothing else as they continued to walk toward the clearing where they had previously tested the Peace Maker. Soon he would get to fire the gun again and he was excited to see what would happen.