Back in Gnomo's workshop, Flynn wasted no time. He purchased every schematic available to him, counting out a substantial pile of gold coins while the master engineer watched with obvious satisfaction.
By the time he was finished, Flynn had added three new explosives to his arsenal.
The Copper Bomb, a straightforward but reliable single-target explosive with solid burst damage. The Bronze Shrapnel Bomb, which detonated in a physical area-of-effect blast, scattering fragments in all directions. And the Bursting Flame Bomb, an area-of-effect device that inflicted fire damage and left enemies burning for three seconds.
To craft any of them, he first needed components.
Blasting Powder was the simplest. It required grinding down the coarse, low-grade stones that miners routinely discarded as useless byproducts. Flynn had collected more than enough during his early leveling. Bomb Casings could be forged from leftover ore, which he also had in abundance.
Of the three explosives, the Copper Bomb was the easiest to assemble. The Bronze Shrapnel Bomb was more intricate. It required sharp bronze fragments to be mixed into the powder, and those fragments had to be forged separately by a Blacksmith. Upon detonation, they would tear through nearby enemies like a cloud of miniature blades.
Fortunately, Flynn was a Blacksmith. His skill level was only 200, but that was more than sufficient to produce simple shrapnel pieces.
The real complication lay with the Bursting Flame Bomb.
It required a special component known as Flame Orbs. These were small steel ball bearings crafted through Blacksmithing, but that alone was not enough. Each bearing had to be enchanted with fire magic before assembly. When the bomb exploded, the superheated orbs would embed themselves into the target's flesh or armor, continuing to burn after impact.
Flynn checked the time. There was still plenty of daylight left in the real world.
He set to work methodically, crafting Blasting Powder, forging casings, shaping bronze fragments, and assembling the final products. By the end of it, he had produced twenty Copper Bombs and twenty Bronze Shrapnel Bombs. The materials for the Bursting Flame Bombs were prepared and neatly stacked, awaiting enchantment.
That left one problem.
He knew exactly one Enchanter capable of imbuing the Flame Orbs.
Chad.
When Flynn sent him a message, the reply came back almost immediately. Chad was mid-run in a dungeon.
As it happened, that dungeon was the Ceylan Ruins. With no other obvious solution, Flynn contacted Let-There-Be-Light.
The moment he heard the word "bombs," Let-There-Be-Light's tone shifted from mild curiosity to outright excitement. His team had focused entirely on leveling efficiency and dungeon practice; none of them had pushed their professions to Junior rank yet.
"Night-Stalker," he said eagerly, "can you make more? We'll hand one to everyone and blow those mobs straight to hell."
Flynn chuckled and sent him the item descriptions.
"One for everyone? Yeah, right. These things require Engineering skill to use, so I'm the only one who can throw them. And before you get too excited, the damage isn't overwhelming. The dungeon mobs have high health, right?"
Let-There-Be-Light studied the stats and let out a long sigh. "High is an understatement. The Elites have absurd health pools. A hundred damage won't even tickle them."
He wasn't wrong. The monsters in the Ceylan Ruins began at level fifteen. The Elite packs boasted over three thousand health each and rarely appeared alone. They moved in groups of three to five. Against enemies like that, a single bomb was more nuisance than threat.
Still, explosives had utility beyond raw damage. As a Rogue, Flynn lacked reliable ranged abilities. Tagging enemies before another group stole them had always been inconvenient. Now, he had a solution.
"Don't worry about the Enchanter thing," Let-There-Be-Light said. "I'm an Enchanter. I'll just head over to the engineering shop and help you out. Save you the trip."
Flynn raised a brow. "You don't sound very busy."
"I'm not," Let-There-Be-Light admitted. "I can't concentrate on anything else. Not getting that first clear is driving me crazy."
"Alright. I'll be at the engineering shop."
Let-There-Be-Light arrived not long after, bringing his enchanting materials. He worked efficiently, imbuing each steel bearing with fire magic until all of Flynn's Flame Orbs glowed faintly with contained heat.
By the time they finished assembling the final batch of Bursting Flame Bombs, the clock in the real world had crept past six in the evening.
They agreed on a meeting time for later that night, then Flynn logged out for dinner.
---
As Flynn stepped out of his room, Chad was emerging from the guest room at the same time.
Sophia and Chloe had been nothing short of generous, inviting both Flynn and Chad to join them for meals. In truth, they were far closer to Chad than to Flynn. The other girls in the studio clearly adored him as well.
Flynn clapped him lightly on the back. "How'd the dungeon go? Heroic mode?"
"Yeah," Chad said, shaking his head like he was still frustrated about it. "Don't even ask. We spent hours just to get past the first boss. Second one's kicking our asses completely."
"Heh. And you call yourself an expert?"
Flynn walked over and knocked on Sophia's door. He had a spare key, but walking unannounced into a house full of women felt like a decision best avoided.
Chloe opened the door just in time to catch the tail end of his comment. "What expert?" she asked, smiling.
"Him," Flynn replied, nodding toward Chad. "Didn't you say he was amazing? He can't even clear the Ceylan Ruins."
Chad rolled his eyes. "You want to see for yourself tonight? Hell difficulty in Ceylan Ruins is brutal. No one at our level is clearing it. Unless you assemble a team of the top hundred players in the world, it's not happening before tomorrow morning."
His reasoning was simple. An overnight grind would push players several levels higher, improve gear, and make the difference manageable.
For once, Chloe sided with him. "Hell really is that hard. I heard only a handful of teams in all of Moster have even reached the second boss."
"We're not even past the trash pulls before him," Chad admitted with a frustrated sigh.
He was a strong player, top four hundred nationally and within the top five thousand worldwide, but Moster was saturated with talent. There were at least a hundred players in the city operating at roughly his level. The absolute top-tier players probably weren't bothering with a five-man dungeon, but the competition among guys like him, the 'first-rate' players, was brutal. A world-first clear was the kind of thing that could launch you into the big leagues.
Chloe tried to lift his spirits. "You guys are still amazing. We haven't cleared Heroic yet."
Then she turned to Flynn. "Are you level fifteen now? Want to run with us?"
She still thought he had stayed behind in the Starter Zone to work on professions. She had no idea about his hidden questlines or the scale of his equipment upgrades. Her team was competent, and clearing Heroic was respectable, but they were nowhere near attempting Hell.
Flynn smiled and shook his head. "Already got a team. We're running it tonight."
"Oh?" Chad asked, already eyeing the dishes laid out on the dining table. "They any good?"
Flynn assumed Chad had never heard of Let-There-Be-Light's studio. Compared to someone with a top national ranking, they would likely seem average.
"Just some people I met in the Starter Zone," Flynn replied casually. "They asked me to help."
Chad snorted. "You? Helping them? You barely played games before this."
Chloe nodded sympathetically. "If it doesn't work out, you can always join us. I'll carry you."
"I think I'll pass," Flynn said, shaking his head.
Let-There-Be-Light's team might not rival Chad's personal ranking, but they were actively progressing on Hell difficulty. That alone placed them ahead of Chloe's group.
"Don't be shy," Chloe teased. "We'll take good care of you."
"You're younger than me."
"It's a phase," Chad muttered around a mouthful of spicy chicken. "Young girls try to act mature. Older women try to act young. Mmph, this is really good. Who cooked?"
"I did." Chloe puffed out her chest proudly. "I'm the only one here who can cook, so I'm responsible for feeding you two lords. But we'll probably be spending more time in-game soon, so we might hire someone. That okay with you, Flynn?"
"As long as nothing in my apartment gets damaged, I don't mind," Flynn replied lightly.
He did not mention that many of the designer furnishings scattered around the apartment were carefully curated and worth a small fortune. There was no reason to make anyone self-conscious.
Only five of the girls came down to eat. The others were still grinding upstairs. Chloe portioned their meals into containers and placed them in the refrigerator for later.
Chad, eager to return to the game, finished quickly and retreated to his room.
Flynn, on the other hand, had nearly an hour before the scheduled meetup. Instead of rushing, he took a slow walk around the apartment complex, letting the cool evening air clear his thoughts, then headed back inside to log on.