Chapter 36 – Claws

Chapter 36 – Claws

Quickly deactivating the crystal, Emily returns to her desk. She pulls out one of the water crystals, along with a new collection tray, and follows the same process as before to engrave the activation rune. After crumbling the first gem due to using slightly too much mana, she looks at her system mana and machina values before deciding to meditate for a while.

Filling up her resource reserves swiftly thanks to the Technomancer’s Breath’s increased efficiency, she soon returns to carving crystals. This time she succeeds with the water crystal on her first try. She moves back to the steam generator to test, placing the water crystal into the centre of the empty water tank and activating it.

The moment she does, water pours out of the crystal, quickly filling the tank. Realising a slight problem, she reaches her arm through the water to deactivate the crystal before the tank overflows.

I should modify this generator first.

Making a quick decision, Emily turns around and walks back to her desk again. Turning her notebook to a blank page, she begins drawing up blueprints.

After a short while of nothing but the sound of a quill scratching on paper, Emily looks at the blueprint before her in satisfaction.

̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄

Blueprint created: Steam Source {Gen.0}

[Steam Source {Gen.0}]

[Type:] Magic Steam Generator

[Tier:] 1

[Rank:] F

[Description:] A simply remodelled steam generator running on mana crystals.

[Effect:] When activated, generates steam

_____

It’s not E-rank, but it will do for now.

Standing up, Emily grabs the chunk of white iron from the drawer and takes it to one of the new machines, a large block of iron with an exposed jagged blade suspended vertically in the centre. Leaving the white iron on the machine’s cutting platform, Emily quickly moves to the steam generator, opening the heating chamber and reaching in to activate the fire crystal within. The moment it activates, she retracts her hand and shuts the chamber, watching the heat and pressure readings increase in the system.

Returning to the large machine again, she reaches for the steam valve on the back to turn it on before pausing. Turning around, her gaze falls on the mass in her bed, rising and falling in a slow rhythm.

She slept through a hacksaw, but it’s probably mean to test her with a bandsaw.

Turning off the steam generator again, she sheepishly returns to the bandsaw to take the white iron back. As she reaches out to take the metal though, a thought occurs to her so she continues moving past it and places her hand on the bandsaw.

Releasing a spark of machina, a familiar connection forms with the saw, and a full three-dimensional breakdown of its internal workings quickly settles in her mind. Looking at the delicate mix of gears and belts within, Emily decides to memorize the machine's blueprint for future reference, and the moment she does, a system window pops up.

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Blueprint created: Steam Bandsaw

[Steam Bandsaw]

[Type:] Tool

[Tier:] 1Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com

[Rank:] F

[Description:] A basic bandsaw powered by steam

[Effect:] When activated, cuts through any material held to the blade.

_____

Convenient, it seems to respond to my will with blueprint creation considering I didn’t get the elevator blueprint yesterday. I should take a trip into machineworks at some point and take scans of all the tools there, maybe reset afterwards so I don’t have to explain anything to Ed.

With this thought in mind, she happily moves around the room, taking scans of all her new machines and saving their blueprints for future use and modification. Settling back at her desk after, Emily opens her notebook to another blank page and lifts her quill.

Now, time to create my masterpiece!

Filled with excitement, she pulls on her ideas from her trip to the city the day before, and her new bank of knowledge from the machines in her room, to start drawing a new blueprint. Several hours later, after agonising over the design and even restarting several times, she’s left with a pleased grin and a new blueprint sat in the notebook before her.

It’s not perfect, but for a first prototype, it’s good enough! I should be able to get it done in time for my class tomorrow if I work fast.

Checking the time, she sees there are still a few hours left till Juliana should be waking up for breakfast. Unwilling to disturb her sleep, Emily settles on the floor at the end of the bed and falls into the spellweave.

***

A couple of hours later, Emily returns to her room alone after breakfast, having told her friends she will be unavailable till tomorrow morning.

“Right, time to get to work!” she exclaims excitedly while casting her gaze across the new machines waiting to be used.

“What an interesting weapon,” she mutters quietly before slashing her knife down towards Emily’s chest.

Emily deflects the knife with her exposed blade while stepping forward to close the distance between them, her wrist blade’s reach still slightly shorter than Agnes’ long knife. Unwilling to give up her advantage, Agnes keeps attacking Emily while stepping back. Struggling to close the distance, Emily gets caught by a few shallow slashes and chooses to take a step back.

Circling Agnes from a distance, Emily decides that catching Agnes by surprise is no longer possible and quickly engages the second wrist blade. With both blades extended to their full twenty-five-centimetre reach, she quickly steps forward and thrusts her right hand towards Agnes’ chest while driving her left up and towards her ribs.

With the flick of her wrist, Agnes deflects the first blade as she steps forward to meet Emily. Before the second blade can make contact with her, she swiftly reaches her free hand forward and knocks Emily’s arm, sending her stab wide.

Emily tries to recover her arms but soon freezes as she feels the cold steel of Agnes’ knife against her throat.

“I give,” she says with a small sigh.

They both relax and separate with matching grins.

“That was a good spar, and those blades are fascinating,” Agnes compliments her while staring at the exposed metal through her cut sleeves.

“Thanks,” Emily says proudly while bringing her hands up to reset her weapons and gazing at their system description.

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[Claws {Gen.0}]

[Rank:] F

[Stats:] +1 Str, +1 Dex, +1 Agil

[Description:] A set of basic spring-loaded wrist blades.

[Effect:] Provides armour to the forearms and extends blades from the wrist when activated.

_____

She grabs a small groove on one of the blades and pulls it down while pulling on the release string with her other hand until it slides comfortably back into its housing. As the blade bottoms out, she lets go of the release and a small click sounds as the blade locks into place.

While retracting the other blade, Emily notices a low murmuring coming from all around and looks up to see everyone in the room crowded around her and Agnes, talking to each other while stealing glances at Emily.

“Tsk,” Agnes clicks her tongue with a frown before muttering something under her breath and stomping her foot on the ground.

As her foot slams into the ground, the earth shakes and walls of dirt shoot up to form a dome around both of them. The noise from outside cuts off the moment darkness falls over them.

“There we go, now we can talk in peace,” Agnes says casually.

Kind of hard to talk when I can’t see you.

With a frown, Emily quickly weaves a few hand signs and casts light, tossing the formed ball of glowing mana up to the peak of the dome.

“I see the rumours about your magical talent weren’t exaggerated after all,” Agnes comments with a sly grin, staring at the glowing ball of light.

Whoops, I forgot to chant... Ah well, I’m not planning on hiding my gesture casting.

“What can I say, I’m a girl of many talents,” Emily responds casually, playing off her mistake.

“Speaking of, can I see your weapons?”

“Sure,” Emily agrees easily, pulling back her right sleeve to reveal the mechanisms below.

From her elbow to her wrist is a fitted leather bracer, fastened with a set of straps at the side. On top of her forearm are two thin plates of smooth titanium with a split down the centre, covering a collection of springs and wires underneath. The wires follow a few small channels around her arm to join the underside, where a delicate metal housing conceals the blades within. Extending from the end of the housing is another small wire, connected to a ring on the thumb without enough tension to activate The Claws unless the wire is pulled upon by something else.

“It’s beautiful, did you make them yourself?” Agnes asks while carefully turning Emily’s arm over to inspect the entire weapon.

“Yes,” Emily answers proudly, happy to have someone appreciate her work.

Finishing her inspection, Agnes releases Emily’s arm and looks her in the eyes, her emerald eye glowing with the fierce light of passion.

“I want you to make me a set,” she says, raising her hand and gesturing for Emily to wait when she starts to object. “I like to collect unique weapons like those, don’t worry, I won’t sell them on or reveal how they work to anyone else. And in return, I’ll give you some private lessons to teach you how to use them properly.”

The moment she offers to help, Emily thinks back to their spar.

I could use the help, I’ve never dual-wielded weapons before, let alone ones awkwardly in line with my arms.

Considering it for a few moments, she soon agrees with a nod.

Ah well, these are only the prototype anyway, it can’t hurt to make her a pair.

“Perfect, I look forward to teaching you more,” Agnes says with a wide grin that sends a shiver down Emily’s spine as she drops the earthen dome around them.

Oh Goddess, what have I got myself into?