RIP Chuck Norris
_____________
The blade cut cleanly. That was the first thing Gerhard noticed, as he tested the Power Sword. There was no resistance, no drag and no sensation of the metal fighting back. The power field simply split the obstacle. The steel parted as easily as wet paper, the two halves sliding apart with a dull sound.
He stared at it and swung again. At a different angle this time, slower, watching closely what happened. But again, nothing. Just a line and then it fell apart.
"…Right."
He lowered the weapon slightly, his eyes narrowed as he studied the edge. Not the blade itself, but the field enveloping it. There was a faint distortion on top of the metal. The way it shimmered and behaved.
This wasn't just your usual trope of a sharp weapon.
He had tried to get to the bottom of it and create other Power Weapons and tools. But so far, he was a bit lost.
He deactivated the blade. Gerhard turned it in his hand and glanced back at the workbench. There were hundreds of scattered parts that had increased over the days he had been here. There was a broken cleaver and an exposed generator. The coils were bent back into place. Gerhard had rerouted the wiring by trial and error, following the system's responses.
First, he had not cleanly dismantled the cleaver. He had damaged some parts and lost material, but he had seen what was inside and understood a bit more. Not just the shape, but the structure and the way each part interacted with one another. His memorisation had increased with his INT stat.
Then he had taken the generator out, studied it for a full day, wrote on the walls using his tools and rotated it in his hands. He used [Observe] until the system gave him something useful, and he had an idea of how to continue forward.
He had forged a new blade from all that metal he now had. He had heated it in the furnace and hammered it for hours. Flattened it, tried to shape it, ruined it and then tried again until eventually, he succeeded.
The system hadn't done everything. Gerhard took his time, making full use of the increasing time dilation and the fact that he didn't need sustenance to survive. It was a very fascinating process for him, which was why he didn't feel the time passing and made tremendous progress.
And so, he had eventually succeeded.
[A new skill has been created through a special action.]
[Through forging, modifying, assembling and successfully creating a functional weapon system, 'Weapon Smithing' has been created.]
Weapon Smithing (Active) Lv.1
| The ability to create, repair, and improve weapon systems.
Effects:
| 50% chance to fail the smithing process
| +5% weapon durability
| +3% weapon performance
| -1% materials needed
-
Gerhard let out a quiet, satisfied laugh.
"Yeah. That tracks."
.
The tools lay scattered across the bench: a hammer, a file, hundreds of clamps, a few pairs of pliers, and even the first version of throwing knives, used to carve out things and to write on the stone walls. Each one was a little better than the last. Not by much, but enough for one to notice.
Gerhard's gaze drifted, past the tools, to the power packs. Several of them lay in a rough pile. Some were empty, some were damaged to varying degrees, some had exposed internals, and others were dented so badly they probably shouldn't even be used anymore.
Gerhard rested the sword against the bench and moved on to the next part of his plan. The excitement from earlier, the clean-cutting power, the power field and physical aspects, and the future weapon ideas faded. Instead, he thought about something else.
"A power weapon is nice," he muttered, turning a power pack over in his hand. "But all ammo eventually runs out."
He crouched down and sat cross-legged on the floor, thinking about his next steps. The pack rested in front of him, tools within reach, the furnace burning steadily behind him and his mind worked with vigour.
One shot at a time, that's how it worked. But what if he ever wanted to fight more than a handful of enemies? The Genestealer Cult was active, and Gerhard hadn't even seen the more powerful ones like the Magus, Abominant or the Broodcoven. And then, there were the endlessly regrowing Orks as well.
This time, he wasn't thinking about charging it. But what if there was a way to make each shot more 'effective' or deadly? He thought about how it worked.
"Let's take you apart properly."
He didn't use [Dismantle], not yet. He started with his hands and used the tools. The tiny screws came out first. Some resisted, one stripped halfway through, forcing Gerhard to adjust his grip. Another one snapped, forcing him to pry the casing open with force instead.
Then came the casing. It didn't open cleanly. Gerhard had to wedge his knife into the seam and force it apart, inch by inch, until it finally gave with a dull crack.
He leaned closer, pushing aside the outer shell and used [Observe] on each of the smallest parts he could find. This was the process, the slow but fruitful process.
A central energy core lay before him, with thin conductors running all around like blood vessels. There was a regulator unit and a capacitor.
"Insulation, structural support... you're not that simple, are you?"
He reached out and touched one of the inner components, and the Gamer System reacted again.
[Material Analysis has levelled up]
Information trickled in slowly, filling in the picture that Gerhard had lacked. It wasn't full understanding, but enough to start building around it, by abusing [Creation].
He didn't rebuild the power pack yet, though. Instead, his attention shifted elsewhere, away from the core and the casing, toward something simpler. The wires. The broken connectors, so small and so scattered, like spaghetti.
There is a faint crackle of energy between his fingers as he uses [Charge].
"If I can control that…"
He raised his hand slowly. Mana gathered instinctively now, pooling in his palm before spreading into his fingers. It flickered, and the Mana discharged into two poles, creating lightning.
[Charge]
Gerhard reached for a length of wire and stripped the ends with his knife. The metal underneath was dull and slightly corroded, but it had to do. He twisted one end around a broken connector, tightening it as best he could with his fingers.
It was crude and uneven work. Clearly showing his noob status in this line of work. But it was miles better than when he started. He pressed the exposed end of the wire against a piece of scrap metal lying on the bench, took a breath, focused, and then pushed the charge out of his hand and through the air.
A spark jumped and contacted the very thing, the metal connector.
The contact point flared briefly, and the metal darkened, glowing faintly red for a fraction of a second before fading again, when Gerhard stopped using the skill.
That was something.
He adjusted his grip. He shifted the angle slightly, pulled the wire closer so the contact was tighter and tried again.
The energy flowed through this time. Naturally, the metal heated this time, but not enough to melt completely. It was better, and Gerhard had reduced the output. He leaned in and watched the process unfold. Then he pushed the energy a bit more, as the progress continued.
The glow deepened and finally merged. When he tried to pull the metal apart, it held, having been fused. Gerhard stared at it for a second longer than necessary, then slowly leaned back, exhaling.
"I just made a welder."
It was a surprise, but a pleasing one.
[A new skill has been created through a special action.]
[Through the controlled use of electrical energy to join materials, 'Electrical Handling' has been created.]
Electrical Handling (Passive) Lv.1
| The ability to manipulate and apply electrical energy in controlled ways.
Effects:
| Slight increase in stability when using [Charge]
| Reduced energy loss during transfer
| Improved precision when working with conductive materials
-
Gerhard grinned. Things were starting to come together, quite literally in fact. But Gerhard wasn't content with this yet, so he didn't stop.
He used the welder again and again. He went through his room, welding anything he could find, playing with it and having some fun. That was peak male fantasy right here. It couldn't get much better than that... right?
"Hmm... actually, it could get better."
His attention moved to the previous topic, the problem with handling hordes of enemies with the weapons he had right now. He was interested in creating better, more powerful weapons, which was why he was going through this process, but why not also work on the ammunition?
He picked up an autogun magazine and slid a single round free, holding it between his fingers for a moment. He rolled it slowly, feeling the weight, the balance, the slight imperfections along the casing. He used [Observe] on it.
He had never made one of these before, not properly, but he remembered enough. Not with exact measurements or formulas, just fragments, things he had read, or watched videos on, just cause he was interested in not doing his homework.
A cartridge wasn't complicated on its own; it was just a small system: a casing, a primer, a propellant, and a projectile. Simple in concept, until it wasn't. He wasn't in the 21st Century anymore. And even then, it wasn't exactly that simple, because every part had to be right.
He brought it closer to his face and started taking it apart carefully, using the many smaller tools for precise handling.
The casing came first. It wasn't true brass, not really, some low-grade alloy that had seen better days. He turned it in his hand, then took the file and smoothed out the worst imperfections, cleaning it as best he could. It didn't need to look good; it just needed to function.
Eventually, when his skill level was high enough, he would inscribe some things into each casing, just because he could. But that wasn't now.
The primer came next. Small, delicate, and far more dangerous than it looked. He set it aside carefully. He didn't understand the exact compound inside, but he understood its role well enough: ignition. That was all that mattered for now. Let the system handle the rest.
Then came the propellant.
He paused there. He didn't have proper gunpowder at hand. What he did have was… alternatives. The Tyranid biomass residue, burned down and refined in the furnace, was compressed into a material that reacted at high temperatures. Not ideal, not even close, but usable. Those sacks were the key.
"Good enough," Gerhard sighed.
The bullet itself was something he didn't reuse. Instead, he made his own. He took a small piece of metal, heated it in the furnace until it glowed faintly, then pulled it free and set it on the anvil. The smaller hammer came down, shaping it bit by bit. It wasn't as precise a work as a machine could, but it didn't have to be yet. After that came the file, smoothing edges, sharpening the tip, bringing it closer to something that could actually function.
He brought everything together slowly, just as he had taken it out before. The bullet came next. He pressed it into place, and it slid in too easily.
"No."
He pulled it back out, adjusted the casing slightly, and then tried again. This time, there was resistance, not much, but the right amount he had been expecting. Then he activated the skill.
[Creation]
The difference was immediately noticeable. The system didn't replace what he had done, but finished what he had started.
[Autogun Round – Grade: Poor]
A roughly assembled ammunition cartridge created by Gerhard the Gamer. Functional.
Damage: 14
-
Gerhard exhaled.
"…Okay. That's at least functional. Urgh, that was shit. I need to do that again."
He didn't fire it. He was far too disgusted to have created such subpar work. He made another and another and another. Each one was slightly better than the last.
[Creation has levelled up]
[Weapon Smithing has levelled up]
[Mechanical Assembly has levelled up]
Gerhard leaned back slightly. Ammunition wasn't hard, but he needed more experience. He thought about continuing to just use his skills while he worked, but shook his head. This wasn't easy, but it did grant him a lot of EXP, helping him level up his skills.