The next few months flew by and resulted in all of the pickup tires being replaced. Surprisingly, there had been no more visitors trying to kidnap him. If they were trying to lure him into a false sense of security, it was working.
The guild was also able to modify the windshield barrier device for his pickup by adding side projectors that could shield the side windows as well. Chuck had a fully enclosed cab again which greatly aided the air conditioner/heater and kept the dust out.
The biggest change had been the breakthrough with his ammunition. Instead of gunpowder the bullets now utilized magic. It wasn’t that they couldn’t produce gunpowder but the guild members had thought they could do better. It frankly made Chuck a little nervous.
He was worried about what they would do with their further experiments with gunpowder. The guild members were far too competent and reminded him of mad scientists. As usual, Chuck had absolutely no idea how the new ammunition worked but work it did.
The casings looked pretty much the same except for runes circling them but the tips now glowed in different colors depending on the magic. Red for fire, blue for ice, brown for earth, white for healing, and black for death. The red bullets shot a fireball the size of a softball that exploded on impact.
The blue bullet shot out an ice blast that could freeze a target. The brown bullet shot out a chunk of rock that exploded into shrapnel upon impact. The white rounds could be fired at friendly targets to heal them. The black bullets caused a festering wound of necrotic rot.
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They made magical ammunition for both his rifle and shotgun and Chuck eagerly started practicing with them. The shotgun ammo still packed a punch but was for short range while the rifle kept its range but wasn’t as powerful. It definitely made for some interesting possibilities.
After he had tested the prototype ammo to his satisfaction, they had started to mass produce it so Chuck would have plenty of each type. The development and ammo production wasn’t cheap and used up a lot of his money but Chuck felt it was worth it.
Chuck had Tess start practicing with the rifle and shotgun now that they had a ready supply of ammunition. Both guns were a lot quieter and didn’t have much of a recoil with the new ammo. As with most things, it didn’t take long for Tess to get used to the weapons.
The guns themselves both needed minor modifications to be able to fire the new ammunition. Chuck didn’t like anyone messing with the guns but knew it was necessary. Luckily everything had worked out and now both weapons would have the ammo they needed.
The cell phone had been a big hit and Tess and the siblings had worked out a schedule for all of them to use it. Bright had gotten tired of constantly recharging the cell phone so had constructed a battery that could recharge the phone without his help.
The battery just looked like a flat piece of crystalline rock. You just had to place the cell phone on the rock to charge it. Chuck didn’t know how long the crystal battery would last but he had used it for a whole month without any problems. He was sure Bright had made it so it would last as long as possible so he wouldn’t be bothered.
Speaking of Bright, he had finally finished translating the parchment Chuck had won from the auction. Unfortunately it was a bust. There was nothing in it that Chuck considered useful so he let Bright keep it. The document was basically a journal detailing everyday life. Bright thought it was historically important and added it to the alchemy guild’s library.