Waking up with a contented yawn, I rolled over and checked my phone. No messages, I thought happily. It was almost 7:30 a.m, and the house was quiet. I felt completely rested, but decided to enjoy the rare moment of peace and lie there for a while longer before starting the day. Unfortunately, my body had other ideas. With a regretful sigh, I rolled off the bed and made my way to the bathroom.

“Morning, Cax,” I said within my head as I took care of business. “Learn anything interesting?”

“Good morning, Dean,” he replied enthusiastically. “Yes, many things. I am still making my way through all the knowledge you absorbed last night. There are some fascinating concepts in here.”

“Glad to hear you’re having fun, mate.”

“Thank you. However, it is not just for fun. I believe there is immediate potential here for you, too.” I stopped washing my hands and turned the water off, giving him my full attention. “There were a lot of details on firearms and how they operate within the books on weaponry. I believe that if you absorb a working gun, then that pattern, along with the details on how it works that are now stored in your core, might make an equivalent version available in your Weaponsmithing profession.”

I stood there, stunned, water dripping from my hands into the basin. “Are you sure?!” I asked him excitedly, forgetting to internalize the question.

“Not at all,” he replied honestly. “However, for regular awakened, it works in a similar manner. After they learn how to make something new and successfully apply that knowledge by making the item, it is added to their profession interface. For you, absorbing the knowledge of how to make something along with a completed version might be sufficient.”

As I eagerly thought about it, my enthusiasm waned as a problem occurred to me. Once more speaking within my head, I said, “Hang on. Even if it does get added to my Weaponsmithing profession, we still won’t be able to use it around the Void energy. It would just be the same as me creating copies of the gun normally, wouldn’t it?”

“Not at all. Professions are inherently magical. Anything created through them are too. If the design for a gun is successfully added to your profession, then it will be immune to the dampening effect and function in energy-dense areas. There will likely be alterations made to the design in order to make it compatible, but they will hopefully be minor ones. The original pattern for the mundane gun will also remain in your knowledge core if you do feel the need to create exact copies in the future.”

Excitement returning in full force, my mind went into overdrive thinking of the possibilities. I would try out Cax’s suggestion as soon as possible, and if it worked, the next step would be getting my hands on more books. If I could make magical versions of the items specific to Earth just by learning the details on how they operated and then absorbing them, that would go a long way to solving the problem of our equipment not working in areas with high mana saturation and Void energy. My Research ability could do the same thing, of course, but with its long cooldown, I didn’t want to use it just to come up with a single pattern for something like a working firearm.

I realized that, while it sounded pretty straightforward, it likely wouldn’t be so easy since there was the major issue of needing the matching profession. There was no guarantee that all of our items could be adapted into the existing professions I had access to. Maybe it would be possible to research and create a new profession that related to Earth’s technology? I mused.

Cax interrupted my thinking. “You would need considerable knowledge on multiple fields for that. Fortunately, I believe I have found a more efficient method to gaining knowledge than books. I came across mention of storage devices in a book on computers. If you are able to absorb the details of how to read the specialized language used in such devices, then your knowledge core should be able to extract the information from them in the same way it does for the written word.”

Remembering the monotony last night of absorbing each book one by one, I was definitely on board with that. “I’ll pass that onto Anita and have her find something,” I promised him.

With a bounce in my step as I considered the possibilities, I went back to my room and got dressed in the nicest clothes that still fit me, mindful of needing to make a good impression today when I met with the government’s representatives. I had to leave the top few buttons open so they didn’t pop off, making it look a bit too casual, but I didn’t have any better options thanks to my improved physique.

Heading downstairs, I found Mum and Steve sitting around the table having breakfast and chatting quietly. I gave Mum a quick kiss on the top of the head and lightly patted Steve’s back in greeting before going into the kitchen.

“Brad still asleep?” I asked as I got my breakfast together.

“Yep. He only woke me up a few hours ago to take over the watch, so he’ll probably be out for a bit longer.”

I shook my head. “Let me guess. No problems at all, right?”

Steve gave me a big grin. “Let it go, Dean. Just think of it like insurance. You might never need it, but it’s better to have it just in case.”

I carried my cereal and juice to the table and sat down. “Fair enough. But working out a better solution than having people staying up all night to keep guard is on my list of things to do.” I took a bite of cereal and, mouth full, asked, “Any word from Anita?”

“Dean!” Mum scolded. “Manners!”

I gave her a thumbs up as Steve chuckled. “Not yet. Looks like we have a bit of free time. Any ideas on what to do?”

“Definitely.” I took another mouthful and made sure my mouth was empty before continuing. “I want to check out the news, try out something Cax just let me know about, and then work on improving my abilities. Something has always come up to interrupt me from power leveling them, so I should take advantage of this downtime to get it done.” A thought occurred to me. “Actually, I can start that right now.” I cast Aura of Recovery and then Domain, the two spells working in the background and allowing me to continue eating breakfast.

Mum looked startled as the energizing effects of the aura spell kicked in, and exclaimed, “What did you do?!”

I gave her a quick explanation, already tired of having to go over the spell. It seemed like every time I cast it, there was someone new around. “Do you think Anita would give me a personal assistant?” I asked Cax jokingly. “Their main job would be to take care of explaining everything I do.”

With absolute seriousness, he replied, “I believe she would. She has been very accommodating.”

I paused for a second. “You know, you’re probably right. Maybe it’s not such a bad idea.” I decided I’d bring it up with her later. If they were going to make people hang around me to protect me, might as well add someone else who could actually be useful. Putting the idea aside for now, I focused in on what Steve was saying.

“…if you need any help. But I was watching the news earlier with your mum, so I can save you some time there. It’s basically what we expected. They’re reporting on the rift increasing in size, people have been approaching the army stationed around the forest demanding answers, and there was mention of the clinic. They had a spokesperson asking anyone who thinks they may have come into contact with an infected animal to go there to be checked out. Also anyone with strange black markings on their skin.” He paused for a second and looked at my mum. “Did I forget anything?”

“No, that’s about it,” she replied. “They were very vague about the nature of the infection and the symptoms, but that might be a good thing. Perfectly healthy people might end up going to the clinic out of fear too, meaning there will be a lot of people there. But it should definitely help in finding all those who are actually sick.”

I nodded in agreement. “True. Where is the clinic, anyway?”

“Over in Chermside,” Steve said. “They’ve taken over a part of the Prince Charles Hospital. Not too far from here and close to public transportation. Seems like a good choice.”

It definitely was. It was only about a 15-minute drive from here to the hospital. And since it was close to a major shopping center, getting there shouldn’t be a problem even for those people without cars.

“Since we’ll be in the area anyway, I wouldn’t mind hitting the shops if we get a chance,” I said. I gestured at the shirt I had on. “I desperately need some new clothes, and Brad will too before long.” I added ‘shopping’ to the list of reasons I needed a personal assistant. The better the argument I could make for having one, the more likely Anita would say ‘yes’.

Steve nodded in agreement as Mum stood up from the table. “I’ll leave you boys to it. I need to get to work.” She took her empty plates into the kitchen.

“I thought you were off today?” I asked, surprised.

“No. I’ve got the day shift. But I wanted to be here to see you when you got up, so I asked one of my friends on the night shift to cover for me until I got in. It sounds like you’ve got things to do and I don’t want to make her wait too long, so I might as well head in now.” She came back over and I stood up, giving her a big hug that lasted a long time. “Be careful, honey.”

“I will. You, too,” I told her earnestly. She should be fine in the city, but I was still worried about her. Who knew how far this thing had managed to spread? Even with the clinic open, there was no guarantee all the Void-infected people would go there. It was possible one of them might turn up at her hospital. Pushing that troubling thought aside, I said, “By the way, it looks like we have rats. We should probably set up some traps or something.” I felt Cax’s interest at the mention of traps.

“Settle down,” I told him, amused. I concentrated on an image of a rat trap so he’d know what I was talking about.

Meanwhile, Mum had pushed away from me and jumped up on my chair. She was looking around the floor, close to panicking. I couldn’t help laughing. “Relax! They’re in the ceiling. It’s another spell. I can…” I hesitated for a second. “I guess, feel them up there.” I struggled to express the sense that Domain gave me. It was a mix between sight and sensation, so I figured ‘feel’ was as good a word as any.

Eyes glued to the ceiling, she got down from the chair and hit my arm. “Why did you tell me?! I was perfectly happy not knowing they were there. Now I won’t be able to stop thinking about it!”

“Sorry!” I said, hands raised in defense. “Look, don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it later.” Another distraction a personal assistant would be able to take off my hands, I thought, adding it to my mental list of reasons for having one. Mum still looked upset. I needed to distract her. An idea came to mind.

“What are you smiling at?” she asked suspiciously.

Putting my hand on her shoulder, I cast Heal on her before replying. “Let’s finish re-growing that tooth.” A quick check of her mouth, and I cast the spell two more times before letting her know it was done. “Give us a smile,” I said, grinning.

She did just that, beaming happily and then hugging me tightly. “Thanks, Love. There was an annoying itching feeling where it was growing in. That’s completely gone now.”

“Looking good, Mrs. Whitler,” Steve said, the wonder clear in his voice. He was right. The extra heals had not only regrown the tooth, but also smoothed out more wrinkles and removed some spots, giving her an even more youthful appearance.

Still smiling, Mum left to get ready, casting a few glances up at the ceiling as she walked away.

“She is likely at the limit of the benefits that spell can provide in terms of repairing the aging process,” Cax let me know.

“That’s fine. Even being able to turn back the clock a little bit is amazing.”

I quickly finished off my breakfast. It was time to get back to work. First order of business, testing out Cax’s idea. “Did you bring your gun with you?” I asked Steve.

He pointed towards the living room. “On the table in there.”

“Is it safe to just leave it lying around?” I asked, startled.

He shrugged. “Safe enough. I told your mum about it, and I’m sure you’re both smart enough not to mess around with it. I want it close at hand rather than leaving it in my bag.”

“I guess. But actually, I do want to mess around with it,” I admitted a bit sheepishly. “Can you give it to me?”

“Hang on. Is this like in the dungeon with my shield? Where you don’t mean just lending it, but actually giving it away to you?”

“Spot on, mate.”

He sighed. “Fine! You can have my gun,” he said, waving his hands around theatrically. “But be careful! Pretty sure I don’t get paid if I fail to protect you from yourself as well.”

I cleaned up from breakfast and then found his handgun in the living room. The two aura spells and the heals had taken a fair chunk of mana, but I still had enough for this. I absorbed the gun and then created an identical copy of it in brand-new condition and left it in the same place.

Going back into the kitchen, I told Steve, “I left you a new one. I’m going to sit out back and do some work. Are you good to entertain yourself?”

“No worries. Try not to shoot yourself.”

I flipped him off and then went out to the backyard, sitting on the grass and leaning back to enjoy the morning sunlight. I wanted to enjoy the outdoors while I could. I was pretty sure I would be stuck inside the clinic for a while, and then in the dungeon when I got back to the park. Not wanting to waste too much time, I soon pulled up my Weaponsmithing interface and looked to see if the gun had been added.

After looking through all the options, I let out a disappointed sigh. Nothing. “Looks like it’s a no-go, Cax.”

“Not necessarily,” he replied quickly. “Just a moment.”

I felt him concentrating, and then the pleased feeling I got from him gave me some hope. “It appears to have been successful!” he said triumphantly. “However, due to the more complex nature of the weapon, it likely requires your profession to be at a higher Tier before you will have access to it.”

“Beautiful!” I said happily, hitting the ground in satisfaction. “Let’s get it to Tier II, then, and see if it opens up.” Thinking of advancing my profession reminded me of my goal to work on improving as many of my abilities as I could. I needed to plan things out to be as efficient as possible. With that in mind, I pulled up my interface to have a look at my main status information.

Hmm. What’s the best use of my time here? Anita was sure to contact us soon and want us at the clinic, so I couldn’t work on everything. I quickly crossed the skills off since they weren’t so easy to improve. Persuasion was sure to get a workout anyway during the meeting with the Rift Committee members scheduled for some time today.

There was no way for me to improve the passive abilities, but I did notice that my body could handle another one now. It must have become available after hitting level 6, I thought. There was nothing urgent I could think of needing, so I put that aside.

Looking at my active abilities, I knew that Create would improve as I worked on my professions and made magical items. The only other ability I could really work on was Inventory. It would be as simple as going through the house and putting various objects inside my magical space. So simple, in fact, that I was kicking myself for not having done it already. Who knew what benefits I was missing out on by leaving it at rank 1? I vowed to rank up Inventory before leaving home today.

With that decided, I moved onto my spells. My Light affinity was at Tier II and I had four spells for it, but my Life affinity and Spatial affinity were lagging behind. “Let’s take care of that, then,” I muttered to myself. I would cast my two aura spells on cooldown until they ranked up, which would get those affinities to the next Tier. “Stupid. Should have done it last night before falling asleep and first thing this morning,” I reprimanded myself quietly. I need to do better.

“With your permission, I would be happy to help,” Cax volunteered. “I can easily remind you to cast those spells when their effects end.”

“That would be a huge help, mate. Cheers.” I grinned as I realized I already had a personal assistant for magical matters. “Sorry,” I said quickly, still smiling, as I picked up on the indignation from Cax at being labeled an assistant.

Looking at my spells again, I considered Blinding Orb. It was an extremely situational spell, so it would probably be difficult to rank it up. I remembered seeing a similar option as an evolution for my Glowing Orb spell… “Can I still merge spells that have synergy even after I’ve known them for a while, or can it only be done when first learning the compatible spell?”

“It can be done at any time,” Cax answered. “Most people would refrain from doing so since they would lose a lot of progress. However, with the spell you are considering, I believe it is a wise choice.”

“Good to hear.” A bit of concentration and another screen later, it was done.

Spell merge complete.

[Blinding Orb] has been removed and its effects combined into [Glowing Orb].

[Glowing Orb] has been reset to the beginning of rank 2.

Looking at the details for the spell, I saw the blinding effect had been added to my Glowing Orb spell and the cost had increased from 10mp to 15mp. I was happy with that. Not a bad trade off at all. Especially since I could have two glowing orbs active at once. With some careful positioning, I could blind a fair number of targets.

“Dean, your aura spells need to be recast.”

“Huh. Thanks.” I hadn’t noticed them drop off. I must be getting used to the extra sense from Domain since it wasn’t so jarring and noticeable anymore. That, or I’d been so caught up in my interface that it hadn’t registered. The problem now was that I didn’t have enough mana to cast both. At 50mp each, they were quite expensive. After just a little thought, I cast Aura of Recovery. With all the healing I’d need to do soon, the improvements to my Heal spell that would come from reaching Tier II in Life magic would go a long way. That was the priority for now.

I turned my attention to the final part of my interface. My professions. “Ok, time to work on Weaponsmithing,” I muttered. For that, I needed to be in the dungeon. The higher concentrations of mana in there were required to make magical items. I groaned in frustration as I suddenly realized I didn’t have enough mana left to teleport down there. Hindsight gave me a nice kick as I realized I should have teleported instead of casting the aura spell. The increased mana regeneration from being in the dungeon’s mana rich environment would have sped everything up.

“I think my Intelligence could hit triple digits and I’d still make stupid mistakes like this,” I complained to Cax. The sympathy he sent my way did nothing to cheer me up, since it was laced heavily with amusement.

“You should go ahead and level up again,” he suggested. “You have enough experience points, and that will speed up your mana regeneration by another second.”

I found myself strangely reluctant to do so. I’d accumulated quite a lot, and maybe it was just my hoarding tendencies showing themselves, but I wanted to hold onto them for an emergency.

“There is really nothing else you can use them on at the moment,” Cax reasoned. “You cannot learn any more professions or affinities at the moment, and like you said, there is no pressing need for another passive ability. Besides, even after leveling up, you will still have enough experience points to learn a spell if you find yourself needing something specific.”

His logic was faultless as always, and it cut through my irrational hesitation. I assigned the 100xp required to level up and felt the changes taking place throughout my body and mind as the energy went to work. When it was done, I felt slightly stronger, but was glad to see there hadn’t been any further external changes. It looked like I’d reached the point where the benefits from leveling up would be all internalized.

A quick check of my interface made me wince. My experience was now at 43 / 130. That was quite a jump to reach the next level. Seeing that my mana regeneration had indeed improved by a second took some of the sting out of it. The improved regeneration wasn’t going to have an immediate effect, though, leaving me with the same problem of what to do. Making a traditional entrance down to the dungeon was out of the question. That would allow the mana within the dungeon to flow out above ground, and I didn’t want to knock out the power for our house and the neighbors’. There was no choice but to wait.

Maybe it’s not a complete stuff up, I told myself, trying to look on the bright side. I can use this time to work on my Inventory ability. I flexed my legs and stood up smoothly, not needing to use my hands to push off the ground and not stumbling at all. Such a feat would have been beyond me before all this, and I couldn’t help admiring the strength and dexterity my body now possessed.

I was careful not to admire myself for too long, not wanting to invite a comment from Cax. “So much for the great outdoors,” I muttered wryly as I went back inside. Picking up a chair near the door, I sent it into my inventory and then took it right back out, putting it back in its original place. A vase, a pen, a notebook, and a banana, all on the counter, soon followed. That got the ability to rank 2. So simple. I couldn’t help shaking my head at my failure to do this earlier as I looked at the options to evolve the ability.

Congratulations!

You have gained a sufficient amount of insight into your [Inventory] ability to reach Rank 2.

Apply your insights to evolve your ability in one of the following ways:

1) Items may now stack in greater amounts.

2) Medium size items may now also be stored in addition to small items.

3) You will gain additional storage for each level, increased from 2 slots per level to 3 slots.

I hadn’t even realized there was a limit on a stack’s size! For that very reason, I figured I could live without that upgrade for now. Following that logic, I ignored the evolution for additional slots since I hadn’t managed to fill up my inventory yet. That left me with the item-size increase. I wasn’t sure what counted as small and medium, but it would be better to have the option available rather than find myself unable to store something.

I made my choice, then saw I still didn’t have enough mana to teleport. “30 more items to evolve Inventory again…” I murmured. Definitely doable, I thought with a grin. I wanted to try the kitchen table. Something like that definitely had to fit in the ‘medium’ category. I had no idea why I would want to carry a table around, especially when I could just absorb one and create one as needed, but it would at least make a good test subject. It went into my storage space without a problem, apart from the centerpiece crashing down to the floor when it suddenly lost its support.

Oops. I picked it up, sighing in relief to find it unbroken. It was some kind of wicker basket construction Mum had bought at one of those knick-knack shops, so it had survived the fall. Shrugging, I sent it into my inventory too. Summoning the table back into its original position, I pulled the decoration out and set it in the middle of the table again. Then I went on a spree, depositing and withdrawing everything in sight until a notification appeared letting me know I could upgrade the ability again.

The two options from before were still available, along with a new option that would let me store up to six small items as a set within one slot. I’d then be able to withdraw them all at the same time or just select items from the group. Doing it that way would add a five-second delay to those items disappearing and appearing, but I didn’t see that as a deal-breaker. The benefit of the evolution definitely outweighed that drawback. I immediately thought of the table and the centerpiece and saw how useful it could be, not that the table counted as a small item. No, the real advantage was that I’d be able to store entire outfits and change in just five seconds. It also made the other options that gave more space a bit unnecessary, since I could store so many items in just one slot.

I eagerly chose that evolution, and then winced as I saw another notification appear. I was afraid I already knew what it was going to tell me.

[Inventory] has gained all the insights it is capable of obtaining from non-magical items.

Storing mundane items will no longer count towards ranking up this ability.

“Yep, there it is,” I said unhappily. The easy gains were done with, but still, I couldn’t complain too much. I’d managed to add a couple of useful evolutions onto the ability, making it even better than before. I checked my mana and forgot my disappointment when I saw I was good to go.

I considered just teleporting down to the dungeon under the backyard without saying anything, or telling Steve I would be working on my Invisibility spell so he wouldn’t panic when he couldn’t find me. I could see both options backfiring and causing problems, though. I also didn’t want to lie to the two officers I’d come to think of as friends, and I trusted them to keep the knowledge of my teleporting to themselves. Besides, even if it did become common knowledge, it wouldn’t be so bad. I trusted the people I was working with. I didn’t feel like I needed a trump card in the form of my Teleport spell any longer.

I found Steve lying on the couch watching TV. “Good to see you’re working so hard to protect me,” I joked.

“Got you covered, mate,” he said, giving me double finger-guns from where he was lying down.

I laughed. “Just wanted to let you know I’m going to disappear for a little bit.” I figured I should just give it to him straight, plus it would be more fun that way. “There’s a dungeon room under the yard, and I’m going to teleport down there so I can make a magical gun.” While I enjoyed the stunned look on his face and the fact he was completely silent for once, I didn’t really want to waste time just standing around waiting for him to process what I’d said. “Be back in an hour to see if Anita called!” I said cheerfully.

Picturing my destination as I cast Teleport, my view of Steve disappeared as the spell took hold and the darkness enveloped me. As it receded, I found myself once again within the dungeon under my house. I breathed in deeply, enjoying the invigorating feeling of the dense mana surrounding me and almost feeling it flowing inside to replenish my near-empty center.

“Alright. I’ve got an hour to get this done,” I said, thinking out loud. “What’s the fastest way to get Weaponsmithing to Tier II?” I consulted my interface again. I just needed to make two more spears to get that weapon up to the second rank, so that would be first. Then I needed to get another weapon to rank 2. But which one?

“The officers you have met seem to be proficient in the use of shields and blunt instruments,” Cax said. “Perhaps it would be beneficial to work on creating clubs so you can provide them with stronger weapons?”

“Good call, mate,” I said approvingly. “Then the only thing left to decide is the material.” Even with the reductions in mana cost to using wood and metal from evolving Create, I worked out it would still cost too much to get the job done in time if I used those materials. That left bone, which, thanks to my Life affinity, was the cheapest option in terms of energy required. Still, I hesitated, not sure how comfortable people would be using bone weapons. Finally, I shrugged. “Can’t be helped. They’ll either use it or they won’t.”

I’d already regained enough mana to get started, so I made a bone spear using the same design as the metal ones I’d equipped my skeletons with. It took another few minutes before I had enough mana to make the second one.

You have reached Rank 2 in [Spears].

Rank 2 provides slightly increased damage and durability.

Not a huge improvement, but I would still make sure to equip my defenders with stronger versions of their spears when I got a chance. I stored the two spears in my inventory. I didn’t have enough mana yet to start making the clubs, but I could still work on the design while I was waiting.

Navigating through the screens, I pulled up the outline of the standard club and made some adjustments. For the length, I made it as long as from the tips of my fingers to my elbow. Just like with the spears, I made simple grooves on the handle to improve the grip. Widening the shaft of the club as it progressed from the handle and making it denser at the head, the design was complete. I saved it, and as soon as I had enough mana, I made the first club. Just like with the bone spears, it was a sheenless white. I thought it actually looked pretty good, and there was no clear indication it was made of bone. If I didn’t tell anyone, I could probably avoid any issues with people refusing to use them out of disgust.

“Your aura spell needs to be refreshed,” Cax suddenly let me know.

“Remind me again when I get back up top,” I requested. “I can’t stay down here too long, so I need to use all my mana on the weapons.”

Needing something to fill the time while I waited for my center to refill with energy, I pulled my staff out of my inventory and practiced. Letting my Staves skill guide me, I worked on my footwork and basic blocks and thrusts, trying to internalize them and make them second nature. That was the only way to progress to the next rank of the martial skill.

However, needing to stop every few minutes to create another club made it difficult to make any real progress. Create evolving after the sixth club was made also didn’t help, as welcome as it was. I was happy to see an option to further reduce the mana cost for using materials related to unknown magical affinities. I quickly selected it, reducing the penalty from an extra 100% mana required to just an extra 50%. I would still stick with making bone clubs now since I was pressed for time, but that upgrade would definitely help me out in the future.

I resumed practicing with my weapon, making minor gains in my control of the staff until finally the last club was complete. The 12xp I got from creating the weapons was a nice bonus, but I barely paid it any attention. I was focused on the waiting notification that would let me know the true result of my efforts.

Congratulations!

You have gained sufficient skill in your [Weaponsmithing] profession to reach the next Tier.

Your [Weaponsmithing] profession is now at Tier II.

Your increased proficiency with this profession has resulted in the following changes:

Your [Create] ability will now utilize a higher grade of material, resulting in increases to a weapon’s base damage and durability.

This higher grade of material is capable of holding an extra enchantment, allowing for two enchantments to be applied to each weapon.

You may now combine two materials together when crafting weapons.

The extent to which you can alter a weapon’s base design has been increased.

Additional weapon types are now available.

“Very nice!” I exclaimed, more than pleased by the benefits offered by the advanced profession. The last one, especially, was what I’d been hoping for. I quickly scanned the list of weapons I could make and found what I was looking for. A new category had indeed appeared. Handguns - mana. I quickly read the information that popped up as I looked at it for the first time.

Alterations were made to this weapon’s original design due to a lack of supporting professions and knowledge.

This has resulted in the formation of this mana-based version.

Due to the nature of this weapon, there is a restriction on the number of enchantments that may be applied. Minus one to the total number of potential enchantments.

That meant I could only put a single enchantment on the gun, since the total had gone up to two enchantments with my profession advancing to the second Tier. While more would of course be nice, I wasn’t going to complain.

Going deeper, I looked over exactly what my profession and knowledge core had put together for this magical handgun. The thing that struck me immediately was that there were no bullets. Instead, the gun held five energy rounds. I figured the lack of bullets had to do with the mention of alterations being made. If I could unlock and learn the Alchemy profession and absorb the details on how gunpowder worked, maybe I would be able to create a magical version using more traditional bullets. For now, though, energy bullets it was.

Each round had a maximum potential of 10 points of damage, which was the same as what my original Light Dart spell had been capable of before it evolved and became stronger. The gun would regain projectiles from absorbing ambient energy over time, basically recharging itself just like my Ring of Repelling did. It was also possible to use 10 points of personal mana to create one projectile immediately. Seeing that, I thought I understood why there was that restriction on how many enchantments could be applied to the gun. It obviously already had some at work.

I stroked my chin as I considered the usefulness of this weapon. For someone like me, I thought it was good, but not great. With spells, I could evolve them, making them stronger and giving them additional utility. If I relied on this gun instead, I’d be sacrificing my growth, since the weapon wasn’t able to get any stronger. However, as a back-up weapon, it was definitely a nice option. There was no way I’d turn down being able to dish out another 50 points of damage from a distance even after I ran out of mana.

When I thought about it in terms of usefulness for regular people, though, the magical handgun was pretty amazing. Since it would be made through my profession, it would consist of magical materials. That meant, unlike our regular weapons, it would function around high levels of mana and Void energy. After seeing the reduced effect regular bullets had on the Void puppets, getting a magical damage option into the hands of the soldiers and police would make a huge difference. It would also let them defend themselves if we decided to venture into the forest and found ourselves within the rift’s influence.

The biggest issue was that regular people wouldn’t be able to use the gun after they ran out of projectiles since they had no mana to instantly create new ones. Sure, if they waited long enough, it would naturally regain ammunition. In the low-mana environment of Earth, though, I wasn’t sure how long that would take.

All in all, though, this weapon was a good option for us. If I could eventually equip everyone with one of these magical handguns as a back-up weapon, it would go a long way to combating the Void’s minions. If I could also find some way to increase the amount of rounds it could hold, it would be even better.

“Spot on, Cax. Well done,” I told him appreciatively, making sure he knew how grateful I was for his advice that had made this possible.

“I am just glad it worked,” he said modestly, but I picked up on the feeling of pride he had at not only being right, but also in assisting us in our fight against the Void.

Not wasting any time, I created a magical handgun using my profession. At least, I tried to. Interestingly, the only material available for the design was metal. I wasn’t sure if it was because it was adhering to the original gun’s design, or if it was because the stronger material was required to withstand the magical projectiles. Whatever the reason, I didn’t have enough mana to make one due to the penalty when using metal, even with the recent evolution of Create to make it cheaper.

Waiting impatiently as I watched my energy tick up point by point on my interface, I created the gun as soon as I had enough mana. When it formed in my hand, I hefted it, admiring how light it was. The whole thing was a smooth light gray and appeared to be all one piece without any seams or lines. Whatever runes were responsible for charging the weapon and shaping the energy must be hidden within the material itself. I was worried about the lack of a safety switch, but we’d just need to be extra careful.

There was no way I was going to leave here without trying it out. And this was probably the safest place to do so. Having never fired a gun before, I took a stance I’d seen on TV and aimed at the far wall of the dungeon. Not sure what to expect, I hesitantly pulled the trigger, encountering some slight resistance. There was a small popping sound as a light gray ball of energy, the same color as the gun itself, shot out of the barrel and crashed into the wall. It dispersed immediately on impact, leaving no mark behind on the magically infused dungeon wall.

The projectile had been moving almost too fast for me to see, and I wondered if a regular person would be able to follow it with their eyes at all. The sound hadn’t been anywhere near as loud as I’d been expecting, only as loud as a click of the fingers. The lack of recoil was also welcome. I was definitely not an expert on the matter, but I’d been worried a magical gun would have quite a kick.

“That might be due to your increased strength,” Cax pointed out. He was right. I’d have to warn anyone that got one of these to be careful just in case.

I wanted to make several more of the magical handguns and store them in my inventory. At least three would be good. That way, Brad, Steve, and I could all have one. But I’d already been down here for almost an hour, so I needed to get back up top. I was sure Steve was worried by my sudden disappearance, and I didn’t want to make it worse by being late. After we finished at the clinic and went back to the park, I’d stay in the dungeon there and make a lot more. I at least wanted both officers to have one, though, so I took the extra time to make one more.

I stored the guns in my inventory and waited for my center to accumulate enough mana to cast Teleport. While I waited, I had a look at my magical storage space. With the gun, spears, clubs, and my staff, I had to admit, I felt pretty badass. I was like a walking armory. Seeing the Shirt of Pain Relief in there reminded me I still hadn’t cleaned it. “Yep, definitely need an assistant,” I said emphatically.

Once I had regained enough mana, I cast Teleport, leaving the dungeon behind as the magic whisked me away.