Book 5, Epilogue Book Two is going to be released on kindel on the 16 of march! It would mean alot if you checked it out!

In a well-lit workshop, Yukna stood, leaning over her workbench. The soft clack of metal on metal filled the air as she carved away, metal shaving piling up on the floor. With slow, careful hands she drew intricate patterns across several oddly shaped pieces of metal. 

She looked right at home with her oil-stained coveralls and well-used box of tools beside her. Wiping the thin sheet of metal clean of shavings with an oiled rag she smiled. It was as good as she could make it for now. 

With the etchings in place, she carefully examined each piece of her latest model.

The hunter-killer bomb as Dern called it was getting better. It still had a few kinks to work out, but hopefully that latest addition of a safety switch would fix the problem.

Losing her eyebrows after an early detonation was more than enough motivation to add that feature. With utmost care, she slid each piece into place, carefully inspecting each as she did so.

One could never be too careful when dealing with the highly explosive Ignas powder. Since Zee procured her two barrels of the insanely potent stuff from that bone lord, she had plenty to do tests. 

After an hour of meticulous work polishing and final touch-ups, her creation was finally assembled.

It looked sort of like a bird, though it had a coppery metallic sheen, covered in softly glowing etchings across its frame. 

Given that it needed to fly, the alloy she used was extremely light. The trade-off off was sadly durability, but that was manageable. Creating dozens of small, thin metallic feathers had been the biggest obstacle, at least until she created molds. Even so, it was still incredibly time-consuming.

Thankfully, that part could be outsourced, but she still had to etch each one by hand. If she ever wanted to mass-produce her new invention, she would need to find a workaround. It was just too time-consuming to make these things. 

The last piece clicked into place. The first thing she did was make sure the safety switch was on. Even she could learn after nearly blowing herself up.

The metallic bird came to life as she activated the control orb. Its tiny, crystalline eyes turned up toward her, and it flapped its metallic wings sounding like a wind chime. An image of her grease smudged face appeared on the control orb, and she grinned. 

It appeared the connection problem was fixed, and the image was quite good as well. Over the next few minutes, she ran it through some tests. She found a few problems, but nothing major.

The main issue that was still present was a slight delay when she sent commands through the control orb.

That was irritating. It meant that there were slight imperfections in the energy pathways throughout the construct. 

A one-and-a-half-second delay might not seem like much but Yukna wouldn't settle for anything less than perfection. She took the whole thing apart and painstakingly went over every piece again.

She found a few, minor imperfections, and either fixed or replaced the parts. She stayed up most of the night tirelessly working despite the fact they were leaving on the expedition the next morning. 

She could feel something building, it was like something was pushing her forward, urging her to continue. 

Yukna was a noncombat class user, though she had been crafting weapons for most of her career. It was only a matter of time before all of her hard work would bear fruit. Her creation wasn't deemed finished until it gleamed copper in the light, its thin frame polished to perfection.

Then something happened. She felt her skills had reached a tipping point. Unlike combat cultivators, she didn't need to kill things to advance her skills. 

Pushing her limits, and advancing her craft was her path forward.

A frown tugged at her lips, as the usual sensation of a rank-up didn't stop right away. It grew, the world river churning around her, her body tingling uncomfortably. Then something even more unexpected happened. 

A cold, dispassion voice, like when she opened her status filled her mind.

(New class evolutions awakened. Would you like to evolve your class?)

Her concern fled, and a wide grin split her face as she quickly sent her mental agreement. 

She knew class evolution was possible, but had never thought she would get the chance. It was just too rare, nearly unheard of back home. 

Class evolution happened more often in the Lorocan empire, but it was by no means a common occurrence.

Her heart skipped a beat as a flood of information filled her mind.

The more she read the more her eyes widened. Yukna had an uncommon class called weapons technician. 

Therefore she was stunned to be offered two rare classes and even one epic evolution path. Moving from an uncommon to a rare class was already huge but to Epic? That was two full levels of rarity higher than her own. 

It took every ounce of her will not to choose it immediately. 

She took a deep shaky breath. She had to calm down and read each one carefully. This was a decision she couldn't change once she made it. 

Still, the thought of the more powerful skills that an Epic class would offer made her salivate. 

Taking another deep breath, she read each class evolution path on offer. 

(Combat Engineer, Rare. No longer on the sidelines, you are the head of the spear, conjuring weapons to unleash wide-scale death on your enemies)

The first one was changing her class to a more combat-oriented one. Not really her style if she was being honest. Conjuring her own weapons sounded nice, but half the fun was making them.

More information would have also been nice, but she was well aware of just how stingy the status was when it came to classes or skill descriptions.

She turned her mental focus to the next selection in line.

(Explosives Engineer, Rare. A back line combatant, you are able to augment and control explosives to a high degree) 

She hummed thoughtfully. That one was still a combat class, though it sounded better suited than the first. The only problem was, that it narrowed her field, focusing her solely on explosives. That was a problem, she liked blowing stuff up as much as the next woman, but she didn't want to be that restricted. Her mental gaze excitedly turned to the last one.

(Magateck Engineer, Epic. As a support fighter, you Infuse your creations with your energy, augmenting them)

Normally, she might have talked to the others for advice, but her mind was already made up. It wasn't even a choice. The epic class evolution suited her the best by far. 

Without any more hesitation, she chose her new class, the fragment in her mind heating up uncomfortably. The discomfort lasted several minutes before it faded followed by another surprise. 

(You have three new skills to choose from)

That was right! Higher rarity classes offered more skills to choose from. It still wasn't five choices like a certain redhead, but it was still a lot better than getting no choice at all. Having an uncommon class had been the worst! Allie was going to be so jealous, given she only had a rare class. 

She perused her options, before selecting an absolutely marvelous-sounding skill. Epic classes were the best! Glancing at the brightening sky out the window she grinned. There were still a few hours, might as well test out her newly acquired infusion skill. 

Placing a grease-stained hand on the metallic birds head, she activated the skill. A radiant glow formed around her hand, flowing into the construct.

She could see the intricate patterns of her etchings growing sturdier, about twenty percent thicker. Not only that, but she could sense the alloy she used growing sturdier as well. Yukna positively radiated excitement. 

All of a sudden, her little invention could handle a lot more strain. With her new skill augmenting it, she could add more Ignas powder. When this thing went off it was going to be quite the explosion. 

Giddy at the idea, she set to disassembling the thing, checking each component along the way. Just because her skill seemed to augment everything perfectly, didn't mean she would blindly trust it.

The skill may be perfect, but her creation was not. It could have augmented one of her mistakes, creating a fatal flaw in the array. Better safe than exploded. 

She hummed as she worked, not even noticing the brightening sky outside. Nor did she stop working when two people entered her workshop. 

One glance told her it was Bastion and a short pudgy man.

She could hear them both talking, with Bastion sounding like he swallowed a willow Jack.

"Your place of business is much bigger than your tax forms indicated. I am curious as to this discrepancy," The pudgy man said. 

"That is just a minor writing error. Lord treasurer, I assure you everything is in order, no need to probe any further," Bastion said nervously, 

The treasurer laughed.

"Nonsense. I promised Zee I would audit your books before her father takes over the business. Come on, let us go to the back, I would like to make sure your books are in order," the treasurer said.

Bastion looked physically sick, but he complied.

"Of course, right this way," Bastion grumbled.

The door to the office shut with a click leaving the workshop once again in peace. Yukna hummed to herself. That treasurer being here didn't bother her at all. Her books were clean. Unlike Bastion, she always kept a tidy ship. 

Things were looking up. The clack of her tools filled the workshop once more. She couldn't wait to test out her newly enhanced explosives on the upcoming expedition. With her new skill augmenting her new invention, the blood gorgers were going to get a nasty surprise once she upped the charge of Ignas power. Especially if she could do large-scale production of these things aboard the fleet.

Hopefully, the engineers aboard the battle group would allow her access to the components needed to continue properly refining the hunter killer bomb.