Kaleb Explained about his plan and asked where Roy had stashed the rest of the Ifrit blood. Leaving the garage and moving to the side of his house Kaleb found the large Ice freezer he had purchased. Inside was some Ifirt meat they hadn’t given to Derana along with two large bins full of Ifrit blood.

Moving a bin inside Kaleb had to kick aside a few things, but he managed to set the bin close enough to his worktable. Opening the bin revealed a pool of the orange-tinged blood which Kaleb skimmed his hand over. Surprised at how warm the blood still was Kaleb raised his hand quickly and let the excess blood drip back into the bin.

Once done he swiveled his hand back over to the cestus gloves. Kaleb focused his mind on the Resizing Rune and channeled his magic. This was the first time he was jumping straight to Imprinting without drawing the Rune first. But he hoped that the simpleness of the Resize Rune combined with his familiarity with it would make things easier. He pictured the rune in his mind and forced the Mana down through his blood-drenched hand.

He felt the pull on his Mana from the Ifrit skin, but there was also a strong tug from his own hand. His hand seemed to want flow down with his Magic. His hand was heating from the flow of Mana and he had to exert a moderate amount of strength just to keep his hand steady. He could feel the blood quickly dry on his hand and he was sure something had sucked the blood into the Mana stream.

As quick as the flow of Mana started, it ended. Kaleb quickly checked his hand and sure enough, the blood had been evaporated or absorbed into the skin of the gloves. Daivor spoke up, drawing Kaleb’s eyes back down to the gloves he had been working on.

“Boss, the skin.”

Kaleb looked down and gasped in surprised. The glove he had been working on had changed color. The skin, which was a more orange-tan color originally, was now a deeper red color. It almost looked like it came right off an alive Ifrit. He picked up the cestus and gave it a once over, but aside from the new Imprinted Rune and color it seemed to be fine.

He glanced at his Mana before he set the first glove down and moved to the second. He wanted to get the second done as quickly as possible. He followed the same steps as he did the first and met with similar results. The blood seemed to seep down through the combined Mana and once it hit the skin; it spread like fire. Red color spread throughout the glove from the Imprinted Rune.

“Got the first one of these done.” Daivor said holding up a bullet case with an Ifrit bone cap.

Kaleb turned his attention to the Gnome and carefully picked up the bullet. “Thanks, Daivor. Now I have to give it a test fire.”

Farrah spoke up. “And WHERE exactly do you plan to do that?”

“Hmmm, maybe out back?” Kaleb wondered out loud picking up the bone gun and setting Daivor on his shoulder.

“Wait, no. You can’t do that!” Farrah yelled.

“Why not it’s property?” Kaleb said heading into his house. “Roy, I’m going out back to test-fire the gun.”

“Sure thing, Doc.” Roy said, absently. The boy was sitting on the garage floor studying something in his lap.

“Go to the proper facility to test your weapons or do it inside your own lab.” Farrah explained.

“The backyard is part of my home. It will only be one bullet… maybe. Just let the cops know in case any neighbors complain.” Kaleb said moving through his house to the backyard.

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“Why would they complain?” Daivor asked.

“I’m not doing that. You have to at least do this officially.” Farrah said.

“Because of the noise.” Kaleb answered Daivor, ignoring he Handler completely.

“I can handle that.” Daivor said, waving his hand at the bone gun.

Kaleb loaded the round in the gun as whatever magic Daivor cast seeped into the weapon. “See, Farrah? Gnome’s got it handled.”

“I don’t understand him!” Farrah complained as Kaleb aimed the gun at a spot in the distance and fired.

Kaleb saw the dirt kick up off in the distance where he had aimed and he was pretty sure the muzzle flashed. But there had been no sound. No click of the trigger, no hammer dropping onto the cartridge, and no loud clap from the bullet firing. Kaleb twisted his head to look amazed at Daivor.

“Gnome Magic.” Daivor said grinning wide.

“I give up.” Farrah said. “I am logging off, my AI clone can handle your crazy for today.”

“Bye Farrah, we love you.” Kaleb said sarcastically.

“Bite me, lizard.”

Kaleb chuckled as he looked back to his Gnome companion. “So how long does that spell last?”

“A few minutes, why?”

“It’s better than a silencer, dude. Can I learn it?” Kaleb asked as he walked to where the bullet hit the ground.

Daivor shook his head. “Nope. Gnome’s only. But there is a Silencing Rune, it is almost as good.”

Kaleb dug through the ground looking for pieces of the bone bullet. “Isn’t that just for voices?”

“No, that’s the Muffling Rune.”

“Huh, good to kn-OW!” Kaleb screamed as his hand found something burning hot.

Looking down Kaleb saw the still intact round softly glowing red against the brown dirt. It had been hot to touch and even looked like it was still steaming. It surprised him that the round was still whole too, usually a bullet would either shatter or deform somehow. But he guessed the toughness of the Ifrit’s bones had to account for something. It took a few minutes for the bullet to cool enough for him to pick it up but once it did Kaleb inspected it while asking Daivor.

“Do you think we can use this again? It seems fine.”

“Maybe.” Daivor said. “But you would need a new casing, new powder, and a new primer.”

“Might as well buy a new bullet. The heat is interesting though. Could we increase the heat? Would make for good penetrating power if the bullets could melt their way through things.” Kaleb pondered as they made their way back inside.

Daivor rubbed his beard. “Maybe a Fire Rune on the barrel or the bullet. Either way, you are looking at a lot of Enchanting. But the bones should be able to withstand a ton a heat.”

“One hell of a hotshot, huh?” Kaleb joked as they entered his lab.

*click* *snikt*

The sound of a blade sliding out of something metal filled the lab just as Kaleb walked in. Turning, he saw Roy standing with both arms extended to his sides. Roy was wearing thin metal frames covered in strips of Ifrit skin on each of his forearms. Out of the metal frames, two shaved down black Ifrit claws extended past his hands. Essentially Roy had given himself four claws.

“Nice.” Kaleb said moving to inspect the forearm bracers.

He’s voice seemed to startle Roy who appeared to get embarrassed. “Yeah, it’s just something I’ve been working on. They are kinda heavy though and I was thinking of adding or replacing the claws with the Ifrit bones.”

Kaleb nodded as Daivor tilted his head in thought. “Once the leather hardens his arms will have a good defense but does he intend to kill everyone he fights.”

Kaleb brought up Daivor’s concern and Roy agreed saying. “No, these are the lethal variants. I was thinking of having different blades for different situations.”

“Then you will have to switch them out on the fly. You must do it quickly too, bad guys aren’t gonna wait around for you to load a new weapon.” Kaleb said.

In response, Roy tapped something the left side of the frame on his right forearm. A hatch opened and Roy stuck in his finger in, pressing on something inside. The right side of the bracer popped open as it pushed one blade out and onto the garage floor. Kaleb understood, if Roy carried similar shaped blades or batons he could swap them out by sliding the new one into the bracer.

“Not bad but if you carry around a bunch of blades and such, anyway. Why use the bracers?” Kaleb asked.

Roy got a surprised look on his face before he seemed to think about it.

“Damn it!”