CH17: Going Hunting

It was two in the morning, and I took some time to have a cup of tea while two wizards struggled to hook up 7 magically constructed capacitors to the transfigured frame. Nordic runes covered the piece turned 180 degrees to insulate the weapon. Sweat beaded down the wizards' pale faces as they worked to levitate the frame and attach the capacitors one by one. A transfigured plastic barrel wrapped in copper wire gently fell into place as a tiny but powerful battery made of enchanted stone fed power through the weapon. Mundane gunsmiths supplied the trigger while an electrical engineer ran some tests.

At the age of thirteen, my body had hit puberty, and with it, Tom decided I needed a project. He called it giant hunting while I called hitting my head against a wall. While I could easily qi beam a giant through the skull and end them in the blink of an eye, that went against the rules. Tom wanted me to learn the value of magic by pitting me against a highly magical resistant creature. Frankly, it would be easier to kill it in a fistfight.

I needed to get my affairs in order for the hunt in less than a week. So, I decided to cheat my way to victory. What use was an R&D department if I couldn't have them build a giant-killing weapon? No formations or qi were used in the creation of this weapon. Every step needed to create this weapon needed to be feasible alone in a forest.

Tom planned to dump me on the magical side of galloway national park. Deep in the park where ancient wards created centuries ago prevent even the most stubborn muggles from entry, there is an enchanted forest. Even powerful wizards fear to tread there for fear of some of the forgotten magical creatures that still roam those expanded woods. Gravity and space become uncertain in those areas, and temperatures suddenly rise and fall. Light is all but forgotten beneath the endless umbrella of branches and leaves. Beneath those trees, there are ancient beings who were old when humanity was young. While the wards hold the mundane world back, it also cages in those primal beasts. They weren't what I hunted.

Some creatures are less restrained by the wards than others. A giant has been seen in muggle photos, and people have gone missing. Depending on where I drop, I might hunt down this giant to preserve the statute of secrecy. Of course, the statute wouldn't matter once I really get going.

"Mr. Potter, it's complete." Philip Waller, my head of weapons R&D, said.

Most of the weapon had been transfigured, conjured, or enchanted through the gills. Turning a block of wood into a capacitor was difficult enough but using the levitation charm to wrap copper wire around a conjured tube even made me sweat. It took two adult wizards concentrating together to bind the copper properly. The charm used to spin it insulated the free-moving electrons for hours, making the weapon unusable. Protections against that had to be woven in through enchantment. I had to enchant with runes because it was the most stable way. With so many spells placed on the same item, I needed all the stability I could get. Making a capacitor is one thing charming; it unbreakable was another. If they weren't charmed unbreakable, the rune battery would pop them like eggs. Seven was actually too few, except it was a stable magic number. That allowed them to balance with the rune battery easier. After placing the case over the exposed copper wire, enchanted to be water, dust, and enemy charm resistant, it was ready for a live-fire test.

"How long before these are on the market?" I asked him.

"It could be decades before we can make one viable through physics alone," Philip said.

I flipped the switch on the 4lbs weapon. Magic had allowed plenty of shortcuts in the process, especially on the capacitors. The seven miniature red capacitors on the bottom of the weapon looked more like the bloody teeth of some predator than delicate equipment.

"We had to use runes to expand the insides of them until each capacitor was at least the size of a dumpster," Philip said.

Once again, runes were used instead of the easier charms. All because some magic increased insulation, and some made electrons loose. The weapon was on, and its display read the head and energy output.

"Theoretically, it could fire from now until the earth is swallowed by a supernova. The runes will hold the enchantment just like the hieroglyphs in ancient Egypt. The charms need to be reapplied every six months. That can be a part of proper maintenance, or we can hire out our staff to reapply the charms for a fee." Philip said.

I slapped the heavily enchanted clip into the coiled rifle and felt the electronic locks snap into place. Unfortunately, a sticking charm wouldn't work because of its effect on loose electrons. We would have to add some diodes as a stop-gap, and it's more practical to just make a lock.

Once connected, the display readout 10,000 rounds of ammunition. The clip was expanded through runes making it practically bottomless. Since I was hunting giants, I made sure the bullets were thick.

Phillip grabbed my shoulder, and we apparated to a junkyard. They're made out of stacked cars was our practice giant. I raised my weapon, selected semi-auto, and fired. The red sedan used for the top of the giant's head exploded. I flipped it to burst mode and shot up a rusty old doubledecker bus. Finally, I flipped the weapon to full auto and eviscerated the giant. For our part, the sounds made were the explosions from the vehicles. Our prototype gauss rifle was a success. Once I returned from hunting down the giant, we could begin mass production. After all, if we couldn't make one with physics, why not use runes for everything and bypass the need for charms.

"I want you to begin constructing one with runes alone. We can arm our security teams with them as a precaution to safeguard our intellectual property." I said.

"You know guns out outlawed in this country," Philip said.

"Maybe we should sell them exclusively to criminals then. If law-abiding citizens don't want them, we have to make a profit somehow." I said, and Philip gave me a mutinous look. "Fine, we will keep this card up our sleeve for now. But once we get to Mars, every citizen will have a gun." I said.

"Very well, sir, while your gone hunting, I'll have the blueprints for a rune only gauss rifle drawn up," Philip said.