Sirius' eyes darted back and forth, deep in thought, as he looked at the design mechanism again.

He felt like bashing his head in the wall for his stupidity.

Maybe he was too busy with official matters and never had time to think of this?

No! That wasn't the case.

Landon here, even though he was so busy, still managed to always think of something new.

As expected of someone he looked up to.

Sirius was about to look up to the projection again, when a thought struck him.

Eh?

He quickly gripped the document hard before doing some inner calculations in his mind.

And right on cue, Landon finished his brief presentation.

"Any questions or suggestions?"

Heheheheh.

Sirius ousted back his glasses excitedly.

(*□^□)

"Just now, I think we can also cause more havoc by placing large quantities of black powder and shooting at the enemies."

Everyone's eyes lit up excitedly.

Yes! Presently, they already shot black powder on these small arrows while targeting their enemies.

So imagine the effect it would cause when larger amounts got shot alongside the massive arrows?"

William could already see it now: "I think we should start creating them and placing them around the coastal cities, towns and villages, all around the empires. We need to install them fast!"

Landon agreed as well: "Hmm. To make this go faster, I'll send out some soldiers, alongside the Navy, to assist you all in sailing around the shores fast and securing the place. Of Course, the goal is to get things done before the end of Summer next year. First, you all need to create massive supplies of these Ballistas. And when you've created your first batch, we will assist you."

Penelope nodded in agreement: "I agree. If possible, can we also find a way to mount these devices on the lower floors of our ships? Just shooting an arrow of black powder at any pirate ship would bore a hole at its wooden walls."

Damn! 

Another brilliant idea.

And Minister Marcus, who was appointed to take down the meeting minutes, was hurriedly jotting down as many points as possible.

Brilliant! Just brilliant.

As expected of Queen Penelope.

Astar, who was sticking on his third lollipop, innocently stretched his head: "Why don't we try shooting ourselves?"

"_"

Everyone's eyes lit up in agreement.

"Yes! Prince Astar does raise a good point. We can try shooting other things. Not just an arrow."

"Yes! The entire mechanism works like a slingshot. So if we can make a few adjustments, why not shoot other things down too?"

Penelope, Henry and everyone else added more ideas to the matter.

Minute-taker Minister Marcus was now very impressed with Astar.

What a guy!

Landon: (-_-)

So, they were just going to translate his words from dumb to brilliant?

He couldn't be the only one noticing this, right?

Or could it be that his ears always picked up the wrong words when it came to Astar?

How come everyone always heard some genius idea while he heard another?

Looking at everyone, he was flabbergasted.

Even Henry and Raul looked at Astar in awe while Carmelo kept telling Micheal that he had a good kid.

Of course, Micheal was very proud and laughed loudly while saying his son was Manly.

And everyone else was impressed as well.

Forget it. It looks like he was the only one sane here.

Well, provided they were happy.

.

As for the matter of throwing things other than arrows, it was indeed a good idea... Even though that wasn't what Astar meant.

The thing was, there were different kinds of Ballistas. Some great for sniping people, harassing the enemy, destroying armoured targets and so on.

Everything depended on weights, adjustments and other things depending on their uses.

And what surprised Landon was how these people had actually started making changes to his basic design.

Everyone showed their brain power here.

Yes... He was willing to give that last credit to Astar.

~Scribble, Scribble, Scribble

William used his pencil to draw on the side of the document while thinking of another idea.

"Astar just said that we could shoot other things.

So why don't we shoot hand-sized stones?"

Landon heard him and was shocked.

One should know that back on earth, the Romans used Ballistas to shoot moderately sized stones, pots of flashing tar and other horrible things.

The ballista was basically a very controlled slingshot that ensured that it met its target.

So with just a few adjustments, they would widen the thin area meant to hold the arrows, opening it up for moderate-sized stones and so on.

Landon couldn't help giving two thumbs up to William. He even drew a small diagram indicating that the space there should be opened up.

Sigh... The some and daughters of heaven were truly formidable.

.

Sirius, on hearing about stones, thought of another idea: "I think we might be able to throw giant stones at the enemy in future. But not with this Ballista. We will have to come up with something else. I think I'll study this mechanism first and see what I can do."

Micheal: "Hmhm. I think this design gives us a general idea of what we can do in future."

Everyone else nodded in agreement.

Their minds were filled with so many bright ideas.

And to be honest, they couldn't wait to start doing things and testing their theories.

Lucius smiled: "The brat knew that you would get pumped up. So he particularly had some wood and other things sent to the barracks. If you all want, you can spend your next 4 days making a single Ballista. Just to get the feel of things."

"Yes!" Everyone answered excitedly.

Landon chuckled at their enthusiasm.

~Ding.

[Congratulations on connecting the first U.N meeting, as well as Sharing the designs for the Ballista.]

Landon's smile broadened even more.

Good.

Now that this was down and over with, it was time to prepare and set off.

It was time to leave the Pyno Continent!

This was already the last week of November.

And all he wanted now was to have an uneventful December before leaving January 5th.

Could the heavens just do that tiny favour for him?

Nope!

Right now, unbeknownst to him, a few of his men were in a very, very, bad situation.