Chapter 43: Forging an Advanced Gadget

Declan was halfway to his dorm room when...

GRUUUUUUUUUUM!

His stomach growled violently, and he rubbed it with both hands.

It was flat....really flat.

"I’m starving," he muttered.

The memory of his last visit to the cafeteria briefly surfaced, and he immediately felt a little reluctant.

Still, hunger won.

He opened his device and checked his schedule.

The current time was 8:45, and his next class started at 10:00. That gave him plenty of time.

Declan exhaled softly before changing direction and heading toward the cafeteria.

’Hopefully, I don’t run into any of those damn second years.’

_________________

30 minutes later...

DIIIING!

The elevator chimed as Declan stepped out into the corridor, one hand resting over his now-bulging stomach.

Surprisingly, things had gone perfectly in the cafeteria.

He’d still eaten on the other side of the glass, but nobody had bothered him, and he hadn’t encountered any trouble at all.

Declan pulled out his green card and swiped it over the door handle before stepping into his room.

He checked the time.

9:15.

"I’ll leave at 9:50."

His gaze shifted toward the bag sitting nearby.

Yesterday, he’d gone out hunting and returned with a decent haul, but he hadn’t actually taken the time to inspect what he’d collected.

Now seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Declan grabbed the bag from the table and carried it over to his desk, where he sat down and emptied everything onto the surface.

Fifteen gadgets.

His eyes immediately lit up as he switched on his monitor and began typing, and before long, a list appeared on the screen.

To create tools using his Forge Skill, he needed an accurate formula.

When he’d created the spear, for example, the formula had been:

Branch + Vine + Stone.

That was the basic principle behind Mecha Forfe

Since Declan understood this, he’d already gone through a list of mechanized objects available through the monitor’s application, and using a creation program based on the spear’s formula, he’d designed formulas for several other mechanized constructs.

There were ten formulas available at the moment, and judging by the items spread across his desk, he could create two of them.

The first was a Nano-Photon Blaster.

Technically, it meant channeling energy or light-based beams, the photon, through nanotechnology, the Nano, to produce a weaponized output, the blaster.

This would be his next creation.

Just like the spear had required a formula, the Nano-Photon Blaster needed one as well, so Declan began typing.

Six objects were required.

The first was Nanite Slurry, living nanotechnology in a semi-liquid state capable of reshaping itself, which would provide the material necessary to form the emitter.

Next came the Photon Crystal, which could store and release coherent photons.

Then there was the Conductive Chassis, a gauntlet casing designed to fit around Declan’s arm while serving as both the weapon’s structure and its heat sink.

He also needed a Focusing Matrix to compress and narrow the photons into a single attack ray.

The fifth component was a Mechano Glyph, essentially a command module that instructed the nanites to form the emitter.

Finally, there was the Trigger Button, which served as the activation link.

The instant Declan finished typing the formula, the system panel blinked into existence.

[Host has discovered an Advanced Creation Path]

[Nanite Slurry + Photon Crystal + Conductive Chassis + Mechano Glyph + Trigger Filament = Nano-Photon Blaster! ]

With the system recognizing the formula, the remaining step was simple.

Gather the required components, then activate Mecha Forge.

Fortunately, Declan had fifteen items from yesterday’s haul, so he began sorting through them.

The first was a ragged maintenance drone with its hull split open, and that one was particularly useful because inside it was a stamped micro-canister containing the nanite slurry he needed.

The second was a shattered combat drone core whose internal lattice still pulsed faintly and, more importantly, contained the photon crystal.

Next came a dented, claw-like forearm gauntlet that was hollow and scorched, clearly damaged by some strange energy attack, but most of the structure remained intact, which would allow him to form the gauntlet around his palm.

There was also a cracked laser turret condenser containing photon-conducting components, and beside it sat a spool of braided smart wire, an entire length of sensor-threaded wire with a built-in trigger bus.

It was slightly burnt, but still functional, and more importantly, it could serve as the trigger for the photon release.

Declan also had a corroded firmware module that could function as a Mechano Glyph, although that one required caution because if the corruption was too severe, it could backfire.

Then there were the batteries.

Two of them.

One had a capacity of 3.5 megawatts, while the other had 2.0 megawatts, giving him a total of 5.5 MW.

They had already been used, but they weren’t completely dead, as a faint hum still came from both units.

Perfect.

They could serve as an additional power cell for the creation.

There was also a medical surgical gel pack labeled BioNan-Inject.

Those contained nanites as well, but they were medical nanites and therefore essentially useless for this particular project.

Next came a Gravehend Dust Canister.

Only a tiny vial remained inside, containing conductive rust and flakes, although unfortunately, it was half-burned.

He also had a Magnetic Pulse Coil Assembly.

The coil itself was fully intact, as was the targeting gyroscope, although the old grits and MicroIMUs were gone.

Even so, it remained useful control hardware, as the gyroscope could serve as an orientation matrix, allowing him to create an aiming interface for the photon blaster.

The final two objects were a hollowed drone frame and a glass vial containing faintly glowing residue.

The drone frame could technically be used as the conductive chassis, but Declan had no intention of wasting it on that.

Then there was the vial.

Whenever he held it beneath the light on his desk, the residue inside glowed faintly, and there was a high possibility that it contained concentrated luminar core fragments.

Declan sorted through the components he actually needed.

For the Nanite Slurry, he selected the ragged maintenance drone.

For the Photon Crystal, he used the shattered drone core.

The Conductive Chassis came from the salvaged claw-like forearm gauntlet.

For the Focusing Matrix, he chose the half-melted metamaterial wafer.

The Mechano Glyph would come from the corroded firmware module.

There was a high chance the module could backfire if the corruption was too severe, but Declan trusted his skill to clean it up.

Finally, he selected the entire 5.5 MW battery as the Power Cell.

Everything was ready.

But Declan wasn’t stupid enough to perform the creation directly on his desk, because if something exploded, his monitor and laptop would be destroyed, and then he’d be screwed.

So he gathered everything and moved into the training room instead, spreading the components across the hard gem-like floor.

Just to make absolutely certain he’d selected everything correctly, Declan read each component aloud.

"A repairman’s canister, a scored core, a dented silicon gauntlet, a warped material wafer, a slimed firmware tile, and five-megawatt batteries."

All six pieces were accounted for.

"Huuuuuu..."

Declan slowly exhaled, his heart pounding like a gong inside his chest.

Then he gave the command.

"Activate Mecha Forge."

Immediately, a flaming blue light erupted from his palms, curling gently around his fingers before Declan lowered his hands toward the components.

The instant his palms touched them, the blue light surged outward and swallowed every object, flooding the room with a brilliant glow so intense that Declan immediately squeezed his eyes shut to protect them.

Sweat began pouring down his face as his teeth clenched, and then he felt it.

Energy was being ripped out of him.

Not simply drained, but as though something was sucking the very life out of his body.

An advanced creation like this naturally required far more energy than a simple spear, and that was something Declan had never prepared for, leaving him with only a single choice:

Endure.

_________________

He remained in that position for a full twenty-seven minutes before the sensation of his energy being drained finally disappeared, and the moment it stopped, Declan collapsed flat onto his back.

"Haa... haa..."

White clouds of breath escaped his lips as his chest heaved rapidly, and for several seconds, he simply lay there, exhausted.

Then the light beneath his feet began to fade, and that immediately snapped him awake.

Declan pushed himself upright and looked down, finding a simple object resting on the floor.

A cube. Just a cube.

It was roughly the size of a table tennis ball and so plain that there was nothing remarkable about its appearance.

"Huh?"

Declan picked it up, finding it surprisingly light, then tossed it a couple of inches into the air and caught it again.

"Wait, that’s it?"

The golden system panel flashed in response.

[Congratulations on creating an Advanced Mech Gadget: A Nano-Photon Blaster! ]

Declan stared at the cube in his hand.

"...This?"

Curiosity getting the better of him, he placed the cube in the center of his palm and then clenched his fingers.

CRUSSSH!

The instant his hand closed...

WHIIIIIR!

A mechanical whine suddenly rang out, causing Declan to jerk backward and land hard on his butt, his right arm remaining stretched out in front of him.

Before his eyes, countless nanites began spreading across his palm, flowing over his fingers and covering the back of his hand before extending toward his wrist and forming a metallic-blue layer over his skin.

Then a circular opening appeared at the center of his palm.

The interior unfolded, and a smooth glass-like lens emerged, its surface rippling with concentrated energy.

Declan stared at it in complete disbelief, a metallic-blue nanite layer covering his hand while a strange nozzle-like emitter had formed directly in the center of his palm.

"It... worked?"