Our Family Has Fallen

Chapter 1402: Chapter 754: Explosive_2

”I’ve got no objections.”

Alhazred agreed, making the right choice; Lance believed that in Hamlet he could find redemption.

Lance had a brief talk with the scholar. He didn’t know much in this field, so he hoped the scholar could spend this time writing down some materials on occultism to help his research, and also to solve the current problem more smoothly.

What he said basically meant that Lance had set his sights on the man’s accumulated occult knowledge; even a Demigod had to study, and Lance was quite interested in all this.

After settling Alhazred, Lance remembered another bomb hidden in Hamlet.

Beggby the Binder!

When Lance went to find him, he discovered that once he told Beggby not to run around outside, the guy really hadn’t gone out at all—a hardcore shut?in.

”So? How’ve you been lately?”

Beggby hadn’t gone as crazy as Paracelsus with his research; on the contrary, everything was kept very clean and tidy. Books and reports were neatly categorized and shelved, and there were lots of things he’d written himself.

From this alone you could tell that while the outside had been in chaos for days, with all sorts of trouble during the Blood Moon, it apparently hadn’t affected him much.

Lance couldn’t help being curious. After a few questions he quickly understood these odd circumstances.

Beggby had been a bit nervous when the Blood Moon descended, but then he suddenly realized he wasn’t affected at all. In fact, something inside him was busy resisting the Blood Moon, which actually made him feel far more relaxed.

Listening to him, Lance just found it absurdly surreal—Aberrant Demon body?armor, seriously?

Yet it also made perfect sense: ”It’s my house. Why do you think you can just move in?”

Even if the homeowner was Beggby, this unlucky guy, the tenant still helped him drive off the ancestor who was trying to break in for a zero?cost shopping spree.

But Lance wasn’t here to ask about that; Blood Moon or whatever, it was already over. He’d come today for one thing.

”The Alchemy Room I prepared for you is finished. Come on, I’ll take you to see it.”

No time to waste. Since Lance planned to use Beggby as a research grunt, and considering his unstable condition, he decided to take him to the research institute far from the city, and later give him a secluded lab to tinker away in by himself.

Lance healed Beggby’s injuries, and after changing into a new set of clothes, he actually looked like a handsome young man—aside from the shackles and the iron chains wrapped around his arms, which were a bit strange.

But Lance just treated it like he was practicing some iron?wire fist technique. The shackles and locks contained a power that could help suppress the turmoil inside him; they’d figure out how to remove them later. For now, putting on a white lab coat to cover them up a bit was enough.

He was a socially anxious shut?in anyway; it’s not like he’d wander off to other places.

”This world doesn’t only have Supernatural Power; there’s a lot more worth our study and discovery.”

Lance brought him to the institute to change his mindset a little. Hamlet might be in ruins and in need of everything, but it still had some foundation.

Basically, he just wanted to show some strength: tell him, ”I’m willing to spend money; if you stay, your experimental needs can be guaranteed.”

Along the way, listening to Lance’s introduction, Beggby finally realized how important this remote research institute really was.

Whether in terms of investment or benefits, compared to this, his previous Alchemy research was just small?scale tinkering.

After making a circuit, they arrived at the technology storage room, essentially a place to keep blueprints and experimental prototypes.

He could see all kinds of strange firearms displayed on the stands, enough to show that the Lord took the study of firearms very seriously.

There were long guns and short guns, double?barreled, triple?barreled, and even more outrageous six?barreled pistols... an assortment so dazzling it made your eyes spin.

Lance picked up those guns and gave Beggby a brief introduction.

The double?barreled and triple?barreled ones were early experimental creations, with barrels simply stacked and fixed together, triggers on the left and right, in both long?gun and short?gun versions.

”These have already been eliminated; they’re not practical. The future of muskets lies here.”

After speaking, Lance put them down and picked up a six?barreled pistol, rotating the cylinder and listening to the sound of the ratchet, finding it inexplicably soothing.

”This one’s more interesting. Our researchers used mechanical structures to link the trigger and the ratchet...”

Beggby didn’t really understand this stuff, but he could guess that the firepower was stronger than the ones currently equipped in Hamlet.

”Then why don’t you use these guns?”

”Simple. They’re too complicated, which makes them expensive to produce. Reloading is a pain, accuracy is poor, and misfires are easy—these all come down to materials and assembly workmanship.”

Lance paused for a moment and stated the core issue.

”More importantly, these guns were designed for use with a primer cap. Without primer caps, their actual battlefield value is worse than ordinary Flintlock Guns.”

”Primer caps?” Beggby had already heard plenty of new and strange things along the way, but this was a term he’d never heard.

”Primer caps replace the old Flintlock Gun ignition system. The most critical part is a substance that’s extremely sensitive to stabbing or impact, used as ignition material...”

Anyone who often builds guns knows: guns are easy, ammo is hard.

Things like shell casings can be somewhat improvised using other methods, but primer caps are the most difficult.

So it’s not that Lance didn’t want to use these better guns; it’s that making modern firearms isn’t that simple.

No matter how hard mechanical design is, once you have an idea, the rest is just deduction and trial and error.

Like the rough revolver structure he came up with earlier, which they’d been continuously refining.

Without stamping or better casting techniques, it was still possible to brute?force things and hand?craft them piece by piece—just like the prototype he was holding now.

But when it came to chemistry, Lance really had no clue. Who plays a game and picks Chemical Engineering and Technology as their specialty?

Not to mention that environmental constraints limited his access to information—ordinary people wouldn’t deliberately collect this stuff.

So this seemingly tiny primer cap had directly shackled Hamlet’s ahead?of?its?time musket technology.

The industrial system is like a giant tree: you only see a single ripe fruit, but behind it are a trunk transporting nutrients, leaves doing photosynthesis to generate energy, and all sorts of complex conditions.

”I think I know what kind of substance you’re talking about...”

Beggby suddenly spoke up, catching Lance mid?boast as he lamented how hard it was. Lance didn’t react for a second or two, then abruptly stopped and stared at him, pressing for details.

”Hold on, man... what did you just say?”

”I think I’ve seen that kind of Explosive you’re talking about—a very sensitive material that produces an explosion and flash.”

Beggby organized his words, sounding somewhat unsure.

”When I was studying the family records my father left behind, I saw a formula like that. But this recipe was for making poison. I tried it once, and because it exploded, it really stuck in my memory. I don’t know if it’s the stuff you need.”

”Forget the chatter. What materials do you need? I’ll get them for you right now.”

Lance had always been decisive in action. He took Beggby to a lab prepared for him, where the Alchemy equipment confiscated from the old manor was laid out.

Once Beggby entered the lab, his entire state changed. His slightly hunched posture unconsciously straightened as he began checking the materials stored all around.

He really had to thank that venerable ancestor for stockpiling all these strange materials; otherwise Lance would never have bothered to collect them.

The moment Beggby started working, Lance realized that Alchemy really was different from a pure chemistry experiment, because he could see Beggby harnessing Supernatural Power to process the materials, and incorporating Transcendent Rituals in the mixing.

Beggby’s whole family was gone, leaving only him, so of course he didn’t have Amanda’s habit of hiding things. Or maybe he just didn’t care much about Lance at all, pouring his whole heart into the experiment.

Although Lance was anxious, he didn’t urge him or pry into the process; he simply waited in silence. Showing respect to a technician wasn’t exactly difficult.

All that remained now was to wait for the experiment’s result...