Chapter 298

Adequate. An Epic-rated steak that fully restored her health and mana was adequate.

Rudra ground his teeth together. He made a mental note to cook something so absurdly good later that it would force her to actually smile, just out of pure spite.

He tossed another cut of premium cow meat into the pan.

While it sizzled, Iris finally sat down on a relatively dry, fallen log nearby.

She set the tin plate aside. She unholstered both of her heavy pistols and laid them across her knees.

Rudra watched as her hands moved in an absolute blur.

Click. Clack. Snick.

She stripped the weapons down to their base components in under five seconds. Springs, metal firing chambers, and hollow handles sat in a neat row on her thigh. She didn't hesitate. She didn't look for a manual. It was pure, ingrained muscle memory.

The thick metal barrels were visibly warped. Heat waves were still radiating off the dark iron, distorting the air above her knees.

A faint green light pulsed over her hands as she used a small cloth to quickly wipe away the corrosive marsh humidity and built-up black powder. She was trying to cool them down manually, to scrape the damage away before it set permanently.

Rudra narrowed his eyes. He didn't know much about guns. But he knew broken gear when he saw it.

"Legendary Sage's Eyes," Rudra murmured as his red eyes glowed.

[Skill 'Legendary Sage's Eyes' activated.] 

[Analyzing the structure...]

[+8 Prototype Magic Engineering Pistol] 

[Rating: Epic

Durability: 110/110 Attack Power: 255 

- Firing Speed: +10%

- When using two of these guns simultaneously, Attack Power is increased by 25%.

- Mana consumption for all shooting skills is increased by 30% due to inefficient mana pathways.

A magic weapon created by human alchemists attempting to reverse-engineer ancient magic engineering. Because they only understand approximate principles, the internal design is primitive and forces the weapon to overheat rapidly. 

Conditions of Use: Level 150.]

The world grew colourful as Rudra was able to see the flow of mana in the gun. It was a total mess.

The mana pathways etched into the metal were clumsy and wide causing inefficient mana flow. The heat dispersion function seemed to be broken, forcing the temperature back into the wielder's hands instead of venting it out the sides.

The human alchemy used to create this thing was quite bad . Rudra hypotheses that he could create a vastly superior version of this gun himself using [Advanced Alchemy (Lv. 5)] with this exact blueprint that he just got.

Rudra finally understood.

No wonder she was only Level 264.

Her class required her to dump mana and durability into every single bullet. Because the weapon was so terribly made, she was burning through her resources three times faster than she should be.

She literally couldn't grind for more than an hour without her gun’s durability dropping dangerously and her mana pool almost hitting zero.

She was hard-capped by her own hardware.

Rudra stepped closer to the log.

"Those are ruined," he said.

Iris didn't look up from her lap. "They will fire."

"Yeah, they'll fire. And they'll leak half your mana out the sides of the chamber while they do it. The metal is micro-fractured all the way down the barrel."

Iris's hands stopped moving for a fraction of a second. Then she went back to wiping the iron. "It is what I have."

Rudra stood up. He walked over to the log and held out his hand.

"Let me see the barrel," Rudra said.

Iris looked up. Her eyes tracked his hand, then moved to his face. "No."

"I'm not going to steal it. Just let me look."

She stared at him for three long seconds. The smell of the second steak searing in the pan drifted over them. The implicit trade hung in the air.

She picked up the right barrel and placed it flat in his palm and she watched him closely.

"Alchemist's Repair," Rudra muttered as he took out his emergency alchemy kit.

[The skill 'Alchemist's Repair' has been activated.]

A bright, silvery light flared from Rudra's palm as he used the various alchemy instruments. It washed over the warped, blackened iron.

The heat vanished from the metal instantly. The warped iron straightened itself out with a series of quiet clicks. The microscopic cracks sealing the firing chamber fused back together seamlessly.

Within a minute, the barrel looked like it had just been pulled fresh from manufacturing.

[The item has been restored to 100% maximum durability.]

Rudra handed the pristine barrel back to her.

Iris took it slowly. She ran her thumb over the smooth, cool metal. For the first time, the icy mask slipped. Just a little bit. A look of quiet relief crossed her sharp features.

"It's clean," she said softly.

"I fixed the durability," Rudra said bluntly. "But the blueprint is trash. The alchemy used to make that thing is terrible. I patched it, but it's going to warp again the second you get into another heavy firefight."

Iris slowly reassembled the gun on her lap. Click. Snick. She slid the restored weapon back into her holster.

"Human alchemists do not understand magic guns," Iris said. It sounded like a line she had recited to herself a hundred times before. “Even the best Alchemist across  the continent hasn’t reached [Advanced Mastery]. This is the limit of their craft."

"Is that so?," Rudra said.

"Only the Dwarves in Talima can create True Magic Guns," Iris replied flatly. "But Talima is closed. The city is located within the territory of the dragon Trauka. Humans cannot enter."

Rudra walked back to his campfire. He used the tongs to plate the second steak.

"You know," Rudra said casually, "I run a territory. Stormbreak."

Iris watched him. She didn't say anything.

"We have an Intermediate Alchemy Tower," Rudra continued, holding the plate out. "I have two Craftsman-tier Alchemists running it. And I have an entire coven of Witches living there. They're the masters of alchemy. They can probably create a proper Magic Gun for you."

Iris stared at the second steak.

"Come with me to the Valiant Village," Rudra said. “I have some business to take care of there and once that is done, we can discuss this later. I'll create a gun that doesn't melt in your hands."

Iris looked at the food. Then she looked at Rudra's face to see if he had any malignant motives.

She reached out and took the plate.

"I will accompany you," Iris said.