Change of plans

Jonathan stood next to them,

"Ahem!" He coughed, the four halted their laughter, and smiled at Jonathan awkwardly.

They actually forgot that there is a party. The old men and Diane felt ashamed for being irresponsible.

"Father, im sorry i was playing with mom and the two grampa." John cutely apologized

Jonathan got nothing to say, judging from how happy they were just a while ago, he knew that they were so into the game that they forgot the event.

He wanted to try the weapon too but he felt awkward asking them to let him try as well, as the immortals and soldiers were behind him. But he kept looking at the guns they were holding.

John noticed his fathers eyes, he felt like laughing but did not do so.

"Here father, try it, its very fun to use!" John held the gun and gave it to Jonathan

He held the handle with his hand and carefully scrutinized the weapon. The immortals wanted to try the weapon, but held their curiosity.

"How do you use this weapon?" he asked, deep inside he is very excited.

Diane demonstrated the steps to Jonathan and guided him as he took aim at the wall five kilometers from their position. He fired the gun, and got excited as the bullet pierced the wall. He made bullets and fired several shots, 'this is so fun!' He thought.

"Zero throw a target" Diane ordered

Jonathan take aim at the moving target, he missed on his first shot. He shot five more shots as he followed the target and finally hit the target on the last shot.

He enjoyed the feeling and signalled zero to throw another target, he hit the target after 3 shots, on the third try he got to hit it in just one shot.

He wanted to play some more, but remembered that the immortals and soldiers followed him.

"Grampa Mario, is this your new creation?" He asked, but hid his excitement.

Mario shook his head "no! its my apprentice invention!" He proudly announced

Jonathans eyes grew round and felt elated, my son is amazing as ever. He shook his head as he bowed to mario "grampa, its because you took him as an apprentice that my sons had this inspirations for this creation!"

"Yes gramps! The inspiration came from the weapons and parts and principles that is on the manual, i just put them all together creating this toy" then he giggled

Mario felt so touch that his apprentice let him take the credit for his creation.

He felt like his eyes are getting moist, he never felt this happy and proud. He has no family, thus when he took John as his apprentice he treated him like his own grandson. Alfred knew that Mario treated John more than just his apprentice.

"What do you call this weapon son?" Jonathan asked

"Its called a gun" then paused

"But its just a prototype, i was inspired by mothers projectile attack. It can still be improved but it would take time. Gramps, can certainly improve it, im just a newbie smith, and has alot to learn." He honestly replied

"Its still rough and has room for further improvements, but you can certainly improve it as you train." Mario said

"A nice invention!" Then he passed the prototype gun to the immortals. They all wanted to try it but held their curiosity as to not be a laughing stock of the group.

"Can this weapon be mass produced?" Jonathan asked again as he inquired Mario

"This kind of weapon can be mass produced, the parts are easy to replicate and the assembly is simple. The projectiles can be made before hand thus, those with weaker cultivations can use it!"

John interrupted "this kind of weapon is not fit to be used during the war!"

All of them looked at John in confusion. Especially Mario and Alfred, they are both dumbfounded by what John said.

"There are more disadvantages than advantage if used in a war." He added

"As it is, the normal soldiers could only fire 2 to 3 shots in an actual combat. If used by stronger cultivators who are adept with metal element manipulation and average soul force, this is a lethal weapon agains ordinary soldiers." John stated his thoughts

The audience all agreed to his conclusion, the power the gun has as it is could only be used by higher level warriors but not much of help to normal warriors.

"However, we could mass produce this weapon to train our soldiers how it works and make proper aims, do simple war games and drills to increase their confidence using the weapon. After we improve this prototype we can decide if its possible to use it during the war."

"As you can see this weapon doesnt take that long for a soldier to familiarize in its use, its also very easy to operate and aim compared with the bow, if we add a knife just below the tip of the barrel it could be used to slash, stab, hack and slice, like a regular knife and be used as a short range weapon." John analyzed

Jonathan and the others all agreed to Johns analysis. The immortals and soldiers are all impressed with John. The soldiers who are still his capabilities are now convinced of his abilities.

"What do you suggest must we do inorder for us to mass produce this weapon, and how do you plan to start training the soldiers?" Jonathan asked, while the rest of the audience nodded as they also wanted to know his plans.

"We will first provide this weapons to the regular soldiers, as they will be the one who will most benefit from this weapon." Then he paused as he waited for the audience to digest what he said

"Then the new recruits, followed by the reserve they are the weakest among all the line up, when worst comes to worst, this weapon can turn the tide if all of our reserve troops knew how to use the gun, with proper aim, they could at least take on 2-3 enemies. Under the possible attack of millions of enemies they could still be used during the war."

"This is also, a good weapon to use for guerilla warfare, as we could thin out the enemies troops without loosing much of our own men"

"Since not everyone is gifted in close combat and element manipulation, using this weapon, we can maximize the fighting force of our empire. We use the arrows to thin out their men from a distance, when they reach the 5 km attack range we would further slaughter their men with our guns, then the close combat finale. If this works out well, we wont be of much disadvantage during the war."

They all gasp as they heard John, to think that he is already considering the worst possible outcome, he is also thinking of strategies to incorporate the weapon into practical applications considering their disadvantage in numbers. 'Just how many steps in advance did he plan?' They wondered

Jonathan nodded in agreement, it is indeed well thought, as expected of his son, the proud father cannot hide the smug look on his face as John discussed his plans. The same goes for Diane, Alfred and Mario.

Alfred felt very satisfied, he is a well known general and strategist, hearing John formulate his plans, it was as if he is the one doing the speech, 'this is my grandson, he took up this shrewed and meticulous planning from this oldman' look.

Mario is very satisfied of John, hearing his plans, he learned how meticulous and a perfectionist his apprentice is. These are very inportant qualities if one wanted to be the best blacksmith.

The audience now had a new understanding of John, he is not just a cultivation genius but also has the capacity and qualifications of being a leader and general. Their respect and reverence is raised over the roof. If John ever ordered any of these people, they would follow him, not just out of respect and his title as prince, but as someone the recognized as their leader.

"Hai!" Jonathan sighed

"I dont think the traditional way of training the next heir of the empire could be applied to you." Jonathan said after John finished his discussion

All the others nodded in agreement, the unanimously agreed to what the king said. John is just too talented, following the tradition would waste this talents and he would waste his time doing things below his capabilities. They sould think of other ways for the citizens to accept him following a different route.

"We need to change our plans! For three months all of us will be staying here to learn and master the 3 cultivation arts of our barbarian race, after we are all to work as instructors to the soldiers and trainees of the training camp. For the distribution of work i, general alfred and godly blacksmith mario will be incharge for teaching the BGBTA; my wife, the queen and the prince will handle both the metal element manipulation arts and the barbarian god soul art." He declared

"Those who excells and mastered the technique after 1 month of training will be part of the team of teachers to provide guidance to others, this process will continue until all of use here present have mastered the techniques. Only after that will we proceed with the next plan of action!" He added

The following day the lessons started, everyone is focused on studying and cultivating hard. No one wants to be left out as it would be too embarassing for them. The lectures start exactly at 5am and would end at 5 in the after noon. The 12 hours is divided equally to the three lectures with 4 hours on every topic, while waiting for his turn to teach, John practiced smithing with Mario.

Mario let John master refining, he gave dozens of the raw iron ore to John and let him hammer again and again until ge can do the complete ten thousand hammering technique. According to Mario if he is able to do the ten thousand hammering technique with both hands, thats the only time they would proceed with the next part of the training. After his breakthrough, johns comprehension improved by leaps and bounds, thus during his training he would focus solely on smithing, he did not multitask, inorder to master it faster.

In these 8 hours he mastered the proper way of hammering, and the right way to distribute the strength in every hammer stroke. This is all thanks to Mario who carefully showed him the proper way to do the ten thousand hammering technique.

When it was time for his turn to discuss the barbarian god soul art, everyone is attentive, and did not make any sound.

"Hi everyone, standing infront of this crowd of respected cultivators, this prince is humbled and privileged."

The crowd loosen up as he made the short introduction.

"May i ask if any of you gentlemen and women have ever trained in any form of soul art? May i request if its possible for you to share your texhnique? Dont be shy, i dont bite." He joked, and everyone laughed with his words

And old man stood up, he is immortal Jura, also known as medicine god Jura, he is a doctor and alchemist.

"Thank you, for your cooperation, medicine god Jura" as he saluted as he greeted him

Immortal Jura stood up front and started sharong the technique he used. "The technique i used is called soul controlling art, it uses the soul force to control others who have weaker soul cultivation than me, i have chanced upon this technique in me youth. Activating it during cultivation, it increases the soul force gathering by 5 times faster than normal." Then he bowe d to the audience then to John.

John bowed in returned and said, "immortal Jura, thank you for sharing, having this soul technique is advantageous for you once yoy start training the Barbarian god soul art (BGSA)!"

All were shocked by what John said, immortal jura is the most surprised, he is also anticipating what John has to say. He has prepared himself for the possibility to abolish his technique, inorder to cultivate the race soul art. As the saying goes, there is always the key to a lock, and the barbarian god soul art is the key, its the perfect soul cultivation art for the barbarian race to practice.

"Yes! It would help alot. There is no need to abolish your technique, but i urge you to practice it more! Be more proficient with it!" He honestly said

"The barbarian god soul art, has the same principle as the BGBTA, in order to make the sould stronger, the technique would tamper the soul, by compressing it after it reached the limit of compression the soul will breakthrough to the next level making it stronger. Thus in immortal juras case, having practiced the soul controlling art, he could gather the soul force faster, making the initial step of the BGSA easier. The first step is powering up the soul to the limit, the next step is compression these are the only steps you all should keep to heart when you practice the technique as this is the essence of it."

"How will we know if we reached the limit of powering up our soul force?" Someone asked, the others have the same question

"You would be the only one who knows it" then shrugged his shoulder gesturing i dont know