"…" Staring at the weapon Valyr had brought out, Arcaelus went silent for a bit as he tried to guess the underlying mechanics on how the weapon worked.
After all, the man had not seen a weapon that resembled anything the young man had brought out in the past.
"In terms of appearance, it's shaped similarly to a short spear," muttered the man, the gears in his mind turning the more he thought about it.
"However, there is no point at the end. If anything, all of its sides are dull."
"A unique blunt weapon?" asked Arcaelus to himself, slightly unsure of his guess.
Fortunately, Valyr heard the words the man was muttering to himself, slightly chuckling as he shook his head.
"I guess it could work as a blunt weapon in an emergency," said Valyr, finding Arcaelus' guess somewhat amusing.
After that, he took out a few items from his spatial bracelet, which only made Arcaelus wonder whether he had even guessed correctly.
"Well, I guess it won't hurt to use it one last time before upgrading it."
At those words, the young man dispelled the mana arms he had conjured before proceeding with the whole arming process of the arquebus.
Watching Valyr add what looked to be black powder and a metal pellet to the weird-looking weapon, Arcaelus slightly tilted his head in confusion, not understanding what the young man was aiming to achieve.
Thankfully, after going through the process in his mind one more time, the man gradually put two and two together as a crazy idea surfaced in his mind.
With his eyes slightly widened in surprise, Arcaelus asked, "Is that… is that a portable cannon?"
In response, Valyr let out a bit of laughter as he nodded.
"Correct."
Fwoosh!
Conjuring a flame out of thin air, he then moved this flame towards the pan on the barrel's side, igniting all of the gunpowder on it.
Bang!
Though he had not infused any mana into the shot, that still did not stop the bullet from zooming forth at great speeds as a boom accompanied its release.
Witnessing this unfold before him, Arcaelus went a bit slack-jawed as he felt the ferocious aura of the weapon the very moment Valyr ignited the black powder he had put into it.
Realizing that the weapon the young man forged was a portable type of cannon, the man also looked at Valyr with slight awe, seeing how the latter's strength was more than enough to keep the weapon in place.
In comparison, many people had to push cannons back to their original places during a period of wartime in Arcaelus' past, reducing the weapon's combat efficiency.
Understanding what Valyr was going to do, Arcaelus felt compelled to stop what he was doing and just watch the young man bring the weapon to greater heights.
However, with the purpose of his appearance being to stop Valyr from getting any further in the Trial of Nine Stars, the man was left with no choice but to continue forging more items.
Then again…
There was nothing that stopped him from slowing down.
As the sounds of hammering from Arcaelus' workshop gradually slowed down, Valyr placed the arquebus on the anvil before him, allowing the entire thing to cool down from the shot.
Then, after checking that the arquebus had returned to its original condition, it was only then did the young man conjure mana arms once more.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
With a pair on both sides, as well as an additional arm over his shoulder blade, Valyr activated both [Hunter's Tracking Eyes] and [True Prodigious Blacksmith's Sight] as he stared at the arquebus.
Seeing that a few impurities had appeared on the weapon after undergoing prolonged use, a slightly bitter smile appeared on his face as he proceeded to dismantle the arquebus part by part.
Keeping in mind during the forging process of the arquebus that he would upgrade it at some point, it did not take long for Valyr to break down the arquebus into its constituent parts.
Looking at the parts he was working with, the young man went silent for a bit as he tried to recall the materials he had used in making the arquebus.
Scratching the back of his head for a bit, it was only after a few minutes or so did Valyr look through the material cache, picking out items that were a direct upgrade to the materials he had used for the arquebus.
After that, he brought up the blueprint he used to forge the arquebus, as well as the blueprint he used to forge the matchlock pistol.
Looking at the two side by side, he then began to draft up a new blueprint, making use of the experiences he obtained while forging the matchlock pistol to improve the arquebus.
Naturally, with how it took less time to load the pistol than the arquebus, Valyr brought over the modified matchlock mechanism to what he termed as the true arquebus blueprint.
Of course, with how the arquebus and the pistol somewhat differed in shape, there were a few things about the mechanism he had to change.
Whether it be the size of gears he used or the number of springs to make sure the trigger would allow the cordage to ignite the gunpowder, all of that was adjusted to make sure the upgrade was the best it could ever be.
Then, once he had made sure the modified matchlock mechanism would work perfectly with the arquebus, it was only then did the young man make aesthetic and material adjustments to the blueprint. Keeping the materials he had brought out from the material cache in mind, Valyr eventually drafted a blueprint he was more than satisfied with by the time an hour had passed.
Staring at the dismantled parts of what made up the original arquebus, the young man took in a deep breath before causing the crystal on his artifact's side to change.
"[Breath of Beginnings]."
Activating the strongest skill the Hammer of Beginnings offered, Valyr began to prepare all of the parts for upgrading as he chucked in all of the materials he picked into the furnace.
Fwoosh!
Infusing a bit of mana to keep the temperature within the furnace stable, Valyr kept an eye on all of the materials he had put in, even going so far as to utilize his two ocular skills in the process.
Then again, it was not like the ocular skills had no effect.
"First, the barrel."
With the ocular skills he had activated allowing him to figure out the right time to take out items, Valyr gradually picked out items from the furnace with a pair of tongs, slowly incorporating them into the parts that made up the arquebus.
Ttang! Ttang! Ttang!
With three pairs of arms working together to achieve one task, the time it took for Valyr to incorporate the molten materials into the arquebus parts took less than it usually would.
However, with the reminder Arcaelus had given him regarding the upgrade of items, he still took quite a lot of time in making sure the two had seamlessly combined.
Naturally, the other arquebus parts were incorporated with molten materials after that, increasing all of the parts' quality whilst improving their latent potential.
"Huh."
While Valyr was in the midst of upgrading his arquebus, Arcaelus took note of the fact that there was something about the young man that slightly changed.
At first, he did not know where he got the feeling from.
Though, as he looked at the young man proceed through his tasks, he gradually became sure of its origin.
"It seems he has achieved [Flow]," muttered Arcaelus at some point, seeing that Valyr had focused all of his attention towards the tools and the item he was forging.
Wryly smiling at the thought of not being able to talk to Valyr, the man continued to watch the former by the side as he continued to forge more items for their fight.
But of course, with how he had made up his mind earlier, Arcaelus did more watching than forging, letting his muscle memory take over the forging process.
"Oh?"
Just as Arcaelus thought that the upgrading process was a done deal with how Valyr had entered [Flow], the man soon felt another change come from the young man.
However, this time, it was a qualitative change.
"[Greater Flow]…" Arcaelus muttered, his eyes widened in slight surprise as the young man's movements now looked as if it was choreographed beforehand.
At this point, every move Valyr made seemed to touch upon a concept of nature.
From Arcaelus' eyes, he even felt like the young man had begun to infuse nature itself into the upgrade he was doing.
Though, just as the man thought that Valyr's transformation was over, yet another change enveloped the young man.
"What in the…"
Feeling a torrent of energy start to coalesce around the young man, Arcaelus could not stop his eyes from widening in shock anymore, the events before him now giving him great disbelief.
"You're telling me… Valyr achieved [Zen]?"
"I haven't even gotten to that realm of focus yet!
