Bab 37: 6.6 Bootstrapping

This was excellent progress! "Yeah!"

"What's all this fuss about, young Rouge?" an elderly voice called out to me. Turning around, the familiar visage of a bare-chested old man greeted me, in his hands were his usual large hammer and a few rations from the guards. "And what's that you've got in your hands? I heard a few loud booms on my way back here. Was that you and little Lise?"

"Yep!" I hollered as I hefted our current success in front of me. I couldn't help but smile as I presented our latest achievement. "This is what's causing all the noise earlier," I said before turning back towards the target and letting out another shot.

*BANG!*

The bullet flew straight and true in a way I didn't really expect from my amateur shooting skills. Hitting the metal slab dead in the center, the target collapsed under the force of the bullet; shattering into a few chunks as the muzzle of my rifle smoked with deadly accuracy.

"W-What is that?"

"This,"-I handed him the rifle-"is a rifle." I smiled as he ran his hands across the Seigel-riddled boomstick. "And it'll give us an edge when we inevitably stage a breakout."

"Amazing..." Baccus whispered as he eyed the Seigels etched onto the metal itself. "Squared angles to provide durability... and is that one of my open circles that I see?" the elder chuckled at his observations. "You certainly have a talent for picking up ideas, young Rouge."

"It's not just me. Lise etched the Seigels herself," I preened while at the same time giving my little sister most of the credit. "I just gave her the rough draft. She actually made it work."

Which was true. It was her adjustments that made the thing work. At best, I only gave her the idea to use those specific Seigels. Maybe she could've come up with a much better version if I didn't give any-

"Still, if it's capable of destroying metal armor, it would be an indispensable weapon for us to use," he nodded as he gripped the rifle in his hands, aiming it in the same way I did just a few moments ago. "Speaking of little Lise, where is she?"

"She's asleep near the water tower," I answered as I took the rations from Baccus's hands. "Tired herself out after attempting to fire a shot."

"Tired herself out, eh," Baccus hummed. "May I?"

"Sure," I nodded. "Just place your thumb on the dot acting as the trigger Seigel."

He did exactly that, and I raised an eyebrow as the rifle slowly glowed in the old man's grasp. As usual, the rifle siphoned his Seigel Wesen through the trigger Seigel, distributing it throughout the rest of the gun. The rifle continued to glow a dull blue before the elder finally lifted his thumb from the rune.

*whoosh*

Huh?

A gust of wind emerged from the muzzle, only it wasn't at the same strength that I expected it to be. Was there something wrong? Did he not pour in enough Wesen for it to work?

"As expected," Baccus sighed as he ran his fingers through the length of the barrel. "I'm afraid we wouldn't be able to use this so-called 'rifle' of yours."

W-what?

"But.. why? Why didn't it work?" I almost shouted in a panic, taking the rifle away from his hands and aiming it down the range. "Did it break only after a few shots or something?"

Running my shaky fingers through the Seigels, I carefully inspected every bend and angle in the damn thing. The angles were still solid, as well as the cooling Seigels... The rifling inside the barrel didn't warp after two successful discharges too, and the main arrow and trigger Seigels were still fully intact and operational...

So... why then?

"I think I might have the answer for that, young Rouge," Baccus piped up behind me, his voice reminding me of an older, wiser Father somehow. "See if you can 'take a shot', as you might put it."

Hesitantly nodding, I aimed at a nondescript mound of scrap down at the range. Pouring in what I felt was the necessary amount once more, the rifle glowed in my hand with the same intensity as a light bulb. Wait...

"As I suspected..."

Why was it working now?

In my hands, the rifle swirled with energy, the arrow doing its intended job of coalescing wind into the barrel as it waited for me to release the trigger. Now that I thought about it, judging from the drain that I saw in both Lise and Baccus, it should've already siphoned out a lot of Wesen out of me by this point. But instead, I wasn't even winded at the constant drain of the rifle's demands.

"What's wrong with it?" I asked, curiosity overtaking my panic as my mind whirred through the possible explanations. "If I can make it work, why won't it work for you guys?"

The Seigels were still operational after all, so there weren't any errors in that regard... The Wesen input was surely the linchpin in making this thing work, then.

"Young Rouge, the drain on this 'rifle' of yours is immense," Baccus explained, rubbing a hand on his bearded chin as he tapped on the brightly-glowing arrow of the barrel. "Nenners weren't meant to power Elemental Seigels such as this one. Not without having massive reserves themselves. I suppose you are gifted with more Seigel Wesen than the average Nenner, but not everyone can use their Wesen to power even the most rudimentary of Seigels, especially Elemental ones."

Baccus put two fingers on my thumb, one eye staring intensely at the Seigel beneath it as he slowly lifted it up.

*BANG!*

As expected, the rifle fired. Although no longer loaded, the force was still enough to make my shoulder sore for at least a few hours.

"This Seigel..." the elder trailed off, tapping the trigger Seigel with a knuckle. "Did you come up with this?"

"Y-yes?" Where was he going with this?

"May I?" he asked, motioning for me to give him the rifle.

"Oh."

Nodding, I gave him the rifle for whatever it was that he was going to do with it. I stared confusedly as the elder once more gave the boomstick a once over, tracing the Seigels on it that were connected to the trigger.

"How ingenious," he breathed out probably more to himself as he intensely looked at the design. "A cluster of dots so small that it almost looks like a unified black dot at a glance. How did you come to this design?"

"I... uh.. just thought it would work somehow," I admitted, rubbing the back of my head as I explained myself to the bright-eyed elder. "Like a wi-" I caught myself just as I was about to liken it to a copper wire. "R-rope, that's intertwined to maybe handle the flow of Seigel Wesen through it."

⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛