“Aww, alright … And you don’t have any of it around?” Vanda asked with a dejected expression, and Ryan slowly shook his head.

  “A bit of it, but not everything, no. We should have some steel rebar laying around, but we don’t have brass, gunpowder, or the motor oil he’s asking for. But we should be able to get all of that relatively easily,” Ryan explained. “If you want, we can meet up in a couple of days and I’ll prepare everything that he needs before then?”

  Vanda thought about it, then quickly. “Sure! Let’s do that. I only really have time on Saturday, though. Does that work for you?”

  A bit hesitantly, Ryan nodded. By then, he should be able to level up to 10, so he would have the time to take it a bit easy and hang out with someone. “That should work, yeah.”

  “Alright.” Vanda got up from her seat, grabbing her bag. “In that case, let’s just text later and figure out a time and place?”

  “Works for me,” Ryan agreed, guiding Vanda to the flat’s front door. “Thank you so, so much for the help, by the way. I don’t think I would have been able to finish today without you.”

  With a smug grin, Vanda looked back at him. “And don’t you forget it. That means you owe me one.”

  “Oh, a hundred percent I do,” Ryan responded without a moment’s hesitation. The quick reply almost surprised Vanda. “If you have anything you need, just let me know. Uhm, again, my uncle has some money, and he’s pretty well connected … I did tell him about your Energizer before, and he sounded curious. I think maybe I can get him to let you present Energizer and the tech you developed for him to some companies.”

  Completely taken aback, Vanda stared up at Ryan. “Wait, what?”

  “Yeah, uh, I think he said something like that machines using Energizer’s tech would be really useful in construction. And you know, my uncle has some pretty big pull, so … while I don’t think you’d want him to just get you a job, I’m sure he can set up a meeting with some people at companies that could properly help you develop Energizer’s technology into something really useful.”

  “I … uh, I … I was joking; you … you really don’t need to do anything, so I … Ryan, are you serious about that? You could make that happen?” Vanda asked, blinking like a drake in headlights. Of course, Ryan knew she wasn’t totally serious about that, but he felt like that was the least he could do. Frankly, Ryan had already meant to ask Runar to help out with those sorts of showcase events at college anyway.

  There were a lot of incredibly skilled people at college, whether they were Awakened or not. And they deserved to be able to do something good with their abilities, knowledge, and expertise. And if Ryan could somehow make that happen, then he didn’t want to hesitate for even a moment.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Woodlands Cannon

  Runar put the crate down in the center of Ryan’s bedroom. It was filled with the various materials that Gregor had requested in order to build his machines.

  “Alright, is that all? Or did you need anything else?” Runar asked, and Ryan slowly looked around the wooden box.

  “I think that’s all … Oh, wait, actually, it said he needed liquor; you didn’t bring that,” he pointed out, and Runar raised an eyebrow.

  “You were serious about that? I thought that was a joke.”

  “Nope.” Ryan scoffed, looking over at the desk where Gregor was currently seated. He seemed to be pretty interested in the computer, so Maximus was showing him how it worked. “One of his skills is called Artillerist’s Drunken Stupor, so I guess he likes alcohol?”

  “How would a robot … Wait, is that a normal Artillerist skill?” With a deep frown, Runar looked over at Gregor, and Ryan quickly shook his head.

  “I actually wanted to ask you about that. Like … what’s the deal with that? Maximus’s skills are normal, but two out of three of Gregor’s skills are ones that I haven’t heard about yet.”

  Runar thought about it for a moment. “Well … They’re spirits, so there’s no telling what kind of changes that makes to their classes.”

  “… Well, I guess so. But that means we won’t really be able to count on things like wikis to prepare for other spirits as much.” Ryan groaned loudly.

  “What, have you been doing that?”

  Ryan looked at his uncle with a raised eyebrow. “Of course. I read about any and all knight skills that are known about and the ways different knights tended to fight and make use of those skills. I looked for any botanical classes that seemed like they had a similar skill profile to Gaia’s. I looked up growth methods, skills, stats, and such for the Artillerist and Harlequin classes, and I tried to figure out as much as I could about classes that could match the info you gave me on Violette and Morgana.”

  A bit surprised, Runar nodded, impressed. “Well, fair enough, though I don’t think you need to worry all too much. I’m sure everything you learned about those classes will still come in useful. It’s just that you can’t fully predict everything. In the first place, it’s possible that some of them have unique classes like Gaia does. Having some unique skills is certainly much easier to handle.”

  “It’s not just that; it’s like a whole different class. Gregor’s stats are different too. Until now, different classes could have had similar names but never the same name. And that’s weird,” Ryan pointed out, and Runar stopped for a few moments. He didn’t know exactly what to say to that.

  “That is weird. But still … I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Just keep doing what you’re doing, and tell me whenever you need any help.”

  “Yeah, alright. You’re right,” Ryan said, looking over to Gregor. “Though I do think we’ll need that liquor. It says ‘high-proof’, so …”

  “We should have some in the kitchen; hold on.” With a sigh, Runar turned around and walked out of Ryan’s bedroom, who soon started to take all the materials from the box that Runar had brought. Seeing this, Gregor turned toward Ryan curiously. He walked over to the materials, taking a closer look at them.

  “Are these what you need?” Ryan asked, and Gregor immediately nodded, though he was clearly looking around for something. With a sigh, Ryan explained, “Runar is picking up the alcohol right now; don’t worry.”

  At that moment, Runar stepped back into the room and put a bottle of high-proof whiskey on the ground. Immediately, Gregor seemed to grow excited, looking at the bottle curiously. He stared over at Ryan, as if waiting for him to let him have a drink.

  “Alright, alright, well … show me what you can do.”

  The moment Ryan said this, Gregor turned toward the materials and a message appeared in front of Ryan’s eyes.

  [Gregor has confirmed the materials for the -Woodlands Cannon-]

  The moment this happened, Gregor got to work. Ryan could see a wave of mana flow out from the automaton, latching on to all the materials, before Gregor pressed his hands to the pieces of metal in front of him. A strong heat flowed out from his hands as he cut out the pieces that he needed from the metal, each one of his four hands moving independently at an extreme speed.

  Before he could miss it all, Ryan hurriedly pulled out his phone and started recording. Since Vanda had helped out so much, he wanted to at least send her a video to show her the process.

  Gregor walked around all of the materials, grabbing what he needed and neatly placing it all to the side. Of course, he was particularly careful around the gunpowder and alcohol. The gunpowder was still in small ampules for now, and the bottle was closed. Though that last part wouldn’t be the case for a lot longer.

  With a quick jump, Gregor leapt up to the top of the bottle, opening it faster than Ryan could ever hope to do himself. The automaton reached one of his arms down into the bottle, and his wrist folded open. A metal pipe flowed down inside, immediately starting to suck up some of the alcohol, filling the large liquid container in that arm.

  “… That’s what that was for?” Ryan asked, as the container basically popped out from Gregor’s arm before the wooden plates covered the hollow space back up. Treating the container like a bottle, Gregor pressed the opening against his mouth and just chugged it a few times. Remembering the automaton’s structure, Ryan knew that the alcohol should basically be flowing into a small chamber directly adjacent to the spirit core that only became sealed once the core was set in place. That meant that the alcohol was flowing directly to the spirit core, and was probably absorbed somehow.

  But the moment that this happened, something changed about Gregor’s behavior. Before, he had always moved in a very clearly robotic way. Stiff and rigid, with sharp motions. But now that he had something to drink, he immediately seemed to slow down to some degree. Ryan was worried if Gregor would be able to properly work like this, but just a moment later, he realized that he didn’t have to worry at all.

  In a relaxed manner, the automaton approached all the parts that he had cut out with three of his hands, while one of them was constantly holding onto the small “bottle.” Whenever that bottle was empty, Gregor would refill it from the larger whiskey bottle, and to make it easier, Ryan poured it into a glass that the artillerist could easily reach.

  And at this point, Ryan finally understood why Gregor had the physicality stat. He was truly using his whole body to work. His limbs twisted and turned to give the automaton more leverage as he was putting everything in place, certain parts of his body opened up automatically to provide tools that were needed, and Gregor walked and jumped around the carefully constructed machine with precision. And all of that was happening despite the fact that he was very clearly getting more and more drunk.

  “Well, I guess you two are gonna get along, huh?” Runar asked with a laugh. “Though if his class is related to building these machines, what do you think the best way to help him level up would be?”

  Ryan thought about it for a moment. “One of his skills lets him make his own blueprints and invent new machines and guns and stuff, so I guess that would be a good way. Obviously, beyond acting as combat support for Maximus.”

  “Wait, if he can make his own things, then … You know what, I’ll go grab some stuff from downstairs; I’ll be back in a bit.” Immediately, Runar turned around and left Ryan’s bedroom, rushing downstairs to the basement.

  Ryan kept watching Gregor work, as the cannon that he was building was slowly but surely coming to be, built from different materials just as Gregor himself was. Wooden plates covered the cannon, almost as if hiding it. Before long, the whole thing was put together. Despite the fact that Gregor’s stats were so low, he was working at an incredible speed and with ridiculous precision.

  Though, looking at the machine, Ryan kept being a bit surprised. He knew that there was a lot of incredibly advanced technology created during the western independence war that was then later lost up until a hundred or so years ago, but seeing a cannon from that time being built in front of him was shocking. Despite being so old, it seemed weirdly modern.

  [The -Artillerist’s Construction- Skill has leveled up]

  Once the cannon itself was finished, Gregor moved on to something else. He sat down in front of the gunpowder ampules and the brass bullet parts that he had prepared earlier.

  He carefully assembled about two dozen bullets, filling each of them with just enough gunpowder. However, these bullets were the size of regular bullets. If you scaled them up ten times, they were basically the size of small cannonballs. They were carefully inserted into a hollow section at the bottom of the cannon. With a last swig of his bottle, Gregor turned toward Ryan.

  “Are you done?” Ryan asked, taking a look at the cannon curiously. Immediately, Gregor nodded, and a broad grin formed on the Spirit Keeper’s face. “We should go test it out later.”

  The moment he said so, Gregor walked over to the cannon, clearly getting ready to load and turn it on. Ryan freaked out, not wanting a gun to be fired inside of his home, and tried to press a hand between Gregor and the cannon.

  “Not like that! Please don’t blow up my room,” Ryan clarified. “We’re heading out to a place where we can properly use them soon, so calm down. Can we move this?”

  Quickly, the automaton nodded. He moved around Ryan’s hand, unloading the bullet that he had just placed inside a moment earlier, and then started folding up the cannon into itself. More and more, the reason for the almost randomly placed wooden plates became apparent, creating a box around the small cannon.

  “Alright, that means we can carry them around and deploy them as needed,” Ryan muttered, though he was thinking about the wording of Gregor’s skill. It said that he could create up to three machines at a time. So. what was going to happen when a fourth was created?

  “Do you think you can create a couple more? And maybe prepare some more ammunition before we go?”

  Gregor didn’t hesitate for a moment, immediately walking up to the materials again.

  [Gregor has confirmed the materials for the -Woodlands Cannon-]

  “Hm … Is that the only blueprint you have right now?” Ryan asked, and Gregor slowly turned around and nodded. If that was the case, then Ryan should make sure Gregor had everything he needed to develop new blueprints as well. And that was exactly when Runar came back, carrying a number of briefcases in his hands.

  “Alright, let him take a look at these later. It’s fine if they break or aren’t usable afterward; they’ve just been laying around anyway.” Runar placed the briefcases onto the ground and opened them up. While Gregor was preparing more parts for another cannon, Runar placed a number of different guns on the ground nearby.

  Pistols, machine guns; there was even a disassembled sniper rifle.

  “… How many guns do you have?”

  “A handful. Before she settled on the ones she has right now, Yamada used a lot of different guns. Plus, it’s always good to have a couple different things laying around in case something breaks or we get someone assigned here that has a gun-related class or something,” Runar explained. “Now, there are a few that are standard-issue, but there’s also a few that were reinforced through Magic Engineering, as well as some that are magically strengthened through my runes.”

  “Do you think he can replicate your runes?”

  “Well, anyone can, technically,” Runar explained. “I can do a couple of things with my runes that others can’t, plus they’re more effective than others, but as long as there’s a supply of magic and the runes are set up properly, anyone can use them to some degree. Especially for making magic items, runes are a go-to for a lot of people. The main difference is that I use a larger variety and some ancient lost runes.”

  Curiously, Ryan took a look at the weapons that were laid out in front of him. Gregor also seemed curious, but for now, he was still working on the second cannon, so he would just take a look later. Hopefully, he wasn’t going to be too drunk later on. After all, if he made two more cannons, Gregor was going to drink more than half a liter of high-proof liquor in effectively one sitting.

  “We’ll see what he can do with the guns, then.”

  Not long after, they had made it back to the amusement park dungeon. Runar would be watching from afar again, while Ryan and the spirits would try and get used to having Gregor join their combat. There was actually something that worried Ryan a bit; usually, an Artillerist would have a skill that allowed them to practically remote-control everything they built in the middle of combat, but Gregor didn’t. Instead, he had that Drunken Stupor skill that, while increasing damage, didn’t seem quite as useful when the cannons had to be triggered manually.

  Though, in the end, this was just guesswork right now. How well Gregor would do in combat was yet to be seen. For now, they would seek out some of the petting-zoo monsters and have Gregor act as support using just one of the cannons he built.

  Using the same tactics as usual, Ryan used the Spirit Link skill to connect to Gaia and, with that, the two sub-golems, using them as scouts. Since they were ignored by the monsters as long as they stood still, they were perfect for that.

  Once they found some monsters that seemed like good targets, Maximus would usually ambush them to get an initial attack in. Though, in this case, that was going to be a little different. Since they now had Gregor, it seemed like a better idea to let him shoot at one of the monsters first.

  Ryan placed the folded-up cannon on the ground, then watched as Gregor properly unfolded and anchored it in the ground, loading a bullet into it. After getting everything up and running, Gregor aimed the ancient cannon toward the target with extreme speed and precision in his movements. And with a swift motion, he slammed a fist onto the trigger, firing a bullet at the first monster.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Spirit Seal Recovery

  The bullet of Gregor’s cannon cut through the air and then buried itself in the neck of the first monster. Surprised and weakened, Maximus was able to promptly jump in and finish it off.

  [You have killed a level 7 -Giant Rabbit-]

  Ryan grinned broadly, watching as Gregor got the cannon ready for the next attack. The three other rabbits that were part of this small group went to attack Maximus, though their attacks were soon countered with the help of the elemental greatsword Granfell. The water attacks dug through the monsters’ flesh, cutting it apart in gruesome ways.

  Their blood flowed out of their bodies through the profusely bleeding wounds. Another bullet hit one of the monsters, clearly cracking its spine and killing it.

  One after another, the giant rabbits were killed, either by Maximus’s blade or by Gregor’s bullets. They were able to kill a group of four giant rabbits much faster than they would have been able to before, so just as Ryan expected, the efficiency had gone up considerably. And that was with Gregor just at level 1 and just a single one of the most basic cannons that Gregor would be able to construct in the future.

  “This is great.” Ryan grinned broadly. “Great job, everyone.”