Emily scans her belt for her reward and doesn't find anything new. Turning her focus to her Dimensional Factory, she reaches in with her mana and feels a sparking presence charged with energy.

She directs Elisime to follow after the prisoner-carrying fleet and pulls herself into the private space that has grown by several inches since she created it. She comes face to face with a crackling bolt of lightning, a metre long and a few inches wide, frozen in place and emanating pure electric mana.

"Beautiful," Emily mutters under her breath, reaching out and brushing her metal fingers against the lightning essence, watching arcs of plasma leap out and connect with her digits, flowing into her arm and filling it with a buzzing energy that locks up her servos. "It contains more mana than a fourth circle spell, but it feels welcoming. I wonder if that's due to my affinity, or its nature."

She pulls her arm back, leaving the essence's limited range of influence.

I need to consume it to further my progression, but my instincts are telling me that trying that without a robust method would be a mistake. I'll have to study it first before I risk taking it into myself and starting something I can't reverse. I'd rather not bind myself to a single element.

Emily sits down cross-legged, reaching out with her mana and entwining it with the energy leaking from the frozen bolt, shutting her eyes and falling into a trance as she watches the interaction closely with her magical senses.

A few days later, she breaks her focus, closing the new page in her virtual notebook, which is filled with her readings, and leaving her private dimension. The sun is beaming down on the small fleet she has claimed as the spoils of war outside the cockpit window. All the ships are docked in a wide circle surrounding the skeleton of Emily's newest factory.

"Hey," Pod greets her as she reappears in her seat. "What should I start with? Do you want me to direct your droids to help with construction, or did you have another job in mind?"

"Since we appear to have a bout of clear skies, I want you to begin surveying our new ships. You're in charge of tuning, upgrading, and marking them," Emily replies, watching his face light up with excitement. "I still need to build a new Source for this base, so we'll hold off on mass construction to save power for now. I'm preparing a list of arms I'm willing to sell to Arthur before we decide what we'll focus our production on anyway. We'll need a steady supply of funds and materials to support our expansion and the large transmitter I'm planning on making."

"Another transmitter? What's that one for?"

"Well, my apprentice, I plan on leaving this planet, and I'd quite like an idea of what we're getting ourselves into," she explains as they head down to the exit elevator. "We're going to call some aliens."

***

A couple of weeks later, Emily teleports herself back to Chroni with her belt full of munitions. As she flies over the city to meet the king, she notices several crowds gathered around mages who are showing off their magic, putting on shows with animals made from fire and water, and letting kids play with harmless sparks.

She lands on the top steps of the palace and finds Arthur, with guards flanking him on either side, waiting for her in the entrance hall, gazing up at a portrait of his father.

"He would have hated this, you know?" he says with a wistful expression as Emily approaches, not looking away from the painting.

"Your changes to the law, or mages playing in the streets with kids?" Emily questions, looking at the painting of a man near identical to Arthur, with lines of age tracing his stern, regal face and greying hair.

"Both," the king chuckles, finally tearing his eyes away and turning to face her. "He never did understand how to connect with his people, and the idea of nobility lowering themselves to become cheap entertainers would have horrified him."

"And you don't agree?"

"Goddess, no. I believe it's important we make ourselves seem more approachable, especially after keeping such a large secret for so long. How can we expect our people to support us if we don't show them we're worth supporting? Anyway, you're not here to discuss my beliefs, I understand you have something to show me?"

"Yes." Emily nods, pointedly glancing around the hall at the displayed artefacts emanating magic. "Do you have somewhere better for a demonstration? I expect you'd like to see my wares in action before deciding what you're willing to pay."

"Of course, do you have any requirements?"

"Preferably a lot of space. The artillery I've brought is fairly long-range but requires a lot of vertical height to properly capitalise on that fact."

"In that case, let's head to The Dome. We have a dedicated training space there that should be perfect."

Instead of taking her out and over the city, Arthur leads Emily and his shadows through a passage behind one of the portraits on the wall to a transportation circle directly linked to The Dome's network. They teleport to a sister circle deep beneath the city and step out into a large empty chamber with grey stone walls covered in glowing multicoloured runes. There's only about a kilometre between the doorway they enter through and the far wall, but the moment Arthur injects his mana into the ground, Emily feels the space distort and the far wall jumps to several times that distance.

"Impressive," she hums, taking in the array carved into the space. "I take it the room's magically reinforced as well as expanded?"

"It can survive a battle between fourth circle mages," Arthur states proudly, walking out towards the centre of the space and leaving his guards by the door.

"Good, that's more than enough. Can it conjure testing targets?"

"Yes. We have all of the features of The Dome's normal training rooms and more. Would you like them to be humanoid? How far away?"

"Yes, and varying ranges from ten to a thousand metres should do for now."

Arthur nods and lets out another pulse of mana. Emily watches as a blend of elements rise from the ground, forming into fifteen plain grey humanoid forms, the first five staggered by twenty metres and the rest by a hundred. She nods in satisfaction and draws her first gun for sale from her belt. It's a sleek handgun with a smooth, curved form, constructed from matte grey metal with a short, twelve-centimetre barrel and a magazine fitted into the handle.

"This is my first offering, the M1 handgun. It's magazine fed," she explains, flicking the mag release below the trigger guard with her thumb and showing off the thin magazine loaded with bullets, "holds fifteen rounds, has the option of single fire or three-round bursts, and an effective range of fifty metres."

She raises the gun and flicks off the safety before firing a single bullet into the centre of the head of the target fifty metres away from them. Then, she flicks it into burst and unloads three rounds into the chest of the dummy thirty metres away.

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"It has limited piercing power, but it's reliable and easy to draw. The base model is unenchanted, but I'm willing to do custom orders with boosts to the power or sound reduction for an extra cost."

She holds the gun out to the king, letting him take it and inspect the weapon closely. He turns it in his hand, feeling out the smooth metal contours before testing the mag release and raising it to fire a burst of shots into the closest target, hitting with the first two and sending the third wide as the weapon kicks back.

"Impressive," he smiles, handing the gun back. "How fast can you produce them?"

"I can increase the number of lines making them based on your demand, but as long as we have a steady supply of materials, I can produce a few hundred a day," Emily says, pulling a fresh magazine from her belt. "Ammunition will be a bigger bottleneck. I can produce several thousand basic rounds a day, but if you want any special rounds, like these high explosives, you're looking at an increased cost, including some magical materials and slower production."

She flicks the gun back into single fire and charges it with machina, putting a bullet between the eyes of the seventy-metre dummy and watching its head shatter in a small fireball. Arthur raises his brows in surprise.

"Didn't you say it had a fifty-metre range?"

"Effective range," Emily corrects. "The bullets fly much further than fifty metres, but they lose accuracy very quickly when you exceed that, so you can't expect a normal person to hit their target. Awakened mechanics, on the other hand, have a bit of an advantage."

"Ah, that makes sense." The king nods. "How expensive are we talking, and what other ammo types do you have?"

"Well, for the M1 themselves I was thinking sixty silver each, and then three copper for every basic round. For the specialty ammo, fifty copper each, and one lesser crystal per ten rounds. As for selection, high explosive rounds take fire crystals."

She aims at the closest target that has regenerated already and fires a shot into its chest. The bullet continues, punching through the dummy behind it as well before getting lodged in the third.

"Piercing rounds take metal crystals."

Another shot, and a bullet shatters against the closest dummy, releasing a burst of electric sparks.

"Stunner rounds take lightning crystals and are a good non-lethal option."

She adjusts her aim and fires a bullet into the seventy-metre target again.

"High-velocity rounds take wind crystals and increase the effective range by fifty per cent."

Another shot into a nearby target releases a burst of light and a high-pitched screech that causes Arthur to cover his ears and frown.

"Flash rounds, another non-lethal, take light and wind crystals. I'll only accept larger orders for them since they're a bit of a pain to make, but I'll reduce the cost to one crystal per fifteen rounds to make up for it," she explains while unloading the gun and putting it away. "There's also the option of things like ice rounds, but they're a lot less generally useful, so I didn't think you'd want any. If you're interested or have any other ideas, I'd be happy to hear you out."

"No, I think that's quite enough to consider for now," Arthur responds, waving her offer off.

"Okay, in that case, the next gun I've brought is the S5 submachine gun."

She pulls out a larger gun with a similar cylindrical design, a short stock, and a long magazine stretching down in front of the trigger guard.

"It fires the same bullets as the M1, but has a higher effective range at two hundred metres, and has options for burst or fully automatic."

Emily puts a burst of shots into the closest dummy's chest before flicking the gun into automatic and sending a spray of bullets down range, hitting every target up to the two hundred metre mark.

"It holds thirty rounds in a standard magazine, and shoots at eight hundred rounds per minute, but I also produce fifty and one hundred round drums for it should you want them."

She drops the magazine and pulls a heavy double-sided drum from her belt, slotting it into place before handing Arthur the gun.

"Why is the end of the barrel here threaded?" he asks after inspecting the weapon.

"That's for the optional silencer. I have both an unenchanted option that reduces muzzle flash, recoil, and volume of the shot, and the enchanted option that eliminates flash and sound completely," Emily explains, pulling out two black cylinders, one covered in green and black engravings and the other bare.

She screws the unenchanted one onto the end of the S5 and gestures for Arthur to test it.

"The S5 itself will cost you two gold each, and the silencers will cost thirty silver for the unenchanted, or fifty silver and one lesser wind or darkness crystal for the enchanted. I can offer silencers for the M1s if you want as well, but the design will have to be modified and the base cost will go up too, so I don't think it's worth it."

Arthur nods along, letting off a few bursts before switching silencers and testing again. Once he's satisfied, Emily pulls out another gun, this one with a blockier design, a thicker magazine, and a barrel nearly forty centimetres long. She flicks it into automatic and fires off a stream of shots that leave the king's ears ringing as he watches several target dummies crumble.

"This is the A4 assault rifle," she explains when the gunfire stops, leaving only the sound of empty casings hitting the floor. "Chambered with a standard sixty-millimetre round, and with single or fully automatic firing modes. They have a firing rate of nine hundred rounds per minute, an effective range of a little over five hundred meters, and will cost you one gold each. However, the bullets are five copper per standard round, and seventy copper for the specialty rounds, with the crystal costs matching the pistol variants. I don't offer a silencer option for these for a similar reason to the M1's."

"That's cheaper than the S5," Arthur says with a questioning tone as he takes the gun in hand and tests the weight.

"They're easier to produce: the S5 requires a lot more delicate machining."

"I see. Magazine options?"

"The same as the S5. Thirty rounds standard with two different drums available."

"Impressive." He nods, handing the gun back. "What about long-range options?"

"That'll be the B2 rifle," Emily replies, pulling out a sleek, bolt-action rifle with a fifty-centimetre barrel and a magnified scope attached to the top. "Chambered with a thirty-millimetre round with an effective range of eight hundred metres. The rounds are slightly cheaper than the A4 at four copper each, sixty for specialty, and the gun itself will set you back two gold."

She raises the gun, tucking it into her shoulder and resting her cheek on the soft pad set into the stock before squeezing the trigger and punching a hole through the heart of a dummy eight hundred metres away.

"Close range?" Arthur questions, not bothering to test the rifle.

"P3 shotgun, five silver for the gun, four copper for the shells, with a few different options for specialty ammo that vary more compared to the handgun and rifle ones," she explains, pulling out a full metal pump-action shotgun similar to those already being produced in the country. "There are slugs with similar functions to the others and an effective range of seventy metres, or scattershot with a range closer to fifty metres."

She fires a burst of pellets into the chest of the closest target before racking the pump and shooting a spray of crackling fire towards the next. Her third shot releases a loud band and a bright flash directly from the gun's barrel, and her fourth slings an accelerated slug into the chest of the dummy a hundred metres away.

"Again, sixty copper for specialty rounds and a lesser crystal per ten. I'll leave you one of each of these guns and a few of each specialty round to mess about with while you make your mind up, but we're on to the fun toys now."

Arthur raises a brow as she puts the shotgun away and pulls out a small grenade.

"You may recognise this from when I sold them to the Salvia family, but I've now developed a magicless grenade that will set you back four silver each."

She pulls the pin and tosses the grenade out, watching it burst in a flash of fire and shrapnel, shredding a test dummy and filling the two on either side with metal shards.

"There's also the magical option, mana grenades, that will cost three silver and a lesser fire crystal per two grenades. Then, we have flashbangs," Emily says, pulling out another grenade and presenting it to Arthur. "The same price but light and wind crystals instead of fire."

He pulls the pin and tosses it, covering his ears and squinting before it goes off in a flash of light and sound.

"And the firestarters, the same price as a mana grenade but a whole lesser crystal for each one."

She pulls out a grenade dusted with a burgundy coating, pulling the pin and tossing it, watching it erupt with fire that engulfs a dummy and covers the floor for several metres around it with burning liquid.

"Then finally, for today at least, I've brought a simple mortar."

She pulls out a long tube, stabilised by a metal tripod, and carefully adjusts its angle.

"It needs two people to use effectively, but fires shells anywhere from six to twelve thousand metres."

"Thousand?" the king questions incredulously, looking at the simple tube with wide eyes.

"Thousand." Emily nods, pulling out a seventy-centimetre-long shell with an aerodynamic form and a ring of fins at the back.

She drops the shell into the mortar tube, holding it stable and watching it rocket out, rising in an arc that nearly clips the ceiling high above before slamming into the far wall and bursting in an explosion that spreads scorch marks and metal fragments for dozens of metres.

"The basic non-magical shells have a lethal radius of thirty metres, but they can incapacitate targets up to a hundred metres from the landing point."

"Damn," Arthur mutters under his breath.

"They'll cost you thirty gold per tube system, and four gold per non-magical shell," Emily says, watching the king's shock increase at the price. "What do you think?"

"Well…" he says, glancing between the launch tube and the scorch marks still visible on the far wall. "I think you're about to be a very rich woman."

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