12 RNG: Texan In Another World - V1.12 - Pretense (1/2)

Mike was frustrated, annoyed, and coughing from the smoke that made it into the Lab. Pulling the screen from the roof, he cleared the air and then closed it. He had to keep it closed, someone could throw fire over the wall.

Feeling the pressure Mike decided it was better to burn out than fade away. He took out everything he was working on in his storage and piled it onto the table while the girls all tried to explain what was going on at the same time.

”Mona, tell it to me clearly and try not to leave out details” Mike finished talking and let her explain.

”Umm. Well we went to the market like you had asked and we went to a few stalls. When we finally came to a Yhewsgui tent they asked us what we had to barter for the crystals and herbs they had available, we showed them the cookie and while we were bartering over the details a man came up, pushed me out of the way and ate the cookie.”

”We were so angry, we called for the guards but the man just took off.”

”Anyways, we tried to trade some gold but the shop owner wasn't interested. A while later after we had left, the man came up and accused us of poisoning and collapsed. Lots of people saw it and were chasing us. Then you opened the door for us.” Mona held her friends and they huddled closer to Mike until they were all holding him.

”Okay, Okay.. we can clear this up, that man will probably wake up eventually and feel like a complete moron for having acted like that. Do you remember what he looked like.?” Mike had to make sure they could identify him in the future, Mike was going to go with them next time and watch from afar.

”YES!” they shouted and went back to sobbing.

Mike was distracted again. He calmed them down and passed them some meat he was getting ready for dinner, It was early but they were probably not going to have time to eat later.

”I need you all to help me with this.” Mike unrolled the rifle schematics and placed parts on it.

”I have an idea but I need you all to do things while I'm working on it.” Mike handed the buttstock to Mona.

”Hollow the inside of the bottom of that out here.” Pointing to a spot on the shoulder rest, Mike handed a knife to her and then looked over at the small metal pieces he had laying about.

The Blacksmith had managed to make a coil of wire, but Mike was mostly unsure to its strength. He would have to forgo anything fancy like a powerful return spring, the coil would at least separate the hammer from its intended target.

Using the pieces from the Microscope he had tried to build, Mike pulled the lenses and barrel apart.

The finish on the inside the bottom held a mirror like shine, He could probably get away with firing the crystal through the lenses and mirror, but It was unlikely that it would last. The weapon would probably be consumed if the barrel wasn't equally reflective. Mike had been looking for non-magically conductive materials. The more he thought about it, the more he thought about the shit in his truck.

Mike opened his door and found a plastic bottle.

”Motherfucker!” Jumping with joy, Mike was about to recycle.

Holding the bottle in his hand he knew it would never contain magic, but it was likely non-conductive. Putting it aside he opened the hood and took off the air cleaner. The carburetor had a return spring and some on the adjustment knobs. Robbing the knobs wouldn't rob the truck from running when he got it back in one piece.

Mike used the spring as a push-back for the hammer and looked through his truck for useful parts. When he saw his trailer hitch, he knew he struck pay dirt. Unpinning it and laying it across the table Mike was glad he didn't bring the one with a huge drop-down along. He didn't have a whole lot of time on his hands.

”New Plan! You can ignore the buttstock needing to be hollowed out, but do what you can to clear out what you've started.”

Mike pulled the door panel apart and rolled the pocket around the end of the hitch. When he put the crystal at the end of the square bar and duct taped it to the shaft. Walking outside he tried something else, aiming upward Mike charged the crystal by focusing on the whole assembly.

The results were pretty normal, as if he didn't do anything special at all. He was a bit disappointed that it wasn't that easy and tore the duct tape away. Placing the extra tape on the table to keep it for going directly to waste, Mike put the plastic bottle cutouts between the crystal and the opening, and fed the long coil that the blacksmith had made in contact

with the crystal but not the shaft.

Mike wasn't willing to burn his tow hitch or handle searing metal so he looked at the materials that had been separated and noticed a bunch of clear crystals that the girls had picked up at the market earlier. The girls were not successful in getting all that they wanted with just gold, but they had gotten hold of two. Mike looked at the prisms in his hand and wondered what fate would bring him if it worked. Wrapping the prism in duct tape Mike did his best to fill the gaps with whatever he could, he shoved rods and cut them off.

The weapon looked awful and clunky but it had potential after Mike Fired it upward. The Fire Crystal's discharge was a lot more focused, except for the smoking duct tape that eventually caught fire. Mike had a direction for the build. The plastic was a perfect choice of insulator.

Drawing up some more specific plans took some time, But mike knew that his beam weapon would produce Ice beams if he used the Ice Crystal instead. Deciding to consult with the blacksmith later over prices and minor details would be a different story all together.

”Okay. Stand back”

Mike felt bad that Only Mona really had something to do, So he loaded the tow hitch with the Ice Crystal and redid the prism tape combo. Each of the girls started playing with it like it was a toy until Mike had to take it back and warn them what they were doing.