Chapter 253 Making Gunpowder

Mark's factory

Level: 3 (EXP: 250/1000)

Available machines: A drill press (3); a welder (3); a milling machine (3); a lathe (3); Cupping Press (1); Draw Press (1); Transfer Press (1); Bullet Assembly Press (1); Primer, loading and packaging (1)

Assistant Robots: 3

Available time: 29 minutes (max: 30 minutes)

Cooldown: 24 hours

Weapon Analysis

Testing Grounds

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*Ding! You have entered Mark's factory. 

*Ding! All of your skills along with Familiars' inventory are locked.

Upon entering the factory located in his own mindscape, Mark was greeted by the sight of a familiar robot along with the required equipment. The level-3 factory is now the size of a large living room with three sets of equipment

He started taking out the wooden boxes filled with some of the materials like 100kg of powdered brimstone (sulfur), 150kg of charcoal powder, and 1000 kg of saltpeter (potassium nitrate). A huge pile of wooden boxes formed in the corner of the room.

"Okay, for the gunpowder, the mixture ratio should be 74.8% saltpeter, 13.3% charcoal, and 11.9% sulfur." Mark simply wrote the instructors on a paper and passed the ingredients to the robot to do all the manual work. As it does the work with pinpoint accuracy, he wouldn't need to worry about errors.

While the robots started working on the black powder, Mark returned to the real world and went downstairs to join everyone else.

The afternoon business was as bleak as usual. Mark cannot do anything about it. So, he did what he had to do to get rid of his boredom. How? By forcing everyone to play Mahjong with him. Of course, this time, it was just to pass the time and no money was placed as a reward or anything.

Because Song Yue was happy spending time with Mark and Chang Bo like having a normal life, Allen was too loyal, and Chang Bo was too grateful for earning his keep with less work, the atmosphere didn't look like Mark is abusing his power as the boss of the store.

Eventually, the sunset arrived and the store became busy during the evening hours. While the combined transactions only amounted to 360 gold coins, the new customers were 12 of them, a satisfying number for Mark.

Once the store is closed and Chang Bo left for his home after having dinner with everyone, Mark and Song Yue returned to their respective rooms. While Song Yue went into a comfortable sleep, Mark sat on the floor in the lotus position.

He proceeded with taking out a 1500-carat ether ore, which weighs 300gm and is very rich in ether.

Ether Ore

Weight: 1542 carat

Quality: High

Description: An unpolished ether ore, which contains unrefined ether energy.

"Okay, let's see how much I would be able to increase my EP (ether points). As long as I can get more than 30k, I will be satisfied."

Mark closed his eyes and started absorbing the ether energy from the ore. His ether points are rising at an alarming rate. Roughly after six hours of continuous absorption, the scarlet ore turned white and he received the notification.

*Ding! You absorbed high-quality ether ore (1542 carat). Ether energy has been increased by 44718 points.

He slowly opened his eyes with a smile on his face, "Good, now, let's continue."

Mark then proceeded to absorb those ether crystals (mid-quality) that his maternal granduncle paid him for the weapons he bought to demonstrate to the king of the Eastern Sun kingdom.

Of the 106 crystals he received, the system took its share and handed him the remaining 63 crystals. Each one is a polished one and gave him 50 ether points. As a result, his ether energy was increased by 3150 points more.

"System, Open Character stats"

Name: Lu Zhen (Mark Spencer)

Rank: 5

Strength: 1.5

Intelligence: 5.2 (+1)

Defense: 5

Agility: 1.6

Vitality: 2.1

Resistance: 1.1

Charisma: 9

Luck: 2+5

Bloodline: Blizzard Pegasus

Attribute: Lightning, Ice, and Space (locked);

Spirit path: Summoner

Ether quality: High

Ether energy: 114,303

Special Skills: Ultimate Defense I, Ultimate Defense II, Thunderblast, Lightning Clone, Seal Breaker, and The Devil's Hand

Bloodline skills: Absolute freezing, Ice bolt

Assistants: 2 (Allen Spencer, Alina Spencer)

Lifespan limit: 175 (150 years left)

Available credits: 1480

Available Credit limit: 35000 (out of 160,000)

Net worth: 92,115 gold coins, 18 silver coins

Total Debt: 185,586 gold coins; 1598 ether crystals (low)

Credit debt: 125,000 (+877) [Equivalent to 625000 gold coins (+4385 gold coins)]

SKILLS:

ACTIVE:

The Devil's Hand: Dismantle any object that you can touch and exchange in equivalent credits. And in case the object has an owner (bound to one's soul), then, you get 50% of equivalent credits as long as it is below Mythril grade (i.e. Semi divine and below). Cost: 0 ether points, CD: 0 seconds.

Sage eyes: Allows the user to inspect any non-living thing or living thing and find their details.

Thunderblast: Summon a lightning bolt from the heavens to strike down the enemy with 150% attack power. Cost: 50% ether. CD: 60min.

Seal Breaker: Allows the user to remove any seal under ancient grade.

Lightning Clone: Create a clone made of lightning attribute and ether energy, controlling it like a puppet from distance. Cost: 1% ether energy/second. Range: 500 meters. CD: 0 seconds. Effect: The strength of the clone will be one whole realm above the highest stat of the user during the time of unleashing the skill (Max stat: 10.9). The clone will release an enormous amount of energy upon being destroyed, causing serious damage to the enemies standing nearby. In that case, the user cannot resummon the clone for the next 12 hours.

PASSIVE:

Ultimate Defense I: By Default, the store is invincible under the heavens and cannot be damaged by anyone under the Demigod realm

Ultimate Defense II: Within the store, the host cannot be harmed by anyone under the demigod realm. The host cannot also be dragged outside against his will.

BLOODLINE SKILLS:

Absolute Freezing: Freeze your surroundings for 120 seconds. Range: 200m. Cost: 10000 EP. CD: 30min.

Ice bolt: Conjure any number of ice spears with your ether energy at any time to launch them at your enemies with 100% power. Anything that gets pierced will be frozen. Cost: 20% ether. CD: 0 sec. Note: The user can launch only one spear. Range: 200m

AVAILABLE WEAPONS FOR SALE:

Single-shot Pistol; Revolver; P365 (10 rounds); P226 (20 rounds); R.I.P. 9mm; Light tank – Sd.Kfz. (Panzer); Eight types of Grenade; Falling block rifle; Contender; M-99 Sniper Rifle; Rocket launcher- Pzf 3-IT600; Self-propelled Howitzer- Pzh 2000; Chimera-SMG; 12 models of assault rifle; 8 models of Lever action rifle; 8 models of bolt action rifle; Kidd-class Destroyer (warship); Ether pistol; C4 (basic); C4 (advanced); Chimera SGM; VTLM2-NEC (Light Multirole Vehicle); Yak 130 (Light combat aircraft);

UNLOCKED EXCLUSIVE WEAPONS: Derringer; Shotgun; Grenade Launcher; Panzer-IV; Light Artillery Rocket System;

**

"Man… that was some heavy debt. It's only been a week and the interest is already crossed 4000 gold coins. Even if all the pending orders are fulfilled and I pay all of my wealth, I won't be able to become debt-free. I guess I should sell some of my strongest weapons.

But then again, I have to sell atleast one model of the mass-produced item anyway. I might as well look for the buyer. Feng Wu owes me and couldn't afford expensive items or their maintenance even after he reclaims his kingdom. That darn biological father of mine could buy it but I don't want to give it to him.

I guess it leaves with only one choice, King Shen Niu. He is rich and also needs my support. He will happily buy them and I will also have no problem selling them to him. Hmm, wait a second…"

As Mark suddenly remembered his granduncle, he realized that he has one more potential buyer. "That's right. The Kingdom of Eastern Sun is known to be sitting on 20% of the gold reserves. They might have issues with the surrounding Empires of Leon and Qilin. If I upgrade their security with Howitzers, then, I might draw the attention of the northern empires and strike some kind of deal with them too.

Since Western Moon has so many islands in its control and has quite a lengthy shore, I should sell them a couple of Destroyers. As for the LCA, Hmm… perhaps, I should have a talk with Shang Fu to change our deal. After all, I don't have any attack helicopters.

Anyway, let's go and check on the work progress."

"Open, Mark's factory"

His spirit entered the factory inside his mindscape and dozens of wood boxes were piled in one corner and others filled with about 380 kg of saltpeter and about 40 kg of charcoal powder in another corner.

One of the 9ft robots, which stood there like a statue for hours, turned toward him as soon as he entered the place. It bowed, "The work has been done."

*Ding! You successfully created gunpowder. 

*Ding! You earned 100 experience points.

*Ding! Do you wish to sell the formula to the system and make it available for mass production in exchange for 100 credits?

"Even this can be sold?" Mark wondered out loud.

*Ding! Ignite it in a confined space and see it for yourself if it does nothing.

"No thanks." Mark scoffed at the system's sarcastic remark and then, proceeded to ask, "If I sell the prototype to you, how much will it cost to buy it from you when I create it in the future?"

*Ding! 6 silver coins per 100 gm.

"Oh, that's not bad, actually." Mark pondered on it.