As Logan was examining the bullets, he once again heard the sound of electronic interference and saw a flash of light.
"Here," Tsukuru replied, holding out two objects to Logan. "Use these."
The first was a tennis ball-sized crystal of relative clarity and jagged edges. The other was a small metal cube.
"This is an Intermediate-Tier Crystal I obtained on the Red Portal Planet," he replied.
Logan reached out and took both objects into his hands.
However, as he took the metal cube, his hand jerked down.
"What the heck is this?" he asked, his voice straining. It felt as if he had just been handed a shot put ball.
"It's a composite metal alloy," Tsukuru replied. "It combines the hardness and durability of Glathrium with the immense weight and density of Tungsten. I want you to use it as the metal component for the Beast Gear projectile."
Logan let out a sigh and then walked over to his workbench. He placed both the metal cube and the Beast Crystal down on the surface.
"You're lucky this is so small," Logan said, still holding up the spire pointprojectile. "Otherwise, I would have needed at least two Beast Crystals."
He picked up the metal cube in his hand and closed his eyes. The cube began to break down into more of Logan's Spider-Bots.
A small number of the metal bugs clustered together. Soon, they began to take on the shape of the projectile in Logan's other hand.
The remaining Spider-Bots merged back together into a slightly smaller metal cube.
Logan then placed the new projectile to the side and pulled out a glass container.
He placed the Intermediate-Tier Beast Crystal inside the container and pressed a button on the side.
Within seconds, the Crystal was melted down inside the container.
Logan reached over on his workbench and put on his metal tool glove.
"Alright," Logan muttered to himself. "Time for the complicated part. Merging the liquified Beast Crystal and the metal alloy."
***
While Logan was busy fusing the melted-down Beast Crystal with the composite Glathrium alloy projectile, Tsukuru was putting the first bullet back together.
He lifted the small pile of gunpowder grains off the hexagonal platform using his Video Stasis Skill and poured it back into the empty 390-Grain Spire Point cartridge.
'It's a good thing that I can just re-usethe components of the first bullet,' Tsukuru thought, a smile on his face. 'It saves me the trouble of having to make them from scratch.'
***
Back with Logan, he now held the completed Beast Gear projectile between his fingers.
It was an ivory-colored metal spike that was the same size as the armor-piercing round, making it slightly longer than the Spire Point round.
It got progressively darker as it got towards the tip, where it became jet-black.
Just by holding the projectile, Logan could feel the Beast Energy coming off of it. However, he noticed that it didn't seem to be strengthening him, like with normal Beast Gear.
He then walked back over to Tsukuru.
"Alright," he replied, as he handed Tsukuru the projectile. "I'm done."
"Yeah, thanks," Tsukuru replied, taking the projectile.
He placed the projectile on top of the casing.
"Normally, we'd need a special pressing machine to re-seal the bullet," Tsukuru replied. "But, with one of my new Skills…"
Tsukuru curled his thumb and index finger around the top of the casing.
Instantly, a System message popped up in front of him.
[Skill Video Transmutation has been activated.]
A moment later, the lip of the casing started glowing light-blue and took up the likeness of a hologram. A line of glitching pixels appeared in the space between Tsukuru's fingers and the cartridge.
A moment later, a new System message appeared.
[Alterations complete.
-5 Energy.
Energy: 165/180]
Tsukuru then took his fingers away.
As he did, Logan's eyes widened.
Rather than the lip being opened, it was now crinkled shut, sealing the projectile inside in a waterproof seal. It looked as if the bullet had been run through a high-powered pressing machine.
'Well, that's certainly handy,' Logan thought.
"What did you even need my help for if you could do that?" he asked.
"My Skill is currently very limited," Tsukuru replied. "Right now, I can only make minor changes."
He then picked up the bullet.
"Either way, there we go," he replied. "We have a Beast Gear bullet."
As Tsukuru looked at the bullet, his System's "Scan" Skill automatically activated. His System's "Vector" appeared over the bullet in his vision. A line then extended outwards from it, leading to a close-up image.
Information was then displayed below it.
[Intermediate-Tier Paleneedle Bullet
Beast Ammunition
A piece of composite Beast Ammunition composed of a composite alloy shell casing and an Intermediate-Tier Beast Gear projectile created using a composite Glathrium alloy and the Beast Crystal of the Intermediate-Tier Palewalker. Is a hybrid of a 390-Grain Spire Point and an Armor-Piercing Round.
Creator: Logan Green]
Tsukuru smirked.
However, a moment later, a new System message appeared.
[Would you like to scan the Intermediate-Tier Paleneedle Bullet?
[Yes] [No] ]
'Yes,' Tsukuru thought without a second of hesitation.
The usual cone of light-blue light shot out of his eyes, and he began running up and down the bullet.
Logan's eyes widened, and he jumped back slightly.
In Tsukuru's vision, he saw a 3-D wireframe model of the bullet beginning to form from the bottom up. Once it was done, it rotated a few times.
[Scan complete. Blueprints for the Intermediate-Tier Paleneedle Bullet have been uploaded to the System's mainframe. You can now replicate the Intermediate-Tier Paleneedle Bullet with Skill Video Creation.]
Tsukuru held out his hand and activated his Ability.
The sound of electronic interference filled the room, and five groups of pixels began to appear in his hand. Each group of pixels clustered together into the shape of the cylindrical bullet with the spiked tip.
There was a flash of light, and Tsukuru had five more copies of the Intermediate-Tier Paleneedle Bullet in his hand.
A new System message appeared.
[-15 Energy. Energy: 160/180]
Tsukuru released his grip on the original bullet, letting it fall into his hand with the others.
"Alright," Tsukuru replied. "Let's make the gun next."
Logan turned to Tsukuru.
"I assume you have a design in mind?" Logan asked, an eyebrow raised.
Tsukuru let out a scoff.
"Of course, I do," he replied.
***
In the VR Pod with Quinn, he was practicing using his Shadow Control Skill. He was making it wave across the air in front of him like a cloud of shadowy mist.
He then focused on forming it into different shapes.
Suddenly, a System message popped up in front of him.
[Skill Shadow Control has Leveled Up. Skill Shadow Control is now Level 2. 10 Skill Points have been awarded.]
Seeing the message, Quinn smiled.
'Just one more to go, and I'll have enough Skill Points to unlock the Shadow Void Skill,' he thought.
***
Back in the real world, Tsukuru had pulled up a large revolver on Logan's computer. It was black in color and had intricate red lines running through each of the cylinder's six chambers, looking like veins. It also had a red line going across the center of the barrel. Finally, it had a brown finish on both of the grips.
"While this is a fictional weapon, it was based on real weapons," Tsukuru replied, as he brought up designs for two different real-world weapons. "It uses the cylinder from the Smith & Wesson 500 Magnum, and the gun's body is based on the Colt Anaconda 44 Magnum."
Logan nodded.
"So we'll combine aspects from both weapons, then," he replied.
He then glanced back at Tsukuru.
"What about the dagger parts?" he asked.
Tsukuru brought up more images. These ones featured typical "Gunblades" seen in video games and anime.
"As I said, we'll make the handle be able to move up and down," he replied. "Straight for dagger mode, and diagonally for gun mode. Additionally, we'll place a dagger's blade on the front. The top will have a spring-loaded hinge, while the bottom will have a notch to click it fastened in place when in dagger mode. When a special button is pressed, the blade will swing upwards on a hinge and lay flat against the top of the gun."
Logan then glanced at Tsukuru.
"And where will this 'secret button' be placed?" he asked.
Tsukuru turned to him.
"Place it at the top of the handle," he replied. "Make it a tab that I can spring down with my thumbnail."
Tsukuru then pointed to a space directly behind the trigger on the on-screen image of the revolver.
"Also, place the cylinder release switch here," he added. "When it's pressed, the cylinder will pop out to the left so the empty shells can be knocked outand new bullets can be placed inside."