Larcen emptied all the similar bottles and put them all in a large cardboard box before picking them up and taking them out. On the way out, he saw Jack so he decided to get his help too. He silently motioned him to follow and he did.
Once outside, Larcen walked over to an empty alley and placed the box down before turning to look at Jack.
"I need help with making an efficient molotov. I know how to make a basic one but I would appreciate it if you have any tips or ideas for a better version."
Jack stared at the bottles and picked one up before smashing it against the wall like Larcen did a few minutes ago and nodded.
"Good container. As for a better version, all Molotovs use the same principle. You need something that can ignite the fuel once it is out of the container, a flammable fuel, and a container that breaks easily. Show me your version and I will help you make it better."
"Is that really needed?", Larcen asked before adding, "Can't you just tell me how to make a better one directly?"
"I was a team commander during my service and I did not make molotovs. Show me your version and I will tell you what needs to be improved."
Larcen sighed before nodding, and took out a Jerrycan of gasoline and scanned the towel he had with him. He then tore off a 1/3rd of the towel before pouring the gasoline into the bottle and stuffed the towel halfway inside until a part of it sank into the gasoline to absorb it.
He shook the bottle a little and waited a bit until the gasoline was soaked by the cloth until its other end before taking out a lighter and lighting it. A second later, he threw the bottle a few meters from him and the gasoline spilled around at a radius of 1 meter as the fire burned.
Once that was done, Larcen looked at Jack who was observing the flames. It was only after the flames died down, did he shift his attention back to Larcen.
"Sixty-three seconds of burn time. It is good enough. Now, tell me what problems you can see in your version."
Larcen looked at the box filled with empty bottles as he thought about it for a few seconds.
"I cannot throw it overhead or with a lot of force and this makes it highly inefficient. Also, it can only be used in short ranges as we cannot put in a lot of force into throwing it."
"Tell me why.", Jack shot him another question to which, he knew the answer.
"We can only throw it underarm and this method isn't good for long-range throwing. If we try overarm throws, there is a high chance of the gasoline spilling on me and this is highly dangerous."
Jack nodded, "Fix those problems then."
Larcen frowned, irritation bubbling up inside him but Jack continued.
"The root cause of all of these problems is a loose opening and leakage of gasoline. You just need to shut it tight and you are good to go. There are two methods you can do this but in our situation, I feel like only one of them will be efficient with resources."
Larcen stared at Jack, his brain was back into full-throttle mode and he decided to activate his flow state. A minute passed in silence and Larcen stood up, his mind clear of all doubts.
"I got it. We need fireworks or a fuse that makes a lot of sparks hahahaha.", he said loudly and he ran back into the mall while Jack speechlessly stood in place.
'That's the solution that has problems with resources... How is that kid going to get a lot of those fuses?'
Meanwhile, Larcen was inside the mall, hurriedly checking all of the stalls as he opened and locked the doors one by one. It took him two whole hours to check all the stalls in the mall and by the time he was done, the sun had already begun to rise.
'No fireworks... Oh wait, I can totally do this.'
He opened up the trade terminal and wrote a message using Jimmy's Idea.
{
New Item listed by an Authorised merchant!
Jerrycan of Gasoline (5 liters): 5 SP
Note from merchant: Urgent need for Molotov cocktails. The best one will win and here are the rules and procedures. The best one will have their Molotov bought for a high price.
1) put up your Molotov on the listing for 99SP. It must have a clear description of what it can do and what it is capable of along with a few other specifications if you deem it right.
2) The ones with a good listing will either have their Molotov bought by me directly or will get a message from me if I want to know more about it.
3) The base limit of what you will receive is 99SP but if you give me a spectacular product, you have a chance to win more.
Time Left: 00:59:59
Merchant Name: GunmanLarcen
}
He waited for a few seconds and he saw the SP on his screen increasing and there were also new listings that emerged after a while. There were in fact, more than a hundred items with 99 SP price and Larcen decided to read them all one by one.
He walked back to his room and saw Anna putting on her clothes. He directly jumped onto the bed before he continued to read different listings.
"Hey Anna, tell the others that I might join them late and that they can take their bikes to the location to hunt on their own. I have some important things to do for now."
Anna nodded as she hummed and walked out, leaving Larcen alone in the room.
Minutes slowly passed and then, hours as Larcen kept on reading many of those descriptions. Most of them were similar to the one he made so he directly skipped them and sent a small "qualified for final test" message in their DM's.
Once he was done with all the listings, he scrolled through his various DMs, re-read the descriptions, and sorted them based on the ease of use, duration of the fuel burning time, and safety.
Another hour passed as he did so and he finally picked the one which ticked all of his boxes.
"This one. This is the one that ticks all the marks."