Birth Of The Crafts-God

"That's one."

Lucas said as the target struck by the spear's laser beam began to crumble.

"What was that?" One of the executives couldn't help but ask. From how he stood and after throughout, Lucas identified him to be the leader of the group.

"That's a feature of the Blue spear. It's a vestige that combines the philosophy of the Forger and Multiplex factions in the most ideal way possible." Lucas answered straightforwardly.

"In the most ideal way possible? Don't joke with me." One of the men said.

Be had black hair, which was rare among hyumans, and was the second vestige-smith in the group. He also happened to be one of the two who had shown irritation when they first met with Lucas; a speciesist who looked down on humans.

"What's the matter?" The leader asked.

"The most ideal way of combination of the Multiplex and Forger philosophies is one that combines both capabilities perfectly into one. Why I do admit that the Blue Spear is impressive and powerful, it's not worth calling 'the most ideal way'. It's merely the same as some of the vestiges in the market, albeit more powerful." The man snorted.

He wasn't a member of Lucy's faction, but rather came from the allied faction. He was also incensed that not only did his faction's upper heads ally with Lucy's faction, but the vestige-smith they all placed their hopes in was a mysterious individual who could only be contacted through a human. As such, he couldn't help but disparage Lucas' vestige a bit.

Although it might sound like a dumb idea, pointing out faults would aid them in getting an upper hand in negotiations later on. This was why the leader didn't stop him, and the black-haired man knew this as well and used it to his advantage.

Lucas glanced at them, not surprised by the act. He wasn't a business genius and so couldn't see the underlying plot, but he did expect to receive some chiding once he presented his work.

The idea of combining the two major philosophies wasn't something new, and many vestige-smiths had tried it in the past. Sadly, they all failed. Although some did succeed in making a vestige with both properties, it would usually align towards one side.

For instance, there was a similar vestige in the market as with the Blue Spear. The vestige had the ability to fire laser beams and appeared to be a staff weapon. However, its weight was ridiculous and its size was larger than most staff weapons, as it had to fit in a whole bunch of different technology.

This made it difficult to use the staff as a cold weapon, since the strength requirement of the user was now raised to a new threshold.

At the same time, to lessen the recoil, the power of the laser beam was made weak. While this was a rational decision, it had affected the vestige's ability to function as a hot weapon. The laser beam was so weak that its range was limited when compared to other hot weapons. It also got weaker the further it went, approaching the point of nil damage at around eighty metres.

For a hot weapon to only have an effective range of less than eighty metres in this era was a huge disappointment, and such a vestige would unequivocally be termed as a failure.

There was also the fact that reloading the vestige was complicated due to its structure; maintenance was also complex, heating problems, stability problems, and so on. Most of all, issues arose when the staff was used as a blunt weapon to collide with a solid target. The impact was found out to cause damage to the internal system of the vestige, affecting its ability to function as a hot weapon.

In the worst case scenario, the staff could even explode due to a malfunction.

Despite the fact that in later versions, the severe problems and a majority of challenges faced were fixed, some of them still remained. Most notably being the weak laser beam power, weight and size challenges.

If the Blue Spear's only speciality was firing laser beams, then it couldn't really be called a hot weapon due to these existing problems. Even if they were fixed in the Blue Spear, it would still be used majorly as a spear with the shooting feature as an auxiliary service.

"That's why I called it, the first feature." Lucas answered.

"You don't need to worry about the drawbacks and complications in similar models in the market as those are nonexistent here. For instance, you can see that while the size and shape of the Blue Spear is a bit larger than standard spears, it isn't by much. In fact, the difference is so little that it's still less thicker than a heavy spear, while the weight is only 1.5 that of a standard spear.

"But as I was saying, that's just the first feature."

Saying so, Lucas glanced at Lucy and signalled at her.

Lucy was surprised and confused, but she came towards him.

"Pump in a bit of stellar energy into it through this matrix."

Lucas then handed the vestige to her and pointed at a stellar circuit. He called it a matrix as that was what they were most familiar with.

Lucy did as told, controlling her stellar energy to enter the vestige through the matrix. Being a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, this wasn't a challenge, and most of all, she worked with a vestige company, so she was familiar with such acts. However, what happened next left her agape with incredulity.

Within a second, just as the stellar energy flowed into the matrix, the Blue Spear abruptly transformed into a sniper rifle. The process was so swift and smooth that Lucy didn't sense any uncomfortable sensation on the hand wielding the vestige. She still firmly held onto it, but the form and shape had changed into something distinguishable from what she previously held a few moments ago.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"!!!"

Everyone—whether it was the human-hater, the team leader or even Lucy who held the vestige in her hands—had their eyes opened wide at the scene. If someone had told them earlier that they would be witnessing a vestige with two forms; hot and cold, they would have laughed at the speaker and maybe even mocked them a bit. However, they were now seeing such a marvel in front of their eyes.

"When I called it the most ideal way possible to combine both philosophies, I meant it." Lucas uttered calmly, amidst the dumbfounded looks and open mouths.