Tang En flipped the pygmy gun around and looked at it.
Klotto laughed. "Hehe, my friend, this thing should be relatively new to you. You have to be careful, it's not that simple — ugh —"
Klotto and the others suddenly saw Tang En skillfully load the gun with gunpowder and bullets before aiming at the magical beasts outside. It was as if something was stuck in their throats, and they stared with wide eyes, unable to speak.
Feeling the recoil from the gun, Tang En frowned slightly. The composition of the gunpowder in this world was not the same as that on Earth. Klotto and the others did not use sulfur, nitrate, and charcoal to make gunpowder, but a more efficient burning material. It was unknown if it was because of the high energy concentration in this world, or because the burning material was more efficient, but the gunpowder used by the pygmies was much more powerful.
Tang En nodded to himself. It was no wonder that such a simple gun bullet could penetrate such a hard bone shell. It turned out that the gunpowder was different.
Logically speaking, with such a powerful gunpowder, there should be a lot of potential to be unearthed … Tang En suddenly thought of the unknown source of the pygmy degeneration ray and chuckled inwardly. The technology tree was already so crooked, how could they still be expected to do normal research and development?
He shook the gun and said, "The power is not bad, but don't you think that the reloading speed is very slow?"
The potential of the pygmy gun was now limited by the reloading method. Tang En felt that if he gave Klotto a hint, he might be able to reload the gun in two days, or even create an assault rifle.
Klotto shrugged. "It's very slow, so we set up multiple groups to shoot in formation. When one group shoots, the other two groups will reload one after the other to ensure that every round of suppressive fire."
"If you're facing a ranger, their arrow will have already pierced your head before you can fire the second bullet."
Tang En pointed at Clotho's head and gestured. In the high-magic world of Prandal, ordinary firearms could not hit the Apocalypse, so the threat to the Apocalypse was basically zero. However, a Apocalypse Ranger could shoot arrows at a speed of more than ten times per second, even faster than handguns on Earth. Who would believe such a speed?
Compared to a slow reloading gun, a ranger could dodge a bullet and use all kinds of archery skills to attack a musketeer. There was simply no comparison between the two.
The only advantage of a flintlock was that it did not require any training. After a short period of training, even ordinary people could use it.
"Before the rangers attacked us, the Gnomish Degeneration Ray had already turned them into idiots. Even the Gnomish Frost Ray was enough to restrict their movements," Clotho said unhappily.
"Yes, but only if we can hit them."
Tang En nodded, and Klotto had nothing to say.
Tang En waved his gun. "Speaking of which, apart from grouping and shooting, haven't you ever thought of improving the craftsmanship?"
Klotto's eyes lit up. "Why not! The mini shark in your hand is an upgraded version after I carefully designed the rifling and redesigned the size of the bullet. "
"Mini, mini shark …"
The corner of Tang En's mouth twitched. With this kind of shooting speed, he had the nerve to call it a mini shark?
Tang En casually said, "Actually, when I saw you guys shooting just now, I suddenly had an idea."
Klotto looked at him excitedly. When Tang En mentioned this matter just now, Klotto knew that this guy definitely had an idea. "What idea!?"
Klotto now had no doubts about Tang En's engineering skills. He was very sure that Tang En's idea could definitely make the Gnomish Flintlock undergo a qualitative change. His desire for advanced technology made him cling onto Tang En like a thirsty student.
Nokia and the others covered their eyes, unable to bear to see Master Klotto like this.
"Can you let me go?"
Tang En looked at Klotto speechlessly, and Klotto let him go with an embarrassed smile. Then Tang En pointed at the joint between the butt and the barrel and said, "Have you ever thought about how much more efficient it would be if you cut it off and make it a joint, then load it from here?"
"Load it from the back?"
Klotto stared at the flintlock, and the original structure of the flintlock quickly appeared in his mind. Following Tang En's instructions, he dismantled and evolved it. The welded barrel and stock were separated from each other, then folded down, and the bullet was loaded from the back …
Klotto suddenly exclaimed, "It can actually be done like this!"
Tang En shrugged. This was the progress of engineering. Many innovations only lacked a hint. As long as it was explained, it was actually nothing.
Nokia quickly said, "According to my calculations, after the post-loading modification, the shooting efficiency will at least double!"
"Double? At least double! "
Excited, Klotto didn't care about the fierce battle outside. He took out a pen and paper and started to calculate. "If I load from the back of the gun chamber, then there needs to be an active link here. In order to increase the power, after the reloading port is restored, it needs to ensure a certain degree of sealing effect … My friend, I may need to buy a batch of rubber seals from you!"
Tang En smiled and said indifferently, "Rubber may be necessary, but there's no need for gaskets. Don't you think that loading gunpowder itself is a very troublesome and inefficient redundant action?"
Klotto was startled. "But if the gunpowder isn't loaded, how can it be fired?"
"Of course, it's not that you don't need gunpowder, but that you have to finish loading the gunpowder at the same time as you load the bullets."
Tang En said with a smile, "Isn't it more convenient to combine the two steps into one?"
Tang En's words made Klotto and the others fall into deep thought. Fiona, who was beside them, said with a blank expression, "Do two things at the same time? Isn't that very troublesome? Without the help of magic, it's very difficult for a dwarf to achieve that kind of speed by himself. There must be a sequence. "
Tang En shook his head. "You're thinking from the wrong angle. Think about it from another angle, why do you have to do two things at the same time? Other than using magic to increase your speed, how can you do two things at the same time? "
Fiona thought for a long time with a blank expression, then shook her head dejectedly. She couldn't think of anything.
The smiling Tang En didn't take it to heart. This was very normal. Many people would follow their train of thought when thinking about something, so they felt that many things were impossible. But as long as they looked at it from another angle and finally figured it out, they would realize that it wasn't that difficult.
If he were to do it himself, he wouldn't be able to figure it out either. The reason he could act so pretentiously now was because he was standing on the heads of countless great people on Earth.
"My friend, I vaguely feel an idea, but I can't say it out loud. It feels like there's a layer of fog between it and the truth!"
Clotho had drawn a mess on the ground. All kinds of gun structures and parts had been restored and broken down by him. He stared straight at the structural drawings of those parts and turned around anxiously.
Tang En sighed and said directly, "If you want to reduce two steps to one step, other than using magic to increase speed and reduce time, there's another way, and that is to turn the problem that needs to be solved in two steps into one."
"Into one?"
"Yes, two steps are because you need to load gunpowder and bullets. But if the loading thing becomes one, won't it reduce the time?"
"But the problem goes back to the previous —"
Clotho's voice came to an abrupt stop. He stared at the gunpowder and bullets and suddenly froze there.
"Looks like you've almost figured it out."
Tang En made a shooting gesture at the half-dead magic beasts below the city wall and said with a faint smile, "As long as you combine the gunpowder and bullets into one, you can naturally achieve this goal."
"Combine into one … Combine into one!"
Clotho frowned. "But in this case, how do you fire the bullets …"
Tang En was speechless. "How do you fire your missiles?"
Clotho said with a blank expression, "Missiles? There's a miniature trigger on it, but it's obviously not suitable for bullets … "
Miniature trigger …
Tang En felt the muscles on his face twitching. Could the tree of technology not continue to be crooked? He sighed and said, "Okay, think about it from another perspective. What's the purpose of loading gunpowder?"
"Ignite it, expand it, and then fire the bullet."
"That's right. In other words, as long as the gunpowder plays the role of propelling the bullet, its task will be completed."
Tang En casually drew a few lines in the air with his right hand, and a simple cross-section of a bullet appeared on the ground. He said, "If you use a malleable metal, such as copper, to make a shell, fill it with gunpowder, and then make a bullet, and combine the two into one …"
Tang En looked at Clotho. His hint was obvious enough.
"Combine the gunpowder and the bullet into one … Then ignite the gunpowder …"
Clotho raised his head abruptly. "How to ignite it? How do you ignite the gunpowder sealed in a copper case? Fuse? "
Tang En was completely helpless. He simply said, "Design a miniature igniter at the bottom and fill it with a small amount of gunpowder. Then modify the igniter of the gun and change it to a firing pin, using impact ignition …"
"Impact ignition!"
Clotho suddenly understood. "In a sealed space, this is the only way! But … "
Clotho frowned. "According to what you said, the entire gun needs to be redesigned!"
"Isn't that natural?"
Tang En had a mysterious smile on his face. "An industrial advancement will inevitably bring about an industrial innovation. But don't worry. Although it's convenient to reload later, I think the step of loading the bullet can continue to be simplified …"
"Continue to be simplified!?"
Clotho was completely dumbfounded. "How else can it be simplified?"
Tang En said faintly, "Use a magazine."
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