Evolving Silver Dragon - Chapter 162
Chapter 162: 160 Black Iron Heavy Industry_l
Translator: 549690339
Perhaps eager to taste Otto’s promised wine sooner, Dain had been staying in the Land of the Soaring Dragon these past few days without leaving.
Out of boredom, he even visited Sofia and Moray’s magic research lab.
During this time, Sofia and her team had been researching how to increase the reload speed of the torsion ballista.
When Dain heard this, he immediately burst into laughter.
According to him, such a war weapon made by humans would be considered a large pile of junk in the dwarf kingdom.
Moray originally wanted to retort, but his mouth was soon shut by the cruel reality.
Dain personally rode his griffin to the Sulfur Mountains, followed by Moray with a look of disbelief and the spectators Sofia.
Under his guidance, the Black Iron Dwarves staying in the Sulfur Mountains took only two days to build a full-metal war chariot, something like a bed crossbow.
Morlaix originally wanted to question how such a metal lump could maintain its flexibility to shoot arrows, but soon discovered that the Black Iron Dwarves had inscribed runes all over the metal.
Additionally, many magical gems were embedded in it to provide extra power, all generously contributed by Otto.
Currently, Otto almost unconditionally supports any forging request from the Black Iron Dwarves.
This special bed crossbow was named Black Iron Ballista by the Black Iron Dwarves. It not only had a longer range than the human-made torsion ballista but was also more convenient to load.
It could be loaded with five full-metal arrows at a time, and the firing interval did not exceed ten seconds. The reloading time was much faster than that of the torsion ballista.
Of course, it was not without flaws.
First of all, its weight was astonishing, as a full-metal Black Iron Ballista weighed more than a few hundred pounds.
In order to move it, three or four strong adult dwarves had to work together.
Moreover, after continuous firing, the Black Iron Ballista needed time to cool down. The inscriptions on it could only support a maximum of two continuous full-speed shots.
If it was overworked, the metal bow would be overloaded and even snap.
At the same time, the magic gems on the ballista needed to be replaced after exhausting their energy, as this weapon couldn’t function purely on mechanical power.
Hearing that the Black Iron Dwarves had made a very useful bed crossbow, Otto couldn’t help but fly to the Sulfur Mountains out of curiosity, just in time for the test firing.
The target was a row of hard rocks, and in about a minute, the Black Iron Crossbow had emptied the loaded full-metal arrows.
Just by the momentum of the shot, it could completely subdue the human-made torsion ballista.
Otto, Sofia, and Moray, who were seeing such a spectacle for the first time, approached to find the metal arrows were all embedded in the hard rocks.
Its power was indeed much greater than that of the torsion ballista, even Otto made a brief comparison with his power.
If the target were himself, he estimated that he would be directly pierced by these terrifying arrows.
Dain followed behind these inexperienced people, laughing heartily, “This is just the most basic war weapon. You’ll be truly amazed when the Black Iron Cannon is successfully developed!”
“Black Iron Cannon?”
Seeing the power of the Black Iron Ballista, naturally, the Black Iron Cannon in Dain’s mouth also aroused the attention of everyone nearby.
Dain smiled mysteriously and beckoned to a Black Iron Dwarf. He then handed over a long-barreled firearm.
“This is a Black Iron firearm. It’s not really a rare item, as our cousins over there know how to make them too, including those damn red beards.”
Dain explained, “This weapon was developed only in the last few hundred years. Although its range is short and its ammunition loading speed is slow, its power is quite considerable.
Many dwarves are committed to improving this novel weapon, but so far, they’ve been unsuccessful.
In recent years, one of our Black Iron Dwarf elders proposed, since it’s difficult to improve, why not just enlarge it directly? Just like the Magic Crystal
Cannon.”
Sofia and Moray were confused, while Otto kept nodding, seemingly understanding that the dwarves were realizing that caliber represented truth.
“Did the research on Black Iron firearms run into any troubles?”
Otto asked.
Dain shook his head helplessly, “We did make them, but they’re not very useful right now.”
“How so?”
“Not enough range!”
Dain tried to explain, “At first, our idea was very simple; just enlarge the firearm, stuff it with gunpowder and iron sand, and shoot everything out together.
But the range was too short. After one shot, I guess the enemies would have charged before we could reload.
Later, we switched the iron sand to iron balls, but then the impact was not strong enough.
Even with the help of magic gems and inscribing magic arrays, the power was mediocre after shooting the iron balls.
In comparison to a regular catapult, it seemed to be just more accurate and shoot a little farther.
More importantly, gems and crystals that stored magical power were very precious. If used only for this kind of power, it would be too wasteful…”
At this point, Otto suddenly had an idea.
He asked Sofia, “What’s the name of that goblin in your lab who recently gave himself a name?”
“Green Burst…”
Sofia rolled her eyes. That Dragonborn Goblin with a bubble head had been stirring up trouble lately.
No matter what kind of magical materials were thrown in his hands, there would always be an explosion, and he couldn’t even explain why.
Strangely enough, his compatriots, the other goblins, were able to understand his mysterious words.
They could even replicate his success, creating one bizarre explosive after another.
In the Land of the Soaring Dragon, these dangerous items were currently being used by binding them to the arrowheads of the torsion ballista.
However, they might be useful to the Black Iron Dwarves for other purposes.
Otto laughed, “That’s right, Green Burst! This interesting goblin recently made some fascinating items. I think you should take a look! ”
“Really? But I find it hard to believe a foolish goblin could create something valuable…”
Dain looked at Otto skeptically, as dwarves were naturally born to hate orcs and goblins.
Soon after, at Otto’s request, several chimeras carefully transported Green Burst, his assistant, and some extremely unstable explosives.
During the landing, an accident occurred, as one chimera’s hind leg was blown off by an exploding shipment.
But fortunately, this was a magical world, and reattaching a severed leg using healing magic wasn’t a difficult task.
Of course, it couldn’t alleviate the pain, though..
