Rex was standing proudly, surrounded by over a hundred succubi. They all had various hairstyles, and some had even chosen the appearance of other races. They were staring at the kids in the center of them. Some with shock, and some with touched expressions.

 

Kira was holding onto Rex, Both kids were in a waist-high hole. It was impossible to see the expression she was making, as she clung to Rex too tightly. A pick sat behind Rex's leg still in the dirt, and the hole looked freshly dug.

 

Rex was incredibly pale and gaunt. He looked like a walking skeleton. If you looked closely you'd noticed he is shaking. His knuckles were bleeding like he had been punching at the ground.

 

“I'm so sorry, we doubted you. You and Kira, are truly a perfect match. We can accept that some races come to maturity sooner than others, and once Kira comes of age, we can have a wedding for you two.” The long-haired succubi said, looking at Rex with respect. “I am sure when she comes of age she will begin to truly understand your feelings if she hasn't already.”

 

It was clear she was rooting for Rex.

 

The expression on his face didn't seem to change at all. It was like he was a doll. His eyes didn't match his expression. His eyes were shaking as if he was trying to figure out what was going on.

 

“Having you on our side will be great for our war efforts! Now that the succubi are surrounded by enemies on all sides, we will need to accept any ally we can to survive.” This was a succubus who appeared as a dark-skinned elf with white hair, but orange succubus eyes.

 

“You have nothing to fear. We will easily destroy all the enemies of the succubi.” Rex proclaimed hoarsely and roughly.

 

If you looked closely you would notice his eyes were spinning. At this point, it was questionable which of the kids was being held up by the other.

 

-

 

12 days earlier...

 

Rex walked out of an empty hut, he had checked the mold for the day but hadn't had any luck. To increase his chances, he had converted more houses. Now ten of the abandoned houses were helping cultivate mold. He knew that sooner or later, he would have a breakthrough. Being in there was difficult though, due to the strong smell. He would need to make a gas mask at some point.

 

The next step in his morning was training, He began running laps around the crater for several minutes, then he started climbing up, and down the cliff face. He would push to the limits of his fear of heights then take an extra step up. He had picked this up a month ago, as he realized he might not have a choice.

 

“The mama's have been gone for over 4 fucking months now!” He yelled this to himself, pushing himself to climb higher.

 

When talking to yourself doesn't work, you can just yell! When he needed encouragement he remembered their 12 lazy pig faces. He needed to remind himself constantly, just whose fault this was. In his last life, he had been your typical desk worker, who did some physical labor each day. Since he ate out a lot at restaurants, he was dashingly well padded. With a very minimalist haircut.

 

Rex had just finished climbing down the mountain, he was catching his breath. He had finally started to develop some muscle. It was the first time since high school he had ever been in such good shape. Kira had been working harder, and his food had improved. Farming was something he gave up on.

 

“They are all trees, I'll be gone before they grow up.” Rex mumbled.

 

He had been planning to leave on the ship that carried the prisoners, it was the only way. The sharks were terrifying, and he had learned from Kira, they tended to attack anything that wandered into their territory. If you didn't have a large enough boat, they would just rip it to pieces. The main boat had to get close and drop longboats to move prisoners. It was still common to lose boats as well.

 

If the prisoners didn't come, he didn't have a way off the island. This mountain had a low lime content, and the two had used up all of the iron ore. There wasn't a whole lot there, it had been used up last month. Kira was very depressed, about it at the time. To facilitate his plans, Kira was now running the exchange.

 

Rex walked to the side of their house, to the kiln. He was using it as an oven to bake bread. He opened up the iron door, to use a spatula to fish out a piece of bread. It was light and fluffy, a stark contrast to the succubus bread. Culturing mold lead to something amazing.

 

“Yeast.” Rex said as he enjoyed a bite. “I can't believe they made bread without yeast.”

 

Looking at the sky, he made a guess.

 

“Kira should be here in an hour,” Rex said to himself.

 

Heading to the smelter was the last stop.

 

What happened inside, was that silver was being set into steel. He had made a simple rolling mill. He made a prototype of two gears, and the rollers, using wood. They poured the silver into thin strips, then rolled it into wire. Adding the magic stone didn't seem to change its properties very much, at least that he could see.

 

Once it was formed into wire, he placed it into the engraving he carved. Then he heated it, to melt it into place. He had started it several hours ago, and it should be cooled already. He opened the door and inside was a steel plate a bit larger than a cellphone. It was covered in symbols, linked together intricately. The symbols were small at ¼ of an inch. To do it, he cheated.

 

He carved it into clay then poured steel to make a punch. Once he heated the bottom plate, he set the one with the letters on top and used a hammer. This was his 10^th attempt at it. The equations the elf used were now gone. Rex didn't need any of them and had tested several other enchantments.

 

“The succubi only have a few magic stones left, and I have used almost all their silver now.” He said non-nonchalantly. “Oh well, they will thank me for saving their prisoners.”

 

If Rex hadn't convinced Kira to open the exchange, he doubted they would be able to hold on. There were nearly 500 when he was on the island, now there was only about 250 left. They were skin and bones when Kira found them. We had to feed them for free for a couple of days at first, but the ore production just isn't great.

 

Rex blamed the poor quality of the tools, as they were just iron picks, they didn't even have the flat blade. It slowed them down, but he didn't have any real plans to improve their efficiency.

 

It had improved somewhat, over the month. Kira had also been trained by him very well. A good portion of the succubi ore had been just useless rocks. It only seemed like a couple of them had any idea. This had made the prisoners lazier, and Rex wasn't running a charity. Kira was very strict on what she accepted. Rex often checked over, what she brought back.

 

The main reason he wanted Kira at the exchange during the day, was so he could complete tools. He had reverse-engineered the blueprint the elf had made of the chain. He had all the work the elf did in one of the books, and all of his research. That elf couldn't bring himself to destroy, his life's work. It's a story many scientists had to live with. He had also designed a way to survive the chain, and Rex compared the two methods.

 

Adding a magic stone he watched the plate activate, this meant he had succeeded. Now if he got drained this should return the stolen life force to him. He could finally feel safe. He tucked this into a pocket he made in his pants, so it would always be on him. It felt wonderful for him to finally succeed.

 

You know, Kira looks kind of adorable now!

 

He quickly moved to his next project.

 

Guns, and cars, were his two main hobbies when he was growing up. Guns were one of the most compact and technically complex tools humans made. Clockwork makers were some of the best early gunsmiths. As they had the best understanding of moving parts, and storing energy. Rex had worked in this industry for over 5 years specifically. But he had worked all kinds of jobs to get there. It had given him a wide arrange of knowledge that a hobbyist just wouldn't have.

 

Composting can make amazing fertilizer because it produces nitrates. Rex had been gathering nitrate slowly, but he didn't manage to collect much. Rex had painstakingly collected, a few grams. Succubi did not produce waste, he had no real form of nitrates up here. He had to make them himself, an incredibly slow process. One man can only produce so much urine, and ammonia is needed to make nitrates...

 

Soil extraction itself is a dirty process. You take nitrate-rich soil and mix in boiling water to suspend the nitrates inside it, to make a solution. Then you have to filter this smelly liquid. Boil it down, and cool it. This will combine it into a solid, with most of the salts, and nitrate.

 

This is where it gets tricky, as it requires solvents. Ethanol is made from wood and is a form of alcohol. You can turn this into vinegar, and mix it into seas shell powder to get calcium acetate. This can be used to make acetone. Acetone and ethanol can make fairly pure potassium nitrate. Which is what he had done over the month she was running the exchange.

 

Mix potassium nitrate, sulfur, and ash, and you get primitive gunpowder. Rex had enough for a single shot. This was what his careful collection, had gotten him...

 

“I worked so hard, and this is what I have to show for it...” Rex said disappointed.

 

So many things were needed to make this bit of gunpowder. He had started composting to hide the alcohol production. The nitrates were needed, but as are so many other items. The shells were also important to a lot of the processes. Using paper to get a solid store of wood chips, was also needed. He had then used the molding that they had perfected, to make a distill, and distilled the ethanol.

 

Percussion caps were the most commonly used method, to achieve ignition at almost any time. The cheaper method was to use a fuse, but Rex wanted to use enchanting. Gunpowder only needed an ignition source, he planned to make a small enchantment that produces a spark in the chamber. This would mean, as long as it was loaded, it could fire anytime.

 

Having a weapon that was always ready to shoot, was too dangerous. So he decided to modify it slightly. The gun's base was a bamboo tube, he left a retaining wall in, towards the back. He would then design a hammer that looked like a round plug, with a catch around it on the middle. This was so that if the plug shifted, or rotated, it would not affect the weapon.

 

His cartridge would be paper wrapped. A pin in the backplate will be struck by the hammer. The pin will be driven through the plate and the wrap on the bullet. And when the hammer fully contacted the base plate, the enchantment would activate once. firing a spark down the pin, and into the gunpowder, inside the paper it pierced.

 

The charging mechanism was just a metal strip with a finger. When you pulled it back, it caught the grove in the hammer. This pulled it back, locking it in place, using the trigger. The trigger would then need a bit of pressure, to break the connection between the trigger and the hammer. The charging rod would act as a second safety, as it had to be out of the way to fire. You would need to pull back, then all the way forward or it would block the hammer from making contact.

 

The entire thing looked like a tonfa. The trigger would be flush with the handle unless it was charged. The hammer being pulled back would cause the trigger to pop out. He also planned to keep the handle straight, and not curved. The charging bolt looked like a bolt to hold the handle on. It had a notch carved in the middle, to aim with. A bead was placed onto the front to act as a sight.

 

Kira had managed to find a beehive, and he was going to seal the entire gun with wax. It would even be able to fire underwater. As long as he charged, and shot before it flooded the rear mechanism. The barrel was smoothbore anyway, so it should only be used at close range.

 

This was the simplest gun he could come up with that was still reliable with what he had. Most people won't tell you how likely it was that flintlocks and percussion rifles failed to fire. The glorious scenes of a wall of flintlock fire and smoke were told by the 1/5 of people who were stuck just watching the scene.

 

When you see a bayonet on a flintlock, you should know that is not an accessory. It was the main feature, it was the only way to use them if it misfired. If you could not get the gunpowder to ignite, then it took forever to clear. This made the gun, completely worthless.

 

Civil war reenactments were wrong, unless at least a quarter of your men, were forced to charge. This was because they had a failure, and the gun did not fire. Unloading a flintlock, is so difficult, are you going to ask your enemy to put off your encounter a day? These unlucky saps could only charge the enemy.

 

Assembling, and disassembling, his model was easy. It had so few parts that it needed to fire. The issues gun manufacturers ran into so often, were that you only had so many ways to do it. Gun manufacturing was all about finding the simplest mechanical way, to create the process needed. Modern gun manufacturing was doing this while dancing around copyrights.

 

“I can make whatever I want! So many useless technical manuals I had to read.” Rex looked like he remembered someone, and began mimicking them. “Rex, have you read about that Austrian maker's new patents yet?! Rex, Why haven't you looked at what the Israelis are doing with strikers?! Rex, I think this bolt carrier can have a few more ten-thousandths of an inch cut off here, and here!”

 

Rex looked angrily at the sky.

 

“Manager, you said you would hunt me down if I ever missed work... Where are you, when I need you most!” Rex began crying, as he remembered the angry, and short man.

 

It was also rumored the manager often cheated on his wife. They often fought on the factory floor.

 

Sending Kira away was necessary, to hide what he was doing in these final steps. The issue was the isolation he experienced, this place felt like a ghost town. The succubi left after they grew up to join the demon army, and often provided information as spies for the demons. The demons only knew about this island as they had killed Carlog.

 

“But, I know so little about the mainland.” The succubi didn't respect him.

 

The crux of the issue was he felt starved for information, constantly. He got to know some of the information, because of the books. This information was hundreds of years old though. When the elf came here, Carlog hadn't existed yet, and the sharks weren't here either. Then Carlog sealed this place for hundreds of years with his existence. Until the demons killed it, and then the succubi came here.

 

“There is something up with this island.” Rex concluded.

 

At one point this island was an active volcano. As the volcanic rock was spewed out it formed all the dangers around the island's waters. All these rock formations made it a haven for marine life. The reason a big ship was necessary, was that the sharks were the smallest monsters here. This island seemed to attract them in droves.

 

A thought suddenly dawned on him, but he planned to leave, so it was unimportant.

 

He now had a device that should be able to resist the succubi's drain. This was an insurance policy, just like the gun was. He didn't want to use it, as it would mean a grudge would form between them. This was the last thing he wanted to see happen, while he was cautious of them, he still considered Kira his friend. He would leave everything he built with her, and that would be enough to repay the succubi.

 

Rex took out some boards and used dowels to make a frame. He filled it with clay he had prepared and begun making a mold. The plan was to cast these parts out of the iron, they would get it over the next few days, then heat-treat the parts, and then make a spring.

 

Making a tension spring was easy, he used the rolling mill to make the wire. A rolling mill, and a rolling press for paper, are almost identical. The rollers have notches that slowly move from biggest to smallest. All one needed was to pour molten steel into a thin strip, and let it cool to use it. Then you fed it through the largest hole in the rolling mill, this will stretch, and thin, the metal into a wire.

 

Once you have the wire, use something with the same circumference as the hammer for the gun. This would be a guide, to form the spring. He just wrapped it in tight coils, and it was ready to be heat treated.

 

“Guns are such simple things.” Rex looked at his completed mold and walked it to the kiln.

 

He wanted to get this baking before Kira showed up with more ore. Hiding the process was easy, as he doubted they had much knowledge of guns. The issue was, if he could make them so easily, so can others.

 

The things he had gathered over the months were so mundane, he doubted anyone would know he had everything right here. He felt like he had been brilliant in his execution.

 

He walked with a spring in his step, to yet another abandoned succubus home. Inside was a bucket filled with a light yellow liquid. Rex added more urine to this bucket. When it was full, he would dump it on wood chips, and add some mold to it. This would break down the wood, and ammonia, and make saltpeter or potassium nitrate. He hoped to make enough gunpowder for a second shot.

 

This was how he made nitrates. Saltpeter had always been an industry inseparable from firearms. Urine collection was also the original purpose for urinals.

 

Washing his hands, he left the abandoned house.

 

He had converted 12 of these houses for his purposes, such as storing chemicals, mold production, and nitration. They all smelled awful, as that was the nature of chemicals.

 

Everything he had built was similar to what they used to prototype modern firearms. Most guns started as 3d printed plastic models, that were then cast. If he had a casting machine he could make even better parts. Investment casting would be nice too as he could use it to make better glassworks.

 

Rex never learned to blow glass, as that was wasteful in machining it. Just like blacksmithing was completely unnecessary to him.

 

“Making guns is so easy, a child can do it in their backyard.” Rex concluded this long ago. It's why he didn't like designing guns, but the machines that made the guns.

 

Blacksmithing was the precursor to casting. Casting has no size limit, as you can always find a way to make a mold. He wanted to avoid the succubi, wasting time swinging hammers. Casting and machining were what ultimately made blacksmithing only a hobby.

 

He was interrupted by the sound of flapping and looked up to see Kira flying down to him. He had made a backpack for her, that she could wear on the front when she flew.

 

“Were like a married couple where the husband is constantly planning his escape.” He mumbled to himself, as he smiled and waved at her.

 

They had put the exchange on a 5 day a week schedule. At first, she brought her battleax with her and seemed like a little soldier. But that had changed, and she stopped. Rex wasn't sure what had happened as she didn't say anything, and nothing changed outwardly. She said they got pushy one day, and she had to split them up. Then I guess they fell into line after that.

 

Kira began unloading ore, it had gotten much purer with his training. He also began accepting coal. The rocks the succubi used to measure ore were picked up on the way by the succubus running the exchange that day. I wanted to squeeze the miners dry, but I left that to Kira for now.

 

She would make five or 6 trips then, use a different backpack to carry the afternoon bread down. The exchange was opened for about 6 hours a day. She would head down at first light after the sun rose fully, then after three hours, we brought more bread. The oil for the torches came from a spring on the island, that just produced it.

 

Rex had only been on the south side of the island, but the north side was more marshy. A tunnel had broken out over there, and one inmate had routed the sewage to flow out the mountain, and into the march.

 

I wonder if Kira would bring me swamp sludge... I can't tell her the product would be gunpowder I may need to use against her people...

 

Even modern people didn't realize how easy guns were to make. Everything he ever needed, fit on an 8ft table. He would prototype parts, right in his office to better study them. A few boxes of compound powders, and the water from his sink. Your neighbor could be making them in his spare bedroom, and you'd never even know.

 

You can get sulfur easily, and he could also even extract it from pyrite with some heat. Fool's gold was very common here. It was one of the more common forms of iron that could be found. They often brought in various types of iron, and other metals. Kira firmly denied anything that wasn't of a certain quality.

 

“The prisoners are a problem... This island has so many resources, and it is almost untouched.” Rex was sad about this.

 

Even with the few hundred years of mining, it had barely scratched what this dead volcano had to offer. As he wasn't an environmentalist, he'd probably comb the forest carefully. Then burn everything that wasn't edible. Then move to the south of the island, and use what was edible to make farms.

 

He would convert the marsh into a nitrate farm, and divert sewage here as well. The volcano extends from the east to the ocean, and the west is the flat dock area. He would do an extended dock, and clear the ocean over there. You would have a war with the monsters but it would be worth it to take this island as it was a goldmine of resources.

 

The problem he kept running into was he didn't know where the island was geographically. He only knew it was three weeks from the demon's homeland. What he was hoping, was that it wasn't something like Japan. He had even considered more nightmare scenarios, like if the US had been an equal distance from Japan as it had been from China. If he had two or even three major continents around him, then wouldn't this be the worst place ever?

 

“Alright! I made it to break time!” Kira had flown down to join him, interrupting his thoughts.

 

She was wearing a hairband he had made for her. They had bleached and died some fabric to coat a soft metal, coloring it orange. She had taken it from here and added some small glass beads to it in a flower pattern. The soap had done wonders for her, and she had started growing her hair out. Even her clothes had improved as he had bleached and dyed them too. The dye was extracted from shells, and the little girl had gotten more adventurous looking for them.

 

He had made wax earplugs for her as he discovered that was her issue. She had very developed semi-circular canals, and the water was hurting her ears under pressure. After that, she had made some harpoons based on some of his analyses.

 

I bet she is having so much fun, playing out there in the FREE WORLD!!!

 

“Any word from the mama's?” He asked her this every day for the last 3 months. Even when she didn't leave his side all day.

 

He had slowly lost his fear of her over time.

 

It's just the Stockholm syndrome talking!

 

He instituted a 7 day week because sometimes he didn't know when he was anymore. He had to keep his mind steady and focused, like a sane person. When he wasn't focused he wasn't sane. That is what this place did to him, he had even begun writing his memoirs in English. A language that no one else knew. Kira would go through it on occasion and look through it.

 

“No, don't worry though. I will get big soon, and help you get out.” She seemed proud of this idea.

 

I need to escape quickly.

 

He had decided to trust that elf's theory with reversing the chain to be able to survive it. Reverse engineering the elf's draining spell had given him a light of hope as well. Their thoughts were very much in line here. Countering charm magic, was very possible with enchanting. There was nothing for him to worry about though, as he had no mana thanks to his passive.

 

I'm just like the mamas...

 

“Oh, yeah. We had about 6 loaves of bread leftover from today.” Kira reported.

 

“Wonderful, I can make even more mold!” Rex said it was time to convert another succubus' abandoned house, into a mold room.

 

I can clean them before I leave, only the mamas live here after all.

 

To Be Continued In Part 2...