Cross's clone now stayed permanently at the mansion with Eric and the others! Harmony and Michael stuck close to him quite a lot! Their bodies now started looking more normal. Michael was a bit buff while Harmony was delicate and shy.

Cross's clone job was to focus all his time on studying blacksmithing and indeed this ended up well! at first he read the book 10 times over and he only started to understand the properties of metal and its components! this book was really complicated. Before you even start to smith! you need to understand metal!

It had tens of thousands of metals! God knows how many metals Ariel encountered to write this much! And each Metal had its properties written! the fire degree required for it to melt! the best temperature to star hammering it ! when to meld its shape and these were only the basics!

The main part of the technique was using sould force to guide the operation! Cross respected his master more and more each time he understood something new! he found himself extremly babylike in this new world! The book itself was priceless! it was a treasure to any blacksmith!

It also had notes about expirements of making new metals! This was what Caused Ariel's death! He found a way to mix essences from different metals into new metal! harder, more durable, stronger and more flexible! it depended on the characteristics of the metals combined! The metallic essence seeped into his life force during an experiment! This caused his corpse to become metallic like a statue later on! Vince did not know this as he had buried him in flesh! This was still way too far out of reach for the current Cross! Another thing was required was a sentient forge and hammer! Which Cross went to pick up himself and pay his respects to his late master! He spent 2 days there thanking him profusely!

The two brothers also gained another level of profound respect when hearing about this which then inspired Eric to create new medecine as well! He had essence eyes! something never seen before! Making it easier to find compatible herbs!

This was another normal day! Joshua , the little boy Eric saved out of pity, was now living really happily! He ate really good food, unlike Eric! The others all treated him nicely and did not force him!

He was really loved, he handled everything they gave him with excitement, and since he helped everyone handle matters , they looked at him more favorably! be it slaves or Core members of the mercenaries!

He played With Amelia when she was here, but now he plays with harmony and michael.

One day, Cross sent him to get him a metallic lotus! He immediately ran to Eric , But Eric was in his lab, so he waited until he came out . He then took the lotus back to Cross's room but Cross was not there!

He placed the lotus next to the open book and he glanced at it. he saw a hammer going down on a piece of metal and his eyes lightened up!

This book was not something he could understand , but he seemed to grasp something from that picture! He was always a curious kid, this is why he learnt he read and write just by listening to private teachers! He was the son of a maid working at a household of some officer! And when they caught him eavesdropping they beat him and sent him to the slave market! where he met Eric who saved him from the verge of death!

he read the book more and more ! he kept flipping pages not noticing cross at the door looking at him with a smile. 2 hours passed and Joshua was still engrossed in the book!

Cross coughed and Joshua jumped! he Looked at Cross and knew he did something bad! They treated him nicely but he read the young master's books without his permission. His eyes teared up and he kneeled down!

"I am sorry young master! please punish me! please do not throw me out!"

Cross looked at him and shook his head! then said:

"If i wanted to throw you out , I wouldn't wait here for 2 hours!"

" 2 hours?" Joshua was shocked! he stayed here for 2 hours? he felt it was a minute!

"so what did you understand? tell me honestly " Cross said with a smile

" yes, young master!" seeing Cross not angry at him, Joshua was finally relieved. He then started explaining what he understood. THis shocked the living shit out of Cross! This technique required one to have tremendous strength! Yet this little guy took its core and somehow shaped it into his own form of blacksmithing! It had some subtle mistake that Cross noticed but this was not something an ordinary kid could do!

He started explaing to him what he got wrong! Joshua was very happy seeing his young master helping him and not angry at him! This made him feel blessed! The more they talked the more they saw things from new angles! This was not talk between blacksmithing master but two apprentices sharing their views! Cross allowed Joshua to read the book as much as he wanted making the latter cry with joy!

They indeed both benefitted from it quite a lot!

Time passed and Cross asked Joshua :

" what type of weapon would you forge for yourself?"

"I don't know! Something that hits from afar! I don't like melee fights!"

" haha! so an archer! then I'll get Eric to teach you!" Said Cross! He was very pleased with joshua and treated him like a friend! Only Aria, Harmony michael and Joshua knew Cross, Eric and Vince's names now! but they still did not know they were brothers!

"Not bow! too big!"

"haha then what do you want a gun?"

"what's a gun?"

" ah!!" Cross was stumped for words! gun was from his last world.

"it's also a weapon that hits from a far! you put bullets which are small piece of metal and they go off just like a bow! but they are smaller and more deadly! its shape is like this!" Cross explained the basic things about guns!

"but why does no one use such a great weapon!"

"because it's a special weapon! and only very very few know about it!"

"is the gun you drew the only special weapon?"

"No! there are different kinds! this is a sniper! It strikes from really far away! this is a rifle and it has small range but amazing burst power! This is a ray gun it shoots the inner force of the body as a bullet!" Cross changed the power from the futuristic immaginary weapon to inner force to make it more believable

Joshua's eyes lit up! upon seeing these weapons! he was hooked! He asked without thinking:

" Young master can we make special weapons?"

" Yes! I think we can! but not now! maybe when we advance more in Blacksmithing!"

"Young master, I will build a special weapon and fight with you!"

"haha, then so be it! we shall forge it and Eric shall teach you some techniques as he is the best fighter with range i know!"

" I will definetly not let the two young masters down!"

Months passed and Cross and Joshua made the first prototypeof a gun that uses inner force!

More months passed and a working Gun made from starlight essence and metallic lotus was made but kept as Joshua Trained using the prototype, he was now considered a core member as well as a half disciple to both Cross and Eric.

He never felt this blessful to belong to family! His mother has abandoned him to the slave market to save her own skin! she did not even plead for him!

Strange how small events change one's destiny! If he had not been thrown into the slave market! he would not meet Cross and Eric! And he would not Become the first in history to create another path! The gunner path! A new foundation! watch as he rises above the masses with his created weapon of designs coming from earth and evolves into something much more!