Chapter 236: Could it be Replicated?

Kuchiin the shoon reluctantly accepted the weird thing on Ned's hands. What kind of thing is that? Why is that so soft? That would be the words if his eyes could speak.

"It's food... " Ned said after seeing the shoon's confused face.

"Food?" He said in a voice filled with contempt. "Human food? I don't think so... But... "

He paused, the food was in his hand. "But it wouldn't hurt if I tried it. No?"

Tentacles under his chin waved aimlessly after he nodded to Ned.

Ned took the pistol. It was rather heavy for size this small. Ned clasped its grip, it was rough at hand, the feeling of the dried bark of a tree. Without asking for ICE, Ned assumed that the weight was around half a kilo. Ned raised the pistol, it was uncomfortable at hand as his eyes met the tip of the muzzle with a small indention.

"Now," he muttered. "How do you load this thing?"

It appears to be empty of a loading dock. No extra magazines like the Sasani's mechanical wrist bow.

Ned examined the weapon as the shoon slowly took its first bite on the ham and cheese. Ned did not bother to check on the shoon if the food tasted good or bad since his finger felt a small indention on the side. Just under the chamber and above the grip. With a click, the bulky pistol snapped to half like a revolver. There, inside the sizable body of the pistol was a hole with strange markings. These markings were etched around the hole. As Ned deeply examined the markings, he realized that it resembles a rune mark. There were several strange rune marks. The combination of the marks means that it could be that an array was inlaid inside the pistol.

Ned rotated and checked the hole, but nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.

Ned heard a loud munching beside him, the shoon was happily eating the ham and cheese uncaring of Ned, and uncaring of the sauces that spilled over his tentacles down to his ragged clothing. 

Ned decided to leave with the pistol at hand as it appeared to be useless. But Ned wasn't exactly after the pistol if it's working or not. He wanted to analyze the weapon and maybe found a way to replicate it. At first he was reluctant, but seeing that rune markings were inlaid, it only shows that the weapon was once working just fine. He needed to study the pistol if he wanted to replicate it. How it was made? What materials were used? Does magic involve in making the pistol? How will it trigger?

Ned's eyes gleamed of an idea. It might be a magical item, so he imbued mana into it. Slowly, his mana decreased by one from 4, 500 he had. With the thick mana inside the Hive, Ned was able to fill his mana. But currently, Roy's training halted him from using his mana until he master, at least, the fourth form of the Vanishing Stance.

Ned signed inwardly since nothing happened to the pistol after he injected his mana.

"Huh," said the shoon. "Kuchiin never tasted food this good, human." After leaking the red sauces over his fingers, he continued. "Even I couldn't find a way to make it work."

He ate the last of the ham and cheese and took something under his wooden stall. It was a drab stone the size of Ned's thumb, or little bigger. He handed it to Ned and said: "Kuchiin supposed to sell the stone separate. Before, the stone shining, but now, no more colors. And Kuchiin is happy he tasted food so good. So I give it to you. Free. I believe humans like free?"

"Not all," Ned said. Receiving the dull stone. "But, okay. It's free so why not?"

Ned inserted the stone inside the hollow part of the pistol. Upon inserting, the stone lit blue, and green, then yellow. The markings around the edges of the hollow suddenly shone a bright light. Then light filled the strange markings.

"I never know that it can open like that," Kuchiin said, looking at pistol that snapped open. The overall body looked like a pistol, but after Ned accidentally opens the loading chamber, its mechanism was looking like a revolver.

Ned closed the half-open pistol. After closing, the pistol shone as though the thumb-size stone was its fuel.

Ned placed his finger at the trigger. He aimed it upward, above the darkness.

"Would it be all right to aim it above?"

No of course. Ned was just testing its weight, although he was tempted to pull the trigger. He didn't do so.

Instead, he left the market from the satisfied Kuchiin.

The Hive was massive, so Ned haven't roamed the entire place, yet. So his knowledge about the layout was lacking. With that, he decided to go to the training chamber.

As the stone was dimming, Ned decided that he must hurry before the stone completely fades out.

He aimed at the far end of the chamber. The chamber was circular and has a wide of almost twenty to thirty meters in diameter. Big in space if there are only two of them.

Ned pulled the trigger, it didn't let out a loud bang of a blast. The pistol vibrated first then the light blazed the muzzle of the pistol. But the light died off after a few seconds without firing a thing.

Then Ned heard a wee of a sound inside the pistol.

Ned then clicked the tiny button above the grip after the sound. And was surprised that the stone crumbled to dust.

"What happened?"

[It seemed that the energy the stone was storing was drained.]

Ned dusted the crumbled stone and used Inspect on the weapon.

After a series of chiming, the weapon was made of iron in the purest form. The grip was made of wood unknown to both Ned and ICE. Some mechanical parts of the pistol were fused with gold and silver plating in a tiny amount. Some copper in the chamber and around the hole, that Ned assumed where the ammunition was put.

"Can we replicate this?"

Ned's eyes examined the pistol. If he wanted to replicate it then he must disassemble all the parts.

[Possible.]

ICE chimed in agreement to Ned's anticipation.

[As long as we have the complete materials, we can make a handgun based on the pistol that you are holding.]