MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith



"Attempt number… what number was I on again?" Over the course of a day and a half, Valyr had allocated most of his time towards his attempts to make gunpowder, only for most of it to end up a failure. Though he had gotten lucky on some of his attempts along the way, he decided to keep continuing, wanting to make sure that he had the entire process fully committed to memory.

"Well, whatever number I may be on, I've tweaked the ratio to where it's 75 parts saltpeter, 15 parts charcoal, and 10 parts sulfur." Taking in a deep breath, he placed a bit of the mixture he had just finished stirring onto another bowl before isolating it from the production area. "During the last few attempts, the gunpowder mixture has become explosive, but it's still lacking that small oomph I'm looking for."

Thinking about the multiple number of attempts Valyr had done thus far, the young man was reminded of the initial ratio he was working with, which came from the knowledge instilled in him from unlocking the gunpowder advancement on the Technology Tree. 

"I wonder why the system thought 30 parts saltpeter, 55 parts charcoal, and 15 parts sulfur to be the perfect ratio in making gunpowder." Inwardly shrugging his shoulders at the thought as he was thankful he had not stopped experimenting the mixture's ratio, the young man took in a deep breath before proceeding to light the mixture with a torch he had lit beforehand.

"3… 2… 1…" Bit by bit, he moved the torch closer to the bowl, enveloping his entire body in a layer of mana in the process as a safety measure. Fortunately for him, once the first few embers had made contact with the gunpowder mixture he made…

Bang!

Within seconds, the entire mixture on the bowl ignited, being accompanied by a small cloud of smoke. As the smoke gradually dissipated on its own, the young man retracted the torch back while shifting his attention towards the bowl, whose surface only had soot and a bit of residue remaining.

"I can finally move onto making the actual fire lance." Pouring a great amount of water on the bowl to avoid any mishaps, the young man briefly let out a cackle, feeling great joy at the fact that he had successfully learned how to make gunpowder.

Inwardly letting out a sigh of relief at finally being able to move forward, Valyr grabbed the bowl he had used to do gunpowder testing before heading back to the production area. Once there, he went ahead and combined all of the charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur he had ground earlier into one giant bowl, keeping in mind the specific ratio he had just unlocked.

…

"This will last me for quite some time." By the time a couple of hours had passed, the young man had converted most of the charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur he had gotten into the gunpowder mixture, deciding to use one of the now empty sacks to store the mixture for the meantime. "Now that I think about it, I should get my hands on a larger spatial bracelet before the inheritance begins."

"Or should I ask a mage to expand the space within the spatial bracelet I currently have?" Removing all unnecessary items from the table he was using as his work area, the young man took a look at the items he had put to the side earlier, only to grab a few of them and place them on the table sometime later.

"Cordage, a hollowed-out tube made out of treated Stonewood, a rod also made out of treated Stonewood, and the gunpowder mixture I made earlier." Deciding to save the topic of his spatial bracelet for some other time, the young man brought up the knowledge he had gotten from the Technology Tree regarding the creation of the fire lance, closing his eyes for a bit as he thought about the process.

"Since I'm using the fire lance solely to gain more knowledge on how to make a gun, there's no need for me to make a spear tip." Feeling like he had gotten a good idea of what he had to do, the young man went ahead and grabbed the wooden rod and wooden tube, affixing the tube onto one end of the rod with some string coated in strong adhesive.

"Speaking of which, I'll save the blueprint making part for when I've obtained all of the knowledge I could," muttered the young man, nodding in satisfaction as the tube stayed intact even after he swung the rod with a lot of force. "Though the system would help me remove the possible issues that may arise here and there, I'd rather have it help me improve the final product than fix my problems."

Seeing that the tube won't move no matter what he did, Valyr proceeded to create a hole on the covered end of the tube with a hand drill, inwardly thanking the workshop for having such a tool on hand. Then, after making sure that the hole could be seen on the other side, he went ahead and cut a bit of cordage before shoving it through the hole.

"Now that I think about it, how did the gunpowder not pour out of the tube?" As this question came to mind, the young man scooped a bit of the gunpowder mixture before pouring it into the tube, tapping the entire structure a couple of times to make sure the gunpowder was tightly packed inside.

"Well, whatever the answer may be, it's time to test this thing out." Satisfied with the amount of gunpowder within the tube, Valyr proceeded to light the cordage he had attached before changing his grip over the entire thing into a grip that would suit gun usage more.

Watching the cordage slowly burn off, a couple of thoughts surfaced in the young man's mind in response to his earlier question. However, before he could think about those thoughts any further…

Bang!

As the lit cordage and the gunpowder within the tube interacted, a flash of light briefly appeared on the open end of the tube as a loud explosion resounded soon after. While that was happening, the young man felt the fire lance greatly tremble due to the explosion, prompting him to strengthen his grip over the entire thing while his ears rang for a brief moment.

"I… am definitely stupid." Giving his arms some time to get over the recoil he felt from the fire lance, the young man placed the fire lance to the side for the meantime as he noticed a few of the blacksmiths leave their workshop due to the sound he had made. Apologizing for interrupting them one by one, Valyr was only able to return to the workshop after about ten minutes had passed.

"I should really wear ear protection next time." Taking a look at the fire lance to see if the tube had suffered any damage, the young man was glad to find out that the tube only looked to be covered in the soot generated by the explosion. Gleeful over the success of his first attempt on making the fire lance, the young man brought the fire lance with him to the center of the workshop as multiple thoughts began to arise in his mind.

"With the fire lance being a success…"

"It's time to move onto the next step."

"Further experimentation and modification."