Back To The Workshop

It was several weeks since Nadiya left the mansion and Kye had continued working hard with blueprints while he healed. More critically than the suspension, he had finally finished up several blueprints for weapons he thought would be necessary for him in the future stages of his life as well as some for now. Predominantly, a pistol used by officers would be the perfect thing for self-defence in a situation like he had just been in. Yet, Kye was still dissatisfied with powder weaponry and believed that magic armaments were superior in every way. So, he set out to create a sidearm that could also double as a fully offensive weapon if needed. The nature of a Weavetech weapon meant that the compactedness of a weapon had nothing to the correlation of power it could wield.

Kye began drafting up his plans for the runic matrix to create an extremely powerful shot that had to be vented a lot more frequently. Though he realised the semi-automatic capability of most officer sidearms were their main appeal, the venting issue was not something he could fix as it was currently. His pencil danced across the blueprint paper as he drew the runes he would use, trying to find the perfect balance of power and heat generated. Kye continued thinking up runes until he hit a block and threw his hands up in the air.

"None of the spells I know can match. The runic bolt spell would be the best fit but it just generates too much heat to use effectively."

Kye sat in his desk chair limply until he had an idea. What if he was thinking about this the wrong way? Instead of trying to make the runic matrix fit the body of the gun, make the body of the gun fit the runic matrix. If he could make the top of the pistol move back once fired and then vent the air after a single shot out the gap made, he could keep the semi-automatic capabilities of the weapon and also have it fire the runic bolt spell. If he limited the range of the projectile to scale down the amount of energy it needed, he could achieve a perfectly self-venting Spellweave firearm.

Kye skipped dinner that day and drew up his plans until early morning when Vanessa stopped bringing him coffee and told him to sleep. He ignored her advice and simply went on but soon found it hard to concentrate as the sun began to set. Such days were common for Kye when he had nothing to do outside from his wounds. Although he felt good enough to get back out there and continue training, Alicia insisted that he stay inside until she approved. Not able to go against his mother, Kye relented and instead locked himself away drawing up blueprints. Kye climbed into bed and quickly fell asleep, dreaming of his new pistol and how it would work in his mind even as sleep took him.

---

Another week had passed and Kye finished his pistol design, sending blueprints over to Kyla to be made so he could build it once his wounds healed. He was currently thinking about the assembly process in his mind while Alicia inspected his wounds that had fully closed over and left scars. The one on his side was particularly visible but the arrow wounds had left very faint scars. Alicia pulled Kye's shirt down and sighed.

"I really think you should still rest for another few days Kye."

"And what will you say when those days pass, that I should rest for another few? Relax mum, I'll be fine."

Alicia pinched Kye's nose playfully.

"And who came home gravely injured from what was supposed to be a training trip?"

"The circumstances were different mum, please."

"*sigh* Fine, just don't strain yourself too much okay? You worry me."

Alicia hugged Kye tightly and then separated from him and left the room. Kye changed into older clothes he didn't mind getting torn or dirty in his workshop before running out of the room and down the stairs.

"Vanessa! We're leaving!"

Vanessa quickly followed behind him as he ran out the door and they took off out the gates and down the streets to Kye's workshop. Kye felt the wind run through his hair as he ran, a smile forming on his face. After so long cooped up inside, he felt like the outside was doing him a lot of good. While Kye hadn't realised it, this was a major change in psychology for him. The old him would have been happy to stay inside for months at a time and experiment. Though this escaped Kye, it didn't escape Vanessa and by extension, Alayah.

Once they reached the workshop, Kye placed his hand on the runic lock and the doors swung open as if greeting their master. He stepped forward and breathed in the musty air and sighed contentedly.

"While I did miss the outside, I missed this just as much."

Kye strode in confidently to the workshop and picked up a box that was left on his workbench. These were all the parts he would need to construct the prototype of his pistol. He noticed there was considerable through traffic to the condenser but everything else had a thin film of dust on it. Kye knew that there had been a considerable production of Weavetech rifles in the month he was away so the need for more Spellweave crystals was understandable.

Kye ignored it and set to work assembling the pistol as he designed it. Truthfully, the build was rather simple, but the hard part for any of these weapons was the runic matrix. They had to be done with the utmost precision but to a certain extent, they could be automated with a specific type of acid etching. Using a powdered acid on a press, accurate runes could be inscribed without the presence of a runemaster.

Kye wasn't fully satisfied with the process but for low energy runes like the ones used in the rifles, he could accept it. For this pistol, he asked for a runemaster to do the inscription. This was going to be his defence weapon, he wanted all the components to be top quality. With all this in mind, after several hours of concentration, Kye assembled all the pieces of his pistol and sat with the finished product on his bench. He turned to Vanessa and smiled.

"Time for a test."