After a moment of contemplation, I laid back down and decided to catch up on lost sleep.

I awoke late into the night to a sleeping Sarah hugging me like her life depended on it.

I didn't move for fear of awakening her, instead trying to go back to sleep.

As I lay there, I wondered at my luck. I survived that forest purely because Sarah saved me, the vine plant feared me, and because Kevin didn't attack me. These occurrences were the reason for my survival.

I mentally thanked the heavens for my good luck as I began drifting back into the realm of dreams.

I awoke the next morning to bright sunlight streaming into my face.

I sat up, awakening the elf that still clung to my side.

"Good morning, sleepyhead." I teased, rolling out of the overlarge bed.

"Do you...Not want a taste of me?" She asked tentatively.

"It's not that I don't want to, it's that I don't feel that I know you well enough." I explained reasonably. "My rational mind is able to curb my desires."

"Oh." Was all she said as she got up and moved to leave.

"Where is the iron and coal stored?" I asked as she left. "I need to make a blast furnace to make steel. And I also need sand and other wood and a ruler if I am to begin making your gun today."

Her attitude...I swear. One moment she's sad and the next she's joyous and carefree as can be.

After sending her out into the market several times to purchase the materials I needed for the furnace and molds I was making, I began making the outline for the furnace so I could also place a bellows, allowing me to make purer steel.

Since I needed to wait for the bricks to set completely, I began questioning her about her style of fighting. If she were a game character, she'd be a nearly exclusive dexterity build.

I decided to make a sniper for her.

I sketched out the blueprint for the weapon and began carving out parts of the sand molds I had on hand for pouring.

Two days later I had dug into the ground and made a blast furnace successfully.

Now I needed to begin heating it up.

I tossed a bunch of coal into the furnace and covered the top after lighting it.

I chose to make steel because I didn't know what properties the magical metals had. If the metals reacted with something in the bullets or cartridges, it might cause an issue. So I chose to stick with what I knew.

I was also making my own gun at the same time I made Sarah's. I wasn't about to let her have all the fun.

After the coal heated up the furnace immensely, I added a bunch of iron ore and began pumping the bellows, cycling the air to burn off the impurities. This is called the Bessemer Process.

It didn't matter if I added the iron ore directly to where the coal was. The coal would float as the iron melted. It would also mostly burn off, leaving only the carbon in the iron.

As I waited for everything to melt, I continually pumped the bellows.

It was difficult work, and Sarah had come outside to watch me strain and sweat at pumping the massive bellows shirtless.

I ignored her as I focused on my task.

Once the impurities burned off entirely, I lowered a orichalcum cruicible that Sarah had assured me would not react in any way to the high temperature or the molten steel.

I then poured the molten steel into the many sets of molds I had prepared.

I had to go back several times to properly fill every single mold, and I made several spare barrels because I worried about how straight they would be.

It was at times like this that I wished I could use magic.

Any excess whas poured into ingots.

After the metal had entirely cooled, all I needed to do was to assemble the weapons.

Oh, boy, did it feel good to feel the familiar heft of a sniper rifle.

I made myself a Barrett M107, while Sarah got an AWM.

Both were great rifles, in my opinion, but I wanted to have Sarah focus on accuracy. If she got a semi-automatic rifle immediately I feared she would just dump rounds until she hit her target.

Before she could have the gun, I explained basic safety, such as to not try and catch it if she drops it, to not look down the barrel, and where to put her trigger finger.

I finally gave Sarah her AWM and began wondering how I'd make the primers.

When I asked her about it, she said she could go to a nearby mage and ask about it.

I explained the concepts behind the bullets and cartridges and left her to it.

In the mean time, I began moving the leftover ingots into a pile so they could be forged in the future.

After that, I had a bunch of free time to wander the empty and intricate halls of Sarah's mansion.

I had no idea why she was so rich, but I wasn't about to complain about money. It certainly made life easier.

Sarah came back several hours later with a bunch of pieces of paper and a few functioning rounds of .50 BMG and .338 Lapua Magnum.

"It's impressive that they managed to make what seem to be fully-functioning rounds in such a short time." I said as I loaded a few bullets into the magazine for testing.

"The people in the Tower of Glass were very impressed by your AWM design." Sarah said, proffering the papers. "These are patents for my AWM and the bullets you ordered to be made."

"Oh there are patents in this world?" I asked, surprised.

"Yes." She held the bullets and copied how I loaded the magazine. "How do I put this in?"

"You pull back the bolt and it'll go in." I showed her how to reload.

"Mason Crystal, the head of the Tower of Glass and the maker of these bullets wants to meet you, by the way." Sarah said offhandedly, aiming at one of her windows.

"Hey. Don't do that. We can use targets." I hurriedly stopped her from shooting her window.

I put a piece of paper against the rough stone that made the outer walls of her mansion and told her to try and hit it.

"Is Mason trustworthy?" I asked, wondering if the accuracy of my weapon was up to snuff. "Would he try and kill us for my knowledge?"

"No." Sarah said as she fired, then yelped and missed the paper by a good six inches. "He's known for pursuing knowledge, but he wouldn't kill for it."

She looked at the weapon in her hands with newfound respect.

"Like how it kicks?" I asked, squeezing the trigger and hitting the improvised target nearly dead center.

She looked at the rifle in her hands again and grinned.

"It's amazing." She laughed.

"It suits your combat style." I said, to which she straightened her back as if I gave her a wonderful compliment. "Do you think I could meet this Mason, then?"

"But then more people will know of your existence and try to take you from me." Sarah pouted.

"But we'll have connections to a powerful man." I explained. "And we can make him sign an NDA if he wants to meet me."

"A..What?" She asked.

"NDA. Nondisclosure agreement." I fired again, hitting closer to the center, which I thought was good, especially considering I hadn't put on iron sights yet. "Basically, it means that he'll have to pay an exorbitant sum if he reveals my existence."

"That's smart." Sarah complimented. "And we'll have a person who would help us immensely if need be as well, right?"

"Yes." I chuckled. "It's a win-win."

She unloaded the magazine and fired the round remaining in the chamber, managing to hit the target this time, before setting the weapon down and entering the mansion.

"I'm going to draft up the document so you can meet the man." Sarah said over her shoulder.