Just as the clerk predicted, the shell was completed in three hours. Lucius walked in with the shell gleaming on the counter.

"Nice," Lucius said. He walked over and picked it up.

It had a shiny, smooth texture to it. It had no jagged edges, and when Lucius slid it over his arm, it fit perfectly. It was about the size of an oversized glove with three holes in the front. It curved over his fingers to protect them. There was space where he could slide in his innards mechanics, so he estimated that everything would fit.

"Why is it so light?" Lucius asked as he waved it up and down as if it was just part of his sleeve.

"Oh, I infused the Brightmetal with another ore that was much lighter, but not nearly as hard," the clerk said. "You shouldn't worry about the hardness of it. It would still be hard enough to block several hundred sword strikes," she reassured. "Since the holes made it look like you were going to use it as a gauntlet, it was going to be pretty heavy if it just consisted of Brightmetal."

"That's awesome," Lucius said and removed it from his wrist. "Do you want extra money for that?"

"Nah," she said. "Just let me keep the rest of the Brightmetal. Those scraps could be useful for projects that don't require an entire ore."

"Sure sure," Lucius said. "Fine with me. Anyway, thanks for the help!"

"No problem," she said as Lucius left. "Come again!"

Lucius carried the shell outside and headed to the gates. He got a lot of curious looks, so he quickly left the city. He got to the green outskirts and threw a Transportation Gem at his feet.

----------------------------------------

Lucius carried the shell back into his workshop and gently set it down on the table. He checked up on his metal, which hardened but was still extremely hot. Lucius planned to set it to cool overnight.

He grabbed a sheet of metal from one of his previous projects and began to finalize the inner mechanics. He infused two of the shaped Mana Crystals with Wind Crystals, used sap to glue them on, and glued the AE Crystals to it.

Then he ran into a problem. He didn't have an idea what he could shoot. The Wind Crystal would just be annoying, the Thunder Crystal would electrocute him, the Fire Crystal would just turn it into a short-ranged flamethrower, and so on. He had to be creative.

However, creativity was failing him at the moment. Lucius was tired from running back and forth getting things, so he decided to take a from hand-cramping labor.

I wonder what happens if I combine Blast Crystals with a Mana Crystal? I probably should figure that out. Heck, there are a lot of things I need to try with crystals. I should do that.

He dug around in his box of crystals and brought out tons of them; some of which he didn't even recognize. He set aside any of the crystals which he knew what it would do if he let a Mana Crystal absorb it and focused on the new ones.

First, he tested the Light Crystal. He set the two crystals next to each other watching them meld together. Then, he propped it on a tripod and carefully spun it.

It did what he predicted. It emitted a small amount of light that steadily increased the faster he spun it.

This could be useful for making an adjustable lightbulb, Lucius thought and set it aside.

He was looking through his crystals when he noticed something. There was a crystal that looked similar to a Blast Crystal, but it had a much richer color and had a small, glowing, orange pulse in the center.

Hm... what's this? Lucius asked as he examined it. I should probably ask Luna or Balos about this, along with the other crystals I found.

Lucius gathered up the crystals and went out to find them. He found Balos on the edge of the forest, hacking away at the trees.

"Hey, Balos!" Lucius called out. Balos nodded toward him. "Can you help me identify these crystals?"

"Sure," Balos said and sheathed his sword. He walked over.

When he caught sight of the Blast Crystal, his eyes glistened.

"It has been a while since I've seen a tier two Blast Crystal," Balos said. "Unlike common Blast Crystals, tier two is much more useful for weapon crafting. If you break it, it will make a pretty big explosion. But the more useful use is if you let a Mana Crystal absorb it. You can control the crystal to do what you want it to do, minus some limitations based on the crystal."

Lucius was confused. "What?"

"Let's say you want the crystal to emit a steady stream of fire when you rotate it," Balos explained. "You would put a small drop of blood on it and state what effect you want. If you did it correctly, your blood should get absorbed and emit what you want it to do. High tier crystals allow you to have more control over it."

"That is really convenient," Lucius said.

Balos identified the rest of the crystals, proving them to have useful effects. There were a few other tier two crystals amongst the pile.

"By the way, what happened to the soldiers from Voxis Kingdom?" Lucius asked. "I forgot to ask."

"Oh, they went to be a spy in Poris Kingdom," Balos said. "They have proven to be quite useful for that. So far, the Queen hasn't announced anything about Baylight."

"That's good to hear," Lucius said. "The last thing we need right now is another war."

Lucius left Balos with his training and went back to his workshop.

Now to see how this works, Lucius thought and combined it with a Mana Crystal. He gingerly poked his finger, drawing blood out. He let it fall onto the crystal.

How would you describe the motion of a bullet firing? Lucius thought about it. He envisioned a bolt firing from the crystal and when it hit the target, it would explode.

Suddenly, the blood on the crystal crackled and was sucked into the crystal. Lucius flinched back and looked at it.

Huh? Did it work without me saying anything? Lucius thought and picked up the crystal. One of the ends seemed flattened while the other was sharper.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Let's see what happens when I spin it. Lucius turned crystal horizontally and spun it.

From the sharper end came a red bolt streaking out, and when it collided with a tree, it detonated and obliterated the tree.

Oookay... Lucius thought. This is a bit much. This is more like a missile than a bullet. I could make a missile attachment to the main body though.

Among the pile was a couple tier two Wind Crystal. Lucius knew what to do with them.

He dropped his blood on all three and thought about what he wanted. A solid wind bullet would fly out of the crystal extremely quick that would hit the target with insane velocity.

The crystals simultaneously crackled and abided to Lucius' wish.

If it's like this, then I have no need for the AE Crystals, Lucius thought.

He had to completely redesign his circuit, but after two hours of tinkering with it, he figured it out. He added a trigger that would control when the crystal would start to spin. If he depressed the trigger, it would start spinning the Mana Crystal and fire off shots. Once he released it, it would stop the spinning and thus stop the firing.

He slid it into the shell and held the trigger. He could hear the hum of the Mana Crystals all spinning.

Then, out of the three barrels, bullets began to fly out non-stop. It was quite inaccurate and the bullets did not have that much impact strength, but it was enough to shred the trees to bits.

"It worked!" Lucius yelled out. This is absolutely strong. If I put the Blast Crystal attachment to it, I don't think this is beatable.

Lucius had a lot more ideas for attachments, but he put those on hold. He was exhilarated with the success of the creation and had to show someone.

He ran around to find Balos, who was resting on a demolished stump.

"Balos!" Lucius said. "I finished my new weapon!"

He looked amused at the massive metal fist on Lucius' arm. "Let's see it in action."

Lucius grinned and raised his gun to the forest. He pressed the trigger.

Instantly, the sound of wood breaking was heard. The bullets flew straight from the barrel and smashed into the trees.

After nearly thirty seconds of firing, he could feel the crystal spinning faster and faster, and the bullet speed began to increase. The slight recoil of the gun became stronger and stronger.

Hm... this is feeling a little dangerous, Lucius thought. I wonder if this could brea--

Suddenly, Lucius could hear the audible sound of a crystal cracking.

Shi--

The sound of a crystal shattering was audible. The inner mechanics stopped spinning.

"Uh..." Lucius said and slid the weapon off his hand. "That wasn't supposed to happen."

"I can see that," Balos said with an amused smile on his face. "Still, that was quite impressive. Is that weapon concept something of your world?"

"Nope," Lucius said. "Making something like this in my world isn't possible."

"I see," Balos said. "Is it similar to your guns?"

"It uses similar concepts, but I took it to a whole new level," Lucius said while he cleaned off the debris inside the gun. The crystal that broke was only one of the crystals that would keep the circuit running, not the crystals that were in charge of firing bullets. It would be an easy repair, but it was unsettling.

That means I can't just keep firing this thing, Lucius thought. I guess it has to have a drawback. I wonder if I can figure out a way to keep the rotation in check. But for now, I guess I can live with this.

Lucius sighed and sat down on the damp grass. "So, how is Baylight coming along?"

"It is peaceful at the moment," Balos said. "But I fear that the war will only cause more hostility between us and the outside world. I assume news of Baylight has already reached most of the world, so be careful when you are out there. People don't talk about us in the friendliest of manners."

"I'll be careful," Lucius said. "At least, I'll try to be careful."

"That's good," Balos nodded. "And try not to reveal your weapons and technology too often. Because when people see it, they make connections. When they make connections, they will most likely recognize you. That's when trouble starts."

Man, Balos is really concerned about my safety, Lucius thought.

"Now, in terms of the actual town, the population is increasing. It is a good thing, but housing is starting to become a problem. I and a few other people were thinking about demolishing parts of the wall to expand."

"That would work," Lucius said. "But couldn't we build houses over the water? There isn't a wall that blocks off Baylight from Sorus Bay."

"I haven't thought of that," Balos said. "But there are problems with that. Wood that sits on the water will quickly decay, and stone will sink. Unless you can think of some clever way to keep the material either afloat or not decay, then that will prove the be quite a problem."

"True," Lucius admitted. "For now, I guess we could break and reuse the wall. But that’s going to leave an opportunity for people to sneak in. We have to be really quick if we want to be safe."

"Don't worry," Balos said. "I'll have a team of people scouting for outsiders. We should be safe..." He frowned and looked into the forest.

"What is it?" Lucius asked.

"Nothing... I thought I saw something move," Balos said. "Probably just a wild animal."

"Mhmm. Well, I guess you should start with the construction as soon as you can," Lucius said. "The sooner the better."

"Might as well start now then," Balos said and got up. "I'll gather the crew to start up."

"Alright," Lucius said. "I probably should repair this. After, I'll come and help out."

They parted ways. Lucius headed back to his workshop and fixed the crystal. Then, he checked up on the metal.

It was still hot, but it was workable. Lucius grabbed a rod and jammed it under the sheet and plied it out of the ground. Using a glove, he brushed off the dirt the best he could and leaned it against a wall.

When he finished, he was ended up with the sheets of metal where one side was flat while the other had several dirt spots, but Lucius didn't mind. He was planning to encase the final design in wood so his fingers wouldn't freeze when he touched it.

Using a mallet, he carefully hammered out a small indent in two of the long slabs of metal and fit the Cooling Ores in them to cool them quicker. Then, he started to assemble the structure.

He mixed a mud-sap mixture and glued the pieces together. Everything went somewhat smoothly until it came to the last part: the door.

Lucius had no way to make a hinge, so he used his old ideas for doors. It didn't take long for his idea to take shape.

After he was satisfied with the functionality with the door, he glued on the wood and cleaned it up. The finished result was satisfactory; it didn't look half bad and it worked well. It leaked some cold, but it was bearable. Inside, the temperature was quite similar feeling to fridges on Earth.

Lucius crafted some small platforms for shelves and slid them into the fridge. He shut the door and looked at it, proud of himself.

Two great inventions in one day, Lucius thought. What a great day. It took me about three hours to finish, but hey.

He grunted and shifted it over to the corner of his workshop and put in a strawberry.

Time to see if this works, Lucius thought.

Then, he went and helped out Balos. Most of the wall was taken down already and was being assembled out. Wood piled lay throughout the site and more of the scales were being plated onto the wall.

"Wow. Things are coming along fast," Lucius said to one of the wolfmen.

"Yeah," he replied. "Taking down the wall was simple enough. Rebuilding is going to take a bit though, so we have quite a lot of security around. So far, we haven't seen anyone."

"That's great!" Lucius exclaimed. "Anyway, where can I help out?"

They went off, but they failed to notice something.

Four shadows dashed into Baylight undetected.