The Way Ahead

Chapter 102b: Booming Business

Chapter 102b: Booming Business

Grinding the phosphorus proved to be easy enough, and he found that by pulling on Alchemical Dismantling, he could make the granules a really consistent size with a minimal amount of work. Lefi had a Skill that worked almost identically to Dismantling of course, so he was almost as good as Edwin at it right off the start, and by the end he was even better.

Edwin knew he shouldnt be jealous, but it was kind of hard to not be. This was supposed to be his thing, but of course Lefi could match him even here. But no, Edwin was being supportive, so hed see how far he could push the adventurer- no matter how frustrating it could be to watch the totally-not-a-protagonist outclass him in everything.

Its not like I should have expected anything else oi, shut up me.

No, he was not going to get all mopey and socially self-destructive anymore. He knew that people wanted to be with him! He was a valuable team member, and wasnt that what he had always wanted? He loved being the sort of person that could help out, and explaining things to people was something he truly enjoyed. He was supposed to be happy, darn it, and he would not let his emotions get in the way of that.

In any case, getting enough phosphorus proved to be quite easy, but it also presented a bit of a dilemma. How was he going to get the explosives dry without them igniting? Once the water was gone, he could seal it in an apparatite container and hope that whatever miniscule amounts of air were trapped alongside it wouldnt be enough to make it explode.

A few tests confirmed that yes, the granules did indeed ignite if he left them out for an extended period of time to dry, but he eventually managed to get a system down. With a bit of help from Rillah (this was quickly becoming a team effort), Edwin was able to make a coldbox at refrigerator-like temperatures, well below what phosphorus needed to ignite, and let the granules dry there. Of course, it took a fair bit of time for the granules to dry, definitely longer than was feasible for Rillah to stay there constantly channeling magic into it.

So, he cheated a bit. He used Basic Thermokinesis on the container it was stored in but added almost no heat to the system, instead allowing the Skills inherent insulation to help keep the interior cold.

He was really proud of that workaround, even if it meant that he lost a night of sleep to keep the system properly chilled for long enough.

By working quickly, he was able to load up a lot of apparatite casings, and while there were some small fires that broke out inside some of his shells, none of them grew out of hand, and Edwin considered the entire endeavor a success.

Initial explosive tests were confusing, because when he tried to use Firestarting on the capsules, nothing happened. Even Infusing the skill didnt do anything beyond creating a tiny puff of smoke.

Then Edwin realized he was being stupid. Phosphorus didnt have any internal oxidizer. It was that very fact he was relying on to keep the fuel stable, but he had still managed to forget that when actually trying to blow it up. Hm. Some changes to the plan were required.

A bit of testing showed that they worked as Edwin hoped. Bomb Throwing didnt seem to activate, possibly because he wasnt throwing it? Or maybe it didnt count as a bomb? Anyway, if he dispelled the phosphorus' casing and exposed it to free air then applied Firestarting, the end result was a lovely fountain of ridiculously hot flames and sparks.

Now, all that was left was to turn it into a gun.

The end result looked a lot like a miniature potato cannon. A grate sat at the end of the barrel right before it opened into the explosives chamber and a specially-made apparatite projectile was loaded in. He released the container of phosphorus and ignited it, ducking behind his barrier- a very solid wooden table tipped over on its side. Given the solidity of the construction, it was probably overkill, but

BANG

Edwin suddenly felt like his shield was very inadequate as his prototype exploded. Fortunately, the fact it was made of apparatite meant that instead of sending deadly shrapnel all over the place, blue sparks slowly settled to the floor, but that didnt stop some unexploded phosphorus from raining all over his workshop, igniting and filling the room with smoke. He was once again reminded of just how glad he was to have Fresh Air.

in hindsight, he wasnt sure what he expected of a literal glass cannon.

Three iterations later, hed figured out how thick he needed to make his gun not explode, but the scales he was working with definitely werent enough to be usable in any practical sense...

Was scaling it up probably just going to be a waste of time? Maybe. Hed need to rework most of it once he had better explosives with their own oxidizers, but hed come this far. Who knew what sort of things he might learn? Certainly not him. Thats why it was an experiment!

Edwin cracked his knuckles.

He was going to need a bigger gun. And Edwin looked around at the chaos repeated explosions had wrought in his lab, the white haze hanging in the air.

...He should probably do this outside.

Version two of the gun was complete. Its walls were significantly thicker, had a 2 meter barrel and 1 meter blasting chamber, had a screw-on cap for allowing more air into the chamber after each shot, used a well-fitted stone for a projectile instead of an apparatite bullet, and had a thousand little improvements over its little brother.

And now, in a small meadow close enough to Sheraith that it was feasible to fly a really heavy apparatite object to, but far enough away that the sound was unlikely to reach the city, he was ready to test it.

Edwin dismissed the phosphorus' casing, releasing almost a full kilo of powder into the combustion chamber, and quickly joined the others as he dashed behind his blast barrier, a few stones ripped from the earth and arranged into a low wall. He anxiously peered over the rocks and focused on the phosphorus. Hopefully this was close enough

Firestarting.

BOOM

The noise shattered the natural soundscapes of their surroundings, sending flocks of birds cascading into the sky, shaking the clearing and knocking more than a few leaves from the nearby trees to the ground. White smoke drifted up from where the gun had landed, but the clearing primarily smelled like freshly cut wood and upturned dirt, which

That was awesome! Yathal expressed his glee, a sentiment clearly shared by Kyni.

Inion looked similarly impressed, though didnt say anything.

Lefi was clearly taken aback, That was without a single Skill?

Rillah gave Edwin an encouraging pat on his back as he nodded to Lefi, Ive never seen anything like that, and you say you can make even cooler stuff than that?

Edwin nodded absently as he looked on with absolute glee at the (intentional) devastation his creation had wrought. Even without Bomb Throwing activating at all, the stone had utterly demolished the tree it had been aimed at, leaving only a splintered trunk and a significant amount of shattered wood behind. Hed need to get Lefi in to test its efficacy against Skilled opponents, but it would be amazing at imparting a lot of kinetic energy very, very quickly.

The important thing is that you can visualize it properly. The better you can visualize it, the easier it will be to use magic.

So simpler is better?

Generally, yes. If you need to spin some elaborate yarn as to how all of your magic fits together it will be exceptionally difficult to use for anything but the most basic of powers. I heard of one mage whose magic apparently took the form of the entire Bronze Sun, and all its inhabitants and magic within. Its probably just a story, but it was said that although he had an impressive array of capabilities once he was actually able to use it, but it took him outright hours to properly visualize his magic to use it.

Oh, so I need to be able to picture it whenever I use my mana?

Unless you directly use a Skill, yes.

Okay, so the hydroelectric dam and volcanoes were definitely out.

He needed a practical way to visualize his ability to trickle out mana like drops of water, but also adequately reflected the power crackling within it and was positively radiant. Some kind of radioactive liquid, maybe? His mind raced, Visualization helping him imagine a hundred different possibilities. What else would

Oh.

Oh, of course.

A triumphant grin crept across Edwins face.

Congratulations! For firing a cannon, you have unlocked the Artillerist path!

Congratulations! For creating a prototype weapon of war, you have unlocked the Sapper path!

Congratulations! For successfully creating a Visualization for your personal mana, you have unlocked the Schooled Mage path!

Level Up!

Skill Points 895939 (Average level: 49)

Adaptive Defense Level 3233

Alchemical Analysis Level 3435

Alchemical Dismantling Level 4245

Alchemy Level 9192

Basic Thermokinesis Level 2831

Bomb Throwing Level 5152

Feys Caress Level 3840

Flight Level 5053

Fresh Air Level 3438

Improbable Arsenal Level 3334

Longstrider Level 3540

Numeracy Level 4447

Outsiders Almanac Level 134135

Polyglot Level 6869

Prototyping Level 3436

Ritual Intuition Level 3034

Sappers Apparatus Level 5457

Skillful Assessment Level 4245

Watchful Rest Level 3134