Do you trust that girl?
I just t her. She could betray us and put in jeopardy our entire operation. But either I trust her, or I cant build what I need. The best people are those who serve out of their own volition, not those who are made to. If she finds purpose in this, then shell be the perfect lieutenant for this war.
I look at the class I got two nights ago when Via left.
[Leader Level 2]
Explain the rging of classes, once again, I tell the big half-giant. They know all my classes, but they also shared so of theirs in return. They told its better if we play it smart and that I should refuse classes that wouldnt synergize together.
If you want to be an [Engineer], you have to be careful. The strongest or highest leveled class will prevail on the others and put the basis for what youll beco. If you are more of a [Leader], its going to be sothing that influences [Engineers], that boosts them. You would have a class that makes [Engineers] better under your command. But if you want to be more of a [Gunman], then it will get tricky to have [Leader] absorbed under it. Leadership classes are usually the one prevailing upon others. To have [Leader] absorbed, you would have to keep it low-leveled, probably under level 10.
Its amazing how skills and levels work in this world. Few things are as amazing as the process of getting stronger and stronger by the simple concept of gaining a class or levels for your efforts.
Leaders bear the burden, I say. If you want to lead, you cant dedicate the ti to beco sothing else. The greatest need all their ti to refine their crafts.
Correct.
What about the supply of steel? Whats the inventory like, is it going to be enough for the testing?
We pulled so strings and we are gathering more materials for the testing. lior has asked for you to appear in the District today to supervise the prototypes.
Ive left very precise indications on how they should be built. Did he invite just because of courtesy? I ask.
Cordius shrugs.
I look at all the books that I made them gather in one house. Its just a ten minutes walk to liors forge, but I need to know more about this world. All the strategies a person can concoct here could be foiled by one individual with the right skills and classes on the other side.
However, its hard to imagine soone would have high-leveled individuals on their side, especially a relatively small city like Keveiz. The half-giants of Leggiadra, even in their pitiful state, could easily raze it to the ground. The problems would arise from the other Humans and races of the continent who would co knocking right after.
Did lior tell you to keep an eye on ?
He doesnt have to tell . Its my job to maintain security among half-giants.
Thats why hes been following around.
If lior has made the bullets with a big caliber, like he already suggested, you will be able to kill [Mages] with an incredible ease. If you manage to create half-giant-manned rifles, furthermore, you will be able to punch through anything.
Armies will pile upon us, Cassandre.
And well tear right through them with incredible ease. Whats the average casualty in a bloody engagent, 15%? If we have rifles and guns, we could rip apart Gold-ranked adventurers like nothing. My father used to say that when the cow falls, knives appear around it. But do you know what happens when people see a raging bull? They flee.
I look at four shining tubes of steel, all of them quite thick and unwieldly for a normal person, but just a bit on the wider size for a half-giant.
These are tests for the tals. The black gunpowder should create bigger ripples than the finished product, or thats what Minurulex said.
Minurulex is the chief [Alchemist] in charge of the glass production for all Leggiadra. Hes not liors favorite person, since steel and glass have their own rivalries, but hes every bit as competent as the huge man by my side.
The tal has not been strengthened with enchantnts. We believe that only great spellcasters could cast a very even reinforcent through the tal. Otherwise, it could run the risk of creating weaker points which would make all our work for nothing. We didnt build every part of the gun, but just the ones which need to withstand the incredible force from the bullet going through them.
These pseudo-guns are mounted on so stationary thick tongs that hold them in place. They were placed in a very large field which gives all of us plenty space to be safe.
Well be behind those rocks, lior points to so carved rocks by the side. If anything goes wrong, the explosions could propel the pieces of tal up to here and kill soone. So of my apprentices wanted to have so tests in the forge he trembles in anger for a second. We have so people with the skills able to trigger weapons at distance. We have done a dry run without bullets and it worked. Now, we test the different steel alloys we made and see which one better withstands the force of the bullets. Then, if so survive, we start conducting stress tests with the sa dirty powder until the tal breaks.
Is the quality even among those four?
I forged them myself. Theres not one weakness in that steel. Its going to take longer to develop the right techniques to mass-produce them like you said, but I can guarantee you that the construction quality is the best on this continent.
lior becos chatty when talking about his profession and work. Hes usually one of the most silent even among the whole quiet district. But I find his mind works wonders when we talk about this line of work so much that if we spoke in hush, you could barely tell from him without hearing the pitch of our voices.
Lets see, then, I go behind the big rock that lior had had carved as a shield from so [Masons].
lior gestures toward one of his apprentices who runs over with a roll of paper. He looks over the numbers for a second and then raises a hand toward a small group of peoplethose with the triggering skills.
The first gunshot is loud. So loud.
rde.
I almost jumped on the spot. But lior actually did, clearly breathing faster than before. His apprentice dropped the papers and is now taking them up from the ground.
[A Blacksmiths Dear], my skill tells that the weapon is still intact. It has sustained so damage but can probably keep shooting. Lets check.
When we go out, I see that the gun is still all in one piece, surprisingly. If you are not familiar with the standards of dieval forging, theres no way that a normal [Blacksmith] could have engineered sothing capable of withstanding the force generated to propel a bullet out of the chamber. This is a testant to liors skills.
He takes up the tube of tal after loosening the tongs and starts examining it. I look at the targets they placed around 40 ters from the guns. The one they aligned with the first gun has no bullet hole.
The trajectory was faulty, I tell lior.
The tongs moved. The gun is still intact. Less damage than I thought. My skill gave information I could not decipher well. The explosion was marked as damage, but theres no sign that this wouldnt be able to keep shooting all day long. How hot runs a smokeless powder?
No idea, I shrug. Well test that. Check the other tongs before we shoot the other guns.
It takes lior half an hour to secure the guns in a way that the recoil wont ss up with the trajectory of the bullet. Im still skeptical of whether or not this guns can shoot straight, but lior doesnt seem bothered at all by my doubtsif anything, this might be the first ti Ive seen the guy smile.
He cant wait to prove wrong.
And when the second gun shoots, thats what happens. He does prove wrong. The target gets hit right in the center of the chest. So of the half-giants with archery and projectile related classes helped lior point the gun in the right direction, but this is insane.
As lior examines the second gun with a frown he starts explaining the ballistics involved in the process. I could have never imagined a person like him could exist at this point in ti; what he talks about is basically the inception of the scientific thod, sothing that was developed rather late in Human history and that still gets challenged every day.
They placed it in the best way without using their skills, but mostly their intuition. Its a straight tube, so no great effort was required. I forbid the use of skills because they could have adjusted the trajectory of a faulty gun.
I look at the insane damage this dirty bullet made by half giants, sothing around the .50 caliber, did to the mannequin they used. The targets look like scarecrows and this one lost a big chunk of his chest. Ballistic mannequins would give us a better idea of the damage on a real person, but this is good enough.
This one is too damaged to shoot again. The internal layer of steel is cracked. It could shoot another bullet, but then it would either crack or explode.
I nod toward lior and we resu the testing.
After twenty minutes or so, we are sitting in his forge with so blueprints and alloys in front of us.
The first proved to be the best. I cant strengthen it further without making it impossible for other to reproduce. I would need to use special skills that the other [Blacksmiths] do not have. This one, with a margin of error, can be remade. If the [Alchemists] can figure out the powder you described, we can work on the real prototypes.
It took lior barely a few days to produce an alloy capable of withstanding a bullets propelling force. But what really mattered was the war that we were going to fight.
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