After a while, the news of the infamous Taker shook the world. The one child kidnapper that evaded the world for years had finally been killed.
Some laughed in pure joy, some were relieved, some were angry that Taker got away with a quick death, and not the slow painful death that he deserved.
This included the many, many families who were victims. But, they were all saddened that they couldn't at least have a proper funeral for their children, because no bodies were ever recovered.
Inside the kingdom of Reyes, was a fat noble who was cursing repeatedly at the news.
"Shit, shit, fuck, damn, fuck." The fat noble kicked and slapped the maids working for him. Since he has the genes of the heroes, his slaps and kicks were stronger than an ordinary man's.
"If people find any evidence about me, I will be executed." He bit his finger, he was sweating with fear.
"Noble Stein, I bring some good news." A black-haired individual showed up before the noble.
"Don't just stand there, tell me the damn news!"
"It seems that there wasn't any evidence leading up to you. Whoever killed Taker took every single piece of evidence. And he killed Taker before anyone else arrived, so he won't be talking anymore."
"Really? Oh, that's good news. But, that means that there is someone out there with all the evidence. Find this person, I don't care if it's a child, woman, kill them, and their families and friends, whoever he was associated with. Then burn all the evidence. But not the cloth of teleportation, that's too important."
"Yes, sir." The black haired man bowed and left.
The noble sighed a bit. He took a torch, went up to a stone wall, pushed one of the bricks back, and a secret door opened.
He went down hundreds of stairs. When he arrived at the end, there were chains everywhere, filled with blood on the walls, floors, the roof. It was gruesome.
Even worse was the various eyeballs, fingers, hair, basically human parts that he collected through all the years. They were the body parts of young kids.
"I shouldn't have killed those kids so soon. Had I known I would've had more fun with them. Eh, they were boring anyway."
He gently caressed some hair with skin and blood still under it. The hair looked short, blonde, with pigtails on the side.
"Once I get my cloth back, I'll hire someone else to do some more 'hunting' for me. I can't wait."
Meanwhile…
Will arrived at Jack's village. Jack was waiting by the entrance. Before Will arrived, he took off his armor and mask, making sure that no one saw Adaline. But two soldier's blocked his path.
"Papers please… oh, it's you." The same soldier from the Reyes kingdom recognized Will.
"Papers? Right… I have this, does it count?" Will showed him his beginner's blacksmith badge. Jack told him that his village was now dependent unlike last time.
"Yeah, that'll do. Proceed." The two soldier's stepped aside.
"Jack. Hey."
Jack stood there with a deadpan expression on his face.
"Will…"
Will sighed, he didn't like it when Jack looked at him like that. It felt like he had disappointed his parents.
"Jack, I'll treat you to some fancy food while we talk. I promise you, I have a good reason, and a good story."
"I trust you and I know that you're a nice person… but I can't get over it."
"I'll tell you some more of my 'hero' stuff."
Jack chuckled. "Fine."
Will took Jack to the most expensive restaurant in the village, which was less than a few silver coins. This village is doing better, but it doesn't have such luxuries as other places do.
Will ate the food like his life depended on it. Even Jack was surprised to see Will eat so fast.
"What happened to you?" Asked Jack.
"Try living in a deserted land for 2 months, eating nothing but grass and water. Until recently, I started eating meat and fruits."
"Deserted… where have you been? Or better yet, what happened to you in these past two months?"
"It's a good story. But first, food." Will continued munching his foot like a wild beast, it didn't affect him if others saw him.
Jack smiled a bit. He too began eating. After an hour they were both full.
"So, what's the story?" Asked Jack.
"Story…" Will looked around, there were too many people listening.
"Let's go to your room. I don't want anyone listening to what I have to say." Will placed down some silver coins on the table and got up.
"Sure."
After they went to his room, Will told Jack everything. His base, Adaline, the two villages, Jim, the elves. But did not mention the exotic flower seed or the exotic flowers. If anyone knew about this that would put Jack in danger.
"I see now. I was afraid that you joined the elves side. But I understand why you did it." Jack was amazed by the story.
"How can you believe that I joined the elves?"
"Because of their charm power. They can basically brainwash anyone of into doing their bidding. It usually works on heroes since they're young and virgins."
"Oh, I'm not a virgin." Will added.
"What?" Jack was surprised.
"I lost my virginity about… 2 years ago? I know I was 18 at the time."
"Oh. I didn't expect that."
"Eh." Will shrugged it off like it was nothing.
"So, how was it?"
"Well, it was scary and weird at first. But when you get used to it, it becomes a very pleasurable exper-"
"Not that!" Jack blushed. "I mean how was the road trip here? Must've taken you a few hours to get here on Adaline."
"Actually, no, Adaline became stronger now through… unknown reasons. I was actually at the village where they found Taker and his secret base."
"That far?"
"Yup."
"Did you see the Taker? You must know something about him!" Jack got up on his toes and stood close to Will's face.
"I should know. I killed him. And took his stuff. And set the kids free."
"THAT WAS YOU?!?!"
"Shhh!" Will covered Jack's mouth.
"Sorry… that was you…" Jack whispered.
"Yes, I am not lying."
"I heard that they did not find anything else, not even his magical teleportation item."
"I took that as well. Wanna see it?"
"I do!" It would give Jack great insight to becoming a better blacksmith.
"Here." Will took out the cloth.
"Why is it… a rag?"
"I dunno. But don't wear it, it's covered with Taker's blood and brains."
"Ugh!" Jack threw the cloth back at Will. Then, something fell out of the rag from one of the pockets. It was basically a black marble that was enchanted.
"What is that?" Asked Jack.
"I don't know." Will scanned it.
{Black ball: Enchanted}
{Enchantment: Blocks telepathy}
"It blocks telepathy? Why would Taker have this?"
"Oh, it blocks… I know why." Jack smiled as if he felt smart for knowing something.
"Why?"
"Because of the Great Sage."
"What about him?"
"You still don't know? Maybe I forgot to tell you. So listen, the Great Sage is powerful, so he knows many, many abilities. One of them is telepathy."
"Telepathy?"
"The ability to communicate through minds."
"Oh, I think I get it now. Taker must've used this to block off the Great Sage's telepathy so he wouldn't find him."
"Yes. The Great Sage uses his telepathy to interrogate prisoners who don't want to talk. It's usually him who finds out much valuable information. This must be why Taker had this ball on him."
"Man, glad you told me. If you hadn't, my identity would've been exposed by him long ago." Now Will made a new mental note, never getting near the Great Sage, who is a literal mind reader. But at least he now had this ball with him.
Will placed the ball back inside his chest.
"What identity? Who are you?" July asked, Jack's mother had entered Jack's room.
"Mom, this is Will, the one I told you about. And Will this is my mom." Jack immediately introduced Will to his mom.
"Oh, so you're the one." July didn't know how to feel about Will. For some time, she thought that he had kidnapped Jack.
"Nice to meet you." Will shook hands with Jack's mother.
"I wish I could say the same. I'll be back." July left while still looking at Will.
"I get the feeling she doesn't like me." Will pointed out.
"She thinks you kidnapped me."
"Kidnapped? That's weird."
"Kinda… so, this base you build." Jack touched his fingers together.
"What about it?"
"Could I see it?"
"Sure. We can go now. If we use Adaline, we can arrive there in an hour or so."
"I can't. Maybe in 2 weeks I can."
"Why the wait?"
"My uncle has this special order from a sorcerer named Kyle, who is into Jasmine."
"Oh… that's good for him, I guess."
"He's been chasing after her since she was 9 years old."
"How old is Kyle right now?"
"25, almost 26."
"Oh, he needs to die then. I'll get my gun."
"No. He's a good person just… weird. He hasn't done anything to Jasmine that would be considered 'inappropriate' but still, it's weird."
"If you say so. So what's this about a special order?"
"We need to make him a custom shotgun in 2 weeks. We are already halfway done."
"I didn't know it took that long to make a shotgun."
"It doesn't. But this is a very powerful shotgun we're making. Only true experts like my uncle can make it."
"Could I help?"
"You're an apprentice blacksmith."
"So are you."
"That's… a good point. Come, I'll show what we've been working on." Jack led Will to the back of the building.
Will remembered that this room was a mess, coal, ore, rocks everywhere. Now it was spacious, clean.
In the middle of the table, was a shotgun that he'd never seen before. It was half way done. It was all white, with only the trigger missing, and some other important parts.
"I didn't think it was possible to modify weapons like this. How did you guys do it?" Will wanted to know to increase his gun's performance.
"I'll show you a simple trick. My uncle taught me this while we were working on it." Jack took 3 pistols and placed them on the table.
"So, each gun here is different, each has their own weaknesses and strengths." Jack said.
"Okay."
"So, many years ago, master blacksmiths took the idea of taking out the strongest points that made these weapons powerful, and combined it into one."
"And that works? I'm no gun expert, but that seems like it would fail."
"You're right. But with the right knowledge, and with the right materials and tools, it's possible. Like this."
Jack disassembled the gun's into pieces very quickly. Obviously he had been practicing.
"I'm not supposed to do this, only experienced expert blacksmiths can do this. But, it's not a crime to learn. And when I'm done assembling it, it'll look like this." Jack took out another gun that had identical parts to the other three.
"I still have to fully learn this technique. My uncle made this gun for me so I can practice. He still teaches me how to make them."
"But I still don't understand how this gun is better than the 3 other guns."
"This pistol is a snake. It has good pinpoint accuracy but isn't that strong, even metal can deflect it. This other one is a guerrilla, it has a lot of fire power, but the recoil is so strong it can bruise your hand if you're not careful. This last one is a hawk, it carries more ammo, but it's heavy."
"Those sound like defective guns to me." Will pointed out.
"Yeah, it's because they are defective. No one in their right minds would ever use them. But, like I said, if you take their strong points and add it together, you get this." Jack pointed at a test dummy that was covered in metal, and it blew a hole in it's head.
Will looked at the hole the bullet made. It even pierced through the wall.
"You see, it carried power but barely any recoil. It had a lot of ammo, and it has accuracy."
"I have been using guns for a while now, but I have never seen something like this. Could I see it?"
"Sure."
As soon as Will touched the gun, a new crafting recipe was added.
{Tinkering table}
{Able to tinker many weapons, explosives, armor. Unlike other tables, this one is limited to the users imagination}
{Crafting recipes: 10x iron, iron nails}
{Universal table+: Can now use tinkering table}
{100 tinkering tables}
"Tinkering… mind if I borrowed some iron?"
"Sure."
"Thanks." Will left Jack some money for him, grabbed some smelted iron, and crafted the tinkerer table.
"I never get tired of seeing that." Jack already knew about Will's ability to make stuff, but it was different this time because he didn't even use a crafting table.
"Me neither, Jack."
Will placed down the crafting table, and unlike the other crafting stations, this one was different. There were two boxes labelled {Experimental} and {Crafts}
{Experimental} means that he can experiment with any weapons and fuse weapon parts together.
{Crafts} showed the successful weapons he fused in the {Experimental} section. But there are two types of weapons in the crafts section.
{Successful: made a powerful, working modified weapon}
{Incomplete: the weapon will not work, is missing parts, or is too dangerous to use for the one holding the gun}
The tinkerer's table was amazing. The best part is that it didn't require two types of the same weapons. Meaning that it wasn't merely limited to handguns. He could fuse a shotgun and a sniper, a handgun and a rifle, bazooka's with shotguns. The possibilities were endless.
"I am so glad you're my friend, Jack." Will felt once again grateful to Jack. Because of him, he had just opened a new world of possibilities.
"Me, too." Jack didn't know why he said that but was glad.
"Can I touch your uncle's shotgun?"
"Okay… but please don't destroy it."
"I only need to touch it." Once he touched it, the shotgun was added to the {Crafts} section but read {Incomplete}.
Will saw what he required to make the shotgun perfectly. Once again he brought all the ores that Jack had, paying for it all, and made the exact same shotgun that Sam was making. But it was still incomplete. Will frowned and kept experimenting.
It wasn't enough. He crafted only weapon parts, and added it to the shotgun, trying to find the perfect piece for it.
After a few minutes of crafting, experimenting, he made a {successful} weapon.
{Battery shotgun: modified}
"But, how did, that's the… what?" Jack was confused.
"It's a good shotgun. Pump action, can hold up to 12 shells per round, has explosive power."
"12, explosive? But, it should have only 8 rounds. And it shouldn't have explosive power either."
"Oh, huh. I think I made a little too many alterations to it."
Will could craft anything as long as he had the knowledge and the materials, so he crafted a bunch of gun parts and added it to the shotgun.
"Can I see it?" Asked Jack.
"It's yours. This is my way of saying thank you for helping." Will handed Jack the modified shotgun be made. Even till now Jack was helping him.
Jack examined the shotgun and took a few test shots with it. He thought that Will might've exaggerated a bit, but what he said was right, Will made an even better shotgun than his uncle, and took no less than 10 minutes.
Will had been using this system for a while and had known how to make it work, had it been before he'd had no clue how to make it.
"Will, what exactly is your hero ability?"
"It's too complicated to say."
Jack sighed.
"Please, don't show my uncle your ability. It'll break him if he knew that an apprentice blacksmith made a better weapon than him. All those years of training, he'd think it would've been a waste."
"I won't."
"But this'll save my uncle some time. So, thank you."
"You've helped me a lot, Jack. I should be thanking you."
"I love you, Will."
"No homo?"
"No homo."
Outside of the counter, was a little girl and her mother.
"Mommy, what's 'homo'?"
"This damn village…" The mother was tired and angry of her daughter learning new words from other people. All she wanted to do was buy a knife for cooking since her old one is dull and useless.
July was secretly listening. She had her eyes wide open.
"So… he's a hero, the missing 100th hero. No wonder Jack's..." She shook her head. She left them alone and decided to keep this a secret. She'd been worried that Will is not a good person, but looking at how Jack was so happy now, she knew that he was a good friend.
"Hey, sis, what are you doi-"
"SHH!" July covered her brother's mouth. She didn't want Jack or Will to find she had been listening to their conversation.
"I was just about to leave. Oh, and we have a guest." July left the store.
"Guest?" Sam looked over and saw Will and Jack.
"Oh, hi Will. Didn't expect to see you here."
"Sup, Sam."
"Want to help me work on this shotgun me and Jack have been working on? We could use some help, and I could teach you as well, so you can earn your expert blacksmith badge."
"Umm…" Will and Jack looked at each other. Sam's intentions are good, but he didn't know that Will could make a better weapon in a short amount of time.
"Hey, Jack, can I see that gun?" Sam looked at the shotgun on Jack's hand that looked almost identical to the one he's been working on.
"Sure."
Sam inspected the shotgun.
"Wow, 12 rounds, explosive power. Better range. Less recoil. Where'd you find this shotgun? It's one of the best ones I've seen. And it works so well. The parts compliment each other. Only a master blacksmith could make something like this."
"Well…" Jack looked at Will.
"I bought it." Will lied. He was keeping his promise to Jack about not telling Sam he made it.
"Man, this must've cost you a fortune."
"Nah, not really. Actually it's my gift to you and Jack, for helping me."
"That's very generous of you, Will. But I cannot accept it. It's too precious to give away."
"I don't plan on selling it or using it. Shotguns are not my style. If I keep it it'll just be collecting dust." Will could make shotguns at any time, but he had never been too keen on using these types of weapons.
"If you sell it you could make over 200 gold coins, or even 300."
"I don't need money. I have enough." Especially after stealing from Taker's stuff, he had over hundreds of gold coins now.
"Uncle, let's keep it. Will wants to give it to us." Jack added.
"If you insist. Let's keep working on that shotgun, Jack. Want to help out, Will?" Asked Sam. He was still planning on working on Kyle's shotgun because the shotgun Will gave them was too good for Kyle to use. If they sell it to him, it would be easier for him to take the position of a kingsguard. They wouldn't want to make things difficult for Jasmine.
"No thanks. I'm just visiting and I have to go now. Jack, message me when you're free to come over."
"I will." Jack promised.
"Oh, and, do you guys have soap, something to take the blood off of clothes?" Will needed to wash the cloth of teleportation.