I stayed out for two days. I was so tired that I didn’t eat, nor get out of bed because of it.

Waking up the next day, I was rushed by Kasumi to buy her food. When outside, I found that the capital was in a kinda chaotic state. Some of the many businesses in the Rat District were either destroyed, or their owners were dead. There were people crying and shouting, both in rage and happiness. Although the happiness made me rethink what some people had in their minds.

Ignoring that, I followed to the stalls, buying skewers for Kasumi, and some black bread and soup for me. As for Amara? She can feed off of my Mana, which, according to her, is the only thing that satisfies her at the moment. Right after breakfast, I made my way to the Blacksmiths part of the district. Where am I going? To the Blacksmiiiiith as ever. Not to buy a sword, but to get materials.

While I was walking there, I kept thinking about a weapon. I mean, the crossbow is all well and good, but with the time I need to spend making the bolts, maintaining it, reloading every time, it would take too much time to do so. So, I wanted to make my own weapons. To be more exact, two gauntlets with blades coming from them.

Also, the capability to use Mythril Wires. You know, something that you can find in any fantasy world. I mean, they are cool, don’t you think? When I asked the Innkeeper where to buy, he said any Alchemist shop would do. What surprised me, though, was their prices. A roll of 8 meters of Mythril Wire is only 50 Silver. Simply because not everyone can use them, not so easily.

“That’s gonna be a hell to make, but it’ll be useful.”

I still received the stares of people every time I entered here. Also, the people’s glare at the business was really strong. It’s like they didn't want this place to profit.

I open the door, and instantly feel the strong dagger glare on me. Seeing the person who is really pissed, is the owner of the shop. And his eyes keep switching between my waist, and my face. Oh, a vein popped on his forehead. Who would ever think that a vein that big would exist on the forehead of someone?

“You.” His voice is low, obviously in anger. “Where. Is. The. Sword?”

“Hm? You’re asking even though you already know the answer?” I tried to be a little funny. Didn’t work though.

“I ain’t selling any sword for ya again.”

“I didn’t come here for swords, though.”

“What do you want, then?”

His left eye was twitching quickly, but he was interested in what I wanted to do. Did I step in a landmine?

“How much for scrap metals or failed swords, or anything else?”

“Ya want those?” I nod. “Tch! 50 Silver for everything I have right now.”

“Then we have a deal!”

He scoffs, and walks to the back of the shop. There was also another reason I wanted scrap metal. One of the many Sub-Skills of [Technomagic], {Mechanical Intuition}. In short, I want to use those, for a makeshift firearm.

‘Then why not buy the mana guns?’ They’re completely useless. Unless you pour a lot of mana on the gun, it won’t be enough to even scratch something. Let alone pass a magic barrier.

“One!”

He put a full barrel of dented swords, spears, axes, and there was even armor and shield parts. Wait, one? Just as I think that, he brings another barrel, with a small box full of daggers on it.

“And you want just 50 Silver?”

“I could want more, but I have a feeling ya going to do something interesting. And the guy at the forge got intrigued too.”

“Guy at the forge?”

“He ain’t someone to talk to, but to work. So just take it. And also, 20 Silver is only for the barrels.”

Oh! I give him a gold coin, and he gives me back 50 Silver. Also, Kasumi bit my ear, since she noticed that one of the many reasons I wanted her with me, was because of the [Shadow Storage] of hers.

“Ouch! Okay, sorry.”

She turns her head around, as tough as she is pouting. Nonetheless, she put the barrels full of junk inside her shadow. Finished with that, I make my way to the Alchemist’s Lair.

Walking through the streets, I can see that every business owner is on edge. They look all restless, like something, or someone, might attack them. And all of them have one thing in common.

“It is as if everyone is in debt to someone.”

Maybe a criminal organization? Or it’s the emperor doing something even shadier?

I stop thinking about that, since I can feel like someone is eyeing me. And even if I turn at some corners, or try to blend in with the people around, this person is still able to pinpoint where I am. What the hell?

Shrugging that aside, I kept walking, finally arriving at the Alchemist’s Lair. When I open the door, the same strong herb scent of before wafts at me. And when I look inside, there it is the same noble of the other day. The one who was with the heroes.

“Hou~…”

When he noticed me, he instantly activated his death glare. I call it that. As the other day, it doesn’t affect me. I keep thinking about this, but why doesn't it affect me? Oh! Scan is back, huh?

► Skill [Killing Intent] ◄

It’s the evolved form of [Intimidation]. Upon reaching Tier M of the skill [Intimidation], it evolves into [Killing Intent] while still maintaining the previous skill.

The user can channel it’s will to kill, and make the targets of the skill flinch, stop moving, or even faint.

Due to the Title [Focused Freak], it is useless to the user Kenji.

So that’s how it is, huh? Wow. After finishing reading the info scan gave me, I look back at the nobleman, and when I do, he stops with his Death Glare, closing his eyes, and sighing.

“You really are different.”

“This was a test?”

I was surprised. I only thought that he didn’t like me, though.

“That too. But also because you lied about the plant monster.”

“I don’t know what you're talking about? Since I heard that the heroes did defeat the monster.”

He smiles at my affirmation, and shakes his head.

“Clever. Well, my business here is finished. Excuse me.”

He says that to the Little Fairy, and walks past me. I look at the door just as he gets out, and when I look at the lady, she’s really tired. She sighs in exhaustion.

“Sigh… That guy is a headache to deal with. So? What can I do for you?”

“Mythril Wire.”

“Really? Gonna build what now?”

“Why should I tell you?”

“Fair enough.”

She walks behind the counter to some drawers, taking a box with a few rolls of Mythril wire from it.

“I only have these. There’s 5 rolls of 8 Meters, and 2 of 10 meters. You’ll want all of them, right?”

I nod. And she started to put everything in a paper bag.

“Also, be careful. There have been some strange things in the capital recently. It killed a lot of people with business, as you probably noticed.”

“To destroy business… so someone is charging debts, isn't it?”

“Probably. But it’s not only that. The one doing it is the Vulture.”

“The Vulture?” I ask with a strange face. What kind of name is that?

“Yep. He was one of the many attractions of the Theocracy.”

“Attraction?”

“Yeah. A horror attraction. He was used to symbolize what would happen if someone didn’t believe in their god.”

“Wow.”

That is kinda inhumane, to be honest. Using someone’s problem, to make others believe in your god? Really? Then again, my world wasn’t very different in the past.

“Well, I’m saying that to you, because he has a skill that when he devours someone’s part, he can acquire their skill. Even unique skills.”

“That's so. I’ll be careful.”

I took the paper bag, gave her the amount of money, which was 75 Silver coins, and left the shop.

I bought some more food for Kasumi, since I would be locked in the Inn’s room, and she would be hungry… and pissed, if I didn’t feed her. Also, she grew another tail.

“So your tails will grow when close to high-quality mana, huh? Is it me? Or is it Amara?”

(Did you call?)

“No.”

Kasumi’s tails were one of the many things I never understood. Even after reading her Species description, there wasn’t a single clue on it.

In the Inn, I stretch myself, and ask Kasumi to put all of the things I bought from the Blacksmith on the corner of the room. I also asked her if she could use a spell to not let sound get out of the room, and she did so. Magic sure is useful.

I started to analyze every single thing on the barrels. Don’t know how much time it took, but not every sword was useful to what I wanted to build. First of all, about 20% of the things on both barrels and the small box were useless, even if I used [Transmutation] to fix them. They had their structure completely broken, or changed a lot from the original. If I tried to fix it, it would take a lot of time for ME right now.

Second, more than 30% would be useful to build what I had in mind, but unfortunately, it would break on the first use. Thirdly, more than 20% I couldn’t use [Transmutation] right now, since I didn’t have enough knowledge of what the metal had, or even was. There’s some Mythril daggers in here, but I don’t understand the structure of Mythril yet. So let’s not mess with it.

And lastly, the remaining 30%. Those were either in very good quality, or were about 90% of their integrity. I’d even found one short sword that had a scarlet glint to it, albeit it had a lot of dust on it.

“Wow. So Hihi’irokane actually exists, huh?”

I instantly used a scan on it. Finding out that it was really, really good.

► Hihi’irokane/Scarlet Ore Short Sword ◄

Sword Integrity – 97%

A short sword made out of Hihi’irokane / Scarlet Ore, also found in the Japanese Mythology. It has a high heat conductivity. This sword, unfortunately, wasn’t enchanted with it’s ideal characteristic.

It can be enchanted with the Fiery Aspect, which makes the edge of the sword really hot, that can easily melt Mythril metal, and even cut a Young Dragon Scales.

It is more advised to make a sword of other materials, and on their edges, pour molten Hihi’irokane to give the edge a good effect.

Mohs Hardness Scale - 6.7

With that on my hand, I just got a very good idea of what to do with it. But alas, I put it aside for now, and start to work on the gauntlets, with the Mythril wires system.

Before I start to make though, I search for a certain skill. You see, to make full use of the wires, I would need the capability to manipulate it. Unfortunately, even if I infuse mana on the wires, they won’t move. They get sharper though, but don’t move how I want.

“Heh! It does exist.”

After some searching with Scan, I did find a skill. Right now, I have 300 Skill Points. And the skill I was looking at was called [Thread Manipulation]. The description said, It allows the user to manipulate a thread and/or wire, with its own mana. With that, I acquired the skill, which was 150 SP.

To test it out, I grab one of the wires, and pour mana on it. It moves only a little though. If it won’t work like this, then… I grab four more wires, and form the image of a blade. The wires then started to mingle with each other, slowly, vewwy slowly, but surely, a very small dagger appeared. The size of the tip of my pinky finger though.

“Well, that’s a 10 in my book.”

◙ SKILL THREAD MANIPULATION IS NOW LEVEL 2! ◙

With the skill on Lvl 2, I tried once again, and a slightly bigger dagger appeared. This time, it is the size of a normal kitchen knife. I could cut someone’s arm with it, or throw it. I then tossed this small knife on the barrel, and it easily pierced.

“So the sharpness still remains, huh? Nice.”

With that out of the way, I start to make the gauntlets. I would be putting to use everything I had with me.

I started with some sketching. I could use all of the schematics and blueprints I have in my head, but I didn’t feel good with it. And man, how many images of Gauntlets I have inside my head. How? I mean, if you search on the internet, you’ll find a lot of images and designs about that.

Well, let’s get started!

First of all, I started with the inside of the gauntlets. If you try to put your hand inside a metal piece, you're gonna hurt yourself. So, I’m making the insides, or actually, gloves out of the leather that remained from the clothes.

“Well, recycling is a thing.”

The gloves were the easiest part to make. Why? Because it’s leather. And…

◙ SKILL LEATHER-WORKING LEVEL 1, HAS BEEN ACQUIRED! DUE TO THE USER POSSESSING A HIGH AMOUNT OF MANA, AND THE CLASS ALCHEMIST LEVEL 5, SKILL LEATHER-WORKING IS NOW LEVEL 4! ◙

“Uh… Okay!”

Although I was using [Transmutation] to change the leather as I wanted. And also, I used my school uniform to make the string to weave through the leather. It was a bit hard though, but thanks to the help of [Thread Manipulation], it was peachy.

After that, I put the gloves on. Inside of the leather, was a bit of cloth, since leather can hurt the skin, too. The glove almost reached my elbows, but it’s comfortable enough, so I was satisfied. Of course, when I put my hands on the Odyssey Outfit, I would make the modifications on it too.

I could use the gloves that I bought from the Alchemist’s Lair from before, but… Well, how should I say it? When Kasumi tossed that giant fireball, the gloves were inside my bag. Meaning, that everything on the bag was burned. In other words, it’s gone.

“Well, whatever. Now is the real deal.”

It was a bit hard for me alone, since I needed to take measurements with my own hands, and even worse… My fingers. It took some time, but I finished before night. And also…

◙ SKILL METALWORKING LEVEL 1, HAS BEEN ACQUIRED! AS THE SKILL TRANSMUTATION HAS ALREADY BEEN ACQUIRED, THE SKILL METALWORKING LEVEL 1 HAS BEEN INTEGRATED INTO TRANSMUTATION! ◙

I kept working, to make things to the best of my abilities. Unfortunately, I failed a lot of times.

“It’s night already. How many times have I failed?”

(More than 27 times, master.)

“You’re still awake?” Hearing the voice, I looked towards the bed, where Kasumi was soundly asleep, and Amara had changed her appearance. “Hunh. You’re making a lot of progress with [Shapeshifting] huh?”

(Uuuuuh… But I still can't use the new skill.)

“You acquired a new skill?”

(Yes. Although, thanks to my master's level, I can’t use it yet.)

“Hunh. [Human Disguise], eh?”

Simply put, [Human Disguise] makes the user take a human form. The higher the skill tier, the more human look like someone is. Apparently, Kasumi has the skill already on maximum, while Amara has received it on Lvl 5, thanks to my mana capacity.

“I’m intrigued by this thing.”

(What exactly?)

“My mana capacity. It influences some of my skills, and even you. Also, it influenced Kasumi’s skills as well.”

(Hmmm… Why though?)

“That’s something to find out.”

(Urgh! Master, when you’re going to sleep?)

“I’m not sleeping with you, not until the near future.”

When I’m looking at her, she’s pouting. I mean, I’m not doing it, specifically because of your age. It makes me uncertain. Back to work, and the hardest part, making the fingers. First of all, it would be really helpful if a malleable metal would exist.

The reason the fingers were the hardest, was to get the joints in the right place. When I tested them, they would hit one another all the time. And in the end, I just let the metal fingers aside. I couldn’t find a way to make it happen.

So, instead, I’d made out of… the Carnorse leather. It was tough, and when I appraised, scan said the leather was as tough as iron. Not as stainless steel, like the swords, but tough enough.

And… I tossed the gloves I’d made before. I remade it with Carnorse leather, putting inside the same cloth as well from before. I also finished the Mythril wire system, which wasn’t as hard as I thought.

“Right. Now, as for the blade I had in mind.”

The short sword made out of Hihi’irokane was big enough to make a blade for the gauntlet, but since the material wasn’t tough enough, I wouldn’t put it to use like this. But! I could mix the Hihi’irokane together with some steel.

Is what I would like to say. BUT! I would make the blade, then I would put the edge of the blade with Hihi’irokane. And I’d made it so. I looked outside of the window, and found it’s far more late than what I was expecting.

“It’s almost dawn? Hm?”

◙ SKILL TIREDNESS RESISTANCE LEVEL 1, HAS BEEN ACQUIRED! DUE TO THE TITLE FOCUSED FREAK, THE SKILL TIREDNESS RESISTANCE, HAS IS NOW LEVEL 7! ◙

“What?”

I blinked several times, before looking at the Skill description.

► Skill [Tiredness Resistance] ◄

The user is resistant to becoming tired from any kind of labor. Be it mental, or menial.

This skill allows the user to not need sleep. Albeit the user will be completely healed after a night of sleep.

“This is kinda nice? I guess.”

The two blades were made out of steel, and had 30 centimeters each. It fitted on the gauntlet compartments, but it was by a small margin that it almost didn’t fit on it. The tip of the blade is showing, though. But no one would notice. Also, the shape of the blade is cone-shaped. I mean, it would be like a long sword.

I also installed the wire control system. Of course, I tested the moment I finished it. Unfortunately, I had a few problems when the sword and the wires were activated at the same time.

I put a spell’s chant on the blade. Even having [Mana Manipulation], that didn’t help at all. I mean, it helped a bit, since I could just only have the image of the spell I wanted in my mind, and just say the name of the spell, or, if I had a High INT stat, I could simply imagine and that’s it!

But with this sword? It wasn’t like that.

“Burn Everything to Cinder… |Fiery Blade|”

The edges of the blades lit up in a strong red glint. I took one of the many swords that were in the room, and I just approached the blade on my own, and the failure sword started to get red!

“Wow. That’s a lot of heat. But why doesn't it affect me? Maybe because it’s my own mana? Meh.”

I focused on dismissing my mana, and when I did, the blades were back to its original gray-ish color again. As for the wires, I couldn’t use the blade AND wires at the same time, but I could use the blade on one arm, AND the wires on the other. Kind of a letdown, but good enough.

“Nicely done.”

With that out of the way, I turned around to make my other weapon.

I made a gauntlet with a sword, but I needed it. I had the necessity of having some kind of projectile weapon. Since the crossbow has been broken, and it’s construction wasn’t good enough, what else could I do, other than a firearm?

“Hmm… I’ll follow the schematics in my mind. Also, this is bugging me, but… Where the hell are these schematics and everything?”

How can I make use of this? Where is storing all of that? The human mind is OP? Nah, I don’t think so. Shaking my head, I focused on the remaining metal I have. With the failure that I’d made until now, it wouldn't be a problem. I could reuse the failures to make the bullets, while the non-used steel, to make the gun.

And so I started. Right now, the most useful firearm for me, would be a very old one. If I would say what my weapon would be resembling, it would be the 1858 Remington. But it would only resemble. I had in mind changing the caliber of the gun, since ball bullets weren’t a very good idea.

I’d made the entire body of stainless steel. It was very easy, thanks to the blueprint of the gun. I’d made the cylinder, as a top-break system, since it’s cooler.

“It’s unique too. Although it has more structural weaknesses. But of course, I’ll make it last.”

The firearm had a dark gray tint to it. I used the guard of a sword, which was made of brass, and had almost the same color as gold for other parts of the construction. The hammer of the gun, the trigger and trigger guard, and a small sight on it too, were made out of the brass.

Now, the worst part of this gun. I mean, the bullets.

(Master~ Kasumi is hungry~)

“Uhum. Just a… What?”

I was about to start to make the bullets, but I heard an unusual voice. Amara had a more adult like voice, and it was a very alluring one. Kind of like a big sister. But this voice, it wasn’t like that.

“Kasumi… Spoke?”

(Hm? Master is hearing me~)

“Uuuhh… Okay. It’s morning already, huh?”

I just shrugged for now. I mean, I would be able to understand her soon enough, so it isn’t much of a surprise. But…

“It’s like a teenager, too.”

It was sweet, but wasn’t like Amara’s voice. Amara’s voice was alluring, but if I could say, Kasumi’s voice was lazy and happy.

“Well, since I need to go out anyway, how about we go buy something to eat?”

(Yay~!)

She jumped on my shoulder, and I walked out of the room.

Before going out, I of course put on my gauntlets. They were comfortable at least. I bought more skewers, since Kasumi loved those, but also visited another place, buying a delicious soup, with a very fluffy bread.

The soup wasn’t salty, but in fact, it had a bit of sweetness to it. And the fluffy bread just made the soup even better. Kasumi got interested in the soup as well, so I bought a bit for her as well.

(Unghngngn! I want to be with master too~!)

I could hear Amara chewing on something, and complaining of course.

The only reason I was out was to buy something that is really important for bullets to work well. Something called gunpowder you know. And I found it. Again, it was so cheap! A kilo of it is only 20 Silver. A. KILO!

Of course, I bought 5 Kilos. One gold coin? But it was worth it. And of course, I wouldn’t test it inside of the Inn’s room. C’mon, that would be irresponsible. SO! I’m out of town, a little ways away from the forest. And making the cartridges of the bullets.

I used the remaining brass to make the cartridges, and made the bullets out of an ingot I bought at the market. Of course, said ingot was a material that I never heard of. But, it’s description made me grin widely.

► Black Caidrum Ingot ◄

An ore with a high heat resistance, and 7.5 on the Mohs scale. It can be processed to a plethora of things, but it is mostly used in the construction of magic cannons, and shields to battle any monster / beast with fire related skills.

The unique aspect of such ore, is that when heated, it’s hardness jumps to 8, on the Mohs Scale.

When I saw that, I simply bought it. It was to the pricier side, but whatever. But 15 Gold for an ingot huh? I bought 3 ingots, one of them being a white one. It’s basically the same as the black, only that it is cold resistant instead.

People usually make an alloy with both of them, to make sturdy foundations to things, since it can resist both heat and cold temperatures, so buildings take a long time to break. There are a lot of armors and weapons made out of this same ingot, but they are very few. Because blacksmiths don’t like to forge it, since instead of being more malleable, it gets harder to do so.

And voilá! I got to make exactly 100 bullets! All of them of the Black Caidrum though. What? ‘Just’ 100? I mean, sure, it is little, but it’ll do.

Also, the size of the barrel of the gun, although I used an old model as a basis, I’d made it so it could use a bigger bullet. In other worlds, I just made a .44 Magnum revolver! It was hard, let me tell ya!

I also put some straps of cloth on the handle, since it was too slippery.

“Well, let’s test it out, shall we?”

And so, I moved towards the forest. To seek for some dummy practices! Also, I made a holster on my back, and a small pouch for the bullets. If I gave them to Kasumi to store, it would take too much time to take it out, open the gun’s cylinder, and then reload.