Finally, one of the projects Diya Schwarzstahl took with her as she began her little vacation is complete. If not for [the little stunt she pulled when fighting the ghuls](https://imgur.com/a/8YmmdZt), she could probably have finished it at lesser cost in time and resources.

Now the chamber and barrel melted by the improvised thermite mixture have been replaced with steel-coated counterparts, with the trigger group and firing pin being newly forged.

And for that typical Diya flavor,an external magazine in the form of a railing that holds multiple balls alongside the open bolt of the musket. Coupled with a small,jointed arm that loads the next ball in after the trigger is released,she has effectively created a semi-automatic firearm of sorts.

Sure,those modifications are highly impractical for mass manufacture and deployment,being prone to fouling or outright dropping the loaded ammunition,and the arm would be knocked crooked if the musket got pushed just the wrong way. But innovation never occurs without iteration.

It is a momentous occasion as she holds the completed implement in her hands. Firearm design and manufacture is a major component of the tech race between Riesburg and its neighbors, but the fact that Diya will have to use one with her own hands,an instrument made to kill and maim...it feels like she is about to cross a line.

Usually,she would have drawn up like five different blueprints detailing each part and then one for the complete assembly,but this project has no documentation. Even so,she puts her name on this particular work.

An hour later, she shoulders the Schwarzstahl Repeater in a field on the outskirts of Kushran. Aiming at a watermelon sitting on a stool. She pulls the trigger. It goes bang. The arm cycles in the next round. The watermelon doesn't explode,but it dents appreciably.

She isn't sure how to feel about that.