With the rifle completed, he moved onto making some ammunition for it. He planned to spend the rest of the day making ammo for it and work on his new sword tomorrow. Even if the new rifle was useless for the moment, it wouldn't be long before he had the chance to test it out. Though he would need to head out of the city, just to be safe. With the plan set, for the time being, he focused on making the ammo for his rifle.
The process of making the ammo wasn't too difficult. Thanks to his access to the internet it was easy to recreate a basic shell casing and bullet that would fit properly into the chamber of the rifle. To make the shell casings, he used plain iron. He still hadn't found any brass but that didn't matter anymore. Brass was used in steel guns because brass was softer than steel and wouldn't cause any damage to the weapon when it expanded. Iron would work just fine inside of the Mithril rifle for the same reason, it was softer than Mithril.
For the bullets themselves, they would be made of basic steel for the most basic of slugs. He'd experiment with other metals when making more interesting options. He had to make sure that whatever bullets he fired from the gun would be affected by magnetic forces. Otherwise, it would be pointless. He'd only recently learned that lead wasn't magnetic so he would need to test each metal before he put it to use as a bullet. Steel was definitely magnetic so he started there.
The design for the shell casing was similar to the ones he'd made for his Peace Maker. Instead of a primer, he made the area where it would go extremely thin. Thin enough that the Mithril firing pin would be more than capable of piercing into it. With the metal pierced by the flaming Mithril tip, it would ignite the small amount of Firestone Gem powder that would be inside of it. The small burst of energy would push the bullet down the first small section of the barrel and directly into the first magnetic field. From there it would rapidly accelerate until it left the barrel.
The most difficult part of designing the bullet was trying to decide just how much of the purified Firestone power he should use inside of the bullet. After thinking about it for a bit, he decided that it didn't really matter at all. Even if he put in 'too much' Firestone powder it wouldn't make much of a difference. All that would mean is that the bullet would travel faster, probably. So, he decided not to worry about it and went about purifying all of the Firestone Ore that he'd purchased thereby turning it into Firestone Gems. From there is was swiftly ground into a fine powder.
He set the powder to the side and retrieved some iron ore from his inventory. Like everything else so far, he used his Transmutation to change the iron ore into multiple shell casings. Thanks to the casings being so thin he was able to make just over twenty casings in one go. However, because he couldn't split things with his Transmutation he had to break the casings apart by hand and smooth out what was left of the small spurs that had held them together. He also needed to adjust the thickness of the shell where the primer would normally be located. The best part was, the shell casings would be reusable. All he would need to do was use his Transmutation to fix the small hole that would be created by the firing pin punching through.
With the shells completed, he started to fill them with a small amount of Firestone powder. Small being relative to the large size of the shells. A fifty caliber bullet was not something to be underestimated. Once all of the shells had some firestone power inside of them, he set them off to the side. He retrieved several iron ingots and a lump of coal from his inventory. He used his purification on the coal to get pure carbon. After that, it was a simple matter to use his mixing to add the carbon evenly into the iron to make crude steel. At the same time, he used his mixing to perfectly spread out the impurities within the ingot. The same way that folding steel would.
Once all of the ingots were turned into steel, he started to split them up into the individual bullets. Because he wasn't using as much gunpowder as they would need in the real world, he made the slugs significantly bigger. On the plus side, they would impart more kinetic energy upon impact. This, in turn, would make them much deadlier. It took a few tries for him to get the bullet to the perfect size to fit into the shells, but once he had it right making the rest was rather simple. When the first shell was finished he got a pleasant notification.
System Notice: You have created a Common rarity The Destroyer Bullet. Quality: Excellent. You have gained 297 Magitech Engineering experience.
Item Type: The Destroyer Bullet Rarity: Common Quality: Excellent Description: A basic bullet that can be fired from The Destroyer.
+150 Power
-Can only be fire from The Destroyer
Thomas smiled as he read over the description. As it was just a basic solid slug it didn't have very many properties to it. What made him smile was the '+150 Power' in the description. With that bonus the shots fired from The Destroyer would deal a minimum of four hundred and thirty Power to the target. It seemed pretty impressive to him, especially if the rifle was fired at full power and would deal a whopping fifteen hundred and fifty Power worth of damage to the target. He was excited to see what would happen when he started making things like armor-piercing rounds and incendiary rounds and other things he might be able to pull off with enchantments in the near future.
He set the round to the side and proceeded to make more. Over the course of several hours using his Transmutation and supplies, he created exactly one hundred of the basic bullets, earning a relatively small amount of experience for each one. Still, the sheer numbers made up for it. When he was finished he earned just about thirty thousand Magitech Engineering experience, about the same amount he would earn for ten Epic rarity items. Though, with no bonus real experience added onto it due to the lower rarity of the bullets.
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By the time he finished making all one hundred rounds, it was late afternoon coming close to early evening. He'd only had snacks for his late lunch so he decided to call it a day early and get an early dinner at a nice restaurant with Snowlily. She'd been patient and let him get his work done. He packed up everything and smiled at Snowlily, "Alright. Tonight I'll let you pick where we go for dinner."
Hearing Thomas, Snowlily immediately perked up and gave a soft woof while her tail wagged rapidly behind her. Thomas chuckled at the adorable sight. They left the workshop together and started to walk the streets of the city. Snowlily sniffed around excitedly as she tried to find the most delectable scent in the air. Thomas just followed behind her random wandering with a soft smile. Eventually, she perked up and stuck her nose high in the air while sniffing deeply. With a bark and excitedly wagging tail, she took off and quickly lead Thomas in the direction of whatever she had smelled.
He walked behind the excited little Garou for nearly fifteen minutes before they arrived in front of a nice looking restaurant. Usually, the places Snowlily tended to find were 'hole in the wall' places that were off the beaten path. However, this restaurant was right off of the main road and easily accessible. There was even a small line of people waiting for a seat inside. Thomas looked down at Snowlily and her excitedly wagging tail and rapidly sniffing nose, "Are you sure this is where you want to eat?"
She simply woofed at him without even bothering to look back. Thomas just smirked and made his way to the end of the line. There were only six people in front of them so it shouldn't be much of a wait for them to get a table and some food. He was right, the wait was only about ten minutes before the two of them were guided inside and given a small table. The place was bustling with life as people enjoyed their food and drinks. It was only a few moments before a physically attractive waitress came to their table to present them with menus and take their drink orders. Thomas ordered water for Snowlily and some house ale for himself.
After reading through the menu, Thomas didn't see any new monsters to try eating. There were some familiar ones that he was looking forward to having again. When the waitress returned Thomas smiled up at her, "We'll take three Minotaur fillets, two orders of fried Burka root, and two house salads."
After taking their orders the waitress gave a polite smile and left to put the orders in for them. Snowlily was happy about the orders of meat but showed a disgruntled expression when Thomas ordered the salads. She knew one of them was for her to 'enjoy'. He wasn't punishing her so much anymore or he would have ordered three salads and left two for her. The two of them silently enjoyed each other's company and sipped on their drinks. Well, he sipped while she lapped at hers. He honestly found it interesting that there hadn't been any issues with Snowlily sitting at the table with him anywhere he went. He had no explanation for it but wasn't going to complain either. No need to make a fuss about something working in his favor.
A short time later their original waitress, and one other, arrived at their table carrying several plates covered in food. If nothing else this place served excellent portion sizes. the minotaur filets were the size of regular porterhouse steaks in the real world, only much much thicker. The fried Burka root looked like large deep-fried potato wedges covered in a healthy helping of salt. The house salads were a mixture of various greens that Thomas didn't know the exact name of covered with an oil-based dressing that made the green leaves and other vegetables glimmer. All-in-all, the meal looked excellent and was not a bad way to spend a couple of hundred gold.
Without waiting, Snowlily immediately dug into the portion of Minotaur fillet mignon in front of her. Her small teeth easily pulled the soft and delicate meat into bite-sized pieces. Thomas smiled as he watched her but made sure to push her salad closer to her. She spotted the salad and glared at it like it was responsible for the genocide of her people. She gave Thomas a pleading look but he simply shook his head, "Eat it."
She let out a sigh of defeat. One of these days she would make Thomas pay for making her eat so many vegetables. She swore that to herself. Thomas just enjoyed the conflicted and sometimes ferocious look on her adorable little face while eating his dinner. He rotated between bites of the melt in your mouth soft steak, the crunchy and salty Burka root, and the fresh-tasting summer salad. The dressing on the salad had a bright citrus taste to it that complimented the crunchy texture of the lettuce leaves. Everything was delicious and worth the price he would be paying.
As Snowlily finished her steak she glared hatefully at the still untouched plate of salad. Thomas grinned and used his knife to slice the third fillet in half, "If you finish your salad I'll let you have this."
He pushed one half of the steak in her direction but made sure it was still out of range for her to quickly snap it up. Snowlily looked mesmerized by the juicy piece of meat sitting just out of range of her jaws. Her eyes flickered to Thomas so she could glare at him for a moment. Reluctantly, she gave up and started to eat her salad. She would never, ever, admit it out loud but she actually enjoyed some of the vegetables that Thomas forced her to eat. This salad was one of them but she refused to show any outward signs of her enjoyment.
The two of them continued to eat and when Snowlily finished her salad, Thomas kept his promise and gave her the steak he promised. He smiled like an indulgent father when Snowlily happily dug into it. The meal was finished shortly after and once the bill was paid, the two of them left the restaurant and made their way to the inn they were staying at. When they stepped inside he spotted the four women that made up the group he would be diving into the dungeon with.
The four women were sitting at a table together and when they spotted Thomas walking in, Selena waved them over to the table. Thomas and Snowlily approached and when they were close enough Aria, one of Selena's guards, spoke up in a playfully petulant tone, "About time! We're starving!"
Thomas chuckled, "Sorry. I didn't know you all would be waiting for us. We've already eaten so you all should order your dinner and enjoy it. We'll join you for dinner tomorrow night, I promise."
Aria and Minerva both looked a little upset. Thomas assumed that they were upset he made their princess wait while he was off eating. Though neither of them complained out loud. Lexiana and Selena just nodded and quickly waved over a waitress. Thomas gave a nod to the women and retired to his room with Snowlily. There was still some time before he needed to go to sleep. He decided to spend that time rotating between expanding his inventory and recovering his spent mana with Serenity. He did so for about an hour before he went to sleep expanding his inventory a significant amount.