Welcome to the World of Magical Tools!
"Where is the fourth checkpoint?"
"Um, it's the abandoned factory in the Grid District!"
"But, Chunks is definitely keeping watch, right?"
"Indeed, we'd be in serious trouble if he got out of the Reverse Realm..."
"Master, actually..."
Harbel was about to confide something when,
"It's alright, I understand. I heard most of it from the two of you, it must have been tough."
"No..."
"What exactly is the Reverse/Surface? We can't fight against an opponent whose true nature we don't understand!"
"I understand how you feel, but for now, I can't tell you... or rather, it's more accurate to say you wouldn't be able to comprehend it..."
"Comprehend?"
"To use the Reverse/Surface, you first need to fully master magic."
"How far do we have to master it?"
"You need to raise at least 2 attributes to the maximum level."
"2 attributes..."
"No, in the case of non-attribute, the upper limit is low, so you need at least 3 attributes."
"Okay, I understand..."
"The shortcut to that is to become an MD and raise your rank in the dungeon."
"First, let's think about how to defeat Chunks in your current state!"
"Yes!"
Of course, we can't win if we fight him head-on, so we have no choice but to neutralize him.
"For example, what methods of neutralization can you think of?"
"Um, maybe paralyzing him with poison or putting him to sleep with anesthesia?"
"That's right, or someone could act as a decoy and take advantage of the gap!"
"Then, the decoy is Harbel!"
"Then, who will finish him off?"
"Well, it's Harbel, isn't it!"
"It's all on me..."
"If only we had one more person who could face him head-on, even for a little bit..."
"We wouldn't be struggling if we had someone like that..."
"Yeah..."
First, I'll go out in front and act as a decoy.
The moment I make him focus all his attention on me, Nell and Clarissa will simultaneously release anesthesia and poison!
If either one hits, we might be able to temporarily neutralize him... but...
"Master, assuming we can neutralize him, what will happen to Chunks after that?"
"You're not going to kill him, are you?"
"Even if it inevitably ends up that way, I'd like to capture him without killing him if possible. Chunks is wanted in the Surface Realm for killing too many people, so it's best to hand him over to the police. I'll take care of that, so leave it to me!"
"I understand, please do so."
"Why do we have to risk our lives just to become an MD!"
"It just means that the MD pass is worth that much..."
"You have 18 days left, so spend two weeks training in the Reverse Realm."
"Yes!"
"You have to release the magic at the perfect timing, if you miss both, you'll have to run away."
"If you're not careful, you'll be killed on the spot..."
"Harbel, just in case, prepare another stage of poison."
"Understood."
"We'll start training tomorrow, so eat a lot today and rest your body."
"Yes!"
"Harbel, you've had a gloomy look on your face since morning."
"Well, it's no wonder after what happened yesterday!"
"No, I was thinking about weapons."
"Weapons..."
"It's safer to be able to attack multiple times at long range than to use melee weapons or release magic in close combat, right?"
"But if you carry guns around, you're in danger of being caught."
"That's right... so I was thinking of a gun that isn't illegal!"
"Like a model gun?"
"But if you put magical power into such a toy, it'll break right away, won't it?"
"That's true."
"So I was thinking of making one myself!"
"Making a weapon yourself?"
"Honestly, I don't think it's necessary to fire physical bullets, do you think?"
"If it's in the shape of a gun, it's possible to fire magic like a bullet, isn't it?"
"But..."
"But?"
"I don't know what kind of material is good..."
"This is when we need Master's wisdom..."
"I see, you're thinking of something interesting. First of all, theoretically it's possible. However, you need to have a perfect image of creating a bullet with magic, and then you need to add poison or paralysis, so it requires very precise operation."
"Yeah..."
"Furthermore, there's the question of whether it's possible in an emergency. It might be possible to just add magic to an actual bullet, but creating a bullet with magic is extremely difficult!"
"So, is there any good material?"
"Generally, silver or aluminum are said to be good metals for conducting magic. Silver is expensive and heavy, so aluminum is generally used."
"Aluminum is cheap and light, so it's convenient to carry around."
"It's also helpful that it doesn't rust!"
"By the way, you can use the aluminum cans that are stored over there."
"Thank you."
Harbel immediately created several lumps of aluminum with "Refine".
He searched for guns on his smartphone and imagined a shape that would be easy to use.
He molded the gun with "Construct".
"Is this okay? How about the name [FeatherEagle-HC01]?"
"That's cool, can you make one for us too?"
"Of course, what kind of shape do you like?"
"I'd like a small pistol type."
"Then, I'd like something like a laser gun!"
"Understood."
He made [WhiteFist-NC7] for Nell,
and [EclipseRay-KC99] for Clarissa.
"This is good, it looks easy to use."
"It fits in my hand perfectly!"
"But it's meaningless if you can't shoot it first, so you have to learn the feel with live ammunition and be able to imagine it."
Real guns are quite heavy and it takes too long to be able to shoot them normally, so they decided to touch live ammunition and imagine it.
So this is what live ammunition feels like, if you create a bullet with magic, imagine creating a metal bullet with a hard image...
I spent the whole day touching bullets and expanding my image.
"Master, is it possible to "Construct" a metal bullet with magic instead of a magic bullet?"
"I think it's possible, but the difficulty will be even higher, and the magic consumption will be huge!"
"Even when creating the same object, there's a big difference between the stone of "Stone" created with magic and the case of summoning an actual stone with "Construct"."
"What is it?"
"The former disappears when the magic runs out and cannot exist, but the latter continues to exist regardless of magic."
"So, there's no merit in deliberately choosing the latter?"
"No, the latter is, after all, the real thing. If you use it for attack, there will be a difference in attack power."
"I see..."
What I can think of now is,
*1 Fire magic directly like a bullet.
*2 Create a bullet with magic and fire it.
*3 Summon live ammunition with "Construct" and fire it.
The difficulty increases exponentially, but 3 is overwhelmingly more powerful.
Furthermore, if you want to add paralysis or poison, it's easier to control with live ammunition.
On the contrary, 1 requires delicate magic manipulation, so it's not suitable for continuous shooting...
But I can't carry real live ammunition around...
Since it's fired with magic, if you can control it, the hit rate is almost 100%, right?
Well, it's ideal to be able to use it properly depending on the situation...
The three of them started practicing shooting with their respective methods.
Nell chose 1 because she had a pistol and had to get close to some extent to shoot, but that made it easier to control magic.
Clarissa decided to step up from 1 to 2 because she could aim from a distance and it was better to be able to shoot continuously to some extent.
I tried all the bullets in order so that I could shoot all of them.
Nell uses anesthesia and paralysis properly, but I and Clarissa use poison only.
We asked our master to play the role of Chunks, and the training was nearing its end.
"Harbel, you can now summon live ammunition smoothly."
"I can only do 5 shots in a row, though..."
"No, that's enough!"
"Clarissa can easily shoot about 100 shots in a row, right?"
"Well,"
Clarissa touched her nose proudly.
