The next day, I was back at work, starting on the layout of the form.
From a paper-like structure to a gun that could fit comfortably in one's hand.
It took me several days, which soon turned into weeks.
Along the way, I spent a lot of time jotting down ideas for future upgrades. A magic caster? A magic gun? Castor?
The plain-looking clay had transformed into metal, and the object now resembled a simple, unremarkable gun.
The first thing I noticed was that it weighed quite a bit for my 13-year-old frame.
The gun itself resembled a plain Glock. There was a cartridge slot for future upgrades, and it lacked a safety trigger.
"Alright… first test run," I muttered to myself as I picked up the weapon and walked into the test room.
It was the only room where Devil magic was present in the air, specifically enchanted to withstand hits.
For the test, I wore gloves and more protective clothing than usual. While I'd done the calculations to ensure it wouldn't explode upon use, I was still prepared to bail if anything went wrong.
"Test number 1!" I pointed the gun at the wall, gripping it with both hands.
"3… 2… 1!" I squeezed the trigger.
At that moment, I heard a hum coming from the gun, which started heating up. A white circle appeared at the barrel's end, releasing a burst of energy in the shape of a bolt.
It slammed into the wall, leaving a hole several inches deep. Seeing that I was successful, I pulled out my voice recorder.
"Test number 1 was a success. Key points of interest: The gun heats up. The proximity of the circles generates excess heat, powerful enough to begin heating the titanium.
A more durable material is needed—possibly a supernatural one.
The shot load time is about 3 seconds. Shortening this is necessary, perhaps by adding extra accelerator circles. Hmm... maybe a rail method for the barrel itself?" I reported into the recorder, then pressed pause.
I looked back at the weapon. I could already see some deformation…
"Right... one of the toughest human-made metals, and it's melting like butter? Hell, I need to check the materials used by Big G in his Sacred Gears." Recalling what I'd read about Sacred Gears, I remembered that the guy had different formulas for each gear.
The Longinus ones even used the energy of beasts as armor material… but that would require a specific weapon designed to counter that energy. How had that pervert survived so long using just dragon energy?
If I were the hunter, I'd go the Batman route and study the weaknesses of dragons, just like he did against Superman.
"Well, time to return to the drawing board."
"Master, what are you doing?" came the curious voice of my second familiar.
"Oh, Sera, you're back… you've been gone for quite some time." I mentally recalled that she'd been away for several weeks!
Hmm, it seems Venelana is enjoying her freedom, considering she hasn't even popped in…
I'll summon her when I need her.
"Testing a set of runes shaped like a gun. As you can imagine, it fires bullets every 3 seconds," I explained to Serafall as I handed the gun over to her.
"You made this while I was away?" she asked, wide-eyed.
"Yeah. I did it pretty casually. I had ideas popping into my head constantly… I could've finished it a few days earlier," I casually explained as I looked over the notes on my table.
"Since you're here, can your devil magic create durable mannequins?" I asked offhandedly.
"Oh? Yes! I can!" Serafall snapped out of her shock, glancing back at the gun, then at me.
"Great. You'll need to create some mannequins in the testing room. Oh, and I'll need to reinforce the walls there as well," I said, remembering how fragile the walls had been.
"Okay…"
I motioned for her to hand over the gun, as I needed to start with my upgrades.
"Master, I can only stay for about 3 hours before I need to return to my duties," she informed me seriously.
"I see. That's enough time for me to upgrade this to a Mark II."
Serafall didn't respond as she watched me begin upgrading the gun.
Deconstructing it was easy since I had designed it for quick assembly and disassembly.
Once I checked the inside, it was exactly what I expected. The titanium was beginning to deform. It could be the magic or the heat generated by the circles, but that shouldn't be normal…
For now, I quickly used a transmutation circle to fix it and began working on the upgrades.
First, I added small barriers inside and around the barrel, acting like rails for the energy. This would improve the energy flow. Then, I added more accelerator circles to shorten the casting time.
...
"And done…" I said as I finished assembling the gun.
"Did you just put barrier magic inside this gun?" Serafall asked, incredulous.
"Oh, dear Sera. How little you know about how much a simple wall can help in this situation. It's not just barrier magic. Have you ever heard of magnetism?" I asked with a smile.
"Umm? How is that related?" she asked, still confused.
"You see, the barriers prevent the heat from reaching the metal, keeping it contained and generating more magic in the process.
But that's not the main part. The barrel itself acts like a rail to build up power. The longer the barrel, the more power it can accumulate.
It's a simple concept that humans use in various applications," I explained with a shrug.
"Says you…" she muttered under her breath.
"Hmm? Did you say something?"
"Nope! Let's go see how well it works!" she happily declared, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the testing room.
"Right…"
With a crack like thunder, a bolt of blue energy slammed into a mannequin…
Crackling Explosion
It disintegrated completely.
"Test 2 was a success, as expected. The railing system and barrier magic fixed the heating issue and increased the power by about 150%. The downside is the recoil; I nearly dislocated my shoulder.
Possible solutions: natural magic reinforcement and regular body training for growth," Marcus said into the voice recorder.
'The kid is the human version of Ajuka... maybe even worse. I don't remember Ajuka being this advanced at this age. He spent most of his early years reading and studying before he started experimenting.'
Serafall thought, wiping the sweat from her forehead as she compared her master to Satan Beelzebub in his early years.
Both were incredibly inventive, but Satan Beelzebub was left to his own devices simply because no one could control him. He'd just leave and do whatever he wanted, which made him extremely dangerous. That's why the Devil Council never tried to control him.
But her Master was different… At barely 13, he had already created a weapon superior to those used by the Church!
And worst of all, she had no idea how to control him.
"Any comments?" Marcus asked as he walked over to her side.
"Well, it's superior to the weapons used by exorcists," Serafall said with a sigh.
What could she say? 'Please don't sell these to the Church?'
"Yeah, I thought so. The point is that I made the ammo cartridge area function more like a program," he said, pointing to the empty cartridge slot.
"Function like a program?" she asked, confused.
"You know about video games, right?" he asked, remembering that Serafall was a fan of all things magical.
"Yes?"
"Well, you remember the old ones where you'd plug in a cartridge to play a specific game?"
"Yes…" Her eyes lit up with realization.
"So, think of it this way. Depending on the cartridge, the gun can shoot demonic energy, holy energy, dragon energy…" he said, smirking.
"But that's not all. Depending on the cartridge, it could be a minigun, a particle cannon, or even a magic cannon," Marcus clarified, grinning.
"But it's a handgun…" she said, still processing how a handgun could be so powerful.
"Did you miss the part where I said this item converts motion into energy, then turns that energy into magic, which is accelerated and released like a weapon?" he raised his eyebrows.
"Yes... but it looks like a handgun…" she said, trying to process how something that looked like a handgun could act like a cannon.
"The appearance is just because of how the human hand holds it. There's nothing 'human gun' about it. Inside, there are 37 magic circles working together as a system.
It's basically a low to mid-tier Sacred Gear. Low-tier ones generally only have 31 circles inside. But I digress. I can only call this a pseudo-gear since I used human materials as a base," he explained, twirling the weapon on his finger.
He felt satisfied. Finally, he was back in his element—creating!