Overwhelming Firepower

After the live demonstration of the Thunderspear, Lucen asked Robert if he could have it, and the other party agreed. Now, aside from their training with the arquebus, each one of them needed to learn how to fire the Thunderspear.

***

As the days of training went by, Lucen’s birthday came and went. Unlike in his past life, where every birthday was celebrated, here only a few key years of one’s life were worth having a celebration. So Lucen became thirteen years old rather quietly.

’Well, the important birthday is my younger brother’s, who will get to hold a sword for the first time, and show how much of a genius he really is... I wonder by then if I would understand what to do with the heart of embers I got.’

Lucen sighed as he once again remembered the heart of the young fire dragon hidden in his room, which even now he had no idea what to do with.

Still, maybe there was some sort of effect just being close to it, since having it made him feel like his rising mana pool was because of it.

***

A few days after the live demonstration of the Thunderspear, Garett visited the training grounds made for the Thornefang.

”Young master, I have something I have a favor to ask of you.”

”What is it, Sir Garett?”

”I understand that you and Sir Robert of the yellow tower have created a weapon that could be used by anyone, but you create a similar weapon specialized for aura users?”

When Lucen heard Sir Garett’s request, his mind was blown. He was so focused on his knowledge from his past life, and the skill, gun knowledge, that he did not notice that he did not need to simply follow those things and be creative instead.

He already realized that you could make something very new in this world, based on how Robert created his ignition system, but he did not think too deeply about it. That was a mistake.

’Aura users have superhuman bodies, and can enhance the durability and sharpness of the weapon they have in hand using aura. To think I haven’t thought about creating weapons for them. If they’re the ones wielding the weapon, we can create absurd things like those from that video game were you take down giant monsters for their parts. Actually, since there are runes that enhance items in this world, I can probably make most of the fantasy weapons I’ve seen in my past life.’

As Lucen was getting excited at the prospect of creating such unknown weapons, he remembered that with his current skills, it would be difficult.

’Good thing I have a true genius working with me. I just need to show Robert the basic idea, and he’ll do the rest.’

”Are you alright using any weapon like the arquebus or lances?”

”I do prefer a sword, but I’m willing to learn how to use a new weapon. So, is it possible to create a weapon for aura users?”

”I’m not entirely sure yet, but are you willing to help with experimentation while creating the weapon?”

”As long as I have free time, I’m willing to help with anything related to the weapon creation.”

”Are you willing to swear upon your honor as a knight that you will help with anything?”

Lucen didn’t look at Garett. Head slightly lowered, his lips curled into a faintly sinister smile.

”Why should I swear upon my honor as a knight? Can’t I just help without doing that?”

”Are you not willing to swear, because you plan to back out when it gets hard? It seems that I have misjudged you, Sir Garett.”

”Fine, I swear upon my honor as a knight. Are you satisfied, young master?” Garett answered, unaware of his future hardships.

”Very, so tell me what kind of weapon do you want, something similar to the arquebus, or doesn’t need to be, and just something to add to the power of your attack?”

”Yes, I just want something to add to the power of my attack.”

”Alright, I’ll speak to Robert about this, and we’ll see what we can do. I’ll call for you if we need to test out the weapon.”

”Thank you, young master, for listening to my request.” Garett did a knight’s salute. Lucen returned the gesture with a faint smirk.

***

After he was done with Thornefang’s basic training, the members of Thornefang headed to their favorite inn to have a warm meal and a good drink. On the other hand, Lucen headed to Robert’s workshop, where the sound of an explosion could be heard almost at any hour.

Upon entering the workshop, the first thing that greeted Lucen was a sudden bang that rattled the floorboards, followed by a puff of black smoke rolling out from a cluttered side room.

Robert appeared wearing his mask, which had something similar to a bird’s beak. When he saw Lucen, he removed his mask.

”Oh, how surprising, why are you here today, Lucen? Is it already time for another lesson?” Robert asked, unaware of how much time had flowed.

”No, I came here for something much more interesting than a lesson.”

Seeing the vicious smile on Lucen’s face, Robert knew that whatever he was going to say would be very interesting indeed.

”I was requested to build an aura-specific weapon using the black powder.”

”Oh, that really is interesting. Still, aren’t we leaning more on engineering now than on alchemy?”

”Does it matter?”

”Heh, I guess it doesn’t, we are still pursuing knowledge in its purest form. Still, better say we use alchemy as the basis for everything to make to improve the image of the yellow tower.”

”Whatever you want, Robert,” Lucen responded while shrugging his shoulders.

”So what kind of weapon are you thinking of making?”

***

It took several days, but Robert and Lucen, alongside the best blacksmith of Stellhart, Oswin Hevan, an old man who has been in the forge all his life, created the first prototype of crimson lord, a game-inspired sword that uses gunpowder to heat up the blade.

Once your aura is channeled through the hilt, it flows into a shardstone embedded in the guard. You then press on the trigger that is also on the hilt, the shardstone then reacts, sparking the sealed black powder inside.

The resulting burst sends heated air through narrow channels along the blade’s edge, superheating it to a dull red glow, without melting the metal used, which has a high heat resistance, thanks to aura reinforcement and some rune enhancements.

They also created the armor buster, a powerful gun that uses much more gunpowder, and the ammunition is a specialized bullet that, upon bursting out of the armor buster’s muzzle, would explode a few meters away from the shooter. This weapon was not meant for long-range, but a powerful mid-range weapon.

Under normal circumstances, the weapon would explode because of the power of that much black powder, but theoretically, it should endure with the use of one’s aura mantle.

Lucen called Garett to test out the prototype and see what would happen. Of course, Lucen, who also has aura now, can try to use the sword, but he felt like it would be better if Garett did it.

When Garett arrived at Lucen’s workshop, he was met by three excited-looking individuals, even the old man Oswin seemed to be infected by Lucen and Robert’s excitement.

”We created two weapons that match what you wanted. This is the crimson lord, a sword that uses gunpowder, which makes the blade extremely hot. The other item is the Armor Buster, a gun that only aura users with their superhuman abilities can wield without breaking bones. So which one would you like to try first?” Lucen spoke, wanting to see the effects of the first true fantasy weapons they created.

”Of course, the young lad should use the sword. It’s one of my best works, even without all the other things, as a sword, it is truly incredible.” Oswin spoke his opinion with his hands folded.

”Obviously, he should try and use the Armor Buster since he requested to make something powerful that was similar to the arquebus,” Robert spoke as he pointed at the Armor Buster placed on the floor.

Robert and Oswin then looked at each other then they came to Garett with more pressure.

”So, which one would you like to try first?” The two spoke almost at the same time.

Garett turned his head to look at Lucen, asking for help, but Lucen simply shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

***

In the end, Garett tested out the Crimson Lord first. Oswin taught him how to load the black powder into the Crimson Lord. Oswin pulled the crossguard back, showing a narrow compartment, just wide enough to insert powder but tightly sealed to prevent leaks or misfires.

Oswin then took out a small powder horn and filled the Crimson Lord with the black powder inside the powder horn.

This small powder horn was measured so that it would put an exact amount of black powder into the Crimson Lord, since putting too much would result in a powerful explosion breaking the weapon, and putting too little would not produce the desired effects.

Oswin closed the Crimson Lord’s guard with a heavy click, and a spring-loaded lock system engaged, compressing the powder inside and locking it into the inner chamber.

The mechanism was built to endure heavy impacts, ensuring the powder wouldn’t shift or ignite by accident, even with the wild swings of battle.

Once it was ready, Oswin handed the sword to Garett, who took it with careful movement. When it was in his hand, Garett immediately noticed that this longsword was heavier than most weapons he had wielded before, but it was not enough to cause him any discomfort.

”Now, all you need to do is use your aura like you would with any other weapon, then press the trigger on the hilt,” Lucen said. Garett nodded his head, got in front of the training dummy, and took a fighting stance.

Garett then placed his fingers above the trigger, which was close to the hilt of the sword between the crossguard and the hilt.

He squeezed the trigger, and Garett let his aura flow into the sword, wrapping it in a translucent layer of energy that shimmered faintly, his aura mantle. He could hear a loud sound within his sword.

He swung the sword, and it cut through the training dummy. Not only that, the training dummy made out of wood had scorched marks in the place where it was cut. As Garett was getting excited by this new weapon, he suddenly felt his hands growing hotter.

The heat from his blade had spread onto the hilt of his sword. Surprised by the sudden heat, Garett almost let go of the sword, but as a knight, he would not allow that. He pulled back his aura and stopped squeezing the trigger. The sword slowly cooled down, and when Garett looked at his hands, there were some burns.

When Garett showed the three what had happened, they grew interested and started thinking about how to fix said problem.

”Well, for now, how about trying the Armor Buster?”

Robert suddenly said. Seeing how enthusiastic Robert was, Garett could only sigh. He clenched his right fist, which had some burns, and felt like it was good enough.

Unlike the Crimson Lord, the Armor Buster was quite heavy even for the standards of an aura user, still, it wasn’t too heavy that it would slow down Garett’s movements. Garett positioned himself a few meters away from the wooden training dummies.

”Is this safe?” Garett asked.

”Who knows, just fire it already,” Robert responded. Garett hesitated when he heard Robert’s answer.

”Sir Garett, as a knight of Stellhart, are you perhaps afraid of a little explosion?” When Garett heard what Lucen said, he gritted his teeth and resolved himself to shoot.

The same as the Crimson Lord, Garett enveloped the Armor Buster with his aura mantle and fired. The second he fired, there was a loud sound, and the Armor Buster itself blew up.

Still, the loaded specialized burst bullet shot out and blew up the training dummies, showcasing how powerful it was despite the gun exploding as well.

Garett, who was holding the Armor Buster, was not hurt that much as the force of the explosion was going forward and not towards him, still, his hands were trembling a little bit.

”I was sure that it had enough durability combined with aura mantle to withstand that. Still, it was within the expected room for error. How interesting, I guess we can use the monster parts the North is known for to increase durability, ” Robert murmured to himself.

Lucen, who watched the entire thing, sighed at the failure, but he was also excited to see the things beyond the knowledge given to him by his skill gun knowledge.

’This is becoming a bit more fun than expected.’