Ethan returned to the table and sat down. He wanted to shove the weapon inside his ring, but was stopped.
[I want to use the 'Analyses' spell on this sword.]
[Um, okay.]
Ethan sent his mana into the cage. He became more used to it. And shortly, sword properties appeared.
[Hm, it's strange. Do you know from what this sword was made besides steel?]
[Um, it should be mithril?]
[It could be beaten like copper and polished like glass, and the Dwarves could make of it a metal, light and yet harder than tempered steel?]
[Um, I don't know about it, but mithril is commonly used for forging weapons for knights and mages because it lets mana through more easily. Also, it is used for the cores of magic staffs and wands, for the mana cores of magic pistols and rifles, along with magic stones, and for the creation of artifacts. So I heard from my mom.]
[Hm, do you have this mithril and magic stones inside of your ring?]
[Um, I don't know. When I checked things inside the ring last time, I only looked briefly.]
[Then check it now.]
[Um, okay.]
Ethan sent his mana to the ring, and after rummaging for some time, he took out crystals of different shapes, sizes, and colors. Most of them were colorless.
[Um, there are only magic stones and not mithril.]
[I can see. So what's the difference between them? I can assume that the bigger ones have more mana. But what with their colors?]
[You are right about their size, teacher. The bigger ones do indeed have more mana. And their colors are different because of the elements. The blue color is for the water element; green for wind; brown for earth; red for fire; and yellow for lightning. They are from magic beasts. And colorless cores without any element, and they are mined from the mines.]
[Only five different elements, and with non-element, six. Are there not other elemental magic cores?]
[Um, other elemental magic stones are very rare.]
[I see. So this magic cores can recharge mana in them after it was all used up automatically?]
[Yes.]
[And you also use gemstones instead of magic cores.]
[Yes. How do you know that?]
[Simple, it's all thanks to demons. Although they weren't very talkative and preferred death over becoming prisoners of war, we managed to get their weapons and equipment, or, as you said, artifacts. And after thoughtful analyses of them, we learned how to use mana as a power source made from synthetic sapphire, which helped us greatly, even without knowing about magic or the meaning behind the symbols.]
[Wow, are precious gemstones a common thing in your world?]
[I can't say they're common things, but we know how to create them using knowledge without any magic. And these artificially created minerals are common; after all, every human has a device where synthetic sapphire is used. But we got off topic; let's look closer at these magic rifles and pistols.]
Ethan wanted to hear more about things from the different world, where people don't use mana, but he was only able to agree.
[Um, okay.]
He took one magic rifle and one magic pistol closer to him.
The magic rifle resembled early bolt-action rifles, but instead of a bolt, it had a cylinder that was carved with magic symbols, a mana core, and a removable magazine for fifteen bullets with a width of no more than four centimeters. And the barrel was carved with these magic symbols too.
The magic pistol had a handle like a revolver, but its mana core was much smaller and rectangular. Its design closely resembles the Mauser M712 Pistol. And its barrel, too, was carved with these magic symbols.
[Hm, interesting. So these weapons are magic variations of air guns. Do these symbols make shots from these rifles stronger than the rifles used by the mansion guards?]
[No, I don't think so. Because they used identical rifles to this.]
[And for what are these enchantments on the barrels?]
[To increase durability and... Um... To reduce friction between bullet and air, so bullet can fly further without losing its speed. I heard it from my mom.]
[I guessed the last part. Show me these weapons bullets.]
[Okay.]
Ethan took out spare magazines for rifles and pistols and two flat, rectangular little boxes made from metal, but one box was two times higher than the other. Ethan opened both of them and took out one bullet from each. Their shape was streamline, and it was just a bullet without a cartridge.
[Looks like both of them are .50 cal. What's their mass?]
[Um, the mass of the big one is 63 grams, and the little one has 31 grams.]
[Hm, It's a sure thing that it will be lethal with bullets of this mass, even if the velocity is below the speed of sound. Do these guns have rifling?]
[Rifling?]
[Helical grooves into the internal surface of a gun's barrel.]
[I don't know, but I can check it.]
With these words, Ethan took the pistol and looked inside the barrel. And he saw these helical grooves, but he only managed to look inside the barrel for a few moments because he was interrupted by his teacher's urgent voice.
[Move the muzzle of the gun away from you immediately!]
Hearing urging from his teacher, Ethan moved the gun barrel away from himself.
[Um, what was wrong?]
[Are you asking what's wrong? What? No one ever taught you about safety when handling a gun?]
[Um, no.]
[Haa, never point a gun where you didn't have the intention to shoot; it's the thing that you should never forget. And you should always have the gun unloaded if you're not actually using it.]
But Ethan never wanted to shoot himself; he didn't want to die after all. Also, he knew that the gun was unloaded, and there was also a 'safety' device. And his finger wasn't even on the trigger. So he felt wronged.
[Um, but the gun was unloaded, and there was also 'safety'. And how should I find out if there is so-called rifling on these guns without looking?]
[You hopeless fool! How can you be sure that the gun is unloaded? Never rely on 'safety', which might stop working. And you can see if the gun has rifling or not without pointing it at your head.]
[Um, but...]
Ethan didn't give up, so he checked if the gun was loaded by removing its magazine. Unfortunately for him, the gun was fully loaded.
[See? You can never be sure if the gun is loaded or not.]
[Um, but it doesn't fire, so all should be okay.]
[It's just because you were lucky; it might fire, and you would be the winner of the Darwin Award, with me alongside you.]
[Um, what's this Darwin award?]
[It's to commemorate the ultimate sacrifice of some people by ending their own foolish lives, thereby improving humanity's chances of long-term survival. Or put it simply, dying like a total moron so that no other morons will be born, which means that there will be more smart and prudent people, and that means that these smart and prudent people will help improve the living conditions of all humanity.]
[I don't want to win this award.]
[Then be prudent and remember to handle a gun safely.]
[Okay. Um, but why didn't you tell me about it earlier, teacher?]
[I thought that you knew how to handle a gun; after all, when you took them out, you placed them so their muzzles were pointing outside, in a safe direction.]
As Ethan remembers, it was really like this, so he did everything right without knowing it. This made him slightly proud of himself.
[Um, so we find out that these guns have this rifling; what should we do next?]
[Put them inside the ring, so there won't be any accidents, and you can put other weapons in there too.]
[Okay.]
Ethan tried to put all the weapons inside the ring, starting with guns. But remembering safety measures, he removed all the magazines from them. After that, he took the rifle, turned the 'safety' off, pulled the mana core back, and the loaded bullet came out. After that, he let go of the mana core, and it returned to its original position with a quiet clank, and Ethan turned the 'safety' on. He did a similar action with the other three weapons and loaded all the bullets that came off into the respective magazines. And put all the weapons inside the ring.
[Good, you learned your lesson.]
[Of course, hehe.]
Ethan was happy to receive the praise from his teacher, so he chuckled lightly, foolishly scratching his head.
[So should we continue to look at what's inside, teacher?]
[Isn't it obvious? I didn't see other things that I was curious about.]
[Okay, I'll show them to you.]