The longawaited call from Barne came. He announced that all parts of K01 had been completed.

I immediately headed to Barne’s lab. I initially planned to go alone, but Askan wanted to join, so we moved together.

Suddenly, upon opening the lab door, Barne came forward as if he had been waiting.

“Hey there─ Is my student here?”

“Where is it?”

While receiving his greetings in a hasty way, I started looking for the finished parts of K01.

Barne, despite finding my behavior amusing and letting out a snort, promptly showed me the parts, as if understanding my impatience.

Parts, still not fully assembled, were laid out on the lab table.

My heart was pounding so hard, I could feel it.

Barne, noticing the latearrived Askan, wore a friendly smile and spoke.

“Hey there─ We’ve met before, haven’t we?”

“Yes.”

Despite Barne’s hospitality, Askan only nodded and acknowledged with a curt “Yes”. Anyone could see it was a cold and distant attitude.

Barne, looking back and forth between Askan and me, shook his head.

“The master and the servant, how similar you both are…”

Ignoring Barne’s words, I started assembling the parts of K01 laid out on the table.

Clink, clink.

The precise way they fit together brought an odd sense of satisfaction.

The blueprint was already in my mind, so in the blink of an eye, I assembled all the parts that used to be K01.

Finally, a revolvershaped gun was in my hand.

At the original safety device’s location, a red fire attribute magic stone and a light skyblue wind attribute magic stone were settled together.

Holding the weapon I created for the first time was deeply moving.

Feeling a strange whirl of emotions as I blankly stared at K01, Barne, who was next to me, clapped as if to congratulate.

“Your first weapon. Congratulations.”

Only then did I realize that Barne had been waiting for me to assemble it myself.

“Thank you. I was able to complete it thanks to you, Master.”

“Eh, enough with the formalities.”

Barne waved dismissively as if he didn’t want to hear it, but his expression seemed otherwise.

I knew since the start of creating K01 that I couldn’t load magic orbs like bullets, making it a weapon that could only fire three shots.

I put my finger on the trigger and spoke with a serious voice.

“Now all that’s left is to see the results with our own eyes.”

I created and completed K01 based on all theories. Now, it was time to pull the trigger and see how powerful it was.

Seeming to know I would say that, Barne nodded and replied.

“I was just thinking about that. Before you came, I had prepared an empty lot. I made sure that no one could pass by, so let’s go.”

“Yes.”

I nodded firmly. I couldn’t help but be nervous as the moment to witness the fruits of my labor was about to come.

Just as Barne said, there was not a single ant or any living thing passing by the vacant lot.

I aimed at a target made of iron hung for firepower testing.

That’s when it happened.

Askan, who had been quietly watching, took a step forward and said,

“I will do it. Miss.”

“You?”

“It’s your first experiment. There could be a misfire, and there might be potential dangers. It would be better if I try it first.”

Askan’s body was special. If a dangerous situation arose, he could become like steel, thus his likelihood of getting hurt was drastically less than an ordinary person.

After a moment of thought, I handed K01 to Askan. I decided that his words were not wrong.

“You have to bleed on the magic stone first to make the inscription.”

“I understand.”

With an emotionless face, Askan let some blood from his finger drop onto the fire attribute and wind attribute magic stones.

The magic stone momentarily heated up in a red glow, then returned to its original color. I knew without him saying that the inscription had been made.

Askan held K01 in his hand and looked at me nearby.

“Please step back further.”

“Ah, okay.”

Barne and I retreated to a much farther distance and watched Askan.

Askan seemed to measure the distance between us, then, judging it safe enough, looked at the iron target in front.

“I will shoot.”

Without realizing it, my sweaty hands tightly clenched, and I nodded.

Clink, right after that, Askan pulled the trigger at the target.

Whoosh─!

Suddenly, an enormous flame struck the target like a whirlwind.

The power was so intense that the iron target shook as if it could fly into the sky any moment.

It was such an incredible force that all I could do was stare with my mouth open.

It was fortunate that the target was made of iron, for if it had been a flammable material like wood, a large fire might have erupted.

All that remained after a single shot was intense heat.

Only the blackened scorch marks on the target testified to the previous force.

A momentary silence flowed across the field.

What snapped me out of my momentary stupor was Varne’s boisterous laughter.

“Hahaha! I knew this would happen! Anyone who sees this would undoubtedly faint.”