Overwhelming Firepower

Lucen carefully poured the gunpowder he had created into the wooden powder horn he had prepared earlier.

”Now that I have this, we can finally use the Arquebus.” Once he filled the powder horn to the brim, Lucen gave a satisfied nod.

”Oh, using the horn of some animal as storage, that’s interesting.”

”Not quite,” Lucen shrugged. ”It’s made of wood, I just shaped it like a tusk.”

”I see... So are we going to test out that weapon you created?” Robert asked, his voice beaming with excitement.

”Yes, but before that, I need to call a few people to watch the demonstration of this new weapon.”

’This is going to be the first step to rewriting the fate of Stellhart.’

***

In the training ground Lucen uses, a training dummy wearing armor was set at a distance. Lucen’s father and the lord of the city, Duke Vardon Thornehart, came to watch the demonstration of his son’s creation. Behind Vardon was the head butler and former knight, Vahn Vaern.

Standing beside Vahn was the current Knight Commander, a man whose body was built for battle; his body was like a palace of muscle. He was Sir Thalos Stonemaul.

The Alchemist of the Yellow Mage Tower, Robert Duskwell, was also present, standing near Lucen, not wanting to miss a thing.

Lucen stood in front of the group, the Arquebus resting against his shoulder. His expression was calm, but his heart beat with anticipation. This was more than a demonstration, it was the beginning of something that could change warfare as the world knew it. It was also the first step in stopping the destruction of the Dukedom of Stellhart.

Sir Thalos Stonemaul folded his arms across his chest, the sound of thick muscle shifting beneath plate armor audible even from a distance.

”Young master, I thought you had changed and finally understood the joys of training your body.” Sir Thalos sighed heavily. ”But now, not only did you want to learn something like alchemy, but you made a toy made of wood and metal.”

”Sir Thalos, don’t underestimate this toy of mine. This is something that will help in our battle against the monsters and the barbarians,” Lucen responded.

Sir Thalos folded his arms and frowned. ”Instead of relying on such toys, better to train your body more.”

Lucen didn’t argue. He simply smiled.

”Then allow me to show you what this ’toy’ can do.”

He stepped forward, turning toward the armored training dummy set at a distance. The sun glinted off the dull metal plates, old, beaten, but still tough. It was a fair stand-in for a lightly-armored foe.

Lucen began preparing the Arquebus, moving with methodical precision.

Robert observed every action Lucen was taking. ”What are you doing? You poured powder into the tube... then dropped in that small round thing. Wait, is that the projectile? Is this like some kind of crossbow? And why are you lighting a rope?”

Lucen didn’t respond and continued what he was doing. Once he was ready, he allowed his skills, Gun Knowledge, and Marksmanship to guide his body.

Lucen shifted his feet, spacing them shoulder-width apart. His left foot stepped slightly forward, grounding him with a balanced, stable posture. He leaned his body just a little into the weapon, bracing the butt of the arquebus against his right shoulder.

His left hand supported the barrel underneath, steadying the long, wooden frame. His right hand rested near the trigger, fingers calm and ready. His cheek rested lightly against the stock as he looked down the rudimentary iron sights.

It wasn’t the stance of a knight, a swordsman, or an archer. To everyone else watching, it looked like he was simply holding a strange stick.

To Lucen, it felt natural, like something buried deep in muscle memory; this was the guidance of his two skills correcting his body’s posture. Lucen breathed in a little as he squeezed the trigger.

BANG!

The explosion was like a crack of divine thunder. Even the birds fled the trees around the training grounds. Smoke coiled like a ghost from the muzzle, and a stunned silence fell over the field.

The dummy’s armor now had a hole. The back of the dummy had splintered open, and wood fragments scattered like shrapnel across the ground behind it.

”What the f*ck was that?! That was amazing! Alchemy is used to create powder that explodes, and then that explosion is used as propulsion to push out the round lead balls at incredible speeds, making it penetrate not only the armor but also the body of the dummy. And wait... What was that burning rope you used to ignite it? It didn’t even fizzle out!”

Robert rushed over to the Arquebus with wide eyes, practically vibrating with excitement. ”That cord... it burned steadily the whole time. That’s not ordinary twine or resin-coated string. It’s something new, isn’t it? You even invented the way to ignite the weapon!”

He laughed, half in awe and half in disbelief. ”A fuse that stays lit under wind and motion... Lucen, do you realize what you’ve done?!”

Robert Duskwell nearly shouted, his eyes wide and glowing with manic enthusiasm as he practically sniffed the arquebus. Lucen was trying his best to calm down the overly excited alchemist.

Vardon, who had watched the entire process, knew that Lucen did not use any Mana or Aura, so that means everything that happened was purely because of the weapon his son created.

”Son, just how far can that weapon of yours kill effectively?”

When he heard his father’s question, Lucen, who had his back facing his father, smiled. Before turning around with a serious face, and answered his father.

”The effective killing range, if done properly, should be around two hundred fifty skael, this is assuming the one firing is quite skilled. Of course, the range can go a bit further, but it would be less accurate.”

The second the people around heard Lucen’s answer, they were once again surprised. Even Robert, who was still examining the damage to the training dummy, stopped and looked at Lucen with a wide grin on his face.

”That’s twelve times the effective range of a crossbow!” Robert exclaimed, doing the mental math. ”That’s over three hundred paces!”

”Since that weapon doesn’t need any Mana or Aura, that means the regular soldiers can use it too. Also, if it’s as easy to use as a crossbow, then we could train soldiers to use it quite easily.” Vahn chimed in.

”I guess I was wrong, young master,” Thalos muttered, arms still folded. ”What you made isn’t a toy. Still...” Sir Thalos cracked his knuckles and flexed his muscles. ”It isn’t as powerful as my body.”

Vardon closed his eyes and imagined each soldier holding the weapon and pointing it at enemy soldiers at a distance no crossbow could reach. Each shot meant death to an enemy soldier.

”Son, how many more of these things can you make?”

”That depends on craftsmen and materials as well as how much Seer’s ash, Brimstone Dust, and Emberhusk we have.”

Vardon nodded slowly, his eyes not leaving the Arquebus in Lucen’s hands. ”We’ll have the supply steward begin gathering those materials immediately. Seer’s ash and Emberhusk aren’t that hard to find. Brimstone Dust... I believe there’s a deposit near the old mines in Grayridge. As for the manpower, I’ll handle that personally.”

Robert, still crouching by the dummy, suddenly jumped up with manic energy. ”I must study this weapon further! I want to see the internal structure, the barrel, the ignition system! The reaction of the powder to flame. Heh, this is a step forward for Alchemy! Hahaha, you actually used alchemy to turn fire and thunder into a weapon even a farmer could use.”

He turned to Lucen, eyes gleaming. ”There are so many things that can be done with this. It would seem that even though I came here to teach, I’ll be the one learning.”

”No, the two of us can learn from each other,” Lucen replied with a smile on his face.

Seeing the interaction between Robert and Lucen, Vardon once again saw the maturity of his son.

’It seems that Lucen was a genius in many other ways.’ A soft smile appeared on Vardon’s face, but only briefly, and no one saw.

Lucen, who watched the reactions of everyone present, had a vicious-looking smile on his face.

’This is just the beginning,’ Lucen thought. ’Once my gun knowledge advances, I’ll build something far beyond this. One day, I’ll wield a weapon that can tear through armies. That’s when they’ll understand what it means to have overwhelming firepower.’

In a world ruled by steel and spell, the roar of the gunshot was like a warning of the coming storm.