System Notice: Device is now registered as 'Spell Cannon'! System Notice: You have taken a step forward on the path of an Inheritor. System Notice: You have created an Uncommon grade Spell Cannon. Quality: Excellent. You have gained 5,040 Magitech Engineering experience. You have gained 2,520 experience. Weapon Type: Spell Cannon Rarity: Uncommon Quality: Excellent Description: An unprecedented weapon, the likes of which has never been seen before. Using variable enchantments this weapon is capable of firing almost any spell that can be carved onto the shells that act as the core of the enchantment array.

The power of the spell fired by this weapon varies based on the spell itself, the amount of mana channeled into it, and the number of Amplification rings acting upon it when it is fired.

Each Amplification ring enhances the spell's damage or effect(s) by 25% each. Soulbound: Thomas Darkrose

Thomas looked over the description of the weapon and frowned. Soulbound? What the hell? It could be understood that the first one would be soulbound because of the Soul Wood he'd used for the handle. Why was this one soulbound? It was made almost entirely of 'common' materials that he'd simply purified and modified. He looked at his notifications once again and frowned. 'Path of an Inheritor', did this imply that every gun-type weapon he created would be soulbound since they were tied to his inheritance from Hekrin?

He sighed and stored the Spell Cannon away. He'd know for sure when he completed his next weapon. If it was soulbound as well it would mean that all of his gun-type weapons would be. This would be a good news, bad news situation for him. The good news would be that no one could ever take his weapons. The bad news, he could never sell any of them. He pondered on this as he made his way back to the city with Snowlily following him closely. There wasn't much else for him to test out with the Spell Cannon.

It didn't take much time to get back to the city and make his way to Rockbeard's smithy. He had a few things he needed to get done today and it would be his last day in the city of Bilri. Inside of the smithy he immediately lit up the forge he was using and got the flames roaring with his blower. Iron ingots were tossed into a crucible to melt down and be used to make more empty shells. He had twenty, but if each one could only be used three times with their built-in mana batteries then more meant more power.

He also took the time to make an additional four molds for the shells. This would let him pour out a total of ten shells at a time. He wanted to have at least a hundred shells at his disposal. While the iron was busy being melted, he went to the worktable he'd been using and started to play out what he wanted to make. In all honesty, it was a simple project. He was merely going to make a different version of his blower with a propeller, a long fin, and a pole with a handle that he could channel his mana through. Basically, a magic-powered outboard motor for a small boat. Since there was a river leading a fair distance down the route he wanted to take then why not take it with speed and style?

Thomas worked on the outboard motor and took breaks to pour out molten iron into the molds to make his shells. The outboard motor came together rather quickly and was made of plain iron. It was only going to be used for a day or two and may see some use after but he could always make another, better, one in the future if needed. The hardest part was simply getting the propeller blade into the right shape and angles. He was just eyeballing it from memory. It wouldn't be as efficient as professionally designed and tested propellers from the real world but it would work. As he was working he came to a stop at lunchtime without Snowlily having to chomp down on his calf.

As they were leaving the shop to go for their lunch, Snowlily looked slightly downcast. Thomas glanced down at her and laughed, "Are you that disappointed that you didn't get to bite me?"

Snowlily turned her head to look away from him and huffed. Thomas just threw his head back and laughed. Their lunch was delicious and they enjoyed it. Snowlily didn't hold back and ate nearly twice as much as Thomas. He watched her for a bit then shook his head, "Well, I guess growing kids need their food."

Though he said that, Snowlily's size hadn't changed since just after the battle with the orcs. He was rather certain now that her size was related to her Endurance attribute. After thinking about it he spoke up, "Snowlily, you should consider putting more of your attribute points into your Endurance attribute. I worry that you'll get hurt."

Snowlily tilted her head quizzically and woofed. She looked confused to him, so he asked, "Do you get to choose where your attribute points go when you gain experience?"

Snowlily woofed quizzically and continued to look at him in a way that could only be interpreted as confused. He thought for a moment and asked, "Can you see your status at all?"

Snowlily seemed to think for a moment then slowly shook her head. Thomas was floored by this. Did this mean the system was automatically assigning her attribute points for her? Was there some sort of fundamental difference between humanoid races and animal races? If so, would she be able to see her status once she was able to attain a human form? Thomas crossed his arms over his chest and thought about it for a bit. There was honestly nothing he could do about it no matter how much he thought. So he decided to give up for now. All he could do was wait and see.

Once lunch was finished, they returned to the smithy and he continued his work. Once all the metalwork was done he just needed to enchant the outboard motor. He made up the enchanting medium using purified mana crystals and went to work. The enchantment was simple enough. It just took more medium to carve the line up to the handle he would be holding and channeling his mana into. As an added bonus he installed one of the larger purified mana crystals to act like a battery with a simple switch to control the flow of mana.

System Notice: Please state the name of your creation.

Thomas laughed, "Outboard Motor."

System Notice: Device is now registered as 'Outboard Motor'! System Notice: You have created a Magical grade Outboard Motor. Quality: Above Average. You have gained 1,588 Magitech Engineering experience. Item Type: Outboard Motor Rarity: Magical Quality: Above Average Description: A motor that attaches to a small boat in order to propel it.

Thomas smiled as he looked over the notices and then dismissed them. The experience was decent, but nothing like making a new gun. With the outboard motor completed, it was immediately stored inside of one of his storage rings. Looking inside of his inventory he paused and sighed. Right, there was something he needed to take care of still taking up a large amount of space inside there. He checked on the iron remaining inside of the crucible. There was still enough left for a few more shells. Once he was done with them he would have another errand to run.

With the last batch of shells finished he counted them and smiled. He'd made more than he intended. Currently, he had a hundred and nineteen empty shells sitting happily inside of his inventory. He doubted he had enough mana crystals left inside of his inventory to fill all of them. He'd have to hit up a dungeon or monster horde to get enough mana crystals to fill all of the shells. With enough shells stored away, he went about cleaning up his area. When he was finally done and had everything that belonged to him stored away, he went over to Rockbeard, "I'm done with most of what I wanted to accomplish. Thank you so much for letting me use your smithy. If there's ever anything I can do to repay you let me know."

Rockbeard looked up at Thomas and laughed, "You've already given me more than enough kid. Now get yur tall ass outa here."

Thomas laughed and turned to leave the shop for the last time. Some people might have been angry with Rockbeard kicking them out but he understood. The things he could do were outrageous and could cause some serious issues for anyone. He also understood that Rockbeard didn't feel like Thomas owed him anything thanks to the heart of iron he'd given out. To Thomas, it wasn't worth any more than a normal iron ingot but to Rockbeard it was a priceless treasure. A treasure that he likely never would have been able to see, let alone own, in his lifetime. At least he had an excellent way to bribe any dwarves he needed to.

After leaving Rockbeard's smithy, he made his way to the Adventurer's Guild. It was late afternoon and the sun was still shedding light on the city. Even so, the guild wasn't busy in the least. Without a dungeon for people to farm experience and mana crystals in there wasn't a whole lot for the staff to do unless random monsters appeared outside of the city.

Inside of the guild, Thomas saw a familiar head of bright red hair. He promptly ignored it and made his way to the counter. He smiled at the young female receptionist, "I'd like to place a request. I'd like someone to dismantle some orcs for me and show me how it's properly done."

Thomas saw a pair of red fur-covered ears perk up and instantly had a bad premonition. If he had much of a choice he would just leave right then and there but he really needed the orc corpses taken care of. They would provide a large amount of meat that he could cook for himself and Snowlily to enjoy on their trip. They also took up a large amount of space and his OCD demanded he clear the space if he could. The receptionist smiled up at him and slid a sheet of paper over for him to fill out, "Just fill this out. The usual payment for dismantling services is around fifty gold per body for creatures the size of orcs."

Thomas quickly filled out the form and set the one hundred gold coins down on the counter. After checking everything, the receptionist took the coins, filled out a request form and left to post it on the board. Five seconds after the receptionist stepped away from the request there was a blur of red and Lexiana snatched the request down. Obviously, the request was way below her usual paygrade and she had ulterior motives for taking it. Thomas let out a long sigh as Lexiana walked up to the counter to accept the request.

The receptionist looked a little confused but went about her job properly and let Lexiana accept the request. Once she accepted the request Lexiana turned to Thomas and smiled broadly, "The dismantling room is this way."

Lexiana led Thomas to a door at the side of the guild building and inside of it was a large room with a thick wooden table set in the center. She pointed to the table, "Set the first one there and I'll show you what to do."

Seeing as Lexiana was at least acting professional, Thomas decided to do the same. He made his way over to the table and set the first orc corpse down on it. Luckily his inventory had a time stop function that kept the orcs corpse as fresh as the day it was killed. That was the biggest difference between his inventory and his storage rings. If he'd kept them in a ring they'd have rotted by now. That's why long ago he'd started to store all of his food inside of his inventory.

Thomas remained silent as Lexiana patiently showed him how to properly dismantle the orc into usable and unusable pieces. She even showed him which parts were the softest and tastiest. There was a difference between their tastebuds, but she could still tell him the difference between a prime cut and a tough cut of orc. It normally only took her a few minutes to dismantle an orc but teaching Thomas slowed down the process. Half an hour after she started she was done.

Once the meat was stored away and the garbage disposed of, Thomas set out the second orc corpse and went about dismantling it himself. Though he remained under the supervision of Lexiana with her guiding him and pointing out what to do next. Everything remained professional and nearly an hour later, Thomas had fresh cuts of orc meat. His cuts were a bit cruder and rougher but they were passable for a first-time job. Lexiana nodded in approval, "Good job. If you ever want to learn how to properly dismantle anything in the future just let me know. I'd gladly teach you for free."

Thomas shrugged his shoulders, "If we meet again and I happen to need to learn how to dismantle something then I'll ask."

Lexiana looked at him confused, "You going somewhere?"

Thomas just smiled and left the guild with his fresh cuts of orc. There was no need for him to tell Lexiana anything about what he was doing or where he was going. She wouldn't be able to follow him anyway. He continued to smile to himself as he made his way to the inn with Snowlily following closely behind. She was looking forward to ditching Lexiana as much as Thomas was. Tomorrow their journey would continue.