Chapter 54: I Need Four Monsters and a Metal I Can’t Afford

Raven marked the page.

"Two."

Valeria checked the map.

"Velis is north."

"How far?"

"From Kharad or from here?"

"From here."

"Two weeks by normal roads, depending on the route."

Raven looked at the map.

"And Kharad?"

"More than three weeks west if you don’t run into problems."

"We’ll run into problems."

"Naturally."

Raven wrote it down.

Valeria raised an eyebrow.

"You just said we’ll."

He kept writing.

"No."

"I heard it."

"Incorrect interpretation."

"Roland heard it too."

Roland was asleep in another room.

Raven looked at her.

"That one was especially bad."

"But it worked for half a second."

"No."

Valeria smiled and returned to the book.

---

The metal was worse.

Raven had expected there to simply be something called mithril that he could buy.

Mithril existed.

It wouldn’t work.

Too light and an excellent mana conductor, but certain alloys deformed under violent energy release.

There was adamantite.

Too difficult to work and a poor conductor.

Runic steel.

Too dependent on enchantments Raven didn’t understand.

Then they found Black Mithril.

The name made Raven look at Valeria.

"Who named this?"

"Wasn’t me."

"Sounds like something invented by a teenager."

"It’s still one of the most expensive metals in the kingdom."

"That doesn’t improve the name."

Black Mithril wasn’t black mithril.

It was an ancient alloy made from mithril, meteoric iron, and a mana-reactive mineral called nocturite.

Resistant to heat.

Deformation.

And concentrated magical flow.

Valeria read the description.

"This would work."

FORGE agreed.

«"Compatible structural material identified."

Black Mithril

Potential functions:

— Primary barrel structure

— Mana-conductive reinforcement

— Thermal resistance

— Pressure tolerance

Estimated compatibility with conceptual rifle design: 88%»

Raven smiled.

Until he saw availability.

The main nocturite mines were located in the far northeast of Asteria, near Dunvar, under joint control of the Crown and three mining Houses.

"Price?"

Valeria kept reading.

"You don’t want to know."

"Tell me."

She pointed to an old table.

"That price is six years old."

"Tell me."

Valeria calculated.

"Enough refined Black Mithril for a weapon that size could cost somewhere between three and six thousand crowns."

Raven stared at the page.

"I’m going to steal it."

Valeria laughed.

"That was immediate."

"I’m considering options."

"Your first option was crime."

"My first option was buying it. That lasted half a second."

"I can get better prices."

Raven looked at her.

"How much better?"

"Depending on the seller, maybe thirty percent."

Raven thought about it.

"Still stealing."

Valeria rested her chin on one hand.

"You could work."

"That sounded worse."

"There’s a thing called earning money."

"I’m familiar with the concept."

"It doesn’t seem like it."

Raven returned to the map.

Kharad to the west.

Velis to the north.

Dunvar to the northeast.

Greyhaven below them.

Already three different directions.

And they still needed more functions.

"I need an activation source."

Valeria opened another volume.

"To ignite what, exactly?"

"The energy release."

"Couldn’t Kinetic Pulse do that?"

"Maybe. But I want a separate mechanism."

"Why?"

Raven looked at her.

It was a good question.

"Safety."

"Does that exist in your designs?"

"Occasionally."

"Surprising."

Raven continued.

"One function stores energy. Another decides when it’s released. If everything depends on the same organ, a failure could discharge the system while I’m holding it."

Valeria understood.

"So you need something like a mana switch."

"Yes."

She thought.

"Spark Mite."

Raven waited.

"What?"

"Magical insects from the south. They live in ironwood forests. They produce an extremely small, precise discharge to activate certain mana-eating seeds before consuming them."

Raven stared at her.

"That’s ridiculously specific."

"Nature often is."

They searched.

Found it.

Not the Spark Mite.

Something better.

«Arc Needle Wasp

Level: 9–14

Rank: Common / Awakened

Trait:

"Impulse Spark"

Produces a brief, extremely consistent electrical discharge from a specialized abdominal organ. Used to paralyze prey without damaging surrounding tissue.»

FORGE reacted.

«Potential activation component detected.

Precision: HIGH

Energy output: LOW

Repeatability: HIGH

Potential application:

Trigger / ignition function»

"Three," Raven said.

Valeria pointed at the map.

"Sablewood Forest."

Raven looked at her.

"Where?"

She smiled.

"Southeast."

Raven slowly lowered his eyes toward the map.

West.

North.

Northeast.

Southeast.

"I’m starting to think the universe is doing this intentionally."

"FORGE wanted you to travel."

"FORGE can go fuck itself."

The Authority didn’t respond.

Valeria looked far too entertained.

"You still need energy storage."

Raven looked at her.

"Don’t say it."

"What?"

"I don’t want to hear that it’s on an island at the opposite end of the continent."

"Asteria doesn’t have an island at the opposite end of the continent."

"Thank you."

"The major islands are south."

Raven closed his eyes.

"Valeria."

"I was only helping."

---

The energy component turned out to be closer.

Relatively.

A small magical predator known as the Mana Reservoir Toad stored surprisingly large quantities of mana inside a crystalline bladder.

The material could remain viable for weeks after death if properly treated.

It wasn’t especially powerful.

Level 12–16.

The difficulty was its habitat.

The Mirevale Swamps.

East.

Raven marked another point.

Valeria looked at the map.

"Five."

"Four creatures and one metal."

"You still need projectiles."

Raven went still.

"I can start with normal metal."

"Can it survive the acceleration?"

FORGE answered first.

«Standard iron projectile

Estimated compatibility with projected acceleration system: LOW

Predicted failure risks:

— Deformation

— Fragmentation within barrel

— Mana destabilization

Specialized projectile material recommended.»

Raven stared at the screen.

"I hate this Authority."

Valeria smiled.

"A few hours ago, you were in love."

"Relationships change."

"You abandon your commitments quickly."

Raven examined his options.

He didn’t need perfect ammunition yet.

He could use higher-quality steel, learn the limits, maybe reduce power.

FORGE didn’t demand absolute excellence.

Only sufficient compatibility.

That was good.

A first version could be simple.

Single shot.

Manual reload.

No magazine.

No automation.

No complex systems.

That reduced the requirements.

Raven took a fresh sheet and wrote:

PROTOTYPE 01

Valeria watched.

"What does that mean?"

"That the first one will probably be bad."

"Such confidence."

"Prototypes exist to discover how ideas fail."

"And if it fails while you’re holding it?"

"I’ll try to stand behind something."

Valeria stared at him.

"That wasn’t reassuring."

Raven kept writing.

Long platform.

Single projectile.

Reinforced chamber.

Magical acceleration.

Independent activation.

Replaceable reservoir.

No automatic cycling.

FORGE analyzed.

«"Conceptual refinement detected."

Weapon classification established: RIFLE-TYPE PROJECTILE PLATFORM

User terminology accepted: Rifle

Current theoretical components:

Structural assembly — Black Mithril

Pressure containment — "Pressure Chamber" / Blastback Burrower

Projectile acceleration — "Kinetic Pulse" / Stormhorn Courser

Activation — "Impulse Spark" / Arc Needle Wasp

Mana storage — Crystalline Reservoir / Mana Reservoir Toad

Projectile — UNRESOLVED

Mechanical knowledge — PARTIAL / SUFFICIENT FOR PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT

Construction status: IMPOSSIBLE

Component acquisition required.»