God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Every single rune is like a single point along a river.

As the river flows, each point leaves its trace along the riverbed. However, the flow will never be uniform.

As such, the flow at each individual point would be unique as well. And because the river continues to flow, these flows constantly shift into new points, creating a paradox Cain had personally dubbed the 'Shifting Nature of Runes'.

Because of their nature, there existed and endless possible combinations of runics symbols to create either new runes, or magic circles.

However, this didn't mean that magic couldn't be replicated.

In fact, repetition of certain runic combinations was a rather common occurrence. It was not unusual for different individuals to come up with the same solution to a particular problem.

For example, to cause a liquid to change into solid matter using magic, a special set of runes known as the freezing runes will be invoked.

Making use of the runic characters to manipulate water elemental mana would be the first step. The second step would be to call upon the runic character of stagnancy or rest.

By combining these two together, one would cause the particles within the liquid to slow down until they reached a state of rest. Of course, how quickly and the success of them attaining that state, or Absolute Zero, was determined by both the will, magic power, and Mana of the spellcaster.

The system usually did most of the heavy lifting when it came to turning these runes into magic circles and magic circles into spells.

However, Cain himself had already learned how to do this rather quickly. He was so proficient in doing this, he could perform incredibly fast calculations in his head, turn them into magic circles in the blink of an eye, and execute a new spell in the heat of battle.

It was a gift that had come to him naturally. Of course, Vincent didn't know all this...

He watched as Cain began working of the first item,

"Your first mistake was assuming that the rune for fire is the same as the rune for combustion."

Vincent scratched his head,

"What?"

Cain sighed, "Combustion is a reaction that produces heat, light, and gas, the mlst important factor here, is the reason for this reaction."

Cain smiled, using his magic brush to gently erase the runes Vincent had drawn out before starting anew,

"Fire on the other hand is something else. Fire is an elementary rune, and its function is burning. The heat you can feel and touch. That is fire. Combustion is slightly different..."

Vincent snorted, and slumped back,

"So what you are saying is because I used the rune of fire here, and not the one of combustion, this wouldn't have worked?"

Cain nodded.

Vincent narrowed his eyes, "Then why did you do the same in the {Hand of Midas}?"

Cain spoke as he continued to inscribe the runes,

"That is because the outcomes we desire vary."

Cain pointed at the new rune he had just drawn.

The rune of fire was rather simple and didn't look complicated. The rune for combustion on the other hand, had many more variables attached to it.

Vincent gave it a look and frowned, "What the hell?"

Cain chuckled, "Think of the runes as just another language. Only this time, you speak directly to the world itself. If you do not get your thoughts across properly, you run the risk of a disaster."

Vincent stroked an imaginary beard as he silently thought to himself.

In the end, he gave Cain an odd stare,

"You... You've managed to know so much in such short time? You truly are a different kind of beast, Cain."

Cain shrugged, "That was a compliment right?"

The mana shards affixed to the top of his magic brush turned grey and shattered, but Cain didn't blink an eye as he replaced it.

He continued,

"As I was saying, Combustion more of the underlying process behind the flames. And as such, its outcome is a bit different. As the river flows, the lines it draws change as well. What was once simple will become more and more complex over time."

Once he was done, the rune glowed briefly.

"Pretty..." Vincent said, his eyes slightly widened in awe.

Then he shook his head,

"Although it was impressive, it still isn't done yet."

Cain shook his head with a smile,

"No, this is half the battle won already."

He pointed at the rune,

"Combustion is all about energy transfer. By placing the combustion rune instead of the fire rune into the chamber, you get the desired result. The reason I put the fire rune in there , was because of the initiator rune I placed behind it. The initiator rune not only activates the fire rune as the combustion rune, it also handles the transfer of a newly formed bullet into the chamber, making for a seamless repeated firing."

Vincent nodded, then he frowned, Experience exclusive tales on empire

"Wait... But if you can use the combustion rune, then what is the need for the initiator run"

Cain pivked up the next part and began working on it,

"Simple. Safety."

"Safety?" Vincent didn't know what to say to that.

Cain gave him a sideways glance before turning his attention back to his work,

"The strength of the materials used. The initiator rune serves as both a utility rune that can get the job done, and a damper. It checks the level of combustion that can be allowed for the fire rune. As such, even if the materias cannot handle high impact, with the initiator rune, that wouldn't be much of a problem."

Cain narrowed his eyes, "The Combustion rune doesn't have that. It tells the world it wants to have fun, no damper, no inhibitions. Just a full on explosion!"

A cold sweat formed on Vincent's brow,

"Wait. Doesn't that sound dangerous?!"

Cain cackled, "It is!"

Vincent's face paled.

Cain shrugged, "Relax. The materials are strong. And I'll add another layer of dampening runes to the interior to help its resistance.

Vincent sighed, although his face showed he wasn't fully convinced.

Cain shook his head,

"In any case. Now we have better materials to work with. Not only that, but my knowledge of the runes have increased, so I should be able to make it work."

Although he could have done it fast, Cain didn't want to rush. Instead, he took his sweet time going through the motions, explaining every decision he made and why he made them to Vincent.

In the end, Vincent was left speechless,

"Incredible. Truly incredible."

There was a look of genuine awe and amazement on his face.

In front of them on the workbench, there were no random parts hanging all around. Instead, there was a firearm with a sleek design and various pulsating runes etched into its sleek silver exterior.

Cain wiped the sweat of his temples with a grin.

A system prompt popped up in front of him.

He turned to face Vincent, the grin still on his face,

"Well? What do you want to call it?"

Vincent bent over, a contemplative look on his face. The weapon was truly beautiful. Its sleek streamline shape tempted Vincent into getting a feel of it. Its length was rather impressed, and most importantly, he could feel its hunger for blood.

It was practically begging to be let loose. It was like a venomous snake, ready to strike.

After a few moments of vigorous thinking, he settle on a name,

"Let's call you... {Silver Sea Serpent}, or the SSS for short."

Cain thought about it, then nodded.

***

{Congratulations to Host... You have created the Legendary grade weapon, {Silver Sea Serpent}

{+500 Free attribute points}.

{You have acquired a rune}.

***

Cain passed him the gun. Vincent gently ran his fingers along its body.

Then with teary eyes, he gave it a hug.

Suppressing the urge to roll his eyes at Vincent's theatrics, Cain explained,

"The weapon's description should cover its functions, but I'll explain it anyways."

He cleared his throat, "The {Silver Sea Serpent} is a high impact deadly rifle. Its maximum range is ten kilometers, but it can be extended with perception boosting skills. However, outside the five kilometer mark, its accuracy begins to drop._

Cain raised four of his fingers and Vincent listened attentively,

"It has four skills. The first one is {Tracer Shot}. {Tracer Shot} allows your bullets to chase down enemies that have already been marked. Once your sights catch them, your bullets will surely reach."

Vincent's eyes widened as he stammered,

"H-how broken!"

He dropped one finger,

"The second one is {Calypso}. It is more of an illusion spell than anything else. Once it is activated, your target cannot see or hear the bullet approaching. However, the power of bullets affected by {Calypso} are reduced a fair bit."

He dropped another finger,

"The third one is {Tidescale}. This skill gives your rounds armor piercing effects."

She put down her third finger,

"And lastly, the fourth, and the skill I believe to be the most important, is {Hidden}, which dims your presence significantly the closer you are to the target."

Vincent chuckled, "I've seen a lot of guns, but damn... This one is really something else."

Cain shrugged, "Helping you is helping me. Which reminds me... I have fulfilled my end of the bargain."

Vincent cleared his throat,

"When do we leave?"

Cain grinned.

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