Beyond the city walls, and the gate, the city did not just end. There were quite a lot of houses out here, even shops and taverns that made use of the King's Highway, but it was not as organized as within the city walls. Inside the walls was like a different world, made of marble and bright, with all sorts of cultures converging there. Outside the walls, everything seemed poorer and more rundown, but at the same time, also appealing in a way—closer to nature.

Under s.h.i.+non's leaders.h.i.+p, the city had changed a bit. Considering the timeframe that s.h.i.+non had control over the city, "a bit" was quite a lot. Although, Somnus's reforms had quite a bit to do with it as well. He taught the people more efficient methods of metallurgy, for example, and the new blast furnaces spewed smoke into the sky. The new furnaces used a combination of electrical spells and high temperature, combined with physics, to increase output quite considerably.

Metallurgy wasn't the only thing that saw changes. Chemistry and medicine also saw improvements. Health care was added into the tax while the general income tax was reduced. There were no clear benefits yet from doing this—in fact, it was a negative effect on the treasury—but if the people lived, say, past twenty years old, the probability that they will live twenty to thirty years longer meant that the total tax they would pay, in their lifetime, was over 50% greater than before. It was an expense, in the short term, but a profit in the long term. It was future-proofing.

Somnus's enemy would need a stable economy and a powerful industry.

And that is not to mention war-bonds. Although, currently no one really believed in Somnus's country—now that it was at war on all fronts—soon the power of Somnus's country would reveal itself and buying war-bonds would become quite profitable.

In other words, Gram, as a country, was burning a hole in its pocket, but trying to fill it faster than the speed at which things were falling through the hole. Without war, Gram would collapse. To be specific, without conquering more resources and expanding the economy, Gram's economy, at this rate, would collapse.

To Somnus, this was not even a risk. He knew the outcome of this turbulent economic time.

However, Somnus did not ask for a Battalion to teach them about economics. He had a different plan. A plan that took seven days.

Seven days is all it took. No more. No less. For simple people, he had simple weapons. Easy to use, easy to master.

"This is a firearm," Somnus said, holding up an automatic rifle.

No one had ever seen an automatic rifle. No one had ever seen a rifle, much less an automatic one. To the people, this thing looked like a… no one really knew how to describe the thing. It was not a stick, but it was long and bulky at the center and rear.

When Somnus led the battalion to the nearby Storn mountain-chain, no one really knew why he was taking them there.

Somnus's objective was the mine there. They had a lot of ore stockpiled and ready to put to use. Somnus had Photon and Baryon, and both of them possessed the [Trans.m.u.tation] skill. It was a match made in Heaven. They effortlessly copied Somnus's rifle, created through Trans.m.u.tation, and swiftly made copies for each soldier. Their efficiency was incredible. Even the Goblin Engineers could only stare in awe and envy, even though they also possessed the [Trans.m.u.tation] skill.

Initially, Somnus could not decide if he wanted the efficient design, with the magazine behind the trigger, or the easier to use magazine-in-front design. He went with the easier one, because he would only give these people seven days to learn to use a rifle and basic tactics.

Somnus had been smirking more than usual, which was still strange for him. He just couldn't stop himself. The reason was because half of his mind thought it was absurd that he could train an effective force in seven days, but then the other half also knew that what they would be facing were primitive and barbaric weapons like spears and swords. It was idiotic. This wasn't war. This was extermination.

Colonization?

Imperialization?

Somnus smirked again as he thought about how he would define the upcoming conflict. Then he chided himself for giving in to his fleshy body and its incessant need to communicate through body language. It was so inconvenient. It had its benefits though. Everyone under Somnus's command found him to be extremely confident, which gave them courage.

"This is the sight," Somnus explained, pointing at the sight. "Acquire sight picture like this and then pull the trigger."

Somnus demonstrated by aiming at a spot on the mountain and then squeezed the trigger. A four round burst followed, the noise causing people to duck their heads.

You have unlocked the Gunner job.

You have learned the Marksmans.h.i.+p skill.

"If you run out of ammo, press this b.u.t.ton. The magazine falls out and then you replace it with another one," Somnus explained, demonstrating half of the process, as he did not have an extra magazine.

In truth, holding a rifle was a very strange experience to Somnus. This was the first time he did something like this, and he wasn't even really that good at it. As a Machine, he never had to acquire a sight picture, or even aim—it was all done for him by algorithms. Technically, he was the one who was doing the calculations, but it was a much different experience than actually holding a weapon.

However, the rifle in his hands was not an ordinary rifle. For one, it did not have a safety mechanism—not a traditional one at least. The other major difference was the bullets themselves. There was no hammer on the rifle, and pulling the trigger did not achieve any mechanical goal. However, pulling the trigger completed a magical circle, like an electrical circuit. It would take mana from the user, created a fire explosion within the casing of the bullet, and use this as a propellant.

The bullet itself could be loaded with destructive spell sequences if the user was capable enough to perform such a task, and these could be selected with a selector above the magazine well. It had three settings: HE, AP and HEI, or High Explosive, Armor Piercing and High Explosive-Incendiary. Each one was meant for a different type of target. AP against armored targets, HE against personnel in tight formations and HEI against fortified positions.

By default, the selector was set to "none", meaning that the projectile itself had no special properties or activated magic sequences. This is why he needed the Goblin Engineers. They could manufacture the bullets, and they had the ability to infuse the bullets and rifles with the magic arrays. It did not require Magitech as the rifles and bullets had been made from ordinary materials. It was extremely inefficient, but it performed the task.

"You have seven days," Somnus said.

Initially, Somnus thought it was a mistake to give these people guns, but then he realized that there was one other thing that can unite people, other than a common enemy. It was greed. The foolish notion that guns give the power to conquer all. It was just hubris.

From the sidelines, Gemma and Mia stared at Somnus in disbelief. Was this "Advanced Training"? To wield a weapon that both of them felt would bring ruin to this world?

Somnus glanced at the two of them. There was a mysterious ember in his eyes, with an undecypherable meaning. The two could never, not even in a million years, understand Somnus's feelings. Somnus would crush every obstacle in his path towards his goals. It did not matter who or what the obstacle was, he would overcome it.

Teach Humanity about firearms? That was nothing. If necessary, Somnus would give them tanks, jets, satellites, even Autonomous Machine a.r.s.enals. Nuclear bombs and fusion reactors, it did not matter.

Seven days was all he needed to create a force that would kill even that which had no concept of death.