Chapter 9

Through the corridor beside the hall, the two came to the courtyard behind the hotel.

There is only one floor in the courtyard, most of which are guest rooms, and the rest are used as kitchens and warehouses. Ren didn't look around, and followed Zoltan into a courtyard. Judging from the decoration of the house, this should be Zoltan's own residence. It was cleaned up very cleanly, but he didn't see other dwarves.

Zoltan used the key to open a room filled with stuff that looked like a utility room.

Ren watched Zoltan push away the cabinet against the wall, revealing a downward staircase behind it.

"Come down."

The dwarf took the lead down the stairs without further explanation.

Ren hesitated for a moment, but followed in.

The stairs were not long, and soon they came to the end, and an empty basement appeared in front of them.

A few gas lamps were on, and Ren was quite surprised when he saw it clearly. The place was much larger than he expected, with an area of ​​nearly 100 square meters and a height of three meters. It didn't feel cramped and stuffy at all, and it couldn't be called a basement anymore. .

However, Ren's attention was attracted by the surrounding machinery and equipment.

A machine tool like a machine tool was placed in the middle of the basement. It looked bulky and old, but it was well maintained. All the gears and flywheels were polished and shiny, without any rust. The machine tool was connected to a tall boiler, apparently powered by steam.

"Steam lathe!"

Ren recognized it at a glance, but felt that something was wrong.

This machine is very complicated, not just a single lathe, it seems to have the functions of cutting, forging, planing and milling, grinding and extrusion, like a pieced together universal machine tool. In addition to the steam lathe, there are many other tools around, such as forges, grinding wheels, etc., and various metal materials and parts are piled up in the corners.

Seeing Ren's expression, Zoltan said proudly, "This is my private workshop."

Ren asked curiously: "Boss, are you a mechanical craftsman?" Before he guessed that Zoltan was an alchemist, that's why he sold alchemy materials.

"Barely count."

Zoltan shrugged his shoulders, "I used to be a blacksmith in the clan, but my skills were poor. Later, I went to the Empire to learn machining, but I have no interest in making swords and weapons. Now I am a gunsmith."

As he spoke, he flashed out the pistol at his waist and slapped it hard twice.

Ren had never heard of a gunsmith, but he could guess that it was a craftsman who specialized in making soul guns. No wonder he saw a lot of barrels, springs and other parts in the pile of metal materials.

"When I really dozed off, someone brought me a pillow."

Ren was very pleasantly surprised. His plan was to confirm whether gunpowder could be made first, and if so, to find a way to make a gun.

There are many artisan workshops under the "Steam and Machinery Union" in Longshande City, selling various weapons, and can also order metal parts, as long as they can afford it.

His previous idea was to order firearm parts in batches in different craftsmen's workshops, and then assemble them by himself, but the overall cost must be high, so a sum of money must be obtained first.

Seeing Zoltan's workshop now, Ren immediately had a new idea.

If you can borrow this workshop and do it yourself, with the help of the mechanical structure diagram in your mobile phone, you can save a lot of money and make a gun soon.

Zoltan walked to a wall and raised his hand to press it.

Several silver lines emerged from the wall, forming a door, which then opened inward. When the door was opened, it rubbed against the ground and made a dull sound. It was obviously very heavy, and it seemed to be made of a complete stone, and ordinary people couldn't push it open at all.

"This is a magic door!"

Ren was stunned for a moment. This was the first time he had seen Might and Magic, but he was even more surprised that Zoltan seemed to trust him very much, and he was not afraid of leaking it at all.

This also made him vigilant, would Zoltan have other plans?

Zoltan seemed to have guessed what Ryan was thinking, and said indifferently: "I didn't build this magic door, including this basement, which existed before I bought the hotel. There is actually nothing particularly valuable in it. It is where I store the alchemy materials, and many people who trade with me have come in."

"Stop dawdling, do you still want to buy alchemy materials?" Seeing that Ren was still hesitating, the dwarf became a little impatient.

Ren didn't think about it any more, so he had to walk in.

The secret room behind the magic door is not big, only more than 20 square meters, the walls are all flat stones, the whole room seems to be hollowed out from a huge stone, airtight. The only source of light in the chamber was the gas lamp that Zoltan carried in his hand, and the lighting was unstable because of his shaking hands.

Ren secretly turned on the camera and increased the brightness in the field of view.

Several rows of wooden frames are displayed in the room, divided into hundreds of small compartments, and various materials are placed inside.

Zoltan held up the gas lamp to illuminate the wooden frame, and said: "My alchemy materials are all here. I have used them a lot recently and sold a lot. I haven't had time to replenish them. You can see what you want to buy and tell me." .”

"Okay." Ren nodded.

There are hundreds of kinds of materials here, and the types are complex, mainly in the form of various ores and powders, as well as some treated plant branches and leaves, and some strange-shaped materials that may come from living creatures.

Ren suddenly felt a little embarrassed, he didn't recognize most of these materials.

He remembered the formula of the black powder, but he didn't know how to say the three raw materials in Orion language, so he couldn't tell whether they were here or not.

However, there are also some things that are very recognizable, such as alcohol and graphite, which may be useful, Ren took them down and put them on the table. He continued to search, and his eyes fell on a glass jar, which contained a kind of black particles, dark and very familiar.

"Is this black powder?"

Ren stepped forward to open the lid and smelled the smell of gunpowder. He was overjoyed immediately. He was thinking about making it himself, but he didn't expect that there was already a finished product.

"Boss, what's in this jar?" He pretended not to know black powder, and asked casually.

Zoltan walked over to take a look, and replied: "This is fire sand. It was used by us dwarves to make musket bullets a long time ago, but the power is too low and it is not easy to preserve. There will be a lot of smoke when shooting, so It has long since been replaced by phlogiston and is of little use now."

After hearing this, Ren was very convinced that this was black powder.

It turns out that the dwarves had discovered black powder a long time ago, but it was not used on a large scale and was eliminated by phlogiston.

Ren has heard of phlogiston before, the main material used to make soul gun bullets, which can ignite and explode like gunpowder, but requires soul power to stimulate. He immediately understood that it was because of the existence of phlogiston that the world of Ellenus did not continue to study more powerful gunpowder.

In fact, the power of black powder is not small, but the dwarves did not develop the most accurate formula, so they gave up quickly.

But this can of fire sand probably won't be needed, as it's not powerful enough.

Ren thought about it, decided not to hide it from Zoltan, and said, "Boss, I want to buy some fire sand for research, and I also want a copy of its preparation method and enough raw materials. Do you have any?"

"Let me look for it."

Zoltan didn't ask Ren what he wanted the fire sand for. He walked back and forth in front of the wooden frame a few times, and quickly brought down three or four materials, and introduced: "Fire sand is made of volcanic loess, charcoal powder and bitter ice. It’s done, I’ll write you the recipe later.”

Ren immediately recognized that the volcanic loess was sulfur, and the bitter ice was saltpeter, and he also remembered the names of these materials.

He didn't buy anything else after that, letting Zoltan figure out the price.

Because these materials are relatively common, not considered precious, and the quantity is not large, Renn only paid 100 copper lisos to buy them.

Before leaving the secret room, Ren's gaze swept across the ground inadvertently, and found that there were strange nicks under some wooden frames, forming complex patterns, which were only filled with dust and were not obvious. If he hadn't turned up the brightness of his field of view, it would have been difficult to see the existence of these scratches.

But he didn't pay too much attention, and followed Zoltan out of the secret room.

After closing the magic door, Zoltan glanced at Ren who was holding the alchemy materials, and said: "If you want to do alchemy research, I can lend you my alchemy table for a few days, lest you use fire sand upstairs My hotel burned down."

As he spoke, he pointed to a table in the corner of the basement, which was lined with glassware.

Ren is naturally willing.

He not only wants to borrow the alchemy table, but also wants to borrow the entire workshop and use the steam machine tool.

"Thank you, boss." Ren smiled a little embarrassedly, "I still want to borrow this lathe, can I?"

When Zoltan heard this, his eyes widened and his beard curled up.

Ryan quickly added: "I can pay."

Zoltan's expression softened, and after thinking about it for a while, he said with some reluctance: "It's okay to pay." He stretched out five thick fingers, and said fiercely: "50 copper lisos a day, the coal consumed It is calculated separately from the materials, and if the tool is damaged, you will have to pay for it.”

Ren calculated the remaining money, which can last for more than ten days. With his own operating ability, it should be enough to make a gun.

If you fail, then you have to find another way out.

For revenge, he gritted his teeth and nodded in agreement.

Zoltan walked around the workshop, counted the materials he had, and left.

Ren didn't want to waste time, so he immediately went to the alchemy table, familiarized himself with the set of glassware, and began to prepare black powder.

He had read a book about weapons and ammunition in the library before. The book not only included the historical development of gunpowder, but also the production methods of various types of ammunition.

The simplest thing here is black powder. He was very impressed, so he clearly remembered the optimal ratio formula.

In fact, black gunpowder is not the first choice. Ren still remembers a method of making smokeless gunpowder by solvent method, which is more powerful and not difficult, but there are no raw materials here, so he can only settle for the next best thing.

After several attempts, Ren successfully prepared the fire sand in only half a day!