"Holy crap, we actually pulled it off!"
"Heheh..."
Zhandi Lunyiren stroked the crude firearm's bulky stock as though caressing a future lover.
Gangtie Kuangchao smacked his hand away. "Get lost, scram! Why are you acting like a pervert?"
Beside them, a player with the ID "Dianci Baopo" suggested, "This is the very first gun we've made. It's a huge milestone. We should give it a name."
Zhandi Lunyiren excitedly chimed in, "How about SMG 08/18? Or the Type 2 submachine gun? Those are my absolute favorites!"
Gangtie Kuangchao scoffed dismissively, "Piss off. Don't bring your crummy wheelchair guns into this."
"Besides, this is a shotgun."
"How about the M30 Drilling?" Zhandi Lunyiren leaned in again.
Gangtie Kuangchao ignored him, pondered for a moment, and made the call. "Since this thing shoots steel ball bearings, how about... the Steel Spitter?"
Everyone: "..."
The brief silence spoke volumes.
Realizing the name sounded a bit unsavory, Gangtie Kuangchao scratched his head in mild embarrassment and hurriedly amended, "I was just joking! How about we talk it over again?"
Yet just as the group prepared for another round of debate, notifications materialized on the interface.
Amid the lingering scent of gunpowder smoke, a faint magical aura shimmered across the crude firearm's rough barrel—the result of the series of magical reactions triggered by the shot just fired.
[Creator successfully named the item!]
[You have successfully crafted the magical weapon: Steel Spitter.]
Steel Spitter
Quality: Special
Range: Under fifty meters depends on luck; beyond fifty meters is entirely in the hands of the gods.
Description:
Forged with the crudest equipment and the roughest materials, this firearm nevertheless condenses the blood and sweat of more than a dozen blacksmiths. The pitted hammer marks across the barrel tell the story of its creation.
This simply structured shotgun takes dozens of seconds—perhaps even longer—to reload, and can only fire once per reload. But trust me: with its destructive power, the dense spray of steel pellets will turn you into a pile of minced meat long before anyone gets the chance to fire a second shot!
"The trend of the era lies beneath my hammer!" — Gangtie Kuangchao, Gunsmith
Gangtie Kuangchao: "..."
Zhandi Lunyiren clapped him on the shoulder and consoled him, "Boss, it's fine. The name might be a little awkward, but hasn't your name gone down in infamy—no, history?"
"In the future, whenever people bring you up, they'll say, 'Aha, that's Gangtie Kuangchao, creator of Elezerg's very first firearm, the great Spray Warrior!'"
By the end of the sentence, Zhandi Lunyiren couldn't hold back a burst of laughter.
Gangtie Kuangchao glared daggers at him.
Soon, however, everyone's attention was drawn to the notifications refreshing once more on the interface.
Gangtie Kuangchao muttered to himself, "Holy crap..."
[You have created a new magical item. Hidden class unlocked: Artificer!]
[Across the multiverse, artificers invent wonders and magical items for both peace and war. Many lives have been illuminated or saved through the works of benevolent artificers, yet countless others have suffered cataclysmic devastation from their ingenious creations.]
[As masters of invention, artificers employ ingenuity and magic to unlock the extraordinary potential within objects. They view magic as an intricate system waiting to be decoded and then harnessed in their spells and inventions, channeling arcane energy through a vast array of tools.]
[Current class detected: Barbarian.]
[Do you wish to change classes?]
[Note: Changing classes will incur an experience penalty. Your experience points will be reduced to 40% of their previous total. Please consider carefully.]
Gangtie Kuangchao's heart surged with excitement. He waved his hand dismissively.
"What the hell is there to consider—"
"I confirm the class change right now!"
[Your current class: Artificer, Level 1.]
[To cast spells, an artificer might use alchemist's supplies to brew a potent elixir, calligrapher's supplies to inscribe a symbol of power, or tinker's tools to fashion a temporary talisman.]
[An artificer's magic is intimately tied to their tools and talent. Few other classes can craft items that harness the multiverse's magical rules as skillfully as an artificer.]
[Obtained Artificer class feature: Magical Tinkering.]
Magical Tinkering:
[You have learned the fundamental workings of magic, knowing how to channel arcane energy into objects and awaken its latent power. As such, you have gained limited spellcasting ability. To an onlooker, you do not cast spells in any traditional manner—rather, you appear to produce miracles through various objects. You will learn how to infuse mundane items with a spark of magic.]
Reading through the class overview, Gangtie Kuangchao trembled with exhilaration.
"Spring has finally come for our Machine Cult!"
"From now on, whether it's planes and cannons or aircraft carriers and Gundams, we can build them all!"
Gangtie Kuangchao clenched his fists tight, pumped his arm in the air, and roared:
"The flesh is weak; the machine ascends!"
***
Coiled within Giant's Mouth Cave, Cassius observed the cheering scene inside the players' blacksmith shop through a magical projection, a look of mild surprise on his face.
"The Machine Cult?"
"Isn't that a guild that only emerged after the official launch? How is its foundation already taking shape now, and they've even unlocked the artificer class ahead of schedule?"
The Machine Cult had been one of the most powerful player guilds in the future.
In the early days of its founding, the Machine Cult was just a small gathering of machinery enthusiasts, and their guild leader, "Gangtie Kuangchao," was merely an ordinary undergraduate majoring in mechanical engineering.
However, as the scale of players entering Elezerg grew ever larger, this early-starter guild attracted top talents from all over the world, even drawing in scientists at the cutting edge of various fields. Consequently, the Machine Cult's aesthetic in the later stages leaned straight into science fiction—they even established a floating fortress in Mechanus as their headquarters.
"I have to recruit them. Definitely."
"I need to keep this faction firmly in my grasp."
Watching the projection of the shotgun blast ripping the scarecrow to shreds, Cassius made up his mind.
And so, the head steward of Cinder Nest, the colossal intellectual Langpu, paid a personal visit to the City of Baator. He sought out the members of the Machine Cult to recruit them, promising generous remuneration, ample funding, and cutting-edge spell resources, even offering each of them a complimentary bottle of precious Dragon Blood Potion.
Under this barrage of sugar-coated cannonballs, Gangtie Kuangchao—who had yet to see much of the world—readily folded.
The promise of ample funding, in particular, struck a deep chord with him after months of scrimping, saving, and hammering iron.
Without the slightest hesitation, Gangtie Kuangchao led the entire guild into the fold, happily transforming into one of the red dragon's lackeys—a half-dragon.
Now, not only did he possess even greater strength for blacksmithing, but he could also breathe fire himself, saving the trouble of fanning the forge furnace altogether.
With bugbears and ogres rushing the construction, a brand-new, sprawling structure rose in the City of Baator in just seven days.
Hanging over the entrance was a massive iron sign—Storm Armory.
Chapter 96