Chapter 301: It So Happens

"Is that what I think it is?" Although surprised, Barbo was trying to keep his cool in front of Ned.

The moment Ned produced the Mana Stone, his tone changes from a flat one to an interested one. Unable to believe his eyes, Barbo went to get his monocle and eyed the Mana Stone through his lenses. Ned heard how he was gulping air, and sweating to the point he was squinting to get rid of the sweat running down his eyes.

Ned knew already how valuable and rare Mana Stones judging from anyone's reaction alone. But seeing how Barbo reacts made Ned think of how a single piece of a stone could change a life.

"Kid. You know how valuable this one is?" Barbo slumped his back to the chair. Although he was bald, the way he brushed his hand over his head was something Ned find funny.

Ned knew how valuable a Mana Stone was. A piece was even used as a prize during the Chance Arrow game he did back at Lord Sven's seat of power at Bogaressi. But Ned wasn't exactly sure 'how' valuable a mana stone was.

Let's find out, Ned thought and shook his head gaining a raised eyebrow from the blacksmith.

"So, you're carrying this in you, in your Ring—I wasn't even shocked anymore that you have a mage's ring—without knowing how valuable this thing is?

"I know mages use it to absorb mana, aside from that, not exactly."

Barbo put the mana stone on the table and told Ned what he ought to know.

According to him, Mana Stones were produced only by the Royal House of Pendragoon. Having found the node of mana stones that led them to oppose the former King, (But Ned already knew this back at the Chance Arrow Game). But what he doesn't know was that the real cause of the war between the Empire of Ekan and the Kingdom of Griffith was the nodes of Mana Stones hidden by the Royal family. Some speculate they were hidden inside the Capital which was Knighton. Others say they were somewhere in the mountain ranges that divide the Northern Kingdom apart from the Griffith Kingdom. People knew that the Griffith Kingdom was losing the war against the Ekan Empire and the Mana Stone was the only one holding the Houses altogether while the Northern Kingdom was also a big threat to them by invading their lands.

No gold coins could equate to the value of Mana Stones. Barbo emphasized that no mages would trade a piece of Mana Stone no matter the value in gold. Thus making it even more valuable in the hands of mages, and would be dangerous in the hands of Hollows.

Ned focused, and he doesn't feel any Leak coming from Barbo. Which led Ned to two conclusions: it's either Barbo was a Master on hiding his mana powers, or he was simply a Hollow.

"Which were you?" Ned had to ask.

"Most blacksmiths are Hollows, kid. Since one needs to have a job to survive. Which means this thing is useless to me. So does my nephew Mina. But that doesn't mean we can't use magic."

As Barbo explained, even though very rare, some Hollows use magic through different means. They would use Arrays, Runes, and Claims that stores Magic Spells even though they were one-time use.

Even though the Empire of Ekan was not a magic-based nation. The people found a way to battle mages.

"Technology." Ned nodded since he was the person that understands this the most. He once lived where guns shoot plasmas, a technology that let one travel through space, even without the use of mana.

"You're flaming right, kid." At first, Barbo was a bit skeptical talking to Ned. But realizing that wasn't just a kid. He changes how he looked at him. "How do you know this stuff kid?"

Ned raised an eyebrow. Although the room they were in was deeming of light, his dusky blue eyes brimmed of capacity to perceive things. "I should be the one asking that. Were you and Mina related?"

"Tch!" Barbo brushed the hair under his chin looking at Ned.

"Going here wasn't a mistake at all." Ned reached for the stone in the center of the round and wooden table and put it back in his inventory. "And I thought of something that might want your smithing knowledge. But if I want to work with someone else, it's gotta be someone I can put my trust on."

"You know kid when Mina was 14, probably your age. He went to the slums to look for materials that were needed to finish one of his pieces. Half a day has passed and he hasn't come home yet, I got worried. But only to find out he was groped by kids of his age. Wounds, a small one and a big one. It left him scars that to this day he was afraid to set foot outside the shop. Mina was a courageous kid and devoted to his work. If only he was the same as you, he might accomplish things I and his father couldn't."

Ned was silent, and unsure of what exactly Barbo was talking, so much for his eyes brimming to perceive things. These were the things that Ned doesn't give any care at all. Still, acting to listen was the least he could do.

"Kid's supposed to ask 'what might be that thing'?" Barbo pulled a cigar under the pockets of his apron and puffed a cloud of smoke. "My iron point here kid is that, if he's got the same courage like you, perhaps he could surpass me."

"What I'm concerned about is if I can trust you to do things for me."

"Things like what?" Barbo sucked in another smoke and blew it to his side. Greyish smoke coiling around his shoulders and soon faded.

"Things involving this." Ned pointed to the silver revolver next to the wooden jug and cups. "I want to know how it works. But it seemed that you don't have the slightest idea so I'm going to find someone could."

"Tch!" After Barbo sucked the cigarette and left him with a butt, he stood and went outside the room to the shop.

Ned then heard rattles of hinges in a door closing followed by footsteps.

Barbo went back to sit opposite Ned and this time he was accompanied by Mina.

"I can make you swords, shields, and other weird stuff." Barbo tagged Mina by the arm and pulled him closer to them. "But this ranged weapon here? None can tell you things about it but this kid."

"Uncle Bo?" Mina cleared his throat from what he just heard. For Mina, creating pieces that would make his uncle proud was all he ever wanted. Especially after he was battered to death. "I. Don't listen to Uncle Bo. All I can make are weapons weirder than uncle. But if you're asking for weapons that can sell. Please, no. Ask my uncle."

Ned shrugged a shoulder looking at Barbo. Currently, he doesn't have the luxury of time to do other unnecessary stuff since the Hunter's Exam was due to start six days soon.

"This thing here?" Barbo reached for the gun and raised it so that Ned and Mina could have a better look. "Was left by his father."

A traitor's son, Ned thought as he eyed Mina who seemed to scowled from Ned's glare. He took a step back that he almost hid behind Barbo's broad shoulders.

Unable to withstand awkwardness, pulled Mina behind him pushed him closer to Ned.

"Uncle, Bo!" Mina then held the silver gun after Barbo gave it to him.

"Kid here wanted to know how that works."

"This... I... Uncle... is it okay to tell him?"

"It's fine. If I feel something wrong about the kid I'm pretty sure I can take him out even if wasn't a mage." Under his greased apron, Barbo pulled a cracked metallic cube that was deemed of light after his thumb pushed something like a button.

Ned doesn't need to focus on how strong the broken cube emits mana. Even if he was half a meter away from the cube, Ned could feel a pulsating aura as though some kind of high tiered spell waiting to be unleashed.

He wasn't just a blacksmith, after all. Ned thought with a sigh.

"Now. Tell him how this thing works."

"Yosh! Uncle, Bo! This thing... I mean this gun, needed a source."

"Battery," Ned interjected in a hurry. "You're uncle told me."

"Yes! Battery. Once a battery is in place inside the box, the user must inject his mana to resonate with the Battery and the gun. Normally, they're made so that anyone can use them. But this one, it needed specific mana to use, so I can't help you with that."

"How hard is it to make a new one?"

"Hard?"

"Impossible, I'd say."

"Why?"

"First. No one knows how exactly it is made. And even If uncle Bo knew, it would still be impossible without a proper layout. Then we need the owner's mana for it to work, then the materials, then the tools... and the battery—"

"Like this?" Ned once again produced the Mana Stone and showed it to Mina.

The latter grabbed it immediately, raised it high, and examined it.

"We need purging, soothing, and extraction to turn this into a proper battery uncle. We also need clamps, mold, smithing sand for smoothness, extractor, and most of all, your mana. Kid, we need your mana for this thing to work. I'm a Hollow so I'm not suited for that. There's the temperature control...

"Kid."

"Resizing..."

"Kid."

"Proper handling of tools to avoid tarnish..."

"Mina!"

"Also, we need to make a new one, we need a layout, perhaps we can use this old gun used by my father and remodel it..."

"Oi! Mina!"

"Maybe turn it into something else. Uncle? Yes?"

Ned nodded along with a wee of a smile.

"Look." Barbo glared at the bulky and ugly thing laid flat between them.

Unbeknownst to Mina, Ned already produced the bulky gun he traded for food back at the Hive. "It also happens I have a layout."