44 Ammo

That night Jack held a meeting with his closest confidants in his house. After a short discussion, they decided that Yin Ping would stand guard at the main door of the Gravedigger courtyard while they did their dissection class and training.

Out of all of them, only Yin Ping didn't care much for either activity. He knew as much as Shi Furui about the human body, and he never felt comfortable with hand to hand fighting. On the other hand, he kept pestering Jack for any notes about sigils and the Air Blast spell that he didn't need.

After the meeting, Jack went to the clearing he used for practice and tried to implement the things he saw in the Chaotic Hawk Assault technique to the sigils of his only spell.

He first had to make the strands of spirit energy as thin as he could without making them collapse. More than an hour later he had the basic structure for the spell constructed and ready for use. It looked tiny compared to his previous attempts, making his young callused hand look huge in comparison.

Jack turned his hand outwards and activated the spell. A soft *swoosh* sounded as a light breeze passed over the meadow. With a satisfied smile, Jack started to construct more complicated connections in his spell.

Fifteen minutes later, he had it ready to go and once more turned his hand outwards. This time a loud and short whistle spread across the calm forest as the air stream compressed itself to a thickness of two fingers.

With an unconscious satisfied smile, Jack looked up at the still strange stars and thought 'Almost there, just a day or two with the Chaotic Hawk Assault spirit energy depictions, and a couple of days in the library.'

He allowed himself this peaceful respite for a couple of minutes before he looked back down and continued his practice.

In the next couple of days, he took notes about the Chaotic Hawk Assault technique in the martial hall and tried to memorize every step of the imbuement process for muscles. Bi Xiongtuo tried to persuade Jack that notes would not help in learning the martial method any faster, but Jack only nodded his head in acceptance and continued with his work.

He still didn't dare to test out the Chaotic Hawk Assault technique due to not knowing a lot of the sigils, but he thought that he had a firm enough grasp on the theory that he could test it out as soon as he did more research.

On the third day, he left his men to their work and went to visit his smith.

Even in the bright light of dawn sounds of metal striking metal rang out of Tan Boli's courtyard.

Once Jack knocked and announced himself, Tan Boli rushed to open the door with a proud smile on his face. "Sir, I just wondered when you'd visit us today. Come in, come in." He opened the door wide and waved for Jack to come through.

Jack gave him a nod in greeting and entered into the courtyard.

This time Tan Boli didn't take Jack to his house, instead, he had Jack wait outside for a minute as he ran deeper into the forge.

When Tan Boli came back, one of his sons followed behind him while he quickly polished a blue shining rod of metal in his hands.

When they reached Jack, Tan Boli took the metallic blue rod from his son's hands and presented it to Jack with a slight bow as he said "The boy just put on the last touches on the first prototype."

Jack took the offered gleaming rod in his hands with slight reverence. When he felt the whole weight his brows furrowed and he said "Feels a little light. Can it take prolonged stress?"

Tan Boli and his son nodded their heads a few time as Tan Boli confirmed "Deep Water Iron might not be the best metal for weapons, but for tools, there are few that can match it in toughness. You could slam that rod against a rock wall for a whole day and maybe find a couple of scratches on it as dusk came."

Jack's frown disappeared as he smiled and exclaimed "Excellent!" He brought one end of the metal cylinder up to his right eye and looked around the courtyard through it. Wherever he looked he saw a smooth image that had no protrusions blocking his sight.

He removed it from his eye and grabbed the end through which he looked through with his right hand. Jack plugged the hole on that end with his thumb and brought it close to his eye, while he used his left hand to move the cylinder around the courtyard.

As Jack aimed down the barrel he saw no deformations in the metal that could slant his shots. A few seconds later he stopped his inspection, and with a wide grin on his face said "Wonderful workmanship, Tan Boli. Get me ten more like these and you might get a bonus. "

Tan Boli lowered his head as he said "I don't dare, Sir. I'm happy with what you gave me already."

Jack dismissed his words with a wave of his hand as he said "Nonsense. Good work should get rewarded." He returned the metallic blue rod back to Tan Boli as he added "I have a side project that I need doing, do you think you have the time to fit it into your schedule?"

Tan Boli looked a little hesitant as he said "It depends on what you need, Sir. I apologize, but we already have a lot of work with our current orders."

Jack ignored the scared look in Tan Boli's eyes as he explained "Nothing too complicated, I need metal balls that can fit in that cylinder that you made. They can't get so large to block the cylinder, but they can't get too small either. You can use any scrap metal that you have around the forge to make them."

Tan Boli thought for a few seconds before he said "Sir, if you gave my boys a stick of incense worth of time they could make a few test products of differing sizes and you could choose one. Making things like these isn't difficult, we just need to know what type you'd prefer."

Jack nodded his head without any hesitation as he said "I don't mind waiting."

Tan Boli turned to his son, gave him the cylinder, and said "Bolong, get your brother and do what the Sir requested." He turned back to Jack and continued with a slight chuckle "Sir, I'm afraid that my wife will not let you refuse her hospitality this time."

Jack joined Tan Boli in his chuckle as he followed him to his house for a cup of tea.

Half an hour later, Tan Bolong entered the house with a dripping wet pouch in his hands, and the metal cylinder under his arm. He gave them over to his father while saying "Careful, some of them are still hot."

Tan Boli nodded his head as he untied the strings of the pouch and spread it out on the table. On the cloth lay a dozen metal balls of various sizes.

Jack took the cylinder over from Tan Boli and started comparing the metal balls to the hole in the cylinder. After a few minutes of comparison, he chose one that fit snugly into the tube, but could still slide without obstructions.

He picked it up in his palm and said "I want this one. The more you can make the better. I'll pay one silver coin for each."

Tan Boli's eyes widened as he argued "Sir, that's too much. We can make hundreds of these things in a few days. I don't want to scam you out of your money."

Jack shook his head in frustration as he said "You will take my money, and you will stop complaining about it. I need at least a few thousands of these metal balls, so don't think that you'll get off without doing your job."

Tan Boli looked like he had an internal struggle about jumping to the ground and kissing Jack's feet, or arguing about the propriety of offering so much money to a lowly peasant, but in the end, he only squeezed out an "As you say, Sir." and left it at that.

Jack finished his business with the smith and started walking towards the library.

When he neared it he saw a female figure with a ponytail standing in front of the closed doors. His face flashed a mix of annoyance and anger for a moment before he pasted a pleasant smile on his face and called out "Disciple Sister Mai, what are you doing here so early?"

Mai Yining turned around with lady-like grace as she gave Jack a polite smile and said "I have to help a poor novice with his research." She blinked innocent eyes at Jack and added "Would you mind keeping me company while I do it?"

Jack furrowed his brows a little as he said "I'm not sure I'm the right man for the job, Disciple Sister. I, myself, am still quite new and might drag you two down."

Mai Yining's smile widened as she giggled while saying "I am sure that we can work something out."

Just as they got into their banter, a raised voice said "Alright, I have seen enough. Step aside."

Both Jack and Mai Yining jumped from surprise and turned to see Li Manning walking towards them.

Mai Yining looked down at the floor while a blush colored her face in a pretty pink hue, while Jack's short flush stemmed from his annoyance at himself for once again depending on sensing spirit energy too much.

Li Manning gave them both the side-eye as he walked past them and unlocked the doors of the library. He didn't even turn around to look at them as he walked straight towards the main building while mumbling under his breath.

Jack caught the closing door just in time, looked back at Mai Yining with a smile, and asked "Shall we?"

She glanced at him and nodded as she entered through the held doors while still looking at the ground.