The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 678: The Right Tool

Dominic knew as soon as one big head poked in the window of the forge that the visiting Trolls were going to be aware of how long it actually took him to make the weapons. But that wasn’t a surprise.

Dave would likely tell them anyhow.

The trolls got very excited when they learned new things, and you had to specifically tell them not to share the knowledge, unless it was obvious that you were trying to hide it.

Dominic usually didn’t hide what he was doing in his forge, so they hadn’t bothered to keep anyone away from it.

And now the trolls would know what was involved in the process.

Fortunately, Mountain Trolls weren’t known for high intelligence or their crafting skills, so it was unlikely that they would accurately relay enough of the process for anyone to attempt to duplicate it, even if they had the forge skills to think it was plausible.

Dominic already had the parts made for the rifles. In fact, he had more than a few of them, as they had a small group of Techno Wizards making the parts for the army, and Dominic was just doing the assembly when things needed a special touch.

They’d been building up stock for nearly a month now, so he was going to have to take a few days and get them all assembled.

But that was a good problem to have, more weapons than need for them.

Of course, those were all supposed to go to the Cygnian Army, as the King had requested. But a few thousand rifles wouldn’t be an issue if the team did all the work and Dominic just did quality control before doing the final activation.

Magic might not work like that for humans, but for him, it would be just fine. As long as none of the circuitry was wrong.

And he had a large enough mana pool that he could give twenty rifles at a time the mana oil bath treatment to send them out at level ten, which was what the army had requested.

Actually, level ten was the problematic part. He had a bunch of Gnoll cores at level eight, and stronger monster cores in the level fifteen to twenty ranges. But getting them all out at exactly level ten would be a strain on his limited supply of level ten monster cores.

He should have insisted that they accept a wider range of levels instead of uniformity.

That dilemma occupied Dominic’s mind as he got the rifles ready, and then got started on the pistols.

A more ornate design wasn’t actually suited to frequent use, as it would get hung up and caught on clothing. But he could do something to make them look like he put actual effort into them.

General Marshall was a black dragonkin, so he could make them from Dark Iron, which was naturally a matte black colour. It was a deeper colour than gunblue, the usual process of protecting the metal.

So, that was what Dominic did, and then gave the whole batch of pistols a dose of his breath to finish them off.

{Scorching Revolver} Level 10 Rare Grade mana pistol. Deals fire damage on hit, recover 3 mana on hit. May be reloaded at the cost of 1 mana per shot, up to six shots.

Simple, but effective.

It was the level ten damage that made the weapon so effective, despite the otherwise lacklustre description of the effects.

It also recovered more mana on hit than an Uncommon Grade pistol would.

Most of them would only recover one or two mana per hit, just enough to keep up with the cost of firing the weapon. But with these recovering three per hit, at the cost of one per shot, it could effectively be used by someone like Dominic, or another mage, to supplement their abilities.

Forty pistols, four rifles.

Not enough to call them a major threat, or even a fully armed regiment. But it was a great start to filling their constant need for more spell gems. Not just rare ones, but the basics.

And this new trading partner, in the form of the Burlish Resistance Army, would do that for them.

As such, Dominic also forged another fifty spears with Amie’s help.

They were easy to make. He had plenty of spear shafts here for the militia, and he would have to make more anyhow. The militia was growing, and all the Barons were going to need spears to arm the militia in their territories as well.

They couldn’t have weak spots in the defence.

Part of the draw of Wistover was that it was one of the safest spots on the continent, and that safety came with plentiful food and the possibility of well paying jobs for those with advanced skills.

The expansion kept increasing the need for craftsmen, and they were only a small fraction of the new arrivals, which kept the balance naturally, without Dominic needing to intervene to find them locations where they were needed.

It took over an hour to hammer all the spearheads around shafts, and Dominic noticed that the sun was changing outside the window. It was directly overhead, burning away the last of the clouds, a rarely beautiful day for the rainy season.

But that meant it should be lunchtime, and nobody had called him yet.

Dominic stuck his head out the door to see that the Trolls were already eating, and enthusiastically discussing the flatbread that Larry had made for them, with garlic and herbs baked in.

"Dave, why did nobody call me for lunch?"

"It’s Troll lunch first. The other dragon isn’t back yet." Dave yelled back, which made Amie laugh as she bundled the gear for shipment.

The doppelgänger put the final polishing touches on the equipment, and then finalized her own batch of spears for the militia. Her skill with the forge might not be at Dominic’s level, but spears were simple, and her bloodline let her use the monster core enhanced oil to produce results just as reliable as his.

Another batch of level five uncommong grade spears with crossbars and those jagged edges that tore through monster flesh.

The crossbars were the key part that they added to all the militia spears, but not always the others. They kept the spear from penetrating too deeply, which was unnecessary against most targets. But against Goblins and wild boars, keeping them at the other end of the spear was critical to success.

A true multipurpose tool. Both for food and for danger.