[Congratulations! You've leveled up!]
[Tech Core AI Evolution Detected! Updating Core Functions...]
[Analyzing Operator Preferences...]
[New Skill Acquired: Inventory]
"Inventory?"
The screen shimred, and a detailed description erged:
[Inventory: A personal storage dinsion accessible at will. Suitable for non-living items only.]
Adrian's mouth was left wide open. Space magic was sothing the world knew about, but never existed.
From the books he read, all forms of research had been done to discover magic that lets one manipulate space itself, but none has yielded fruitful.
But now, he had one at his disposal!
Adrian sprang up from the bed imdiately and looked at his bed. "Let's see what this can do."
Focusing on the bed, Adrian willed the newly revealed skill to activate, and soon only a bare patch of floor was left there.
His heart pounded in surprise. "It's... gone. Completely gone."
Still amazed, he cald his breathing and willed the bed to return. As if plucked from thin air, it reappeared, perfectly intact and in its original position.
Adrian let out a disbelieving laugh, running a hand through his hair.
"This changes everything," he breathed, already imagining how he could hide or transport delicate inventions without suspicion.
His eyes flicked back to the system interface, scanning for more. Sure enough, his status had updated:
[TECHCORE SYSTEM – STATUS PANEL]
Na: Adrian | Age: 10
System Level: 1 | EXP: 15 / 200 | TP: 5
[Inventions Created: 11]
[Knowledge Acquired: Fundantals of Ballistics]
[Skills: Analyze (Basic), Basic Forging Technique, Inventory]
[System Store]
"I'll need 200 EXP," he muttered. That was double the effort it took to get here. But if the rewards ant more skills, then it was worth the grind.
Wiping a hand over his face, Adrian felt the day's exertions finally pressing in again. Between the emotional scene with Eli and Mara, the massive sales success, and now this system upgrade, alot had happened already.
He set aside the day's leftover excitent for the morning.
'Tomorrow, I would begin planning a new project, one that would truly kickstart my journey in this world.' With that thought in his mind, Adrian laid down and embraced sleep.
***
Sunlight stread through the window, warming Adrian's eyelids until they fluttered open.
He rose with surprising vigor, recalling the Inventory skill and the next big invention: a firearm. Now that he had studied [Fundantals of Ballistics], the knowledge lay in his mind like a puzzle waiting to be pieced together.
Adrian rinsed his face quickly, had breakfast, then settled at his small wooden desk, quill in hand and parchnt smoothed before him.
He inhaled slowly, letting the instructions from the ballistics knowledge swirl into focus.
'A gun depends on a chamber that can withstand the explosive force of the gunpowder, a barrel that ensures accuracy, and a projectile shape that can fly straight. Pressure, friction, recoil. All must be balanced carefully.'
He started sketching the blueprint with confidence. The knowledge from the Tech Core made the fundantal physics of firearms familiar, though he would need to adapt to local materials.
Real gunpowder might be tough to replicate exactly, so he thought about substitutes.
'I can gather sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter again, but I'll have to do so refining. The forging of the barrel must be extrely precise, or the pressure could blow it apart... good thing I have all the forging experience already.'
He continued drawing: a simple single-shot flintlock chanism. Reloading would be slow, but it was feasible for a first attempt.
He labeled the sections: barrel, breech, ignition pan, hamr, flint, trigger assembly. Then ca the bullet design, just small round lead or iron balls, which he could easily mold in the blacksmith's forge.
By the ti the blueprint covered the parchnt, Adrian's fingers were black with ink, and the morning sun had shifted further up the window.
He rolled the paper carefully. 'I'll soon need to gather so chemicals, and thankfully, I have more than enough gold to afford them.'
Standing up, Adrian stretched, slipping the blueprint into his newly discovered Inventory with a practiced ntal command.
***
Adrian got to work imdiately he left the house, he had earlier discovered two herbalists in the village who carried so questionable substances and he'd likely be able to buy sulfur or an acid from them.
Another general store occasionally stocked saltpeter, used by tanners for certain processes. Then as for tal, that wasn't a problem, as they were readily accessible in the forge.
After an hour of walking and negotiating, Adrian spent about three gold coins to obtain everything he needed.
"Ti for a new project!"
Adrian announced with a playful grin the mont he returned to the Forge and Eli, already used to Adrian's mania for invention, simply laughed and left him to it.
The forging process took eight days, each filled with the clang of tal, the pungent slls of burning chemicals, and Adrian's relentless concentration.
He shaped the barrel from top-grade steel, ensuring it was thick enough to handle ignition. The tal needed repeated heating and quenching to gain the right tensile strength.
Then ca the breech plug, hamred into perfect alignnt. anwhile, he molded a hundred lead bullets, carefully asured to fit snugly. The black powder mix required careful testing to ensure it wasn't too volatile.
Adrian's hands bled from minor nicks; but he pressed on, fueled by the vision of what this weapon could be.
The Tech Core occasionally chid helpful reminders: angles, pressures, or suggestions gleaned from the ballistic knowledge. He was thankful for every scrap of guidance.
Finally, on the eighth day, the forging concluded. Adrian polished the barrel, assembled the last of the trigger chanism, and fitted the wooden grip.
His heart thundered with excitent as he loaded one bullet, packed the powder, and carefully tested the hamr's fall without igniting it. Everything moved smoothly.
A new system prompt flickered:
[Congratulations! You've completed an invention!]
[Flintlock – Single Shot]
[Function: Fires spherical projectiles using flint ignition and black powder. Reload manually.]
[Grade Evaluation: Function: A | Practical Utility: B | Complexity: B | Originality: A | Integrity: B ]
[Final Grade: B ]
[Remark: A breakthrough in personal weaponry]
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