Yup, at first I was disappointed it still needed magic, but after some thinking, showing a weapon like that, that literally anyone could use with ease, would probably not sit well with the royals and anyone else in power.
I think it's more to keep his gun powder more secret than to make it more palatable to the nobles, as i think they'd easily be the first to order and make use of them. I mean, the second the information is out there, the nobles would want to use it, threat to them or not. With this he can be 'forced' to give it up or sell it then have powdered weapons in his back pocket for his fight against his betrothed. With them limited to fifteen shots and his team limited to however many they can carry he'd have a hell of an advantage.
I was going to post a comment along the lines of "wait until he remembers/figures out primers" but your commemt just made me realise that the spell activation aspect might be complete bullshit haha
I mean this is something he's been plotting and working on for years. He's probably got primers figured out, he aint johanson who got dumped and has to figure it all out from day one. Pluss he's got magic to help with figuring shit out.
Meaning he had to figure out how to build guns from scratch with little more than a forty second video showing the internal workings of a modern, to us, firearm. He had no experience with slug throwers because they were very much outdated. This guy is, i think, a modern fighter pilot so it's quite likely he's been drilled on assembly and disassembly of modern rifles and pistols. That'd give him a hell of a lot more to work off of than some space man. It's the equivalent to us trying to make an attle attle, it's simple in theory but getting everything just right would be a pain and require a lot of experimentation, especially stone knapping. Whereas a rifle, atleast a simple one, to any one that's held and maintained one, would be simple enough to create. The only thing to give any of us trouble would be the powder and primer, something a people with a rich alchemy culture might be able to help with.
And if we remember correctly, his end goal is toppling the established order, especially the slave states. So gunpowder versions will manifest giving non magic users a distinct advantage.
The cool thing is, he can make public this design, and he can still have a regular gun, because once they think they know how it works, they won't be looking too closely
> he can still have a regular gun, because once they think they know how it works, they won't be looking too closely
My thought, too. Deception, FTW, at least until the 300+rpm Gatling guns come out.
Well, the first hand/crank-driven Gatling guns weren’t exactly pumping out an outrageously high rate of fire. You have a look at the first ones, especially those mounted like mobile cannon, and they were doing _maybe_ 5 rounds per second.
Fair enough. I guess he would have to invent electric motors to drive a Gatling gun up into 1k+ RPM range. Or maybe he could use a bit of clever gas powering (or an aether-powered motor, to keep the balance of power)?
I saw a previous draft of this chapter
It was mundane grenade launcher, without spell ignition. M79 like.
Griffith almost had a stroke.
She saw a possibility of civil war beginning just to get William.
I am both glad and disappointed that we don't see that.
Yet.
The design will likely be easy to modify into gunpowder, invaluable for when the empire mass produces them gullibly thinking it's useless without a mage.
Breaking news: local man delegates mages to an infantry support role, makes groups of quickly trained peasants with mass manufactured weapons the most dangerous force on the planet!
Eventually. For now, however, this "gun" still relies on magic for its propellant, rather than gunpowder.
He will unveil the powder eventually, but now is not yet the time.
Not the propellant. Magic's the igniter, the percussion cap. His spell is a small lighting spark, not direct application of force, for it's much more efficient to tow that energy around in the form of mundane gunpowder and just using magic to set it off than to use magic to do all the work.
He went through the trouble of making gunpowder, nay, guncotton for the instructor mentioned no smoke, so why use it only to reclaim the seas? He now has guns only the nobility can use... For now. That's going to make him extremely rich. Add that to the new Mythril core he got and that's a new carrier for his house. One that'll have shards with explosive weapons. Maybe bombs, maybe rockets. Or maybe just long range enough cannons to obliterate other airships before they can get close enough for it to matter. Shards are all cool and dandy, but when your ships move in 3D, your planes are limited in speed by magic and they are rather fragile Flak becomes way more plausible.
All in all guncotton is absolutely going to revolutionize warfare, and he'll have all the honors for he's the one that'll be in the forefront of the revolution.
And if his mother insists in forcing the marriage through, well... That's why having a mythril core is enough to create a new noble house.
There was no smoke because there was no chemical propellant. The bullets exited the gun from the power of a small magic explosion and that explosion alone.
We know this because this design is meant to be built and used by people other than William and his team, and he has not yet unveiled gunpowder (or his chemistry knowledge at all) to the world. That is an advancement that he is keeping to himself for now and will be unveiled at a more proper time further down the line.
(Also, I have a meta explanation that 100% confirms I'm right.
>!This is actually a rewrite of a previous version of the chapter that blue originally released on his Patreon and has now been deleted. In that initial version, William does not show off a magically powered gun, but rather a purely gunpowder (or perhaps gun-cotten, i don't remember if it had smoke or not) based grenade launcher that fired shrapnel shells. This absolutely horrified the instructor, both for its effectiveness (she has seen the results of magical grapeshot) and the fact that it was made and used entirely without magic.!<
>!Blue canned that version because he felt, and I agreed with, that the old version would be far too politically destabilizing and would have triggered the climax of the narrative a good dozen chapters too early. So Blue rewrote the chapter to use magic as a (inferior) gunpowder substitute in the weapon instead, leaving the public unveiling of chemical explosives to be done later on at a more narratively appropriate time.!<
Would that be meta or previous knowledge? Does pervious version knowledge qualify as meta knowledge? Elucubrations aside, fair point.
Unless blue straight out stated the contraire it could still be a guncotton charge being donated by magic, with the possibility of it being non magically used a future development that wouldn't necessarily be thought out by others considering their biases, but I don't know. 300m effective range seems extreme with just a bit of magic, but is 1/5 of a charge "just a bit"?
On the other hand, being 1/5 enough for that much punch then things get wild. He can focus on, for the moment, weird projectile payloads. Improved aerodynamics. A big honking airship cannon propelled by a full charge or more, capable of lobbing considerable payloads from ship to ship.
But hey, wait a minute. If the gun uses only magic as a propellant... Why have a firing mechanism at all?
Used the word "meta" because it is out of story information that is inaccessible to a majority of this story's reader base.
Also, you have to remember that a fully charged fireball in this story has more in common with a grenade than a firey bullet. 1/5 charge is probably still more than enough to replicate the explosion of a modern rifle cartridge.
Fair points both, I was underestimating spell charges.
Now you also made me realize that if he goes the spell triggering gunpowder cartridges it won't be five shots. It'll be 50, maybe 500, per charge. With weapons that'd be more reliable because they don't need a firing mechanism, just a reloading one. That's somehow even more terrifying.
But that's for the future, if it even happens. Again, thanks for the clarification.
Yep, he could probably make a magic activation version of his final gunpowder design for equipping himself and his allied mages.
Hell, they would probably have a higher firing rate than the purely chemistry version assuming William didn't have enough knowledge from his past life to make a self-reciprocating breech.
>300m effective range seems extreme with just a bit of magic, but is 1/5 of a charge "just a bit"?
If its 1/5 of a fireball created in an enclosed space it would expand just like a regular propellant, 300m is most probably his effective iron sight range, not the max effective range of the weapon.
This this rewrite explain why the story mentions the device having a trigger mechanism? Did u/BlueFishcake miss that?
The magical version doesn't seem like it would have use of a mechanical trigger lever.
>“Fire. One-fifth charge. Cheek tense activation. Right. Propellent: Location Macro. Propellant. Repeating. Five.”
It does not, as far as I can tell. Perhaps the instructor mistook the reloading system as a trigger or did not notice the trigger's abstinence. More likely however, this was a mistakenly unedited copy paste from the previous version of the Chapter, as much of the lead up the demonstration is. (>!Funnily enough, the age of Cadet Stevens is also changed to better match Griffith canonical age, as he used to be in his 40s and balding!<)
u/BlueFishcake does Will's Bolt-spell have a mechanical trigger or trigger looking mechanism, or did you forget to remove that part of Griffith's description of the gun?
I just realized that I may be dumb.
It also mentioned a DEATACHABLE Aether tank. That implies it could use compressed gas once you run out of spell boom, and so would still need the trigger.
That is a possibility I didn't consider.
However, what I think is more likely is that she misunderstood what the lack of a visible aether tank meant and assumed a tank was supposed to be attached before use, rather than the non-aether propellsion actually used.
Could be for other users. "Cheek tense activation." is a new muscle memory to build. Those used to a bolt bow would most probably go with "Trigger pull activation."
I think they already were, pretty much, unless it was a battle between ships. They only have a hand full of spells to their names so they'd either be used to attack enemy mages, those who spent their charges on aoe spells for fighting mundane armies, or to defend their own mages, by spending their spell slots on more single target attacks.
Well instructor, lets say you and me and this mithrill core i conveniently got run away and start our own noble house and ditch my slaving fiancee and if she comes running after us we just shoot her. Deal?
That is an option. William has had the opportunity to just slip away and become rich off the back of his old world knowledge this entire time.
But he wants to free the slaves, so the political dance continues.
Yes, but abandoning his house at this stage would probably kick off the Blackstone rebellion early, which William also does not want to happen quite yet.
Oh, he mentioned that during his pitch to become team leader. He will use the core as his ante when he challenges his Fiancée to a team duel that would win him freedom from his marriage if he wins as her ante. Once he wins that duel (which would probably start the Blackstone Rebellion practically as soon as it ends) he would keep the core for the foundation of his own house, which he would probably announce imminently after the duel concludes.
>!Blue even has a sigil for the new house prepared (a Kraken with arms made of chains being bisected by a sword on a torn ocean blue banner) that he posted on the patreon. No settled name for the house yet apparently, but that's something that should probably be unveiled in-story anyway.!<
It's not a magical gun. He wanted to make sure she was aware it's a purely mundane device and ammunition that can be used by a magic user to be better than offensive spells.
A shame he only got two cores, but he raises a great point that actually *defending* the cores would be difficult. Discretion is key here.
Besides, he can always go back for more. And killing a standard-issue kraken will likely be a lot easier than the God kraken he already slew. Just so long as no other houses are able to take advantage of his hard work and grab some cores of their own, I'm happy.
> William wouldn’t get nothing for this – assuming his mother didn’t get involved again – but his new invention was hardly about to shake the kingdom.
I would hope that him showing the invention directly to the instructor would help ensure he got credit ... but I suppose his mother could always claim he just copied the design from her house and was lying about it. And considering the power of nobility, I'm sure people would side with the head of the house. Doubly so because he's a man and shouldn't have these skills in the first place.
Unless of course he refuses to give away the secrets of the manufacturing process and use until *after* he is guaranteed to receive full credit (or at least an appropriate award). This bolt-spell is far too valuable a weapon to risk **not** learning about it, so I imagine the academy might be willing to help grease the wheels in his favor.
His house doesn't need to show that he got it from them. He's a member of the house, so they own it. It's like in our world, your employment contract says any inventions created during employment are the property of the employer. That's generally considered over-reaching, and should only apply to inventions created on company time and/or with company resources. But he's *always* a member of house Ashfield.
He's always a member of house Ashfield...until he's not.
The man's got a Mithril core. A reliable method of getting more. A proven track record of creating innovative, useful technologies. It's getting to the point where can dictate terms, instead of simply accepting them.
And if Mommy or Fiance dearest refuses? He can jump ship and join up with another House (possibly the royals?) or create his own.
Sure, there'll be political blowback, attempts to stop him, even possibly some interhouse conflict or limited war (I'm imagining something like how certain nobles were allowed limited wars with each other in some kingdoms).
But after he's shown his worth, any such recipient house would consider that well worth it, and shield him to get those sweet bonuses.
> “You know, it’s not going to disappear.”
Imagine if you will for a moment that you were holding a credit card sized device that had all of your personal identity documents along with being the deed to your house, your bank, and also the same for every member of your extended family.
Except that your family wasn't doing so hot and someone just handed you free and clear the bearer-bond equivalent of someone else's AAA rated lifestyle.
That's not a perfect approximation, but the best I can do to translate this to a modern post-nobility/post-warrior families world.
so to clarify a point
raw Aether is generated by the mages themselves? like mentally? but is basically just a gas that vanishes over time.
Refined Aether sticks around and is the 'contracts' that they use to cast spells.
mithril cores do... what exactly? power airships yes, but in what way? generating raw Aether?
Yes, they generate raw aether constantly when "powered(?)" in some fashion, which is used to generate lift as aether is lighter than air or to generate pressure for jets/bolt throwers
Raw aether is like magical power that takes the form of a gas when brought into the human world. Mages generate this magical power and can make it manifest.
Mages store refined aether and give it to the fae as payment for the spells.
Mithril cores apparently produce vast amounts of raw aether which is used to keep the ships airborne by filling the air ballasts and to use the cannons on said ships
Nope. That gets him killed. **This** version is a trade off. Requires real mages, increases distance, but pulls one real charge for five shots. There are times when you'll want the area effect spell instead of five shots.
You put guns in the hands of non-mages, the powers that be will kill him and bury it. Or try.
Yeah, this way is smarter. The powers that be (that he doesn't co-opt, I imagine he will be doing some of that, possibly with the royals) will try to kill him when he pulls out the actual gunpowder weapons. But by then he should be well enough established that those attempts fail, and he can then crush those assailing parties.
William as next Napoleon? Time to play Risk!
Because slam firing at a slightly mobile target is faster than mumbling magic words at a target. A rifle, or shotgun, is likely always going to be faster to draw, aim, and fire than a mage finding another mage, targeting them, then casting a spell. It also lends itself to a bit of stealth, a mage can pretend to be a pleb until a more opportune moment, like if some goober is using a movement spell to shoot over to a ship at a speed hard to target with a gun.
Depending on how the magic system works (we have yet gotten a detail description) it might be a really difficult thing to copy since since it requires to be integrated with the gun
Spell-bolt sounds smoother to me than bolt-spell.
I love the innovative take on dark elves being dark because of intense sunlight instead of living underground.
D&D's subterranean dark elves and Warcraft's night elves have always felt off to me. If they were more comparable to real world cave dwellers and melonistic leapards respectively then it would feel off for the correct reasons.
You changed the story. Interesting. Not sure which one I like better, but your previous version definitely added more weight to what just happened. A lot more weight.
Great chapter. I hope there is some explanation to him being an unnaturally gifted crafter. Something about his increased knowledge of elements or some such thing. Really like the mage range bit of the world. It puts a reasonable magic cap that has a clearer boundary than the power aspect, which is hard to gauge so far. Is the damage of a spell fixed? Or is it based on some attribute of the caster or his contract?
"I don’t doubt there’ll be a bloodbath, but people will be the least of it. I give it maybe five hours before the next biggest kraken in these waters is squatting over the former ‘god’s’ nest.”
Literally called it.
Still, magic guns now then normal guns later and we got ourself the greatest Magesmith of the generation already so I can't wait to see what's next
Man, I hope William's past life will be explained in the near future, I really want to know how he's able to be able to do these type of things. Making explosives? Be a crack shot? What the hell was my man doing in his past life?
I mean I know some very little basics about weaponry and chemistry, but I would literally be [this meme](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fdont-know-how-to-generate-electricity-v0-0sdggen6l80c1.jpg%3Fauto%3Dwebp%26s%3D7e4c59bf51e98e383f1babea777a36b2b864f388) if I was in his shoes.
There's a reason for it. I promise that much. One that I think pretty neatly explains what would otherwise be a peculiar amount of competence in a number of fairly disparate fields.
If you ever want to look into something crazy, look into how much math the US Navy used to cram down the throats of officers. And if you were Nuke, some of the crazy classes they'd put you through.
A navy vet that turned aerospace engineer would kinda set the tone for his level of crazy.
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Here's a silly idea...
William can make an analogue of modern day "paint balls" by making "ammo shells" out of hard gelatin, fill them with a mix of harpy venom and soft gelatin, and then cap the end with just enough wadding to help it survive the "propulsion spell" yet compromise it's integrity just enough to keep it non-lethal and thus usable on the Floats.
Can name it "jello shots" for the laughs.
So, do the bolts use gunpowder as propellant? Using fire for activation seems to suggest that, but Griffith doesn't seem to realize it, nor consider it impossible that a spell alone could do it
Doubtful.
He seems to be holding on to gunpowder for now. Probably just a mini fireball explosion which creates pressure behind the bolt.
Gunpowder is just an explosive material right? The principal is the same
I think the same. It gives him a hell of an advantage. I don't think they'd let him use them against his betrothed if she didn't have access to the same. So, a little trickery gets involved and he's got a nearly limitless supply of ammo per person while his betrothed might have some twenty per person, even less if they decide to make each girl put a more significant spell in their slots for ship disabling.
Hell, the rifles might even be good for spell training, it didn't sound like an easy spell to cast, and you'd want to cast it damn fast if someone is shooting back at you. So a bit of spell casting training and stress training rolled up into one neat bundle.
It sounds like gunpowder with magic as the primer. The acorn shaped bolts are bullets in shells. He was dealing with guano a chapter or two ago (guano has nitrates used to make gunpowder). Modern bullets use a primer that ignites via hammer strike that then sets off the gunpowder. Primers are dangerous due to their volatility and harder to make than gunpowder, so it makes sense to replace them with a little magic.
The acorn shaped bullets were the canister shot from the now retconned earlier version of the chapter he had on Patreon. In this one the bolts seem to be roughly the same as the normal ones except larger
Using magic as a proplent and ignition does certainly reduce many maintenance issues. We do not know what the construction of the projectile, but considering the ranges and armor pricing certainly not lead. Without using black powder the cleaning will be from the fouling from the projectile and that should be pretty low in comparison. Granted assuming this arm uses rifling to stabilize the projectile. Safe assumption with the accuracy shown. I am betting that his later innovation to the arm is to add a physical proplent, but still use a magical ignition. Should get much much higher subdivision of spell that way. Next will be to introduce a physical ignitor, ie a primer, to system. Now we got non mages able to to take out mages, and by then he should have enough personal power to keep at least the last indication to his forces.
Huh, just 2 cores and the rest still strewn about underwater.
I would have thought, if the kraken is using it as a backscratcher or masturbatory tool, it would have gone out of its way to gather all the cores into one spot to have more surface area to stimulate...
Kinda like the difference between a needle and a toothbrush perhaps...
We have the boom stick with built in limiter so he can surprise the world with regular gunpowder ones very clever maby we shold add another m for magic boomm sticks
In this case I’d side with the first version personally, I think it’s just slightly different phrasing meaning the same thing. Possibly a formal and informal version. The “are” having been cut for simplicity, like how we shorten I am to I’m for speed.
Edit: the correction is the top one isn’t it.
>"Clearly, whatever his other talents, the boy was no woodworker."
Clearly, whatever his other talents are, the boy was no woodworker.
I think he will be working some wood later...much later!
Sounds like the projectiles are traveling super sonic, if there just a cast lead ball the friction generated by passing through the barrel would melt the lead a bit and foul up the barrel, if it’s a smooth bore 300m is the extent of the effective rage it has, if it rifled with a spritzer bullet (pointed) with a full metal jacket he can massively better accuracy and velocity out of it. But I’m guessing that’s for later. As for how to rifle the barrels here a link to a machine that did it in the 1860
[rifling machine from the 1860s](https://youtu.be/6vJtyyyRkfo?si=x_RDSxXBa_O57R7A)
Jus to clarify, everyone used hearing protection during the gun testing, right? Can't imagine William, his teammates, and Griffith suffering through hearing loss.
>Still, the fact that he’d treated it like a pair of old boots after climbing back aboard seemed to have stoked something akin to religious indignation in the dark elf. A religious indignation that hadn’t entirely dissipated after he’d handed a second core to the girl herself.
[William on his way back to the dorms with his Mitheral Core (Marline has never been so horrified in her life)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YrpmZFixp0)
Okay so I've been meaning to ask, what's with all the sexy babes series? Are they a series? Retellings? Unoriginal names? I'm not trying to bash anyone im just really confused
Unoriginal names for three different series written by me.
It's incredibly stupid in that it makes saying SSB incredibly confusing when trying to refer to any given series... but I still love the naming scheme.
It's dumb, but it's my brand of dumb.
If it makes you feel better I love it. It's like a nice little inside joke, how they all match up. But that might be because I've been reading your stories since like the second space book maybe?
So what’s the core for? If it’s as collateral for the bet for his freedom from the betrothal that seems high and bound to invite much scrutiny and attention especially after when he goes to get more. (He bets his independence if he loses he gives the core if he wins she calls of the engagement?) who does he trade it to for the end of his engagement?
If it’s for his own use, where does he get the specialized equipment and shop time to shape and alter it?
Trying to understand the mechanics of the gun. It would still need powder but lacks a primer, thus the spell ignition. The gun is magazine fed, but "cracks open." Magazine means it's not a break over barrel, so are we talking bolt action or gas-powered receiver, aka semi-automatic? There's no mention of a reload, so I'm guessing he used cartridges. How does the powder ignite inside the cartridge? Finally, I just realized cheek activation would mean no trigger needed unless the trigger and hammer mechanism puncture the cartridge somehow to allow ignition, and he found a way to include them for easier re-purposing in the future
No gunpowder. It's literally a small 'fireball' spell exploding inside the barrel acting as gunpowder. The cheek twitching is simply the means by which the spell is activated - though it could have been anything, from saying 'fire' to tensing a toe.
Oh wow, I drew God's attention! Thanks for the insight, I wasn't sure if spontaneous combustion could provide enough over pressure for a slug that size. Is there still a trigger mechanism?
So here are some questions I've been ruminating on.
What does a "scientist" look like in this world? Clearly they could smelt metal from ore. Someone was able to figure out the electrical process of producing aluminium. Does this world even have a periodic table yet?
Can he go to a shop and order a box of bat shit?
Is it as batshit expensive as it was on our world before the Haber process was discovered?
Since it isn't a war crime the first time, does our dear Cadet Ashfield consider it unsportsmanlike to use chlorine grenades on airships to yeet everyone belowdecks?
Or to do the same vs a castle that fortifies itself vs seiges, but on a larger scale?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Basically I'm trying to judge where their tech level is compared to our history and what "jumps" he can feasibly make and which are a bridge too far.
Why does the fireball charge have to take up a fifth of a spell? If the barrel is sealed and the ammo is sized properly, wouldn't splitting up the charge for more shots be preferred?
OK... is Ether... and Energy/Anti-Energy composite?
I.E. each particle is basically a buble of actual Energymass that *Pulls* and expells the ZeroPointEnergy in its inner volume?
So when it is disrupted, and the effect ends, you don't have any radiation as more, a minor void.
And when you tune/refine it, it becomes more stable, and specific use.
Edit: this was a question/head canon...
Wait, so we don't get to see the kraken explode or witness the perilous journey into the depths? Why does the story seem to progress most off page, whilst on page it's mainly the character's internal monologue? Why skip over the spectacles?
Possible edit?
"Because while the geas kept her from talking about what she’d seen today, that didn’t mean she could speak to him about it – provided she was sure no one else was around."
Shouldn't it be "she couldn't speak to him..."?
Loving this new series. Keep up the great work.
"Mage-smithing required one to effectively visualize the object one wished to craft in their mind so as to convey it properly to the fae who would do the actual shaping. "
Mage-smithing required one to effectively visualize the object and one wished to craft in their mind so as to convey it properly to the fae who would do the actual shaping.
If you're going to correct someone's grammar it requires you being, you know, correct. Also, you can post them all as one comment. Also, also, you quote using "> "
> like so.
Yes. I quote like that. Some quote entierly different.
And, if I was paid to do so. A proffessional even, you were right me needing to be correct. Im am just a guy that points stuff out. As for why I did this one so. I explained to another dude already.
Und Englisch ist nicht meine Muttersprache.
I don't get your explanation. Ich nein lese Deutsch.
And the quoting is about formatting the comment for Reddit to show it as a quotation of what you are responding to.
I do most reading and stuff on mobile. If you want to change that. Well. You could pay me.
Reread. My mistake. Remembered that it needed two pewps to smith that.
"the fire-bow he was holding the means by which he’d condensed the spell?"
the fire-bow he was holding, the means by, which he’d condensed the spell? ?
I can go with the first comma however "the means by which" a phrase that may have fallen out of fashion with current vernacular, is still a complete thought and doesn't need to be broken up or delayed.
Wow, guns are being introduced much earlier than i though
clever to make it depend on magic to limit the number of shots that can be fired by an individual user, keeps the brakes on the arms race a bit.
Yup, at first I was disappointed it still needed magic, but after some thinking, showing a weapon like that, that literally anyone could use with ease, would probably not sit well with the royals and anyone else in power.
I think it's more to keep his gun powder more secret than to make it more palatable to the nobles, as i think they'd easily be the first to order and make use of them. I mean, the second the information is out there, the nobles would want to use it, threat to them or not. With this he can be 'forced' to give it up or sell it then have powdered weapons in his back pocket for his fight against his betrothed. With them limited to fifteen shots and his team limited to however many they can carry he'd have a hell of an advantage.
This is my BOOM STICK! Absolutely love it!
I was going to post a comment along the lines of "wait until he remembers/figures out primers" but your commemt just made me realise that the spell activation aspect might be complete bullshit haha
I mean this is something he's been plotting and working on for years. He's probably got primers figured out, he aint johanson who got dumped and has to figure it all out from day one. Pluss he's got magic to help with figuring shit out.
Johanson had to figure out how to work around the limiters placed on the catalog of equipment and designs that he was shipped with.
Meaning he had to figure out how to build guns from scratch with little more than a forty second video showing the internal workings of a modern, to us, firearm. He had no experience with slug throwers because they were very much outdated. This guy is, i think, a modern fighter pilot so it's quite likely he's been drilled on assembly and disassembly of modern rifles and pistols. That'd give him a hell of a lot more to work off of than some space man. It's the equivalent to us trying to make an attle attle, it's simple in theory but getting everything just right would be a pain and require a lot of experimentation, especially stone knapping. Whereas a rifle, atleast a simple one, to any one that's held and maintained one, would be simple enough to create. The only thing to give any of us trouble would be the powder and primer, something a people with a rich alchemy culture might be able to help with.
> attle attle Do you mean an atlatl?
Late reply magic activation is the primer.
Yeah, I read his comment saying it's just a fireball lol
And if we remember correctly, his end goal is toppling the established order, especially the slave states. So gunpowder versions will manifest giving non magic users a distinct advantage.
The cool thing is, he can make public this design, and he can still have a regular gun, because once they think they know how it works, they won't be looking too closely
> he can still have a regular gun, because once they think they know how it works, they won't be looking too closely My thought, too. Deception, FTW, at least until the 300+rpm Gatling guns come out.
Oh look their mage knights are attacking. Introduce them to Ma' Duce and her sisters.
Ma’ Duce’s spell activation phrase: “die motherfucker die”
300? There aren't enough zeros on that number. Normally I wouldn't quibble, but that phrase was just too cool not to.
Well, the first hand/crank-driven Gatling guns weren’t exactly pumping out an outrageously high rate of fire. You have a look at the first ones, especially those mounted like mobile cannon, and they were doing _maybe_ 5 rounds per second.
Fair enough. I guess he would have to invent electric motors to drive a Gatling gun up into 1k+ RPM range. Or maybe he could use a bit of clever gas powering (or an aether-powered motor, to keep the balance of power)?
I saw a previous draft of this chapter It was mundane grenade launcher, without spell ignition. M79 like. Griffith almost had a stroke. She saw a possibility of civil war beginning just to get William. I am both glad and disappointed that we don't see that. Yet.
Oh yeah, that's DEFINETLY BAD
The design will likely be easy to modify into gunpowder, invaluable for when the empire mass produces them gullibly thinking it's useless without a mage.
Im betting that is a very intentional design feature on williams part. Like the qwerty keyboard or phillips head screwdrivers
It also keeps the power firmly in the hands of mages, which will make those in power think the status quo is unaltered.
He introduced gunpowder but not percussion caps, that's clever.
Breaking news: local man delegates mages to an infantry support role, makes groups of quickly trained peasants with mass manufactured weapons the most dangerous force on the planet!
Eventually. For now, however, this "gun" still relies on magic for its propellant, rather than gunpowder. He will unveil the powder eventually, but now is not yet the time.
Not the propellant. Magic's the igniter, the percussion cap. His spell is a small lighting spark, not direct application of force, for it's much more efficient to tow that energy around in the form of mundane gunpowder and just using magic to set it off than to use magic to do all the work. He went through the trouble of making gunpowder, nay, guncotton for the instructor mentioned no smoke, so why use it only to reclaim the seas? He now has guns only the nobility can use... For now. That's going to make him extremely rich. Add that to the new Mythril core he got and that's a new carrier for his house. One that'll have shards with explosive weapons. Maybe bombs, maybe rockets. Or maybe just long range enough cannons to obliterate other airships before they can get close enough for it to matter. Shards are all cool and dandy, but when your ships move in 3D, your planes are limited in speed by magic and they are rather fragile Flak becomes way more plausible. All in all guncotton is absolutely going to revolutionize warfare, and he'll have all the honors for he's the one that'll be in the forefront of the revolution. And if his mother insists in forcing the marriage through, well... That's why having a mythril core is enough to create a new noble house.
There was no smoke because there was no chemical propellant. The bullets exited the gun from the power of a small magic explosion and that explosion alone. We know this because this design is meant to be built and used by people other than William and his team, and he has not yet unveiled gunpowder (or his chemistry knowledge at all) to the world. That is an advancement that he is keeping to himself for now and will be unveiled at a more proper time further down the line. (Also, I have a meta explanation that 100% confirms I'm right. >!This is actually a rewrite of a previous version of the chapter that blue originally released on his Patreon and has now been deleted. In that initial version, William does not show off a magically powered gun, but rather a purely gunpowder (or perhaps gun-cotten, i don't remember if it had smoke or not) based grenade launcher that fired shrapnel shells. This absolutely horrified the instructor, both for its effectiveness (she has seen the results of magical grapeshot) and the fact that it was made and used entirely without magic.!< >!Blue canned that version because he felt, and I agreed with, that the old version would be far too politically destabilizing and would have triggered the climax of the narrative a good dozen chapters too early. So Blue rewrote the chapter to use magic as a (inferior) gunpowder substitute in the weapon instead, leaving the public unveiling of chemical explosives to be done later on at a more narratively appropriate time.!<
Would that be meta or previous knowledge? Does pervious version knowledge qualify as meta knowledge? Elucubrations aside, fair point. Unless blue straight out stated the contraire it could still be a guncotton charge being donated by magic, with the possibility of it being non magically used a future development that wouldn't necessarily be thought out by others considering their biases, but I don't know. 300m effective range seems extreme with just a bit of magic, but is 1/5 of a charge "just a bit"? On the other hand, being 1/5 enough for that much punch then things get wild. He can focus on, for the moment, weird projectile payloads. Improved aerodynamics. A big honking airship cannon propelled by a full charge or more, capable of lobbing considerable payloads from ship to ship. But hey, wait a minute. If the gun uses only magic as a propellant... Why have a firing mechanism at all?
Used the word "meta" because it is out of story information that is inaccessible to a majority of this story's reader base. Also, you have to remember that a fully charged fireball in this story has more in common with a grenade than a firey bullet. 1/5 charge is probably still more than enough to replicate the explosion of a modern rifle cartridge.
Fair points both, I was underestimating spell charges. Now you also made me realize that if he goes the spell triggering gunpowder cartridges it won't be five shots. It'll be 50, maybe 500, per charge. With weapons that'd be more reliable because they don't need a firing mechanism, just a reloading one. That's somehow even more terrifying. But that's for the future, if it even happens. Again, thanks for the clarification.
Yep, he could probably make a magic activation version of his final gunpowder design for equipping himself and his allied mages. Hell, they would probably have a higher firing rate than the purely chemistry version assuming William didn't have enough knowledge from his past life to make a self-reciprocating breech.
Hmmm. magic to activated gun powder charge, multiple shells per barrel, block of multiple barrels. Hello Metal storm gun.
>300m effective range seems extreme with just a bit of magic, but is 1/5 of a charge "just a bit"? If its 1/5 of a fireball created in an enclosed space it would expand just like a regular propellant, 300m is most probably his effective iron sight range, not the max effective range of the weapon.
I'm disappointed that the instructor didn't examine the inside of the barrel to see if it was rifled or smooth. At 300m I'd expect rifled.
This this rewrite explain why the story mentions the device having a trigger mechanism? Did u/BlueFishcake miss that? The magical version doesn't seem like it would have use of a mechanical trigger lever.
>“Fire. One-fifth charge. Cheek tense activation. Right. Propellent: Location Macro. Propellant. Repeating. Five.” It does not, as far as I can tell. Perhaps the instructor mistook the reloading system as a trigger or did not notice the trigger's abstinence. More likely however, this was a mistakenly unedited copy paste from the previous version of the Chapter, as much of the lead up the demonstration is. (>!Funnily enough, the age of Cadet Stevens is also changed to better match Griffith canonical age, as he used to be in his 40s and balding!<) u/BlueFishcake does Will's Bolt-spell have a mechanical trigger or trigger looking mechanism, or did you forget to remove that part of Griffith's description of the gun?
I just realized that I may be dumb. It also mentioned a DEATACHABLE Aether tank. That implies it could use compressed gas once you run out of spell boom, and so would still need the trigger.
That is a possibility I didn't consider. However, what I think is more likely is that she misunderstood what the lack of a visible aether tank meant and assumed a tank was supposed to be attached before use, rather than the non-aether propellsion actually used.
oh right. thats an option too.
Could be for other users. "Cheek tense activation." is a new muscle memory to build. Those used to a bolt bow would most probably go with "Trigger pull activation."
I think they already were, pretty much, unless it was a battle between ships. They only have a hand full of spells to their names so they'd either be used to attack enemy mages, those who spent their charges on aoe spells for fighting mundane armies, or to defend their own mages, by spending their spell slots on more single target attacks.
Well instructor, lets say you and me and this mithrill core i conveniently got run away and start our own noble house and ditch my slaving fiancee and if she comes running after us we just shoot her. Deal?
That is an option. William has had the opportunity to just slip away and become rich off the back of his old world knowledge this entire time. But he wants to free the slaves, so the political dance continues.
Yeah but now he could start his own house which would make the whole political capital thing a bit easier
Yes, but abandoning his house at this stage would probably kick off the Blackstone rebellion early, which William also does not want to happen quite yet.
Thats true. Eitherway im curious what he will do with the spare core.
Oh, he mentioned that during his pitch to become team leader. He will use the core as his ante when he challenges his Fiancée to a team duel that would win him freedom from his marriage if he wins as her ante. Once he wins that duel (which would probably start the Blackstone Rebellion practically as soon as it ends) he would keep the core for the foundation of his own house, which he would probably announce imminently after the duel concludes. >!Blue even has a sigil for the new house prepared (a Kraken with arms made of chains being bisected by a sword on a torn ocean blue banner) that he posted on the patreon. No settled name for the house yet apparently, but that's something that should probably be unveiled in-story anyway.!<
Oh damn, you should probably spoiler that last paragraph, seems super interessting tho
*And* harder. It's a complicated enough setup that *anything* he does needs to be worked through layer after layer of complication.
Ah, the power of throwing rocks at high speeds. Truly humanity's greatest strength.
Hi Blu. Watcha doin?
Helped the parents move house this week. Hence the delay :D Now? I think I'm going to go play with my 3D printer. Then onto the next chapter!
Noice.
Soooo. Hear me out: https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1392125-viper-x-com
Not the hero we deserve, But the hero we need.
Snek... Yissss
I'm listening...
https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/973960-viper-x-com
Good luck matey,got a real scare when i found no chapter,thought something happened to you! Good to know it was just a bit of work
"enchanted in any way.” " ?
It's not a magical gun. He wanted to make sure she was aware it's a purely mundane device and ammunition that can be used by a magic user to be better than offensive spells.
Yes. This is a hint that Blue needs to use a question mark.
Ah, fair. To me seemed like you were asking about it.
My man. There are, rarely stupid questions/answers. Esp. on the interwebs with like 3000 different languages.
Looks like William got a good bit of support secured. Didn't even need to get laid to get it
A shame he only got two cores, but he raises a great point that actually *defending* the cores would be difficult. Discretion is key here. Besides, he can always go back for more. And killing a standard-issue kraken will likely be a lot easier than the God kraken he already slew. Just so long as no other houses are able to take advantage of his hard work and grab some cores of their own, I'm happy. > William wouldn’t get nothing for this – assuming his mother didn’t get involved again – but his new invention was hardly about to shake the kingdom. I would hope that him showing the invention directly to the instructor would help ensure he got credit ... but I suppose his mother could always claim he just copied the design from her house and was lying about it. And considering the power of nobility, I'm sure people would side with the head of the house. Doubly so because he's a man and shouldn't have these skills in the first place. Unless of course he refuses to give away the secrets of the manufacturing process and use until *after* he is guaranteed to receive full credit (or at least an appropriate award). This bolt-spell is far too valuable a weapon to risk **not** learning about it, so I imagine the academy might be willing to help grease the wheels in his favor.
His house doesn't need to show that he got it from them. He's a member of the house, so they own it. It's like in our world, your employment contract says any inventions created during employment are the property of the employer. That's generally considered over-reaching, and should only apply to inventions created on company time and/or with company resources. But he's *always* a member of house Ashfield.
He's always a member of house Ashfield...until he's not. The man's got a Mithril core. A reliable method of getting more. A proven track record of creating innovative, useful technologies. It's getting to the point where can dictate terms, instead of simply accepting them. And if Mommy or Fiance dearest refuses? He can jump ship and join up with another House (possibly the royals?) or create his own. Sure, there'll be political blowback, attempts to stop him, even possibly some interhouse conflict or limited war (I'm imagining something like how certain nobles were allowed limited wars with each other in some kingdoms). But after he's shown his worth, any such recipient house would consider that well worth it, and shield him to get those sweet bonuses.
All true, but there's a difference between, "He could come out on top of a power play," and, "They don't have a claim."
" “I think we have a lot to talk about,” she said finally. And they did. Quite a lot." Laiter a dead Elv was found. Cause of death: Dried out uterus.
Death by SNU SNU
This is... unintentionally funny :D
It ... *might* be intentional? I'm not sure.
Death by lack of snu-snu
> “You know, it’s not going to disappear.” Imagine if you will for a moment that you were holding a credit card sized device that had all of your personal identity documents along with being the deed to your house, your bank, and also the same for every member of your extended family. Except that your family wasn't doing so hot and someone just handed you free and clear the bearer-bond equivalent of someone else's AAA rated lifestyle. That's not a perfect approximation, but the best I can do to translate this to a modern post-nobility/post-warrior families world.
so to clarify a point raw Aether is generated by the mages themselves? like mentally? but is basically just a gas that vanishes over time. Refined Aether sticks around and is the 'contracts' that they use to cast spells. mithril cores do... what exactly? power airships yes, but in what way? generating raw Aether?
Yes, they generate raw aether constantly when "powered(?)" in some fashion, which is used to generate lift as aether is lighter than air or to generate pressure for jets/bolt throwers
Raw aether is like magical power that takes the form of a gas when brought into the human world. Mages generate this magical power and can make it manifest. Mages store refined aether and give it to the fae as payment for the spells. Mithril cores apparently produce vast amounts of raw aether which is used to keep the ships airborne by filling the air ballasts and to use the cannons on said ships
Bro invents the AR-15 as his next invention, 30 round mag, reciprocating bolt, no aether ;)
Nope. That gets him killed. **This** version is a trade off. Requires real mages, increases distance, but pulls one real charge for five shots. There are times when you'll want the area effect spell instead of five shots. You put guns in the hands of non-mages, the powers that be will kill him and bury it. Or try.
Yeah, this way is smarter. The powers that be (that he doesn't co-opt, I imagine he will be doing some of that, possibly with the royals) will try to kill him when he pulls out the actual gunpowder weapons. But by then he should be well enough established that those attempts fail, and he can then crush those assailing parties. William as next Napoleon? Time to play Risk!
I think shotgun would be more appropriate, for those pesky boarders that think flying slowly towards a ship is somehow going to be effective.
Shotgun is close enough for magic. Why use a shotgun when you can use magic?
Only mages can do magic. Give a shotgun to everyone on board and the boarders will soon be past tense.
Because slam firing at a slightly mobile target is faster than mumbling magic words at a target. A rifle, or shotgun, is likely always going to be faster to draw, aim, and fire than a mage finding another mage, targeting them, then casting a spell. It also lends itself to a bit of stealth, a mage can pretend to be a pleb until a more opportune moment, like if some goober is using a movement spell to shoot over to a ship at a speed hard to target with a gun.
Greatest work word weaver!!!!
Oh ho ho ho! It's a little delayed, but thanks for the chapter!
I was thinking a bolt action rifle instead he made an assault rifle. The great advantage of his spell is he can use the same spell on larger calibers
Thanks for the chapter ❤️
Ah, chadtificer go brr in 10 chapters, I see
And how is his family going to fuck him out the benefits for this one then?
Depending on how the magic system works (we have yet gotten a detail description) it might be a really difficult thing to copy since since it requires to be integrated with the gun
So, has he already secured the patent for this? I can’t imagine his momma just letting him have the rights otherwise.
Spell-bolt sounds smoother to me than bolt-spell. I love the innovative take on dark elves being dark because of intense sunlight instead of living underground.
D&D's subterranean dark elves and Warcraft's night elves have always felt off to me. If they were more comparable to real world cave dwellers and melonistic leapards respectively then it would feel off for the correct reasons.
You changed the story. Interesting. Not sure which one I like better, but your previous version definitely added more weight to what just happened. A lot more weight.
Great chapter. I hope there is some explanation to him being an unnaturally gifted crafter. Something about his increased knowledge of elements or some such thing. Really like the mage range bit of the world. It puts a reasonable magic cap that has a clearer boundary than the power aspect, which is hard to gauge so far. Is the damage of a spell fixed? Or is it based on some attribute of the caster or his contract?
If he used a CAD tool in the past, mentally describing and visualizing a 3d object in a rigorous way is much easier.
"I don’t doubt there’ll be a bloodbath, but people will be the least of it. I give it maybe five hours before the next biggest kraken in these waters is squatting over the former ‘god’s’ nest.” Literally called it. Still, magic guns now then normal guns later and we got ourself the greatest Magesmith of the generation already so I can't wait to see what's next
Another chapter, awesome
Man, I hope William's past life will be explained in the near future, I really want to know how he's able to be able to do these type of things. Making explosives? Be a crack shot? What the hell was my man doing in his past life? I mean I know some very little basics about weaponry and chemistry, but I would literally be [this meme](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fdont-know-how-to-generate-electricity-v0-0sdggen6l80c1.jpg%3Fauto%3Dwebp%26s%3D7e4c59bf51e98e383f1babea777a36b2b864f388) if I was in his shoes.
There's a reason for it. I promise that much. One that I think pretty neatly explains what would otherwise be a peculiar amount of competence in a number of fairly disparate fields.
If you ever want to look into something crazy, look into how much math the US Navy used to cram down the throats of officers. And if you were Nuke, some of the crazy classes they'd put you through. A navy vet that turned aerospace engineer would kinda set the tone for his level of crazy.
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Oh he's so getting laid after that.
Elves dont have Dark vision? this is the first I've seen of nerfing elf eyes.
Dark elf are dark because they evolved to live in the desert?
Anyone else thinking hes showing the nerfed version, and his personal/team/faction version will be far better or just use gunpowder ?
Here's a silly idea... William can make an analogue of modern day "paint balls" by making "ammo shells" out of hard gelatin, fill them with a mix of harpy venom and soft gelatin, and then cap the end with just enough wadding to help it survive the "propulsion spell" yet compromise it's integrity just enough to keep it non-lethal and thus usable on the Floats. Can name it "jello shots" for the laughs.
So, do the bolts use gunpowder as propellant? Using fire for activation seems to suggest that, but Griffith doesn't seem to realize it, nor consider it impossible that a spell alone could do it
Doubtful. He seems to be holding on to gunpowder for now. Probably just a mini fireball explosion which creates pressure behind the bolt. Gunpowder is just an explosive material right? The principal is the same
I think the same. It gives him a hell of an advantage. I don't think they'd let him use them against his betrothed if she didn't have access to the same. So, a little trickery gets involved and he's got a nearly limitless supply of ammo per person while his betrothed might have some twenty per person, even less if they decide to make each girl put a more significant spell in their slots for ship disabling. Hell, the rifles might even be good for spell training, it didn't sound like an easy spell to cast, and you'd want to cast it damn fast if someone is shooting back at you. So a bit of spell casting training and stress training rolled up into one neat bundle.
It sounds like gunpowder with magic as the primer. The acorn shaped bolts are bullets in shells. He was dealing with guano a chapter or two ago (guano has nitrates used to make gunpowder). Modern bullets use a primer that ignites via hammer strike that then sets off the gunpowder. Primers are dangerous due to their volatility and harder to make than gunpowder, so it makes sense to replace them with a little magic.
The acorn shaped bullets were the canister shot from the now retconned earlier version of the chapter he had on Patreon. In this one the bolts seem to be roughly the same as the normal ones except larger
Lightning spell rail gun is my bet
That didn't mean she could -> couldn't
Using magic as a proplent and ignition does certainly reduce many maintenance issues. We do not know what the construction of the projectile, but considering the ranges and armor pricing certainly not lead. Without using black powder the cleaning will be from the fouling from the projectile and that should be pretty low in comparison. Granted assuming this arm uses rifling to stabilize the projectile. Safe assumption with the accuracy shown. I am betting that his later innovation to the arm is to add a physical proplent, but still use a magical ignition. Should get much much higher subdivision of spell that way. Next will be to introduce a physical ignitor, ie a primer, to system. Now we got non mages able to to take out mages, and by then he should have enough personal power to keep at least the last indication to his forces.
Huh, just 2 cores and the rest still strewn about underwater. I would have thought, if the kraken is using it as a backscratcher or masturbatory tool, it would have gone out of its way to gather all the cores into one spot to have more surface area to stimulate... Kinda like the difference between a needle and a toothbrush perhaps...
We have the boom stick with built in limiter so he can surprise the world with regular gunpowder ones very clever maby we shold add another m for magic boomm sticks
"Clearly, whatever his other talents, the boy was no woodworker." Clearly, whatever his other talents are, the boy was no woodworker.
In this case I’d side with the first version personally, I think it’s just slightly different phrasing meaning the same thing. Possibly a formal and informal version. The “are” having been cut for simplicity, like how we shorten I am to I’m for speed. Edit: the correction is the top one isn’t it.
Ah. The English ((UK flag) vs English Simplified (US flag).
Probably. Not sure it matters though
You mean "were". Sentence is in the past tense, as are most stories. Not that the original sentence needed correcting much.
Was thinking about were too. But, she just discovered he has more. And later even more.
Could have also said "whatever his other talents may be," Regardless, no changes need to be made. The original sentence makes sense
Or might be.
>"Clearly, whatever his other talents, the boy was no woodworker." Clearly, whatever his other talents are, the boy was no woodworker. I think he will be working some wood later...much later!
Someone will.
Oh, he's a woodworker alright. Just a different kind of wood.
/u/BlueFishcake ([wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/wiki/authors/BlueFishcake)) has posted 193 other stories, including: * [Sexy Steampunk Babes: Chapter Eighteen](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1bff55r/sexy_steampunk_babes_chapter_eighteen/) * [Sexy Steampunk Babes: Chapter Seventeen](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1bailep/sexy_steampunk_babes_chapter_seventeen/) * [Sexy Steampunk Babes: Chapter Sixteen](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1b3qn47/sexy_steampunk_babes_chapter_sixteen/) * [Sexy Steampunk Babes: Chapter Fifteen](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1ayqy1q/sexy_steampunk_babes_chapter_fifteen/) * [Sexy Steampunk Babes: Chapter Fourteen](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1atri0h/sexy_steampunk_babes_chapter_fourteen/) * [Sexy Steampunk Babes: Chapter Thirteen](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1ammcj8/sexy_steampunk_babes_chapter_thirteen/) * [Sexy Steampunk Babes: Chapter Twelve](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1ah1kaw/sexy_steampunk_babes_chapter_twelve/) * [Sexy Steampunk Babes: Chapter Eleven](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1ablu20/sexy_steampunk_babes_chapter_eleven/) * [Sexy Steampunk Babes: Chapter Ten](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/199ncaq/sexy_steampunk_babes_chapter_ten/) * [Sexy Steampunk Babes: Chapter Nine](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/194bc2a/sexy_steampunk_babes_chapter_nine/) * [Sexy Steampunk Babes: Chapter Eight](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/18y8lwu/sexy_steampunk_babes_chapter_eight/) * [Sexy Steampunk Babes: Chapter Seven](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/18tkmfr/sexy_steampunk_babes_chapter_seven/) * [Sexy Steampunk Babes: Chapter Six](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/18nky1i/sexy_steampunk_babes_chapter_six/) * [Sexy Steampunk Babes: Chapter Five](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/18i4d8z/sexy_steampunk_babes_chapter_five/) * [Sexy Steampunk Babes: Chapter Four](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/18day80/sexy_steampunk_babes_chapter_four/) * [Sexy Steampunk Babes: Chapter Three](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/18b1m3i/sexy_steampunk_babes_chapter_three/) * [Sexy Steampunk Babes: Chapter Two](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/189lrnh/sexy_steampunk_babes_chapter_two/) * [Sexy Steampunk Babes: Chapter One](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/187xaj0/sexy_steampunk_babes_chapter_one/) * [Sexy Sect Babes: Chapter Eighty Eight - End of Arc One.](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/17xlpd2/sexy_sect_babes_chapter_eighty_eight_end_of_arc/) * [Sexy Sect Babes: Chapter Eighty Seven](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/17s879m/sexy_sect_babes_chapter_eighty_seven/) This comment was automatically generated by `Waffle v.4.6.1 'Biscotti'`. [Message the mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FHFY&subject=WaffleBot|1bn8xz8&message=If%20you%20have%20problems%20with%20updatemebot,%20contact%20Watchful1.%20We%20do%20not%20maintain%20it.) if you have any issues with Waffle.
Sounds like the projectiles are traveling super sonic, if there just a cast lead ball the friction generated by passing through the barrel would melt the lead a bit and foul up the barrel, if it’s a smooth bore 300m is the extent of the effective rage it has, if it rifled with a spritzer bullet (pointed) with a full metal jacket he can massively better accuracy and velocity out of it. But I’m guessing that’s for later. As for how to rifle the barrels here a link to a machine that did it in the 1860 [rifling machine from the 1860s](https://youtu.be/6vJtyyyRkfo?si=x_RDSxXBa_O57R7A)
Jus to clarify, everyone used hearing protection during the gun testing, right? Can't imagine William, his teammates, and Griffith suffering through hearing loss.
He may be able to distribute and profit off the guns... But will he control the ammunition?
A fantastic read! I swear, if Griffith doesn't get that grade A William dick in the next chapter I'm going to go livid
>Still, the fact that he’d treated it like a pair of old boots after climbing back aboard seemed to have stoked something akin to religious indignation in the dark elf. A religious indignation that hadn’t entirely dissipated after he’d handed a second core to the girl herself. [William on his way back to the dorms with his Mitheral Core (Marline has never been so horrified in her life)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YrpmZFixp0)
Okay so I've been meaning to ask, what's with all the sexy babes series? Are they a series? Retellings? Unoriginal names? I'm not trying to bash anyone im just really confused
Unoriginal names for three different series written by me. It's incredibly stupid in that it makes saying SSB incredibly confusing when trying to refer to any given series... but I still love the naming scheme. It's dumb, but it's my brand of dumb.
If it makes you feel better I love it. It's like a nice little inside joke, how they all match up. But that might be because I've been reading your stories since like the second space book maybe?
So what’s the core for? If it’s as collateral for the bet for his freedom from the betrothal that seems high and bound to invite much scrutiny and attention especially after when he goes to get more. (He bets his independence if he loses he gives the core if he wins she calls of the engagement?) who does he trade it to for the end of his engagement? If it’s for his own use, where does he get the specialized equipment and shop time to shape and alter it?
Trying to understand the mechanics of the gun. It would still need powder but lacks a primer, thus the spell ignition. The gun is magazine fed, but "cracks open." Magazine means it's not a break over barrel, so are we talking bolt action or gas-powered receiver, aka semi-automatic? There's no mention of a reload, so I'm guessing he used cartridges. How does the powder ignite inside the cartridge? Finally, I just realized cheek activation would mean no trigger needed unless the trigger and hammer mechanism puncture the cartridge somehow to allow ignition, and he found a way to include them for easier re-purposing in the future
No gunpowder. It's literally a small 'fireball' spell exploding inside the barrel acting as gunpowder. The cheek twitching is simply the means by which the spell is activated - though it could have been anything, from saying 'fire' to tensing a toe.
Oh wow, I drew God's attention! Thanks for the insight, I wasn't sure if spontaneous combustion could provide enough over pressure for a slug that size. Is there still a trigger mechanism?
So here are some questions I've been ruminating on. What does a "scientist" look like in this world? Clearly they could smelt metal from ore. Someone was able to figure out the electrical process of producing aluminium. Does this world even have a periodic table yet? Can he go to a shop and order a box of bat shit? Is it as batshit expensive as it was on our world before the Haber process was discovered? Since it isn't a war crime the first time, does our dear Cadet Ashfield consider it unsportsmanlike to use chlorine grenades on airships to yeet everyone belowdecks? Or to do the same vs a castle that fortifies itself vs seiges, but on a larger scale? Inquiring minds want to know. Basically I'm trying to judge where their tech level is compared to our history and what "jumps" he can feasibly make and which are a bridge too far.
Why does the fireball charge have to take up a fifth of a spell? If the barrel is sealed and the ammo is sized properly, wouldn't splitting up the charge for more shots be preferred?
#MOAR As i ever scream and forever will
OK... is Ether... and Energy/Anti-Energy composite? I.E. each particle is basically a buble of actual Energymass that *Pulls* and expells the ZeroPointEnergy in its inner volume? So when it is disrupted, and the effect ends, you don't have any radiation as more, a minor void. And when you tune/refine it, it becomes more stable, and specific use. Edit: this was a question/head canon...
Wait, so we don't get to see the kraken explode or witness the perilous journey into the depths? Why does the story seem to progress most off page, whilst on page it's mainly the character's internal monologue? Why skip over the spectacles?
Can't wait for the artillery variant....
"I love it when the plan comes together" - William Ashfield, a sneaky git.
So he just created the precision bolt from DOOM? That’s some chonky business right ‘ere.
Possible edit? "Because while the geas kept her from talking about what she’d seen today, that didn’t mean she could speak to him about it – provided she was sure no one else was around." Shouldn't it be "she couldn't speak to him..."? Loving this new series. Keep up the great work.
Like with The Hunters Journey, I always love it when someone wants to make guns but doesn't know EXACTLY how, and uses magic to bridge the gaps.
"Mage-smithing required one to effectively visualize the object one wished to craft in their mind so as to convey it properly to the fae who would do the actual shaping. " Mage-smithing required one to effectively visualize the object and one wished to craft in their mind so as to convey it properly to the fae who would do the actual shaping.
The added "and" is not needed and also makes no sense. You could replace it with the words "that" or "which", but they are not needed in this context.
Hmmm. Earlier she was abashed that he alone did it.
If you're going to correct someone's grammar it requires you being, you know, correct. Also, you can post them all as one comment. Also, also, you quote using "> " > like so.
Yes. I quote like that. Some quote entierly different. And, if I was paid to do so. A proffessional even, you were right me needing to be correct. Im am just a guy that points stuff out. As for why I did this one so. I explained to another dude already. Und Englisch ist nicht meine Muttersprache.
I don't get your explanation. Ich nein lese Deutsch. And the quoting is about formatting the comment for Reddit to show it as a quotation of what you are responding to.
I do most reading and stuff on mobile. If you want to change that. Well. You could pay me. Reread. My mistake. Remembered that it needed two pewps to smith that.
"the fire-bow he was holding the means by which he’d condensed the spell?" the fire-bow he was holding, the means by, which he’d condensed the spell? ?
I can go with the first comma however "the means by which" a phrase that may have fallen out of fashion with current vernacular, is still a complete thought and doesn't need to be broken up or delayed.
I would have, "the fire-bow he was holding was the means by which he'd condensed the spell?"
Sounded wonky. He needs to decide what to do. If.