Limits

Crow continued, "Get some rest, the blacksmiths are already working on the parts. I will take the army out, once I deal with those two. Just take a day of, cool down. I will take care of the rest". I smiled while saying, "It's fine. I will manage. I still have to notify the soldiers that they are going to the Dead Forest. After all, Harlin told Lizards to listen to me, while Atols came here with me too. Anyway, I will see you around". I then left the basement, and headed straight to Ama. I still needed to finish at least one weapon. When it was done, we could get more people to copy our process. Supervised of course, as I didn't count on skilled people to simply appear out of nowhere.

When Ama saw me, she asked "Did you talk with her?". I replied "Talk? She was a spy. Why do you think I left so quickly. Anyway, she's been taken care of, but I need something from you". Ama was still shocked that a Shade could be a spy. I waved my hand in front of her, calling out her name. She finally woke up, and asked "What do you need?". I said, "I need something to make wood tougher, stronger. I have my doubts the dead wood alone will be enough for our weapon. I prefer to be safe than sorry".

She nodded and replied, "I have something, but I don't have much. It's made from fruits that grow in Apium, but there may be another way to strengthen the wood". I was open to any ideas. "It's like with the walls. I'm using wood, but rocks go around it. This makes the structure stronger and more resilient. For the weapon, we could use metal strips. This way, we could stop the grain from splitting, and the bow shouldn't break. Such strips shouldn't be hard to make either".

I thought about it, and asked. "Like the rings around barrel?". She nodded "Exactly that. Just make sure you put three or four strips around the arch, and other elements that will be under more stress. It should be fine with dead wood alone, but if you want added strength, that is the solution". I nodded and thanked her. It was a good solution actually, and easy to implement. All that time I thought about normal bows, but the new weapon of war wasn't just some bow.

With that, I returned to the blacksmiths. I made the strips myself, as to not disturb their work. When the metal strips were ready, I hammered them half cold onto the wood. After a quick cool down, the metal strips dug into the wood, holding it firmly in place. "Great, this should do it. All that's left is the platform, and some other bits and pieces. Guys! When will you finish on your side?". The oldest blacksmith replied, "Most of the easy stuff is done. We are still working on those release and tension parts. They should be done in two days at most". I nodded, and headed back to work myself.

A few days passed, and we had all the parts required. Crow also took the army stationed in Sedon, and headed for Dead Forest. I cautioned him, "If you see any signs of trouble, leave immediately. Run, don't worry about anything else. We can't lose our army there. If you can't run, use the Voltic Orb. Don't try to save it, people are more important than things". He nodded, and left shortly after that.

Me and the blacksmiths on the other hand, took care of the assembly process. The easier parts to assemble, were the big parts. The arch I prepared slid nicely into the platform. The weapon would shoot horizontally, not vertically like a normal bow. Moreover, thanks to the design, the platform was rotatable while the arch itself was stuck to it permanently. This was to eliminate any movements between the arch and the platform it rested upon.

With that connected, we had to put the tensioning parts into place. This in itself wasn't easy. The job was fiddly, and required at least two people. After much trial and error, we finally added those parts in as well. They were hidden underneath the arch as well as the platform. With everything connected, we added a cogwheel, which would turn and tension the string together with the arrow. "Alright. We have the tray, and we have the tensioning parts in places. Now all we have to do is add the release lever. Remember guys, it has to connect with the arrow block. If the arrow block is not released, the arrow will go nowhere". They nodded, and we proceeded to finalise the design.

The arrow block served a crucial purpose. It was there to stop the arrow from moving forwards, while we tensioned the string. The metal block would then be released, and pulled downwards, while the arrow would get released forwards. With the new weapon assembled, we had to test it. I made a few arrows just to test the new weapon, but we opted not to shoot at walls. 'Ama would kill us, if we damaged them again' I thought.

"Let's take this to the top of the walls. We can actually test how well this will work in its original place, and what range it will have". The blacksmiths agreed, and we carried it up the walls. Fortunately, one of the improvements Ama did, were the exterior stairs to access the walls. We carried the weapon atop the walls, then placed it down. "Alright, let's check if it works!" I said excited.

We loaded the arrow in, and then used the cogwheel to tensions it. Besides some initial creaks, when we fully tensioned the bow, it no longer creaked. "Who wants to pull the handle?". The blacksmiths looked at me, so I pulled. "Bam!", the arrow flew through the air, but not alone. The force behind that shot was so strong, the weapon was about to leave the walls as well. I quickly grabbed it, and pulled with as much strength I had. The blacksmiths also helped, and pulled me back in, with the weapon still in my hands.

"That was close…" I said, half scared our new weapon would be destroyed like that. "Hey guys, where is that arrow?" one of the blacksmiths asked. We scoured the wasteland in front of us, and finally noticed some dust in the distance. "That's… How far do you think that is?" the oldest blacksmith asked. I looked in awe, and answered absentmindedly "Around 400, maybe 500 metres?". The arrow didn't simply fly those 400-500 metres, it crashed into the ground producing a small hole. It was small from afar, but in reality, it had around five metres in radius.

The weapon was really powerful, Ama designed something extraordinary indeed. "We need to make sure to permanently attach them atop the walls. We don't need them flying off after a single use". They agreed, but we would leave the placement of our new weapons to Ama. There were a few adjustments we would need to make, but that could be taken care of, when the second one was built.

"Alright, we need to make more, a lot more of them. I will go visit Lerry and Ama. I should be able to gather some people. Although they will not be craftsmen or blacksmiths, we can still use some help. With the use of templates, we should be able to increase production. They will be able to help you guys too. Even the simple task of making Ingots, will save you time". They agreed to that, and returned to work.

I visited Lerry first. He was very eager to come and help us himself, but I declined. "Just focus on the walls for now. Ama needs you, and I can't take you away from her. I just need a few people who are not working on the walls right now. Some of them will make ingots, while other carve wood. They don't need experience, only the will to work and help us out" I said. Lerry nodded, and promised he would organise some help.

I then found Ama, and told her the good news. "The weapon you designed? Works perfectly well. We already shot from it once, now we will build more of them". She nodded, and replied "That's great. With those weapons, we have a much stronger defensive line". I continued, "You will have to fix them permanently atop the walls. They are so powerful, the weapon almost flew off the walls when we shot from it. I'm serious, make sure even two of me can't move it out of its place". She nodded while replying, "I will think of something. You left that weapon on the wall I suppose?". I replied, "Yes… There is one more thing. This time, it will be something you will like".

She seemed sceptical, but waited for me to continue. "Well, the new weapon needs a name right? Eterians have Destroyers, while we have... this. You designed it, so you should name it" I said. She was surprised, but in a good way. After a while of thinking, she said. "Give me some time, I want the name to be good". I smiled, and left her to it.

My next stop was the fields. I showed the Atols there, how to make some weak poison. I also showed them the antidote for it, and checked their progress on the medicine they were supposed to practice producing. They showed me all the bottles, they managed to accumulate inside the storage. There were around 40 bottles of medicine, all of them were good grade. 'Not the best, but very useful' I thought. This struck me as a bit weird, so I asked "You didn't make any mistakes?". They lowered their heads in shame, while one Atols said "No. We only have that much, because we made a lot of mistakes. Around 50 bottles were useless…". 'Wow, they went at it rather seriously. Good, this means they want to learn and improve' I thought.

I replied, "Don't worry about it, those herbs grow quickly, so no harm done. Just continue with the poison and medicine. If you want, you can separate yourself. Three of you can be responsible for medicine, while the other three for poison. This way, you will have more experience in one specific category, and improve faster". They didn't seem to mind the idea, so I continued. "Figure it out between yourselves. I can also see that the construction of our private house has started. That's good, soon all of you will be able to practice at once". They nodded, and I left them to do my own work.