Trial and Error

Cris stood in the facility workshop, staring at the glowing gems on the workbench.

"Alright, Trixie, tell me how to make a bomb."

Trixie floated beside him, her eyes flashing as she displayed a holographic blueprint.

"The process is simple, Master. First, you must crush the gem into fine powder. Then, mix it with an ignition catalyst found in the storage room. After that, you must encase the mixture in a reinforced shell to prevent premature detonation."

Cris cracked his knuckles. "Sounds easy enough. Let's do this."

Cris grabbed one of the purple gems and began grinding it with a metal tool.

But he pressed too hard—

CRACK! The gem shattered, releasing a thick purple smoke that burst into his face.

"GAH!" He stumbled back, coughing. "What the hell?! Trixie!"

"Master, you must grind it slowly, or the energy inside will react."

Cris groaned, waving the smoke away. "Yeah, I figured that out the hard way."

This time, he was more careful.

He slowly ground the gem, mixed the powder with the catalyst, and began sealing it into a small metal casing.

Click.

He twisted the cap into place—

BOOM!

A small explosion erupted, sending him flying back into the shelves. Tools and parts crashed around him.

Trixie hovered over him. "Master, I suggest using less catalyst next time."

Cris groaned. "Noted."

Third Attempt – Sticky Disaster

On the third try, he adjusted the amount of catalyst and carefully sealed the grenade.

No explosion. No smoke.

"Nice. Now let's test it."

He gently tossed the grenade onto the table—

But instead of rolling smoothly, the grenade burst open like melted glue, coating everything in a sticky, glowing substance.

Cris blinked. "Uh… Trixie?"

Trixie analyzed the goo. "You overheated the mixture, turning it into a binding agent instead of an explosive."

Cris sighed. "Great. I accidentally invented superglue."

On his fourth try, he triple-checked the formula.

He mixed everything perfectly and sealed it properly.

"Alright, this one's got to work."

He tossed it into a testing chamber—

And nothing happened.

Cris frowned. "Uh… did I forget something?"

Trixie scanned the grenade. "You forgot to activate the trigger mechanism, Master."

Cris slapped his forehead. "Of course I did."

This time, he triple-checked everything and made sure the trigger was active.

He placed the grenade inside the test chamber and pressed the detonation button.

BOOM!

A perfect explosion shook the chamber.

Cris's eyes widened. "IT WORKED!"

With the formula finally correct, he went to work, crafting more.

One by one, he completed a total of six grenades.

As he placed the last one on the table, he stepped back, breathing heavily.

Then—

"HAHAHAHA! FINALLY!" Cris burst into laughter, raising his hands in victory.

Trixie hovered beside him. "Congratulations, Master. You have successfully created six functional grenades."

Cris grinned, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Now, let's go introduce these to our little Zeezo problem."