The valley of Blackcrag was silent, save for the cawing of crows and the soft crunch of boots on snow.
The battle—if it could even be called that—was over.
In the courtyard, the survivors were stripping the bodies. It was a grisly task, but a necessary one. They pulled heavy steel plate armor off dead knights, collected swords, and rounded up the terrified warhorses that had survived the explosion.
Dante stood by the pile of loot, a crimson System window floating before his eyes.
[Battle Analysis Complete.][Victory Grade: S (Flawless)][Experience Gained: 3,500 XP][Level Up! Level 4 Reached.]
Dante ignored the level-up notification for a moment. He was focused on a new tab that had unlocked in his interface: [Industrial Replication].
He picked up one of the Arquebuses from a peasant.
[Item Scanned: Matchlock Arquebus (Standard Model)][Blueprint Registered.][Replication Available.][Cost: 50 Gold Coins OR 500g Iron + 200g Wood + 50 System Energy.]
Dante's eyes lit up.
I don't need to hand-forge them anymore, he realized. As long as I have the raw materials or money, the System can 3D print them instantly.
This changed everything. It meant he didn't need a factory of trained smiths yet. He just needed resources.
He looked at the pile of swords and armor.
"Elara," Dante called out. The redhead was busy calming a warhorse. She looked at him with a mix of fear and awe now.
"My Lord?"
"Melt it all down," Dante ordered, pointing to the enemy armor. "The breastplates, the swords, the helmets. I don't want medieval scrap. I want raw ingots. The System will do the rest."
Elara nodded quickly. "Yes, Lord. What about... the prisoners?"
Dante turned his gaze to the center of the courtyard.
There were only two survivors worth noting. The Mage, Silas, was dead—shrapnel to the throat. But Baron Voss... Voss was tough. The explosion had killed his horse and shattered his leg, but the massive man was still breathing, tied to the whipping post in the center of the yard.
He was awake. And he was screaming curses.
"I will flay you alive, Exile! My brother is a Count! When he hears of this—"
Dante walked over to him. He didn't say a word. He simply grabbed Voss by his bloody hair and dragged him toward the dark cellar door of the Keep.
"Kaelen," Dante said calmly. "Bring a bucket of salt water. And a copper wire."
The cellar was damp and smelled of mold. Voss was chained to a heavy wooden chair, his shattered leg stretched out before him.
Dante stood by a small table, arranging his tools. A knife. A jar of the unrefined sulfur. And the bucket of salt water.
"You're dead," Voss panted, sweat dripping down his pale face. "You think you can hold a Baron of the Realm? The King's laws protect me!"
Dante turned around. He held the Mana Core he had harvested from the dead Mage's staff. It pulsed with a volatile, red heat.
"The King isn't here," Dante said, his voice echoing in the small room. "I am. And right now, I am the only thing you need to worry about."
Dante walked closer. He placed the Mage's red crystal on the table.
"I have a theory, Voss. I'm an engineer, you see. I usually work with steel. But I've been thinking about... conductivity."
"What?" Voss spat.
Dante picked up the copper wire. He wrapped one end around the pulsing red Mana Core. He wrapped the other end around the hilt of his iron dagger.
"Mana is energy," Dante lectured, as if he were in a classroom. "Mages use their bodies to channel it safely. But raw mana? Direct contact? It acts very much like high-voltage electricity."
Dante dipped the tip of the iron dagger into the bucket of salt water to increase conductivity.
"I need your assets, Voss. Specifically, the map of the iron mines in your territory. And since I'm taking over, I want to know exactly where you hide your wealth."
"Go to hell!" Voss roared.
Dante didn't blink. He jammed the electrified dagger into Voss's shattered leg.
ZZZAAAAAP!
It wasn't a burn. It was a seizure.
The raw mana surged through the copper wire, into the wet dagger, and directly into Voss's exposed nerves.
Voss didn't scream. He shrieked. His back arched so hard the wooden chair creaked. His eyes rolled back into his head, foam bubbling at his mouth. Every muscle in his body contracted at once.
Dante held it for three seconds. Then he pulled it back.
Voss slumped, gasping for air, tears streaming down his face. He smelled of ozone and cooked meat.
"The human nervous system operates on electrical signals," Dante explained, checking the charge on the crystal. "I just overloaded yours. It's not just pain, Voss. It's total system failure. Your brain doesn't know how to process it."
"Please..." Voss wheezed. "Please..."
"The wealth," Dante said. "Where is it?"
"I... I won't..."
Dante sighed. "Data point two: Resistance is futile."
He jammed the dagger in again.
This time, he held it for five seconds.
When he stopped, Voss was broken. The Baron—the man who had terrorized the borderlands for a decade—was sobbing like a child.
"The vault!" Voss screamed. "It's under the floor of my study! The code is 4-4-9! Take it! Take it all!"
"Is that all?" Dante asked, raising the dagger again. "Don't make me ask twice."
"There's a safehouse!" Voss sobbed, terrified of the pain returning. "In the Northern Woods! It has emergency funds! Just stop!"
"And the map of the mines?"
"In the saddlebag! The black horse! It marks the iron veins!"
Dante nodded. He wrote the information down on a piece of parchment.
He stepped back, unhooking the copper wire from the crystal. He looked at the glowing red gem.
Interesting, Dante thought. The mana reacted with the copper. If I can stabilize this transfer, I can create Mana-Infused ammunition. Bullets that shock on impact. Or explode.
[System Notification][New Hypothesis Unlocked: Magitech Ballistics.][Requirement: Level 5 Enchanter.]
Dante pocketed the crystal. He looked at the sobbing wreckage of Baron Voss.
"Thank you for your cooperation," Dante said.
"Let me go," Voss begged. "I told you everything. I'll leave! I'll never come back!"
Dante picked up a heavy iron bar from the corner of the room.
"You misunderstand me, Baron," Dante said coldly. "I'm not a villain. I don't torture for pleasure. I did it for information."
He weighed the iron bar in his hand.
"But leaving you alive? That would be inefficient. You have allies. You have a brother. You are a variable I cannot control."
Voss's eyes went wide. "No! You promised—"
"I promised nothing."
Dante swung the bar.
CRACK.
The room went silent.
[Target Eliminated: Baron Voss.][Reputation Updated: The Ruthless Lord of Blackcrag.][Fame: +500 (Local Region)]
Dante dropped the bar. He adjusted his cuffs, stepped over the body, and walked up the stairs toward the light.