*BOOM*

"Dammit !" I looked annoyed at the metal pieces spread all over the workshop. Some were even stuck in the walls.

If not for using phantom claws as a shield, this might have been very dangerous.

I sighted and started to collect pieces of the gun. Will have to melt the metal and make every single component from a scratch. Making experimental weapons isn't as easy as I thought.

"Should I reduce the power of enchantment ?" asked Phoenix while helping me to gather the pieces.

Yes, his new name is Phoenix. He is hot and likes to play with fire. Fitting name for my lover if do say so myself. Afterall cats 'love' birds. At first, I thought to call him Wolf, from father I learned that my mother was calling him like this in the old world, but with races of wolf beastkin, it could be misleading.

"No, this power is just what I needed, if our enemies were just bandits, even one-third of this power would be going overboard. But if I want bullets to pierce trough the armor of various monsters, then I need at least this much power. Though I still need to make a weapon capable of withstanding an explosion. Will have to experiment more with the design. If only we had money for some mithril .." I said as pulled out the last piece of gun from the wall.

Reveon started making a new enchantment. I created many of components after our first failure. Enchantment takes a lot of time, and while I work to remake most of the gun, he would enchant only a component responsible for the explosion. After both of us are done, we would put it together and test again.

If my aim was only a gun from my old world, it would be easy to make it. But there is no way I will spend days on making ammunition just to use all of it in one minute. It's one thing to manually mass produce bullets, but making every single cartridge case, gunpowder (or other explosives as a substitute) and bullets themselves, would take forever.

With our new design, there is no need for blackpowder and cartridge cases, as the weapon itself is enchanted to create an explosion that launches the bullet. All you need to do is to use some mana to activate the enchantment. Or at least that was the plan .. it's the third time the weapon exploded into pieces.

After I explained everything there is to know about workings of fire, explosion and other laws known to the science, with some experiments the fire magic of Phoenix reached level four. Knowing all of it was useless to me, when I tried to learn the fire magic, as he knew the magic already it was different for Reveon. With this knowledge, he even created an enchantment for a controlled explosion. When I saw the power of explosion, I got very excited, I didn't want normal weapons anymore, I needed all of this power for my guns.

Should I really lower my standards and reduce the power of explosion? Hmm, yes I probably should. If weapon worked as intended, launched bullets would have the power to pierce any wall of buildings. It would be terrible if I accidentally killed someone inside the building while I wanted to shoot a bandit trough the head outside.

No one is stopping me from having many weapons suited for every occasion. I can carry as many of them as I want, after all now I have the Space Time magic. We could make 'proper' weapons when I thought of solution .. or we got our hands on some mithril.

"Wait a sec Phoenix. You were right. Could you reduce the power of enchantment .. hmm .. let's say by half." I said.

"Kitty .. Well, you can melt this as well then." he said and tossed the component he was working on the pile of pieces I gathered from the exploded weapon.

"Sorry." I smiled at him.

After I melted pieces and created half of the parts needed for the next gun, it was time to leave. I wanted to check on the assassin and it was almost time. Creating new blacksmithing tools for making this gun took a lot of time. But they were necessary. Traditional Blacksmithing tools might work for a sword or some other medieval equipment, but firearms need a precision.

I looked at nine metal balls on the table. Well, at least we have some grenades for the hunt. Five of them were paralyzing grenades with four seconds timer. They are activated with enchantment and once four seconds are up, they would release gas in a very wide area. They could be activated only if you have Space Time Magic, so basically only by me and Phoenix. Same was intended for guns, but so far we had none. Rest of grenades were fragmentation grenades that would deal damage with the shrapnel. Sadly I still have no chemical explosives to offer and they explode from enchantments. They were made from twelve pieces, each with the explosion enchantment connected to one trigger. Its good for now, but I would like to have some based on the chemical reaction in case the magic is restricted.

The substance producing the paralyzing gas was made by me with the synthesis. When I fought against that Irregular in the dungeon, my paralysis resistance reached the maximum level, and that says a lot about the potency of gas. As it entered my body during that fight, it enabled me to know it's composition. I realized that making it without synthesis would be impossible, and when I created it, levels for alchemy and synthesis raised immediately.

New blacksmithing tools, grenades, advanced metalurgy from my world and attempts at making the gun itself rised my Blacksmithing a lot. Sure, before I started all that knowledge was just a theory, but in this case the theory was all I needed.

> Name: Melissa Health: 306/306 Level: 14 Mana: 702/784 Race: Cat Beastkin Stamina: 283/334 Gender: Female Strength: 72 Age: 15 Agility: 100 Class: Reaver Endurance: 78 Subclass: Alchemist, Tailor, Leatherworker, Blacksmith Mind Power: 112 State: Healthy Unallocated attribute points 0 > ACTIVE Body Manipulation (Unique) LVL 5 Mana Manipulation LVL 4 Dragon Claws LVL 3 Scent manipulation LVL 1 Phantom Claws(Special) LVL 3 Sprint LVL 2 Phantom Tail(Special) LVL 3 Synthesis LVL 6 Devour Mana(Special) LVL 1 Analyze(NEW) LVL 1 PASSIVE Eternal LVL MAX Nightvision LVL 2 Corrosion Resistance LVL 3 Enhanced Smell LVL 4 Mental Resistance LVL 7 Enhanced Hearing LVL 5 Poison Resistance LVL 2 Enhanced Sight LVL 4 Paralysis Resistance LVL MAX Enhanced Mind (Special) LVL 4 Heat Resistance(NEW) LVL 1 Enhanced Mana Pool LVL 1 Mana Perception LVL 7 Unknown Martial Arts LVL 6 Godly Accuracy LVL 1 Lie Detection LVL 1 Alchemy LVL 6 Bow Mastery LVL 3 Leatherworking LVL 2 Regeneration LVL 3 Tailoring LVL 6 Acrobatics LVL 4 Blacksmithing(NEW) LVL 6 > Space Time Magic(Special)(NEW) LVL 1

I got Heat resistance after tampered a bit with my body to withstand the heat from the forge. Basically, it's fire resistance. While fire could be seen, it's the heat that deals actual damage. As for 'analyze', I got it when my alchemy reached level six. Sadly naming of substances was still the same even after using the skill. Real experiments in chemistry will have to wait a bit longer. Have to identify substances by terms I know from my old world. For an example, no one here uses names like 'nitramide'.

"Let's go check on our slippery assassin." I said and handed two paralyzing grenades and two fragmentation grenades to Reveon. "Antidote is effective only for thirty minutes so keep that in mind." the antidote from paralysis was already in his pocket dimension, I gave it to him even before the first grenade was made.

If I need it, I can release paralyzing gas even trough my pores, I made it with synthesis in the first place. It was very important that he can defend against it in case I do that.

*

"He is nearby. Just in case, you should drink the antidote from paralyzing gas. It will take some time before it's effective." I whispered and stopped my exercises with the Space Time magic. I got a bit better at it, but it still takes me few minutes to summon anything I put into my pocket dimension.

"No one noticed him ?" whispered Phoenix and looked around after drinking the antidote.

That's a good question. We were not the only ones walking those streets, and spotting dark skinned elf should be easy. I haven't seen a single dark elf in the city so he should draw a lot of attention. It wasn't even an evening.

"Probably just covered his face with a hood .. or has high-level stealth." I made a guess while leading us closer to the location where the assassin should be.

"That's strange .. hmm .. I think I know why no one spotted him." I whispered as I observed the assassin when we reached the place.

"You found him ?" asked Reveon.

"Yes. His stealth or some other skill should influence how others perceive him. Few people almost collided with him and didn't even noticed that. It's like he was invisible to them. Can you see him? Left corner of the third house from the crossroad." I whispered while observing him with the corner of my eyes.

"Stop. Don't look directly Phoenix. Just look at something nearby while observing with your field vision. The direct look is all he needs to know he is being watched." I quickly lectured when he was about to look there.

"Don't see anyone." finally whispered Reveon.

Just as thought, I have mental resistance so his 'suggestion' to not see him doesn't work on me. Since it works on people the assassin isn't even aware off, it should be something similar to a passive skill.

"We still need to confirm it's the assassin before we make a move." whispered Phoenix.

There is no way I would confuse him for someone else, but I guess he is right, better be safe than sorry. I quickly glanced at him and activated my new skill 'analyze'.

> Name: Naeren Thelar Level: 37 Race: Dark Elf Gender: Male

There was very little information available, but I guess it should be expected from a level one skill. Name and race matches so it's enough.

"It's him we can .. we should hurry Phoenix. I think he found his target." I said when noticed that the assassin started to move.

*

As I scattered pebbles on the ground, I placed the empty bag back on the belt and drew the bow. Even before I released my first arrow, dozens of pebbles were launched at the assassin with my tail. Although I really wanted to try fighting him at close quarters, it was too risky, and people would have died if I not acted now.

Reflexes of the assassin were superb. Even with his back facing me, he managed to react in time and deflected some of the pebbles while dodging the arrow completely. But the secondary purpose of this attack was achieved, for one his targets were now alerted and started to assemble into a defensive circle with weapons drawn, and ..

"Flame arrows !" shouted Phoenix.

While Reveon couldn't see the assassin at the start, just like everyone else, it was different after some of my pebbles hit the target. Dozens of flaming arrows quickly followed the suit and the assassin had to block some of them with his daggers. It was impossible to dodge all of them, especially when he had a hard time dodging my deadly arrows as well.

'Flame Arrows' was one of the new spells Phoenix could use now. It created a dozen of arrows at the same time, they would rain upon an enemy. While flame arrows didn't explode like a fireball upon contact, they still burst into a cloud of fire causing burns to assassin even when blocked. It was a very effective spell against agile enemies as they covered most of the retreat routes.

Blinded by a burst of fire and maybe distracted by pain from burns, the assassin was for a split second late to dodge my next arrow. It didn't pierce heart as intended, but it should be harder for him to move without one of his lungs.

"Flame arrows !" shouted Phoenix again.

But this time the new rain of arrows hit only the ground and walls. The assassin vanished in a cloud of black smoke and appeared right behind one of the men in the middle of the group he was trailing. The assassin slit the throat of the man and after a quick glance at us disappeared once again and my next arrow hit only an empty air. Men who tried to protect the man in the middle looked at the corpse with a shock.

"Gahh !" I heard a scream from behind me.

As the assassin appeared right behind Reveon, he was pierced with my phantom tail trough the stomach. Hah ! There is no way such cheap tricks would work on me.

I started to materialize my tail the moment he vanished. I almost did the same when he used the 'shadowstep' for the first time. I already knew assassins can do something like that from Reveon, and all this time I stayed close to him for exactly this reason.

A bit of black smoke rising from his skin indicated his attempts to shadowstep away, but my 'devour mana' made it useless. He tossed one of his daggers at me, but I turned his body to the side with my tail in his stomach and his aim was off the mark by a half meter.

As he tried to use the other dagger to cut my phantom tail in his stomach, I caught his hand with my phantom claws and then finished him off by cutting his body in half with the tail.

You have gained 5092 experience points for overcoming your adversary.

Level Up.

You have reached level 15.

"Mithril !" I shouted in delight when checked the dagger of the assassin with my 'analyze'.

I quickly dashed to pick another before some bypasser did that instead of me.

"Thank you for saving us." said middle-aged human to Reveon. He was one of the men the assassin was after.

All of them except their dead friend wore heavy armor, but it was not visible at the first sight because of a cloak they were wearing.

"Ha ha. It's my Kitty you should thank for. For some reason she was dead set on taking him down." said Reveon while looking at me with a smile.

I was happily tossing another dagger in the air. It was made from mithril as well. Can't wait to get back to our workshop, we could make 'proper' weapons with this.

"Saved us ?! Does Mark look like saved to you ?!" shouted another man angrily while pointing at their dead friend.

"And what do you think awaited us if they didn't act? I don't know about you, but all this time I never saw the assassin. What kind of camouflage was that anyway? It's a pity about Mark, but at least our plan saved you from meeting the same fate .." said the man.