Newly Summoned Demoness 2 - Chapter 12 – Shock and Magazine (Patreon)

Elania watched as Yolani laid out the parts with care. The artificer’s ability to take a vague idea and turn it into reality with drawings and schematics was nothing short of magic. It also highlighted one of the major short-comings of relying on simple skill ranks rather than actual learned knowledge.

There was no way she could draft something to produce the components that she saw on the table. If Yolani handed her something, then maybe the skill would subconsciously prod her into knowing how to use it, but that was no substitute for actually knowing what you were doing.

And having practice doing it.

That didn’t apply to every skill—[Tracking] was certainly much more intuitive, especially if she pushed [Power] into it. Maybe that was a side-effect or synergy with her [Darkwalker] affinity, though?

“We are going to make the lightbulb using these parts. And if that works,” Yolani continued, her gaze drifting over to a spool of wire, “an electromagnet could be next. Then maybe the permanent one if we can figure out how to bake the ferrite…”

“I just know you need to use the electromagnets on it somehow to make it permanent…aligning it somehow?” Elania said hesitantly.

Yolani nodded. “It makes a bit of sense, but we’ll need some testing to figure it out for sure.”

She launched into an explanation of her plans for the components and Elania listened intently, her mind alight with the possibilities. It was more than enough for her to forget about the guards outside, the Magisters, and all the lurking threats outside the shop.

The glass for the lightbulbs was easy to recognize. The little black filaments were thin and wiry and array in a line. All of them were slightly different. A spool of copper wire we set aside next to a collection of metal caps and insulating materials.

Elania picked up a small, flat disc. “What’s this one for?” she asked, turning the disc over in her hand.

“That’s a base for the lightbulb,” Yolani explained. “It’s where we’ll attach the filament and secure everything in place.”

Elania nodded, placing it with the others. Her eyes fell on the mana crystals before locking onto the largest glowing stone in the set—the [Monster Core – Ralfot].

“How will the battery work?” Elania asked, her gaze fixed on the core.

Yolani followed her line of sight and smiled. “The [Monster Core – Ralfot] will act as a transformer for some built in mana crystals. We’ll have a dial to increase or decrease the rate of discharge so we can fine tune it. Since the Monster Core has a secondary specialization in lightning, it should do the electricity thing.”

Elania examined the components more closely. “What if it doesn’t work?”

Yolani gestured to another crate that had been set aside at some point. “Then we’ll try the copper-zinc-vinegar battery thing. Lodestone is very expensive, so we probably can’t get any of that. But what you told me about electromagnets and making our own permanent magnets…”

Elania swallowed and hoped she had got things right. She had not been too big of a science nerd. “Just remember, I wasn’t really an expert on these things. I am just repeating what I remember, and it was already very general, anyway.”

Yolani nodded. “Don’t worry. Just knowing that you can do things is a lot of the process! Figuring out the specifics is the fun part.” The smile appearing on her face went from ear to ear, and she rubbed the back of her head, looking slightly embarrassed. “Or… uh, expensive part, depending on what it is.”

A smile appeared on Elania’s face, and she nodded.

The conversation turned back to the task at hand as Yolani picked up one of the glass bulbs. “So, run it by me again—how does the bulb work exactly?”

Elania pointed to the bulb, then the filament. “Well, when you run electricity through the filament, it heats up and starts to glow. That’s what is supposed to give off the light. The glass bulb keeps oxygen away from the filament, so it doesn’t burn up too quickly.”

The explanation seemed to spark a new energy in Yolani. With a nod, the filament was inserted into the bulb, and then she used another wand to adhere it to the non-conductive plate. Elania watched with a mix of excitement and nervous anticipation.

Once the filament was secured, Yolani pulled out another wand and a green Aether spell appeared. “This will create a vacuum inside the bulb.”

Elania’s eyes lit up. She had been wondering about how that would work without a vacuum pump. It should have been obvious that magic, well… [Artifice] would be responsible.

The mana crystal-monster core ‘battery’ was put together next, and then Yolani connected the wires to the light bulb’s base. There was a single switch to flip the whole thing on.

“Here goes nothing,” Yolani said with a half-smile, flipping the switch.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, faintly at first, the filament began to emit a soft glow. The light grew slowly, casting a warm, gentle illumination around the workshop. It didn’t stop there, though, and quickly began to glow brightly enough to cause Elania to raise her arm up to protect her eyes.

“It’s working,” Yolani whispered, almost in disbelief. Her face lit up, mirroring the bulb’s glow. “We did it! We actually—”

There was a low-sounding pop from inside the bulb, leaving the lantern lit workshop bathed in its usual illumination.

Yolani sighed, a small puff of disappointment. “Well, that didn’t last long.”

Elania squeezed the other girl’s arm. “What are you talking about? It worked great! The filament part is supposed to be hard to get right. We just need to find the right material.”

Yolani’s smile reappeared. “Right. Let’s try the different types and see which one does the best.”

They moved on to the wood carbon filament, which held a promising glow for a longer span of seconds before succumbing to the same fate as the cloth one. They discussed potential treatments to maybe enhance the wood’s resistance, but Yolani had no inkling of what bamboo was.

Elania bit her lit. She wasn’t even sure if that was the right wood type, but something in the back of her head told her that maybe she had read it somewhere.

With a sense of cautious optimism, they prepared the seraph bone filament bulb. The moment the switch was flipped, the bone filament came to life, radiating a light so bright it was akin to a floodlight. They shielded their eyes, expressions alight with excitement.

“This is pretty strong! Maybe lower the power input?” Elania asked.

Yolani turned the voltage dial downward a few marks, but if anything, the bone began to get even brighter. In a panic, she disconnected the wires entirely.

The bone continued to glow brilliantly.

“Uhh. Is it supposed to do that?” Yolani asked.

“You’re asking me? There are no such things as Seraphs on Earth!” Elania replied hastily.

A subtle hum began to fill the room, and she realized that the glass bulb was vibrating. “Uhh—”

“Get back!” Yolani shouted. Elania stood and took a step back, before the other girl pulled out a wand and then pointed it toward the ceiling. Over each bench was a blue crystal, and Yolani fixed it in line with her wand. “Emergency shield!”

A blue column appeared, surrounding the workbench and the seraph bone. The hum continued to raise in pitch until the bone and lightbulb exploded into a thousand shards, creating a violent rain against the protective barrier.

The echoes and dust settled quickly, but Elania could still feel her heart pounding in her chest as they exchanged shocked looks.

“I don’t think Seraph bones are safe for filaments,” Elania whispered.

Yolani bit her lip and lowered the shield, her eyes scanning the workbench. The aftermath revealed all the lightbulbs shattered. Yet the mana crystal-monster core generator was untouched. So it wasn’t quite the worst-case scenario.

“At least we know we can convert [Power] into electricity now,” Yolani muttered.

Elania checked the mana crystal and her eyes widened. “At a pretty good rate, too. The mana crystal isn’t even down a single point.”

“I think the Seraph bone reacted somehow and probably produced the explosion on its own,” Yolani said.

Together, they began the process of cleaning up, sweeping up glass, and collecting the remnants of the failed experiment.

After that, they took a quick break, but it wasn’t long before Yolani was already calling her over for something else.

Elania shifted over to the worktable the other girl had moved on to, it held a large parchment with a recently penciled schematic on it. Leaning in to look at it closely, she recognized it almost immediately.

It was a meticulously detailed drawing of one of the City Watch’s smoothbore rifles, matching the weapons they had been working on charging. Her eyes slid to the middle, and she realized it was slightly different. Instead of a hinge that opened to allow reloading, there was an opening in the top that could be pulled back to insert a small clip.

“Already?” Elania murmured, tracing her finger near the modification. “I just told you about this the other day, and you already have it figured out?”

Yolani’s lips curled into a proud smile. “Your explanation made sense. The only real problem I see is how expensive it will be. That’s why there is a hopper.”

Elania followed Yolani’s finger to the round thing that stuck out on the side and realized what it was for. Catching the mana crystals and casings for reuse later? It certainly made sense, considering the cost of mana crystals.

“So, each crystal only charges one bullet?” Elania asked.

Yolani nodded. “You might not have noticed, but the barrel is also considerably heavier. Almost twice as thick. But it will allow for some seriously powerful shots. Multiple times. I am not sure if it will be feasible to replace the muskets, but I can work on a slimmer design later.”

Elania nodded, letting Yolani continue her walkthrough.

“Actually, I was thinking why not have multiple clips of mana crystals and the projectiles for that? It would increase the complexity of the mechanism, but it would solve having to have the catcher,” Yolani said.

Elania pointed to some blocky metal additions around the barrel. “What about this? More reinforcement?”

Yolani shook her head. “With the increased rate of fire, we need to dump a lot of heat from the barrel quickly. Otherwise, it would be too hot to handle after just a few shots.”

“This is pretty awesome. When will the parts come in for trying to build the prototype?” Elania asked.

Yolani’s eyebrows shot up. “We’re going to work on it right now. You brought them this morning!”

Elania’s jaw dropped. “What…but how? We just talked about it the other day!”

A light laugh escaped from Yolani. “We already have it. It was in the bottom of the crate you brought.”

Sure enough, there was a second section of the crate that was below the one that had held the electrical components. The crate had felt pretty heavy for just the generator, but she hadn’t really commented on it.

Elania worked on pulling out and setting everything on the workbench while Yolani fetched two of the muskets from the workshop wall. They had been slowly processing them one by one, and there were already two dozen crated and ready to return. Yolani laid the two she fetched on the workbench.

A frown appeared on Elania’s face. “Are you sure it’s okay to experiment on these? Don’t they belong to the City Watch?”

“It’ll be fine. If it works, they’ll probably pay us to convert all the rifles,” Yolani said.

Elania eyed the custom barrel. “Seems to me like they’d just have to order a bunch of the new ones.”

Yolani laughed. “You’re right. That would probably make more sense. Either way, there would be a lot for us to figure out and tinker with while improving the design… All of this is just prototype stuff. I’m sure we can refine it a lot.”

Elania nodded. She certainly could think of a lot of things, but maybe she should hold back a little. Yolani really loved to press things ahead, and she was literally a genius on it, but… Well…

Hadn’t the inventor of the machine gun expected it to end all wars or something? But that had been far, far from the case.

“We’re going to put it together,” Yolani declared, her enthusiasm spilling out.

Elania nodded. Working on this should be fine. They could talk about the ramifications of implementing things without consideration, especially weapons and the like, later.

“What can I do to help?” Elania asked.

Yolani handed her one of the custom parts—the heavy barrel that would replace the original tube. “Start with this. We’ll integrate it carefully with the original stock and make sure it aligns with the rest of the components.”

Elania steadied the metal—it was obvious why Yolani had picked her to hold it—the thing weighed a ton and Yolani’s earlier observation that it might be too heavy for regular use was probably apt. It didn’t pose a problem for her, though.

Yolani removed the pieces from the original, then marked the stock and used a wand to cut the wood with magical precision. Finally, she sanded it down with another one. The artifice-powered tools were as effective as power-tools, or maybe even better.

When it was ready, Elania slotted in the barrel in the newly widened groove and Yolani bolted a tightening iron strap that held it in place.

“Keep it steady,” Yolani instructed, as she began the delicate process of rebuilding the firing mechanism to accommodate the new design. The new parts were already pre-fabricated, but several times she had to shave down the metal to make things fit or slot in correctly.

Tiny little mana circuits were run via a golden hued wire. The rifle would use gas to power the mechanism that cycled the action to load a fresh round into the chamber after each shot.

The next step involved integrating the cooling system. The heat sinks clamped down onto the rifle’s barrel, and Yolani explained exactly how the system allowed them to draw heat and then dissipate it safely, without risk to the user.

With the firing mechanism and cooling system in place, Yolani moved on to the trigger assembly. Elania passed her the springs and gears, each piece slotting together with a satisfying click and snap. Finn had done a wonderful job of making sure everything was perfectly matched to Yolani’s schematic.

It was almost a surprise when Yolani’s face turned into a smile. “That’s it. It should be ready.”

The clip had already been loaded earlier while they were working. Yolani reached for it, but Elania captured the other girl’s hand and shook her head.

“Let’s not put in real ammunition until we’re ready for test firing,” Elania cautioned.

Yolani blinked, then laughed softly. “Right, we wouldn’t want an accidental discharge in the shop.”

That didn’t mean they wouldn’t test it, though, and Yolani spent the next thirty-minute fabricating a safe replica clip with fake crystals and bullets that were inert. With the inert clip loaded, they carefully tested the musket’s mechanisms. The faux crystals safely jumped into the hopper, and the bullet came out freely.

They had to manually cycle it after each test, though, since it would require firing a live round to test the gas cycle.

Yolani’s eyes sparkled as they moved to the second musket. It was much the same, and Elania didn’t realize it was different until Yolani went to cut a hole in front of the trigger guard underneath.

“I don’t understand,” Elania admitted.

Yolani paused and looked up at her. “There needs to be extra room for the magazine on this one.”

“But what about the mana crystal catcher?” Elania asked.

“This one doesn’t need one,” Yolani answered with a grin.

“What?”

The grin only widened, her excitement palpable. “That’s because you don’t need mana crystals, Elania. You’re your own power source.”

Elania stared at her for a moment before her eyes widened in realization. The second musket had been designed for her—her unique abilities as a [Lesser Demon] would provide the energy needed to fire it. It was a bespoke weapon; Yolani had designed it and was making it for her.