I used to have a dedicated weapon of my own.
A stupidly over-modified K14 sniper rifle.
Not merely over-modified, but the final boss of modifications, made from materials slathered in every kind of magic.
But eight years ago, after causing a major incident, I lost it.
“Tsk, I miss my beloved steed.”
Returning to his room, Sinhyeok collapsed onto the bed.
‘What would be better?’
No matter how much he thought, nothing came to mind.
“I can’t really think of anything.”
He rolled around while hugging Blue, when something familiar suddenly popped into his head.
‘Bullets. Bullets to drive into their hearts.’
He was instantly hooked on bullets.
“Should I try putting magic into bullets?”
It was clichéd, yet fresh.
After all, plenty of people had tried, but no one had succeeded.
“Seems like it could work?”
He got up right away, sought the battalion commander’s permission, and received approval for a magazine and ammunition.
“Blue, let’s go right now.”
With Blue on his shoulder, he entered his personal training room.
“Let’s do this.”
He spread out all the materials he had on the floor and pondered.
‘What do I put in, and how?’
This was the starting point. He took out a single bullet and stared at it.
The projectile, the casing, the gunpowder, the primer.
He had to decide which part of the bullet to alter with alchemy.
‘Change all of it?’
That would make the job too big.
‘No, let’s keep it simple. Start with what I can apply right away.’
Once he organized his thoughts, his gaze naturally went to the projectile.
‘So anyone can use it.’
That was the key. High accessibility, so anyone could use it.
His fingertip moved toward the projectile.
“Let’s just change this.”
His hand, which had been reaching for the projectile, stopped for a moment.
“Let’s just modify the projectile moderately.”
This was what Sinhyeok had in mind.
You fired the bullet normally. But when the projectile struck, the magic went “bang” and exploded.
“That’d be incredible.”
Sinhyeok grinned as he checked the materials he had.
‘The Sunstone Uncle Aizar gave me, and two types of mana herbs.’
On top of that, he opened the sack Farel had given him. It was full of familiar things.
‘Mana crystals.’
But for now, he set them aside.
“Something that could be made with that sun.”
He wanted to make something amazing with the item called a Sunstone.
He held the heavy Sunstone in one hand and a bullet in the other.
‘What would be good?’
As he thought, he remembered Farel’s appearance during the Gunsan Gate Break.
‘Explosion.’
The vast explosion that had swept across the earth flickered in his mind.
“That’s it.”
‘But isn’t that Fifth Circle?’
It didn’t seem like something he could implement with the First Circle magic he possessed.
“Hmm.”
He quietly opened the First Circle spellbook.
Only Magic Arrow, Wind, Fire, Aqua, Ice, Lightning, and Shield were recorded in it.
“Weak. Way too weak.”
With the spellbook open, he sank into thought.
‘No, wait. I heard something.’
For some reason, a lesson he had heard from the brigadier general flashed through his mind.
‘Isn’t magic all about having a higher Circle?’
He had asked that once. Since the man talked about magic so much, he had gotten curious and asked.
‘Magic isn’t all about Circle. You can kill a troll with First Circle.’
‘Come on. Don’t lie to me just because I don’t know magic, Battalion Commander. Do I look like an idiot?’
At those words, Brigadier General Lee Gangyeol snorted and showed him directly.
‘Magic Arrow.’
An insane number of Magic Arrows covered the sky. When he fired them, the earth flipped over.
‘See that?’
‘Battalion Commander, if you’ve got that much mana, couldn’t you just use Seventh Circle?’
‘You don’t know anything. This uses less mana than that and it’s faster.’
He remembered them bickering like that.
“I can just stack them, can’t I?”
He immediately repeated First Circle Fire and Wind endlessly.
“Fire.”
“Wind.”
“Fire.”
“Wind.”
Red and greenish crystals poured down from his hands.
“More, more.”
He entered a trance and repeated it like a machine. The work continued until his Mana Heart was completely empty.
“Is it... is it done?”
[Due to excessive use of First Circle, your proficiency in First Circle magic has slightly increased.]
He had repeated it for over four hours.
Sinhyeok picked up a bullet and popped out the projectile.
‘This, and...’
He put the magic crystals, fragments of the sun, and mana herbs into a canteen and mixed them together.
Clack, clack, clack.
Since he had not added purified water, he could hear the contents rolling around inside the canteen. When he opened the lid and poured them out, a crystal of white flame emerged.
[You are making a new attempt using Potion Crafting.]
[New main skill Material Synthesis has been unlocked.]
[Under the influence of your trait, the material evolves to transcendental grade.]
[Sacred Solar Flare][Heroic]
=====================================
A material that stably contains the explosive release of the sacred sun.
=====================================
‘Beautiful.’
Inside the crystal, a blazing white flame had settled like the sun, constantly spewing fire.
‘Let’s put it in.’
He immediately placed it atop the projectile and focused.
‘Go soft. Soft and mushy!’
A process even more difficult than mixing remained.
Melting the crystallized result. In other words, fusion.
“Ah, damn it.”
The crystal almost flowed down, then stopped.
Holding back his anger, Sinhyeok repeated the process until dawn broke.
“Aaargh! This is filthy hard!”
At his shout spreading through the unit, Instructor Lucien quietly approached to check on him.
“Shiiit! Goddamn alchemy!”
At the string of screams, Lucien smiled faintly.
“Hmm~ Now this is what a Magic Tower should be like.”
The enraged Sinhyeok saw Instructor Lucien standing behind the door and suddenly choked up.
“Damn alchemy.”
Tap.
Farel smiled without saying much and said,
“You are becoming a proper alchemist now.”
After he repeated such strange cries a few more times and half a day passed, the shape finally revealed itself.
“Ha, damn it... I finally finished it.”
He presented a 9mm round with a white, blazing projectile.
[Solar Bullet][Heroic]
=====================================
A bullet that stably contains the explosive power of the sun.
=====================================
Seeing that it had been made well, Sinhyeok stretched.
“Grrrgh, now this...”
As he wondered what to do next, an overwhelming drowsiness came over him.
“Haaauuum.”
Judging by the time, it was daytime.
He had stayed up through the night until noon.
‘Whew, I should sleep a bit.’
Thud.
Sinhyeok collapsed straight onto the bed and fell asleep while admiring the bullet in his hand.
* * *
He shot upright.
His eyes snapped open.
“Haaam, why are they leaving me alone?”
Being left alone as if he were truly a patient made Sinhyeok feel both pleased and displeased.
“Aren’t they treating me too much like an exception?”
Scratching his stomach, he thought of the trainees who still had not returned.
“I’m bored. This big brother is continuing to self-evolve like this, you know.”
Before he knew it, Sinhyeok arrived at Lucien’s instructor room and went inside.
“Hmm? Did you make something already?”
“Yes. Please take a look.”
Farel took the bullet from Sinhyeok’s hand and examined it.
“Impressive. Fire and Wind, is it? Did you imitate an explosion?”
“Yes.”
He checked the unusual properties and chuckled.
“You melted down the sacred sun. It will become a devastating sunlight that warmly illuminates its surroundings.”
“It’s that strong?”
“Hmm, roughly.”
He placed the bullet back into Sinhyeok’s hand.
“However, it is too stable.”
At those words, Sinhyeok stared at him with a puzzled expression.
“Pardon? Isn’t being stable a good thing?”
“Hmm. You will understand once you use it.”
At the remark that he would know once he used it, Sinhyeok searched for a place to test it.
Unable to think of anywhere suitable, he immediately went to find the senior instructor.
“What is it?”
“Instructor, is there anywhere I can try using this bullet?”
He thought for a moment, then pointed behind the barracks.
“There is an unused shooting range behind the main building. If you’re going to use it, use that. I’ll get permission for you.”
“Loyalty! Thank you, sir!”
Sergeant First Class Lee Junho smiled and, just in case, gave him a warning.
“I’m only saying this just in case, and of course it’s impossible with your skills, but if you break the back wall, you’ll be disciplined. If you’re curious why that would get you disciplined, go ahead and break it.”
At his threat, Sinhyeok grew needlessly nervous.
“Come on. What I made won’t be on that level.”
Sinhyeok walked around to the back, opened the shooting range that had been firmly locked with a padlock, and went inside.
“Cough, cough, ugh! Look at all this dust.”
Waving his hand around, he headed in.
Farel, who followed him inside, covered his mouth with a handkerchief and chanted a spell.
“Wind.”
A sudden wind swept through the shooting range.
Soon, with precise currents, the dust vanished cleanly.
“Then, let us begin the experiment at once.”
Farel looked around with a face that showed no expectation whatsoever.
Sinhyeok felt slightly offended by how utterly uninterested he seemed.
“Instructor, aren’t you going to watch?”
“There is no need to watch. The result is obvious.”
‘Hmph, anyone can see it’ll be tremendous.’
Sinhyeok immediately removed the pistol magazine and loaded the special bullet at the very top.
Click.
Along with the clean sound of loading, Sinhyeok aimed at the old target in front of him.
“Loaded. Firing!”
“Yes, go right ahead.”
Lucien waited with an indifferent expression.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out, and the target was pierced.
A blazing white line was drawn through the air. But something felt off.
‘It’s too ordinary.’
The power itself was similar to a normal live round. Looking closely, it was a little better.
The bullet had lodged in the wall behind it. Part of the target board was slightly scorched as well.
However, the impact he had most expected did not occur.
“Why didn’t it explode?”
He had expected it to explode, but it was far too quiet.
Farel used mana to pull the modified bullet out of the wall.
“As expected. Trainee, it has a particle structure that is far too stable to explode.”
At the words “too stable,” Sinhyeok looked at Farel.
“What do you mean?”
Farel pointed to the projectile blazing with white flame and said,
“It would be easier to think of it not as magic being contained within it, but as the magic having become a single material. In other words, this is not an explosive substance that bursts.”
“Ah.”
He understood.
He had vaguely assumed it would explode.
“I imagine you made it after seeing my potion, but there are several differences.”
Farel took a red potion from his subspace and shook it.
Clack, clack.
Something rattled inside.
“First, I suppose I should call it the particle structure. Mine is more unstable than yours.”
When he shook the potion, flames flickered over the surface of the red liquid.
“In addition, I separately made and placed small ignition stones inside it. So they would ignite from impact.”
There was something small and black inside.
In conclusion, the problem was that what Sinhyeok had made was too high-quality.
“So you’re saying it can’t be used as a weapon?”
“That is correct.”
Once he had overcome one thing, another remained.
“That is the greatest problem. Shaking the particle structure of stable mana and making it unstable.”
Farel placed the bullet in his hand onto Sinhyeok’s palm.
“This technique will only bloom once you find and reveal the next step.”
“Ah.”
“Of course, you will also need to improve the efficiency and speed of crystallization, but the greatest hurdle is this. The destabilization of mana.”
He placed the Explosion Potion into Sinhyeok’s hand and said,
“Think about it for a while. For now, let us say you have completed the assignment. You did well.”
He had praised him, saying he had done well, but something still felt unsatisfying.
Like something only half-cleaned. He did not feel refreshed.
‘Destabilization.’
Turning the nature of solidified mana in the opposite direction.
‘Wait a minute. I’m already doing this, aren’t I?’
It had been difficult, but even when he made this bullet, he had fused the crystal. That meant the particle structure had changed.
“No, I already did it?”