After a good while of carefully grinding small batches at a time and then merging them together, we were finally finished. The powder was put in a small bag and we took that, along with the ramrod, bullets, and a small cup and teaspoon with us as we headed out.
The reason for the last two objects was simple. We would test if this powder worked, and if it did, how much was needed to fire the rifle. After we had the amount figured out, we could work on a primitive form of cartridges.
Well, calling them cartridges was already a bit of a stretch. The idea was to have small bags, or tubes filled with enough powder for a single shot, just like the human civilization used to use way back.
We'd use some of my silk as a stopper to keep the powder and bullet in place. It was light and flammable if I wanted it to be so it should be an excellent material for this purpose.
The weapon and rod were, of course, covered with a piece of cloth as we traversed toward the dungeon. Once there, we made sure nobody was around or inside the dungeon.
When we found nobody at the bottom of the steps, nor any trace of anyone being inside, I spoke up.
"Arch, this may sound weird, but I have a special request."
It took a few seconds, but I did finally get a reply.
"What may that be?"
"We have something we'd like to try out, a weapon. Would you be willing to assist?"
I revealed the rifle, hoping to spark the dungeon's interest.
"That looks like an odd weapon."
"Yeah," I said with a nod. "I reckon it does. Would you mind spawning some slimes we could test it on… and warn us if there's anyone that enters the place while we're inside?"
"If you don't mind giving an extensive demonstration, then I can do that."
Score. I knew he'd be interested.
The others were looking at me with expectation in their eyes, but they could already judge from my growing smile that Arch was willing to cooperate.
"I normally wouldn't, but today, I like that look," Seralyn said with a smile of her own.
"I promise you, this will be worth your time," I said to Arch as Draco lit a torch to light the way. "Oh, and if you don't mind, please have them be stationary. It's a ranged weapon we are going to test, and we need to try out exactly how to get it working optimally."
"Consider it done."
"Thanks, Arch,"
The first part of the dungeon was completely empty. Perhaps it was for the better as due to the many stalagmites, we wouldn't have a clear shot from a decent range. The main room would be much better suited for our process of trial and error.
Once there, and with the help of Arch's torches, we settled down near the entrance of the room. In the distance, there was a group of green slimes just waiting for us to bring our armament to bear against them. Their cores would be our targets. Due to the way they worked, I reckoned they were the best target we could possibly wish for.
Anything else would obscure too much what exactly the bullets accomplished. Here, we would know right away whether they hit or not, and if there was enough force to penetrate the crystal structure of the spheres.
"Alright, are you ready?" I asked as I laid the gun on the ground before me and took the cup and spoon.
"So, you explained to me how this worked," Velariah said as I filled the cup and then carefully took a spoonful of the powder. "But how do you want to ignite it?"
"Glad you asked," I replied with a smile. "I intended to use some combustion silk. I'll connect some to the pan here," I tapped the part of the gun in question. "And then have Seralyn aim, and then tap the thread to fire."
"Interesting. And you're sure this works?"
"Take some silk for yourself and try it out. Get some for me as well while you're at it if you don't mind."
"Alright."
I deposited four spoons of black powder down the barrel, then took a bullet that barely fit inside. Then, I waited for Velariah to finish getting some combustion silk before I tapped my spinnerets with one of my legs and pulled forward a bunch of normal silk. I made a few balls of the material and then rammed one down the rifle's shaft using the instrument specifically made for this purpose.
"Seems like a hassle," Seralyn said as she watched me work.
"It is," I admitted. "These things were shot once, maybe twice a minute in my world, and yet, they eventually replaced bows."
"I still don't see how, but I suppose we'll find out in a minute."
"You will. Don't worry."
Meanwhile, Velariah was playing with the combustible silk. She'd laid a line on the stone floor and then, as I had instructed, tapped one end with her finger. Almost immediately, the thread went up in flames, leaving nothing but a small black trail behind.
"Well, what do you know. It does work," She said in awe as she took another strand and held it up for me to take.
"Hold on. I'm still not finished here."
She looked at me with confusion as I filled the pan with gunpowder as well. She didn't have to wait for long, as immediately after that, I very, very carefully took the strand of silk and readied it. I wrapped it around the gun and had the last end of the silk simply dangle where the trigger would otherwise be. This would allow for comfortable and easy tapping while remaining steady, not interrupting the aiming process.
"It's ready," I said as I felt my heart start to pound faster. "I'll fire one shot myself and demonstrate how it's used."
"Let's see it," The archer said. There was a bit of condescension in her voice, but the expectation and eagerness were still there.
"So what you do is, you take it like this," I took a firm hold of the stock. "Then place it against your shoulder like this."
I assumed a shooter's stance. I'd never done this before, but I'd seen it plenty enough. I wasn't going to be one of those people in the infamous fail compilations that underestimated a rifle's recoil.
…I hoped.
"Then look over the barrel at your target and make sure it's aimed directly at it. Use your other hand to steady the rifle."
I demonstrated and then held my finger close to the line of silk.
"And then when you're ready, you fire."
I flicked the silk with my finger and a chain of events followed. Almost instantly, the silk went up in smoke, and when the chemical reaction reached the powder, it exploded with a loud bang. The explosion was so loud and sudden that it visibly shocked my party members.
They all ducked, and took a step back out of sheer instinct. A completely understandable reaction.
A large puff of smoke was blown from the end of the tube, with another coming from the side of it, leaving my vision partially obscured.
I didn't know where the bullet went, but it didn't strike my target, well, not entirely.
I could see it hit the slime as I saw a burst of fluids spread slimy goo all over the nearby floor. The core, however, remained intact.
"Holy fucking shit!" Seralyn exclaimed loudly. "You should have warned us about that. That was insane!"
"Yup," I replied as calmly as I could, my heart still beating at a record pace. I swore it was even faster now that I knew this weapon worked. I inspected the weapon for signs of damage, but I couldn't find any. "I missed, though."
"Who the hell cares?" Seralyn continued, her excitement ever-growing. "You do that to any random person, they will run, whether you hit or not!"
"Glad you figured out for yourself one of the reasons why these things were so popular."
"I did?" She said in surprise, looking down at the ground before continuing softly. "Huh, I guess I did."
"The morale shock these things inflict when fired en masse or in ranked fire is almost as valuable as the damage they do. That, and these things penetrate armor like it's nothing. In fact, I have the feeling that I can show you exactly that."
The others remained quiet with both shock and surprise written across their faces as I led them towards the slimes, my shield-blades at the ready. Fortunately, they remained passive and stationary as we reached the wall on the other side of the room.
"Impressive," I heard the hellspider queen whisper into my mind. "I did not expect that."
"Thanks, Arch, but we're not quite done. As I said before, we'll test some more."
"Feel free to impress me further."
I chuckled at the words.
"Thanks. I hope we will."
I found what I was looking for and pointed at a dent in the wall, near the floor. The bullet had gone straight through the creature and left its mark here. The projectile itself had fallen to the ground, right below the bullet hole, and had been terribly deformed by the impact.
"See what I mean?"
"Wouldn't want to be hit by one of those," Velariah said softly. "Such destructive power."
"Maybe a bit too much," I said as I looked at the end of the barrel on the stock. "Maybe I can tone down a bit on the amount of powder. Maybe, three and a half spoonfuls? Hey, Seralyn, do you want to fire the next shot?"
"I mean, that's what we're here for, right?" She said, recovered from the shock. Her voice told me she was still wary to use something like this, but in a way that was unlike her. Was that perhaps… respect for it?
She did a full 180 there, didn't she?
I didn't give it further thought or inquired about it and just went on to load the weapon for a second time. I finished it, but I left out the piece of combustion silk before beckoning Seralyn over to take the weapon and practice aiming.
"Can't be that hard, can it?" She asked as she took it and repeated my actions from earlier.
"I don't know if it's of any use in your case, but it might help to get down on one knee."
"I think…" She said before pausing, looking over the gun's tube with one eye closed. "I'll be fine. Let's get it ready."
Velariah handed me the next piece of thread and I placed it on the gun with the utmost care before backing off. Seralyn nodded slowly in response and steadied her aim.
"What the…" She muttered as her eyes both opened and grew wide.
It felt like something was wrong and I was about to ask, but she resumed her focused self, closed one eye… and took the shot.
Thunder roared as the weapon discharged for the second time, followed by the sound of glassware shattering into a thousand pieces.
The slime our archer had aimed at was no more, and fragments of its core were spread everywhere, as well as pieces of goo. Seralyn had lowered her weapon and was currently staring at me, disbelief in her eyes. Yet, the reason for that disbelief wasn't because of the shot, I could tell that much.
"I can't believe it," She said. "You were right."
"About?" I asked. I had an idea, but I wanted confirmation.
"About my inherity working for this. I could feel this thing move on its own where I wanted to hit, but there is more."
"Hm?"
"I felt it before you attached the silk, but I disregarded it at first. Then, after you did, I felt it again, and allowed it to connect to me."
She put the weapon to her shoulder again and aimed.
"Hey, could you reload again?"
"Sure."
I measured the same amount of gunpowder, feeling we hit the sweet spot there. The explosion was less loud than before, but the lethality seemed unaffected. We also knew that the steel could handle more force than we were currently applying, which should help with its longevity. Maybe we'd take it back to Dworag after a couple of shots to see if he could spot any damage. So far, I'd seen none, but I'd continue to check after each shot.
I trusted the Dwarf's skills, but we were working with something that went far beyond his knowledge here and the barrel exploding could prove extremely dangerous.
I rammed down the bullet and silken plug before handing the rifle to Seralyn. Velariah was about to hand me some combustion silk, but the brunette raised her hand, halting us.
"Wait," She said as she took aim.
I nodded and waited until she was finished with whatever she was doing.
Seralyn changed her aim from target to target a few times, obviously trying to get familiar with the weapon, and her inherity in combination with it. Then, out of nowhere, the gun fired. I stumbled backward as I was taken by surprise, but quickly recovered as I saw another slime core shattered, and the largest grin on Seralyn's face.
"Oh, hell yeah," She let out triumphantly.
"But… how?" Velariah asked before I could.
"Remember that spell, destruction arrow as I called it?"
"Yes, but…"
The white-haired knight fell silent as both she and I seemed to get to the answer at the same time.
"Remember when I said I could feel the weapon? Well, I tried using destruction arrow with it, and just like with the arrow, it sets the… you called it a bullet, right? When that caught fire… well, you saw what happened."
"Unbelievable," I whispered.
Not only had I been right. I had been far more right than I could have imagined. Not only could she fire a gun with insane accuracy without training with it whatsoever, but she could also fire it without a trigger. Just the powder, bullet, and stopper were enough.
The consequences of that were immense. She would be able to reload and fire far faster than any soldier in history, and she could perhaps even fire cartridges. Paper, of course, but in this case, it wouldn't matter too much.
In short, this was nothing but insane.
A proper trigger mechanism had been one of my biggest worries, and while this was still a prototype, it wouldn't need much development beyond this. At least that was the case for Seralyn. For me, it would be a different story as using combustible silk worked, but was quite the hassle and not safe at all. There was no way I could carry a pistol with me that had such a mechanism attached to it.
"Hold on," Seralyn called. "Ï want to check the damage."
"Quite the testing you're doing there," I heard the dungeon guardian's words in my head.
"Yeah," I replied with a chuckle. "I hope you find it amusing."
"I do, in fact. This is highly entertaining. Want to have something stronger to test your weapon?"
"If you don't mind," I replied. "It would be interesting to see how it does against something that's armored. I mean, that's kind of what this weapon is intended to bring down."
"Armored. Got it. Want it stationary too?"
"Gee, Arch. You're pretty generous today."
"It's not often I get this kind of entertainment. I suppose I am one of the first to witness this spectacle?"
"You are the first," I said. "The first in this entire world along with my party members here, to see this weapon." I smiled widely. "And yes, stationary would be nice if you don't mind."
"You got it."
I let the dungeon do its thing as we walked to where the rest of the slimes were still sitting idly. The wall had received two new bullet holes that seemed no different from the first, despite the lower charge.
"This thing is amazing," The archer said in delight, "but its low rate of fire is a huge downside. It's far more effective to use arrows against these slimes."
"From Elania's earlier conversation I picked up that our host is sending something else our way," Draco said something for the first time. "Correct?"
"Yep," I replied. "And about the rate of fire… is this where I mention we had something called a minigun in my world?"
"Is that a really small version? One that you can put in your pocket or something?" Velariah asked half-jokingly.
"We had those too," I said with a chuckle. "They're called pistols, but no, a minigun is a large gun with multiple barrels that rotate really fast. Those things fire like fifty bullets per second. Depending on type, of course."
"What the actual fuck," The archer let out in pure disbelief. "That's a joke… right?"
"Nope. I told you the gun eventually surpassed the bow, and in the ages following that, the gun was perfected to fit different roles. Some can fire extremely fast, and some can fire extremely far. We're talking about miles here, not yards. Though, I'll be honest, even in the modern age on Earth, bows are still used for very specific purposes, like sports and hunting, or when silence is necessary, also completely optimized for their purpose of course. The bows we have don't look anything like yours anymore."
I let out another small chuckle thinking about it, but quickly shook my head to focus on what was before me.
"But let's get your weapon loaded again and prepare for whatever Arch sends our way."