The Strongest Gun Magus: I Cast Bullet!-Chapter 13: Suffering From Success

Just as Reynard imagined, kissing Marien on the lips was even sweeter than her previous kiss on the cheek. He could smell the scent of flowers and spices coming from her—a perfume?

"Eeeee! You!"

Marien shoved Reynard away, glaring daggers at him. Her face was redder than a tomato, and a moment later, she turned away from him entirely.

"You are so outrageous that I don’t have words for it! This... This was my first kiss! You stole my first kiss! Maybe I was keeping these lips for my future husband!"

Reynard scratched his neck, torn between pure joy and a bit of self-consciousness.

"Uh... ’Maybe’? So you weren’t sure?" he finally asked.

Marien turned back to him, pouting.

"Oooow, you are just awful! I never said anything good about you, ever, you understand? Awful, no-good scoundrel Reynard! You will repay me for this slight. In three days, you will bring me to the best restaurant in town, and give me the gun and the schematics for crafting it, as you promised!"

Reynard perked up, grinning. Now he was sure that despite all her pouting, Marien liked his moves.

’She’s a bit of a tsundere. When she’s not a brat, that is! And... Oh, right, I only have three days to finish her order! Time flies. But I should have everything I need to do it.’

"Sure! It’s a date, my beautiful! Please, don’t tell your grandpa."

Marien jutted her lower lip forward even more.

"Tell him? I won’t. He," she pointed at the groaning magus, "surely will, though. And all the people in the restaurant... And on the streets..."

She smiled.

"He will definitely know!"

Reynard let out a long-suffering sigh.

"In this case, I have to bid you goodbye, my songbird... I really should refine my aura and prepare for the inevitable fights I will have to face."

***

It was late in the evening when Reynard returned to his private garden. By this point, he had moved most of his things there, where they were safer from other students. He only slept in his dormitory, and only because the nights were getting cold.

Reynard sat down on a spread blanket and pulled out a Mermaid’s Tear Pearl. The item was tingling his fingers with inner power.

He closed his eyes and focused on the dark red refined mana inside of him. He poured it all in the Inner Crucible in his stomach—a tool similar to the Athanor, but able to withstand much stronger temperatures, and always warm from the fire of Reynard’s life force.

Then, Reynard swallowed the Tear Pearl whole.

The effect was immediate.

When the energies of the Tear Pearl entered the Crucible, the mana inside began to turn gentle and pure pink, while also gradually coagulating.

Reynard watched this with satisfaction, focusing on keeping the temperature in the Crucible constant.

Several possible catalysts could be used for the fixation—solidification—of his mana now, but Mermaid’s Tear Pearl was an even better fit than Reynard thought.

’It only makes sense... Now that this mana is inside of me, I can feel it perfectly. Balance of elements is the basis of all perfection. The flowing and cool mana of the Tear Pearl balances out the poisonous but immobile mana of the Saturnian Ivies."

Half an hour later, his refined mana became a solid and smooth pink pearl. Looking at it made Reynard’s heart beat faster with anticipation.

’I’m ready... I’m ready to finish the final Operation and move to the Second Cycle! And like that, in just a few more weeks, I will achieve the Final Cycle Nigredo stage. I will have to rely on guns until then, but... I should advance just slow enough to skip this year’s Autumn Beast Hunt.’

With that thought, Reynard began to stoke the fires in his Crucible.

’The final Operation—projection! To stabilize the Cycle’s results within the Crucible and add them firmly to my body through the intense heat of my Innate Fire. If I fail... I will be thrown several Operations back—at best.’

Reynard poured more and more of his life force into the Crucible, and the bright fire of life surrounded it, darkening and melting the mana within. until it glowed from the heat.

Sweat formed on Reynard’s brow, and his stomach grumbled, but he kept going.

Drop by drop, it began pouring out and flowing to Reynard’s Athanor, nourishing his body and aura along the way.

The strain of keeping the fire forced Reynard to sway. He propped himself on his arms, but kept watching as more drops followed.

With each of them, an euphoric feeling grew within Reynard as his organism became one tiny step closer to perfection, until suddenly overwhelming him entirely.

Reynard’s conscience dimmed, and his Crucible went lukewarm. He fell back, flopping on the ground.

His mind was fuzzy, but full of bliss.

’This is the best nut I had in my life...’

His mana became a pure black liquid and returned to the Athanor, from where it would nourish the rest of his aura. He had reached the next Cycle. Now, Reynard would just need to add more Earth Mana and repeat the Cycles of Operation over and over until...

’Wait!’ Reynard realized. ’My mana isn’t just pure—it’s absolutely uniform, without a single mote of different texture! And my aura is black, but it isn’t flaking anymore! This... This is a sign of a Final Cycle Nigredo!’

He opened his eyes in shock.

The feeling of vigour remained with him.

’Did I really just go to the Final Cycle overnight? In one go? This... Is either incredibly lucky or incredibly brilliant, something that one person in a hundred achieves! I can feel my mana reserve growing... I should be able to learn some REAL spells now!’

The Seeking Lightning! The Ice Prison! Even the famous Fireball!

And also spells to melt metal in his palms and mold it easily into whatever Reynard wanted. Spells to harden steel without wasting valuable Black Salt on it...

’Wait. Shit, I remember now... The Autumn Beast Hunt.’