MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

Chapter 1559: The Road to Caplock (4)

’That...’

Back at Ryvrthe’s chambers, Valyr’s mouth went slightly agape as he listened to Ataraxia’s request.

Closing his eyes for a bit as he wondered how much time the request would take him, the young man eventually opened his eyes and let out a faint sigh in acquiescence. ’Alright. But you’ll have to help me with upgrading the arquebus first.’

’That goes without saying,’ replied Ataraxia with a slight chuckle, the message not even taking a second for Valyr to receive. ’If you want, you could even take a pick from the rewards the empire gave us. It’s a lot more than you’d think, actually.’

’Let’s save that for after I get out of the inheritance,’ answered Valyr after giving it a bit of thought. ’Just give me a heads-up once everything is done on your end.’

’Got it.’

Whoosh!

Ending their conversation there for the meantime, Valyr stared at his arquebus for a bit before letting out a low sigh.

’...Guess I’ll work on making the components of the new mechanism first,’ inwardly muttered the young man to himself, only to stop his current train of thought after noticing Ryvrthe move closer to him.

”Were you talking to someone?” the man asked, looking at Valyr with a slightly curious expression. ”Or were you drafting up a plan for the upgrade in your head?”

”The former,” replied the young man, clearing up the possible confusion Ryvrthe had towards his expressions. ”I was asking for help on the upgrade, actually. The person I was talking to has a skill that would help boost the quality of the final product.”

Ryvrthe nodded in understanding. ”And what did they say?”

”They wouldn’t mind helping.” Valyr gave the man a slightly bitter smile. ”However, it’ll be a while before they could actually help out.”

”I see.” Ryvrthe nodded once more, only to pause as he looked at the young man in slight puzzlement. ”Wait... since you asked them for help, does that mean you’ll be bringing them here? Also, aren’t skills only usable by the person that owns them?”

”To answer your second question, yes,” said Valyr, taking a bit of time to come up with the right words to say. ”As for your first question... no. I did ask for their help, but I won’t be bringing them here.”

”Then, how are you...?”

”...Let’s just say I have a skill that allows me to borrow their skill in a way,” answered the young man in return, his words forcing Ryvrthe to mull over it for a bit.

Fortunately, that explanation was enough to dispel any of the other questions the man had in mind, allowing Valyr to ease up as he shifted the topic of their conversation back to the task at hand.

”So, what should I keep in mind before upgrading this arquebus into a flintlock?”

”Well, for one, you’re gonna have to change the design of the flash pan,” replied Ryvrthe. ”With how familiar you are with snaplocks at this point, I’m sure you already know what I mean.”

”Yeah.” Valyr nodded in agreement. ”On the snaplock, the striking point of the flint and the cover on top of the flash pan are two separate parts.”

Ryvrthe nodded at that. ”On the other hand, a flintlock integrates the flint’s striking point onto the flash pan cover itself.”

”The frizzen,” said Valyr, his eyes faintly glistening as he went over the knowledge he obtained from the advancements in his head once more.

From what the advancements had explained to him, this single change was what separated a snaplock firearm from being considered a true flintlock firearm.

However, to him, he felt like the change that truly separated the flintlock from the snaplock was not only the implementation of the frizzen.

Instead, it was the implementation of the frizzen... and the change to the sear.

”Aside from that, you’re going to change the way the sear works.” Just as the thought popped up in Valyr’s mind, Ryvrthe’s next words directly discussed what he was thinking about.

”By keeping the sear’s movements contained within the trigger mechanism, you increase the reliability of the firearm, thereby reducing the risk of the entire thing accidentally blowing up on yourself while doing it.”

”...Even though there really isn’t any need to since mana exists,” added Ryvrthe at the end, which made Valyr let out a slight chuckle in amusement.

After asking the man a few more questions to clarify the general process of making a flintlock, the young man eventually felt that he was ready to upgrade his arquebus.

’[Zen: First Lotus Step].’

Whoosh!

Not wanting to mess up anything during the upgrade process, Valyr went ahead and activated a skill that not only forced his mind to remain tranquil, but also substantially increased his stats while working.

Letting out a long exhale to further remove the nervousness he was feeling, the young man soon began to dismantle the arquebus to its base components, starting off with the part that would have normally held the firearm’s wick.

Once he took off the hammer and the wick that attached to it, he then proceeded to remove the firearm’s trigger mechanism, only stopping once the flash pan and the barrel was the only thing that remained on the arquebus.

After taking a brief glance at the parts he just took out, Valyr went ahead and examined both the barrel and the flash pan, asking Ryvrthe every once in a while to see if both parts needed to be modified for the upgrade.

Hearing that the shape of the flash pan needed to be changed to accommodate the frizzen, the young man went ahead and removed the flash pan without hesitation, tossing it into the furnace as he began to stoke its flames.

As he waited for the flash pan to get up to forging temperature, Valyr decided to toss in another material into the furnace, thinking that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to reinforce the sturdiness of the flash pan in advance.

Unsurprisingly, this thought eventually extended towards the barrel of the arquebus, prompting him to take it off the firearm before tossing it into the furnace as well.

’Now that I think about it, it’s a good thing I’m reinforcing the barrel in advance,’ thought Valyr to himself, taking out both the flash pan and the additional material out of the furnace.

’After all, once I learn how to create modern firearms, the barrels I make would be taking a beating from the bullets.’

’Not to mention the fact that I also have to bore grooves on the insides,’ the young man added, grabbing the Hammer of Beginnings on his side before proceeding to combine the flash pan and the additional material together.

Though, just as he was about to start hammering...

A familiar voice resounded in his mind.

’Alright, I’m done with my stuff.’

’Now... what do I need to do?’