Gale and Ashes finished their meal in peace and afterwards cleaned up their mess. Feeling satisfied and full the two left the house and came across a nearby guard station in the town where they devided to start their search first and to arm themselves. As they entered the station they found it empty with some weapons left lying around the station most likely from the guards who disappeared. Gale once more picked up a handgun as that was the weapon he felt most confident in using effectively as he most likely wouldn't be able to handle any larger weapons recoil.
The design of the handguns gale noticed were all relatively the same with them sporting the design of handgun that reminded Gale of the handguns that the police officers from his world used. The only differences being the design being slightly more sleek and the color of gun being white and gray. He remembered the gun showing glowing red lines when he infused his mana into the gun and tried to remember the sensation he felt from before.
He closed his eyes and could feel the familiar sensation in his chest and focused on it and tried to allow less mana than before to flow through his hand holding the gun. He felt the warm sensation pass through his arm and saw the lines on the gun appear again at a duller glow and appeared as yellow. Seeing the lines glow Gale was happy that he was able to recreate the feeling until he lost it and felt the mana return to the center of his chest.
"Damn! Guess I don't have the hang of it just yet." Exclaimed Gale.
He then looked at the gun with his system and while the description was the same he noticed one difference.
Mana Pistol (Lightning Crystal Loaded)
'That explains the yellow glow.' Thought Gale
He then looked at the gun and wondered how to check the magazine of the gun and saw a notification popped up.
[Jack of All Trades] Activated
Gale soon felt new information enter his head and spotted the slide lock of the gun and was able to take out the bottom part of the gun. As he removed the part he saw that while it had the structure of regular clip there was intead a dull yellow crystal embedded in the clip that could be taken out. Gale removed the crystal and stared at it in amazement until Ashes called out to him.
"That's a mana crystal."
Gale stopped examining the crystal and listened to Ashes as she continued to speak.
"You can find those crystals in places underground especially in dungeons. People use those crystals to power a lot of different things like machines or weapons like guns."
"Do the crystals always come in different colors?"
"No they usually always appear blue like the the ones in this cave."
Gale looked out the window and saw the massive blue crystals appearing in various places across the cave that shone a deep blue.
"Then how do they change color?" Asked Gale.
"If I remember correctly people found a way to infuse their own mana to change the natural mana found in the crystals to change it. The same way they use mana to cast elemental magic is how they make the crystal change. The crystals don't change after the mana inside them has been changed either."
"So this crystal has its own mana source as well?"
"Yup. That's why people use these crystals for nearly everything especially if someone can't properly use their mana then the non elemental crystal can activate an actual elemental crystal."
Ashes then grabbed the crystal and continued her explanation.
"This crystal isn't like the ones they mine though."
"It isn't?"
"Nope. I remember hearing that even though the crystals that people find in dungeons are really good and usually have more mana its a little more difficult to find places where crystals are and aren't always enough for everyone in the world. So they made their own crystals like this one."
Gale was amazed at the ingenuity of the people of this world to be able to create a new source of energy from these crystals and even make their own crystals.
"That's incredible! So they managed to recreate it exactly?
"No not exactly. The natural crystals that people mine for can recharge on their own and can have a stronger effect when it comes to making it elemental. The ones that people make don't always have the same quality and can hold more mana but they can't recharge normally like the natural ones."
"If the mana can't be restored normally then how do people recharge it? Do people just fill it with their own mana? It doesn't sound too effective."
"They can fill it with their own mana but the creators of the new crystals said they found a better way to charge them. They decided to use the cores of monsters as a way to recharge it."
"Cores?"
"All monsters have cores inside their bodies that are the source of their mana that allowas them to use their own types of magic. The Wind Guzzler has one too that's how it was able to inhale all of that air and then spit it back out so powerfully. When the monster dies the core stays along with the mana left inside and people use the cores mana to charge the crystals with the stronger the monster the more mana they store in their core. The core usually loses all of its mana afterwards but people still keep it because they can make weapons and armor out of it.
Gale had many more questions to ask Ashes but he knew that they should probably continue with their search so he asked one more question.
"So how come those giant crystals haven't been mined? Do they provide something else besides lighting."
Gale noticed a slight flinch in Ashes as he asked her to which she took a moment to respond.
"W-we don't touch those crystals because of how sacred they are. We have to protect them no matter what."
"How come?"
Ashes began to fidget as she struggled with how to answer Gale who took notice of her unease and decided to drop the matter.
"You don't have to answer. If it's something important to you then I won't force you to answer."
"I'm sorry it's not that I don't trust you it's just that we're taught to not reveal anything specific about the crystals here to anyone who isn't a dragon demihuman."
"Don't worry about it, I'll respect your decision."
"Thank you."
After finishing their conversation they prepared to head to the castle as Gale grabbed an extra handgun and handed it to Ashes. Ashes didn't feel very confident in wielding the gun but still held on to it. Gale took one more pisto and placed it in his inventory for emergencies and then proceeded to collect the crystals from the guns and placed them in his inventory that thankfully didn't take much space. He was able to leave with eight fire crystals, five ice crystals, four lightning crystals and three earth crystals. He also found a combat knife contained in a sheath that could be wrapped around a persons waist and went to observe the knife.
Razor Knife
Durability 50/50
A combat knife made using the core and claw from a Razorclaw. This knife is much stronger and sharper than a knife made from iron and when infused with mana can cause the knife to become sharp enough to cut through steel.
Gale carefully took the knife out of it's sheath and examined the work. The knife itself was lighter than he expected and the handle and blade of the knife was the same shade of red of the Razorclaw and the blade had a slight curve to it, as well as serrated edges on one side of the knife that almost resembled a mantis claw. He then decided to swing the knife a bit to see how it feels and thanks to [Jack of All Trades] he was able to swing and thrust the knife with proficiency. After getting a feel for the knife he placed it back in the sheath and attached it around his waist and tightened it so that it wouldn't slip or move around as he walked.
Satisfied with what they found they decided to exit the station and made their way to the castle.