tl note: Publishing 4 bonus chapters today, slightly later than the first 4. Plus, 5 bonus chapters tomorrow if we hit 50 power stones before the reset
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After leaving Altaïr's cabin, Isis did not rush back to her room to pack. Instead, she left the large ship that served as the residential district and headed for Mangrove Outpost, which was still a bustling construction site.
Only one facility had been built against the outpost's perimeter wall: the smithy.
With gaps in its wooden walls still unsealed, a roof of thin planks weighted down with stones, and nothing but a grimy oilcloth for a door, the entire structure resembled a ramshackle shed.
Inside, however, it had everything a proper smithy needed: a furnace, bellows, an anvil, and every necessary tool. Not a single thing was missing.
It was the liveliest and busiest place in the entire outpost.
The smiths brought their timber-cutting tools here for repairs whenever they wore down, and every metal connector required for the outpost's construction had to be forged here. Ever since the furnace had been installed and the chimney raised, the fire in the hearth had never gone out.
Presiding over the forge was, of course, Hubert, the head of the smithing team.
The engineers oversaw construction, but as an accomplished blacksmith, Hubert could put his skills to best use at the forge.
"Uncle Hubert!"
Isis ducked low as she entered the smithy. Afraid of striking her head on the ceiling, she did not dare straighten her back. With her shoulders hunched and her back bowed, she looked rather comical.
The Troverian smith was casting a batch of metal parts and called for her to wait. Gripping a crucible with iron tongs, he poured the red-hot molten iron into a mold, handed the remaining work to his assistant, then left the furnace and walked over to her.
"Come on, let's talk outside. You're a sorry sight hunched over like that."
Hubert brushed the sparks from his beard and led Isis out of the smithy. "It's a good thing this is only a temporary shack. When we finally build the real smithy, I'll have them raise the ceiling.
"Yesterday, Dawn came by and put a hole in the roof. I still haven't had time to patch it."
"Heh..." Unsure how to respond, Isis could only lower her head and chuckle sheepishly.
"You're here to ask about the modifications to your Gunlance, right?" Hubert pushed his goggles up, leaving them hanging crookedly across his forehead. "It's already finished. That thing is too big and gets in the way, so I stashed it behind the smithy. Go grab it and give it a try."
"I only brought it to you last night, and you've already finished?!" Isis could not help leaning back in surprise. That was not merely a pleasant surprise; it was almost alarming.
The Troverian smith looked smug. "Ha! You got lucky. If you'd taken it to any other smith, even a renowned master craftsman, they wouldn't have dared touch it without studying it for three to five days!"
"Then how did you manage it?" Isis made no attempt to hide her admiration or amazement.
Isis's open admiration made Hubert feel that staying up late the previous night had been worthwhile. Crossing his arms, he laughed heartily. "Ha ha! That's because..."
"Because?"
"Because I've done a similar modification before. I didn't have to waste any time on the design. I could get straight to work!"
"Hmm."
Hubert's answer caught Isis off guard, but it made sense once she thought about it.
As Hubert led her around the back of the smithy, Isis pressed him for details. "You've done this kind of modification before? Have other Gunlance users also thought of using shelling recoil this way?"
Hubert gave Isis an amused look. "Young lady, you may all be genuine prodigies, but don't underestimate everyone else.
"Every Gunlance user thinks about using shelling recoil to help them move. Naturally, some have tried to push that power even further.
"To be honest, this modification isn't my original design. I learned it from a smith in Kamura Village.
"Isn't that companion of yours from Kamura? You know how they use Wirebugs for aerial maneuvers. Their Gunlance users take that a step further by combining those maneuvers with shelling recoil. Their mobility is pretty darn impressive."
Kamura Village again? Isis could not help thinking.
Silkbind techniques, the Surge Slash Combo for Great Sword, all manner of secret arts and mechanical expertise, the taming of Cohoots and Palamutes, this high-mobility Gunlance, and even the Meowcenaries tradition among its Palicoes... That village's hunting technology was a full tier above that of any other region.
She also recalled Nymera saying that Kamura had always been surrounded by powerful Monsters. Even its children received combat training to protect the village, and its Hunters gave everything they had.
In the end, all those incredible skills and techniques had been born of necessity.
"All right, give it a try." Hubert nodded toward the Glavenus Gunlance propped against the back of the smithy.
There was not even a weapon rack there.
Isis picked up her weapon and swung it back and forth a few times. The heavy blade cut through the air with a terrifying whoosh.
"It feels a little heavier than before?" Isis glanced at Hubert, who had already retreated several meters.
Startled by Isis's casual swing, Hubert wiped a bead of cold sweat from the tip of his nose. "I added some mechanical parts, so it was bound to get a little heavier. I kept the balance point as close to the original as possible.
"You seem to handle it easily enough, so it shouldn't be beyond your limits, right?"
"Mm. Actually, it feels even better in my hands!" Isis nodded firmly.
Her growth spurt was over, and she had not grown much taller lately, but her strength was still increasing slowly and steadily through daily training.
"Listen to the instructions before you test it!" Hubert was afraid Isis might unleash a Wyvern's Fire on the spot and blow his poor smithy shack to pieces. "See the extra trigger on the grip?"
Isis looked down and nodded.
Originally, the grip had only two triggers, one for ordinary shelling and one for the Wyrmstake Cannon. Pulling both at once fired Wyvern's Fire.
Now there was a third.
"That trigger disengages the shelling recoil brake, increases the chamber pressure, and generates massive recoil."
"Try it in that open area over there. Start in a proper braced stance so you can get used to the recoil without straining your back."
"Mm-hmm!"
Isis excitedly ran to one side, raised her Large Shield, leveled her Gunlance, and lowered her center of gravity into a braced firing stance, the same standard posture she used for shelling and Wyvern's Fire.
"Firing!" Isis shouted, both to warn everyone nearby and to psych herself up.
As soon as the shout left her lips, she pulled the new trigger on the grip.
Boom!
The report was sharper than that of an ordinary shell. With the brake engaged, the muzzle blast would normally flare around the barrel. Now it condensed into a sharp, blinding cone of azure light that erupted straight ahead.
Isis had braced for the impact and gripped the Gunlance's handle tightly. With none of the force bled off and the blast itself focused forward, the tremendous recoil sent her sliding four or five meters backward.
That was only after the spikes on her boots dug into the ground and absorbed most of the force. Had her feet been off the ground, she would undoubtedly have gone "flying" much farther.
"Whoa!"
After steadying herself, Isis could not suppress her exclamation of awe.
The force of the blast far exceeded her expectations. If she could tame and control that power, she could finally leave her reputation for slowness behind.
Even Altaïr in Demon Mode could not match that burst of speed over a short distance.
No matter how fast someone ran, they still had to accelerate from a standstill. Even an instantaneous slash required a wind-up. How could either compare with taking off the moment she pulled the trigger?
When Isis finally lowered her weapon, Hubert approached with a smile. "Not bad, not bad. I was worried you wouldn't be able to handle the recoil and I'd have to undo the modification.
"It looks like you'll be fine once you've practiced with it a little more.
"By the way, the Gunlance users in Kamura Village call their version of this move 'Blast Dash.' They use shelling recoil to launch themselves forward from a standstill.
"You said you wanted to use the recoil for a second burst of acceleration while already charging. The technique you're developing might be even more extreme than Blast Dash. You could practically call it an entirely new technique.
"Have you thought of a cool name for it?"
"Hmm, let me think... Dash Sweep?"
"...Isn't that a little too literal?"
(Translated by yourtl.app)