Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Smokeless Powder

So, I am wearing Rachel’s used and old lab coat, stained with only God knows how many chemicals, red, green, or even yellow. Still, it has been washed thoroughly and I’ll assume this is just a dye stain since I doubt a child as old as I was back then will be allowed to mess around with super dangerous chemicals. I also have a piece of cloth wrapped around my mouth and nose. 

“Well, the mentee of the famous gunsmith, the fastest shooter of Ferrett’s estate, what can I do for you?” Ostwald jokes as he prepares the ingredient for me. He prepares a bottle of blue liquid mana, some of the guncotton that Rachel creates, alongside acetone on the table. He also brought out the petroleum jelly that I ask him to bring. 

I tell him the precise ratio to make a smokeless powder. Of course, he asks where did I get the ratio for this pyrotechnics, I answer by saying that I got it by reading something in this big library whose books collections are probably just for show instead of knowledge. 

Ostwald grabs on a glass beaker. He pours out some liquid mana into the glass beaker. “Young miss, what do you say about the ratio? 64% Rachel’s cotton, 30% liquid mana, 5% petroleum jelly, and 1% acetone, is that correct?” He asks. 

“Yup, right.” 

“That’s some precise recipe, young miss,” Ostwald comments as he mixes the ingredient carefully using a glass stirrer. “Luckily, young miss Rachel and I are experienced chemists, and Miss Rachel turns out to be an aspiring one.” 

I just give a small laugh to that. Rachel knows more chemistry than I do, that’s for sure. If she can use precision measurement to make such delicious iced coffee, the same can be said in her making the smokeless powder. I watch as the guncotton turns into a jellified substance when mixed together with a little amount of acetone. 

“Ostwald, why is my acidic cotton turning into a jelly-like that?” Rachel asks. 

“Probably the acetone dissolving the cotton ball and stabilizing the liquid mana at the same time, I don’t know too much about that yet since a cotton ball normally doesn’t dissolve in acetone like that,” he says. He then looks at me. “This is smart, but what does it do? Enhance the explosive properties of the liquid mana?” 

“Perhaps?” I shrug, not wanting to tell him that if you put it in a musket, you’ll make the projectile launch faster, theoretically, that is. Practically, the musket will explode into several small pieces and will be more likely to kill you than the enemy. Of course, I don’t want to tell him that I’ll put it in my custom bullet cartridge, aka the 5.56x45 NATO. 

“What do you want to do with this jelly-like substance?” Ostwald asks. 

“Turns it into a quite fine powder or something breakable like a sheet of paper?” I suggest. 

“Well, we can do it. Rachel, would you be willing to dry this chemical? Absorb the moisture, but first, don’t forget to lay it out on something flat,” Ostwald says. 

Rachel grabs a piece of ceramic tile. It is a very smooth and large tile. It seems that Rachel spends her own time smoothening the ceramic as smoothly as possible. She then pours the whole glass beaker into the tile. She then spreads the jelly-like substance as thin as she can before she puts her hand on top of the jelly-like liquid. 

She puts her left hand on top of the liquid, then, she made a hand gesture as if she was pressing something on a piece of screen, just like how I use the [Material Manipulation I] to craft something. Then, slowly, the jelly-like substance turns into a sheet of paper-like material in under a minute. 

“Done, sir,” Rachel says. 

I grab the paper-like substance. It’s white in color, but in truth, this is just cordite made from cotton balls instead of the usual wooden pulp. I can put this inside a 5.56x45 cartridge and I’d get a good result. However, thinking about it, wouldn’t it be productive if I shape it efficiently into balls? 

I open my [Material Manipulation I] menu and make a new blueprint. I grab the piece of cordite paper and put the setting to intentionally shred the whole content, just like how Albert taught me a week ago. The paper slowly disappears and is transferred into the metal container that I always place in this library. After that, I grab the metal container and open the lid. 

The result is delightful, a bunch of powder in ball forms ready to be burned and used. “That’s brilliant, as expected from the daughters of Viscount Ferrett,” Ostwald praises us. I grab the white powder with my hands. It’s incredible. 

I don’t have any words to say, but this is amazing. This should be enough to fill fifteen bullets at the very least. I put some of the powder on the previous tile. I want to see how it combusts. If it combusts too fast, then I need to adjust the size of the ball, if it’s slow enough, then it’s perfect for a rifle. 

“Ostwald, sir, can you help me burn it?” I ask as I put a little bit of the powder in the tile. 

“Sure thing.” Ostwald then snaps his finger and a flame appears on the tip of his finger. “Watch out.” He put the flame very close to the powder, then the powder ignites. The powder burns quite fast, but slow enough to be considered good for a rifle round. I’ll say this is a major success. 

“Weird… This seems not to be a large improvement to the property of liquid mana itself.” Ostwald expects a small explosion to happen, but to be honest, I don’t. “Then again, liquid mana burns slowly and explodes violently. Miss Helen, can you pour a little bit of it again?” 

I pour a little bit more of the same powder on the tile. Then, Ostwald told us to stand back before that dark elf stroke the powder with a hammer. The powder doesn’t explode until Ostwald hit it again, and again. For the third time, it finally explodes, but it isn’t as violent as a liquid mana explosion. 

“Well, it’s quite safe, I guess? I think I won’t tell anyone about this. I don’t think this powder can be used in muskets either. So, have fun you two,” Ostwald says. 

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I am ecstatic. One of the hardest parts is now done. Right now, I only need the rifle bullets, then the rifle itself, then I can begin test-firing it. This will take quite a while, but I do believe, that it’s entirely possible to develop the AR-15 weapon system sooner or later. 

Hopefully, Rachel can be used to settle with my usage of this powder. After all, if I can somehow convince my sister to make this in bulk amount for me, I can easily manufacture bullets with my own [Material Manipulation I].

“You two, what are you giggling about?” Ostwald scratches his head. 

“Sorry,” Rachel says. 

“I apologize,” I say. 

He sighs, “You two.” He shakes his head before taking off his cloth mask and lab coat. “C’mon, let’s make some food. Let’s get to the kitchen.” 

Both of us walk to the kitchen. Ostwald makes us some ice cream. Needless to say, we’re both happy. 

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Back in my bedroom, our bedroom, Rachel is fiddling around the metal container where I keep the powdered mysterious white powder that is a smokeless powder. After Ostwald left, Rachel and I make some more under my request. Of course, it isn’t the pyrotechnic that Rachel has hoped, but well, it’s better, isn’t it?

“Well, we can try again later to make it stronger, right, Helen?” Rachel asks while lying down on her bed from mana exhaustion. “The first time doesn’t always mean the best.”

“Yup,” I nod as I sit down on the table in our bedroom with a pencil in my right hand, a ruler in my left, and a piece of big paper on that table itself. I was drawing two things. The first is the 5.56x45 bullet, the casing itself, and the modified percussion cap for usage with an assault rifle. 

I must be careful here. The ruler is not that precise, only can make something as precise as a millimeter, not that good for something such as a bullet. I need to adjust a little bit of the measurement inside of my imaginary blueprint. 

After that, I will design the rifle, particularly, copying the design of an AR-15 and using steel instead of aluminum for now, unless, somehow, I can find an anodized aluminum somewhere. Well, it’ll do for now. 

I put my eyes on the blueprint and open my [Material Manipulation I] menu to scan the freshly made blueprint. I put my eyes on it, and immediately the intense amount of drowsiness hits me like a truck. 

[Add Blueprint for Object 3?]

I press the check button and the blueprint is slowly added to my menu. The blueprint is separated into three blueprints, objects 3,4, and 5. Can I group these things? I can’t really imagine how complicated it will be to design a rifle. Eventually, I scan everything and the drowsiness is even worse than before. 

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[Helen]

Race: Angelic Wolf-kin

Level: 1

HP: 95%

MP: 2%

Class: [Materialmancer] 

Skill: [Material Manipulation I]

General Health Status: [Abdominal Puncture]

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Without any power to even stand up, I fall asleep at my table. 

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