by Cobyboy
Dismissing the commotion, Old Mendi and Yeshua signaled Feihren to come talk to them privately. The other dwarves returned to their daily tasks, but they were still bothered by how Feihren could do such magic, and using a supposed "destructive" magic equipment at that.
While talking with the two senior Blacksmithing experts, Yeshua and Mendi, they discovered that instead of drawing the mana from within the planets core fountain, Feihren was actually using pure life force that came from other life forms. As to how this actually works, neither of them knows how this could happen, but upon figuring this out, they realized that it was the cause of the "creation" magic. The reason that it had sudden rapid growth was heavily due to overdosing the tree with pure life force.
The meeting with the three did not take very long. Feihren asked how to "fix" such a problem, and Old Mendi could not come up with an answer, but Yeshua suggested that he should alter the weapon itself. He said to change the "bullet" part into something destructive, but keep the life force as the propelling agent of that "bullet."
Feihren nodded as he slowly returned to the makeshift blacksmith workshop, thinking about how he could solve this dilemma of turning this "healing" gun into something destructive. To be honest, this isn't actually something bad for Feihren. He has discovered that he has a nearly godlike ability in healing which was pretty good when it comes to helping others, but it won't do any good in killing enemies. When regarding how to defend one's own life, Feihren only believed two things. First is helping your allies, and the second was to eliminate your enemies.
Casually scrolling up and down his Inventory tab to see if anything jumped out at him, Feihren stumbled upon one 'Item Ingredient' he almost forgot he had. It was the [Demonic Essence] from the ape! Hmm, 'destructive' force…
Hurriedly returning to the workshop, Feihren grabbed the [Demonic Essence] from his inventory, which appeared as a faint black sprite floating back and forth in his hands. Feihren had no idea how to incorporate this thing into the weapon, but just as his hands neared the M4 the sprite dove through its 'barrel' rod and seemingly infused itself into the weapon. The stallion mark on the weapon slowly turned in dark red and the gun itself gained a really ominous aura.
Feihren felt a familiar aura from the weapon. It felt exactly like when he first met the unstable Samael! Without pondering the phenomena for long, Feihren decided to do what he did back then, run some general exp through it. He had a little left over from some casual killing of miscellaneous beasts when they were clearing the village area when they first arrived. Feihren did not think that an inanimate object would absorb very much life energy compared to what Samael needed back then, but surprisingly it took the entire 1,000 general exp he had left! Just like that?
Feihren's hands left the gun as the ominous aura have seemed to calm down, but it could still be vaguely felt in the background…
[Carbine of the Demonic Stallion]
Feihren gazed intently at the weapon that suddenly changed its name… He felt something off about it. Nothing was mentioned on any of the blueprints about random upgrades. Could it be a unique feature in this world? Feihren dispersed those irrelevant questions for now as he attempted to pick up the weapon, when…
"WHAT IS THIS? HUMAN!!! WHAT IS THIS BODY? HOW DARE YOU!"
An angry voice suddenly shouted out from nearby! And it seems that it was coming from… the gun?!?
Chapter 18: Four Folds and A Mystery
"It isn't that bad though?"
"What? What are you talking about! This thing does not deserve my great presence, ignorant human!"
"Great presence? You were dropped from a crazy monkey though…"
"Do you think that's funny human? I am from the ancient of times! I am what they call true evil, capable of living eternally!"
"Ohhh, so you can live eternally huh? How about I just bury this thing underground then?"
"…"
"…Or maybe I could just, throw it in the ocean?"
"Don't you dare go overboard, bastard human!"
"Then just! Shut! The hell! Up! You! Damnable! Demon! Brat!"
"How dare you talk to an almighty demon like that?"
*Feihren picked up a shovel and started digging
"No! No… I… I'll shut up! Put that away!"
That argument could be heard going round and round inside the makeshift workshop. This so-called "Ancient Lord of the Demons" seems to be a lost part of its actual consciousness that attained sentience through the ages.
Feihren deduced that the original entity ultimately dispersed itself into multiple parts, and one of them had found its way into that King Ape that he destroyed. Could this mean that the true Ancient Lord of the Demons already perished? That seems to be the most likely scenario, in which case Feihren would feel quite relieved. If even having just a part of his consciousness was already this annoying, how much more annoying would it be if he had the entire person itself? Feihren was dizzy just thinking about it. No wonder that the King Ape was in a frenzied state, imagine this noisy, arrogant consciousness trying to invade and occupy your body? Hell no, right? Feihren sympathized with the King Ape. It seemed Feihren had done that poor soul a great favor by sparing him from this guy…
"Good! But I'm being honest here. This body is way better than that ape you were trying to possess back then."
"How so? I can't move even a single damn thing!"
"No, no really. This one is much, much more powerful than you think"
"Huh? Don't make a fool out of me human!"
"Here, I'll show you…"
"Don't you dare touch me!"
"…"
Feihren is a little bit pissed by now.
He casually summoned Samael as the roof and walls, of the workshop broke out as a gigantic figure appeared.
The consciousness the Demonic Carbine stared blankly at the sudden appearance as he retorted.
"Humph. Some puppet of yours?"
Feihren did not reply. He stared at Samael who was still waiting for instructions.
"Pick that thing up."
As Feihren pointed at the Demonic Carbine atop a table, that was the only thing left intact within the workshop, the 3-meter tall red giant casually picked up the carbine. It didn't even bother with the noise it was making.
"WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO HUMAN?! STOP IT RIGHT THIS INSTANT!"
Feihren continued to ignore the noisy demonic gun as he commanded the idly staring Samael.
"Eh? You can go play with it. Use it as your back-scratcher or something. You could also go and sit on it if you want, you're a rock giant technically so that thing should be comfy for you right?"
At the moment the Demonic Carbine heard the instructions of Feihren…
"YOU DARE? YOU DARE?! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL YOURSELF HUMAN!?"
"Eh? No, not at all. Go enjoy your day with Samael. Have fun you two!"
"Noooo!"
The Ancient Lord of the Demons consciousness had tried to escape this seemingly immobile object he was in multiple times, but a green force kept him sealed within it! He can't escape! He was definitely trapped within this immobile device.
The 'noise' coming from the Demonic Carbine slowly disappeared on the horizon as the gigantic figure lazily walked towards the open pit.
"What happened in here? What happened to the workshop?" Old Yeshua, who happened to be in the building closest to the makeshift workshop, came over hurriedly as he was bothered by the noise.
"Ah, it was because of my familiar, I'll fix it when he returns"
"Alright, but what about your magic weapon? What did you do to it that caused it to make the noises I heard out here?" Old Yeshua added.
"Hmm, let's just say that I found the solution for it to work just as I wanted it to… hehe" A satisfied yet devious looking grin appeared on Feihren's face.
...
Late in the afternoon
A gigantic silhouette could be seen heading towards the dwarven village from the horizon. It was Samael, who see
med to have a bright expression on his face. As for the Demonic Carbine, it was quieter than ever before! In fact, it didn't say a single word the whole time they were walking back!
Feihren, who was repairing some parts of the workshop while the two were gone, was smiling happily as he saw who was approaching. It seemed that two of his favorite friends are "getting along" pretty good now. Eh, in all honesty, it was a torture plan focusing on shutting up that damnable and arrogant piece of the demon lord's consciousness!
"Mercy human… Don't ever do this again, I beg of you!"
"Eh, where did all of your arrogance go? Was it left behind in the pit? Samael really must have sat on you way too hard. I'll tell him to be gentler next time"
"No human, please! I'll listen, I'll listen! Just don't ever let that red thing take me again!"
"Oh really now? Alright, let me fix you up a little first. You look a little worn out"
Even though this Demonic M4 Carbine was annoying the crap out of him, it was still technically the first weapon he had ever created. So he would naturally take care of it as much as he can. Fixing the little bit of wear and tear left the [Carbine of the Demonic Stallion] looked as sharp and fresh as ever!
"I'll show you something cool first thing in the morning. I don't know if demonic consciousness still sleep, but just be silent there as I take my rest, got it?"
"Yes, I understand human!"
"Or else…"
"Yes, yes, I will shut up, and demons do still sleep you know…"
...
The morning passed without a hint of noise from the carbine, as if it was never conscious to begin with!
Feihren grabbed the Demonic M4 Carbine as he called for Old Yeshua and Old Mendi so he could demonstrate the solution he had come up with yesterday on 'fixing' his magic weapon.
Same as last time, a few random dwarves gathered around to witness it, though there were quite a bit less tagging around than the first time. They were all quite excited to see if and how Feihren managed to fix his magic weapon. Nobody thought that the results he got from the weapon yesterday were bad. It was just that nobody expected a weapon to do beneficial things.
Feihren distanced himself a few steps from everyone as he aimed towards the trees on the horizon.
"What's with that stupid pose human? And why are sticking me so close to your face!"
"Just shush you noisy brat. Watch."
In the beginning, everything seemed to be the same as before. Green lights started swirling around the barrel of the carbine and Feihren's hands as the collected light started condensing at the tip, but this is the point where things began to change. Different from what happened last time, the ball of green light wavered slightly before it became a pitch black ball with faint green light trailing it!
*Boom!... Boom!...Boom!...Boom!
*Thud!...thud!...thud!...thud!
Only a single shot was fired yet… four trees were knocked down?!? There happened to be 4 trees lined up in the path of that devastating black 'bullet', which pierced through all of it! It even had enough force to topple all 4 of them over!
"Hahaha, this! This power seemed quite familiar human! Was this caused by this lord's new body! If so then congratulations, you have seemingly mimicked some of my greatness from back then!"
Feihren was amazed by the results, his mouth was wide open. Not only him, but all who witnessed the scene were greatly shocked! Isn't that shot too powerful?
Old Mendi and Yeshua were speechless at the moment and remained as they were, not approaching Feihren.
"Human boy, if this was all because of your talent, then I'll give you some credit. If you are really this talented, then this Ancient Demon Lord has a favor to ask of you"
With a solid "stare" from the consciousness within the gun, the Ancient Demon Lord seemingly came to an interesting conclusion…
"Since when did you get in the position to be asking for favors demon brat?" Feihren mockingly replied.
"Ah, this isn't just for me you know. It seems that it would be useful to you too, human boy, or should I say, Messiah?"
"I'm listening…"
Chapter 19: Fair Exchange
"Collecting your fragmented consciousness? And that helps me how?"
"Well, if you're really planning to use me as your weapon, then might as well make it the best right?"
"Eh, that's a stupidly bad attempt at tempting me there huh? How old do you think I am? 5?"
"No really, if you think that first shot was good, how much better would it be if I was in my fullest form?"
"Nah. I don't think I'll need that kind of unnecessary trouble. The reward doesn't seem to be equal with the hassle that comes with it."
"You're a stubborn human huh… For someone that strong, you're pretty stupid."
"Really? Am I? The stupid version of me would've already agreed with you though."
"Fine, how about this? If my observation is correct and you're not really from this world, hmm… I'd let you ask me any questions you wanted about this world, free of charge! As you know, I'm an existence akin to the beginning of time. I can definitely answer any question that you would throw at me regarding this world." The Ancient Demon Lord proudly offered as he boasted his vast knowledge.
"Eh, that doesn't sound so bad, but I need one more thing though"
"Don't push it human."
"Fine, I was just gonna ask for a treasure or something, but it seems I can only ask questions? Alright then, tell me, where did you keep all your treasures when you were still alive? As somewhat of a bigshot back then I bet you had a whole vault of such things, right?"
A devious grin appeared on Feihren's face.
"…"
"Oh, don't worry. I'll help you gather all your other fragments first before I start gathering your treasures."
"… You're despicable, human... But fine, I don't have a choice it seems."
After a long-winded conversation on which one would help the other, Feihren and the Ancient Demon Lord had come to an agreement. It appears that the demonic essences that they had to collect aren't extremely numerous. There were only around 12 remaining, excluding the one that Feihren already has, for a total of 13.
Feihren had no idea where to begin with in finding these fragmented pieces of consciousness for the demon lord, but it seems that one was actually closer than they had expected. According to this Demonic Carbine demon lord, he had sensed the presence of one of his fragments in the Wolfenstein Kingdom. This explained why he was headed there when he was in possession, well kind of, of the King Ape back then.
Another was in the Ranustin Kingdom. The exact location of it wasn't all that clear, but a faint feeling was definitely pointing in that direction according to this Ancient Demon Lord.
For the one that was in the Wolfenstein Kingdom, Feihren had a rough idea of who probably has it, but as for the one in the Ranustin Kingdom, he had no idea. So for now, he needed to personally venture towards it.
As for the other 10 pieces, the Ancient Demon Lord predicted that the other fragments of consciousness would at least have a clue on their whereabouts.
Feihren thought it over and decided,
"It seems that I should head to Ranustin myself. I have some business that I have to attend to there anyway. It seems that I might have killed some of their scouts back then without noticing, even though they had attacked first. Even so, I killed them thinking that they were from Wolfenstein, so I might as well have a clear conscience."
...
After a few days of Feihren staying in the village, preparing for his eventual departure to Ranustin kingdom, the day has finally arrived.
He had many supplies to carry so he made a hard-polyester bag by using one of the special blueprints. Then he stuffed a few precious metals that he can use as a substitute for currency, some materials for equipment repair, miscellaneous other necessities, food and water enough for a single person to last for weeks in it. Of course, a fully furbished [Carbine of the Demonic Stalli
on] and a belt-strapped ruby gem containing Samael were naturally required as well. With all this preparation, Feihren was finally able to set off.
After saying goodbye to the village chief, and promising that he would soon be back, everyone sincerely bid them farewell. Feihren had done a lot of good for them within this past month.