Chapter 042:

Anton arrived at Jonathan's new smithy soon after leaving Verona and the Main Hall.

The new smithy looked very impressive. Jonathan's old one looked more like a converted house but this was so much better. Now it was dedicated solely to the forging weapons and armour. In it lay a large furnace and forge in the center of the open area, with what looked to be a smelter to one side, all in heavy use. Stacks of blunted weapons and armour filled nearly every free spot of the smithy, all waiting to be repaired. At least ten people worked inside; the smith bondsmen and their apprentices, as well as a few people he recognised from the village. The noise of metal striking metal was phenomenal.

"You have done some truly impressive work here." Anton said.

Jeff and Jonathan stood either side. A quick glance showed that they were indeed proud.

"It is now doing so much better... Mainly because I have more people to help me. They can do most of the repairing work while I try and figure out your drawings."

Anton chuckled nervously.

"I do understand that it has been a little much of me to just heap such a task on you, but you seem to be exceeding in everything you do."

Jonathan smiled, there was almost a hint of a blush from such overt praise. He coughed to steady his mind and next words.

"I asked Zac to build an enclosed room to the side. That is where those barrels have been put, as well as the first few attempts."

"Few?" Anton asked.

"I was not really confident with my first attempt. It was a bit bent, compared to how straight I think it is meant to be, and the colour of the metal looked rather odd. It twisted and swirled in odd ways. So I have had four more made. That should be enough to test, right?"

"Should be." Anton answered. "Did you get those done before the Kobolds attacked?"

Jonathan nodded.

"You people do work fast. Can we see them?"

"Of course. Right this way."

Jonathan led them through the smithy to the door at the back. The smithy smelled of burning coal and iron, soot and sweat. A cacophony of noise filled the air; metal striking metal, the sudden gusts of air from the bellows and the sizzling sound of metal being tempered in water. A true spectacle of people working hard, something that quite a number of people on Earth, Anton included, had no real idea about. What was also extraordinary was that most of the new smiths were the bondsmen from Maxill, it seemed strange that they would already be showing such enthusiasm after a single night in their new home. Anton was not about to question it though.

The smiths, especially the ones from Maxill who still wore their original clothes, bowed their heads slightly as Jonathan passed. He tried to get them to stop but they would not. It seemed to be a genuine expression of respect. When they saw Anton that bow deepened even more. He caught a glimmer of fear on their faces.

Not that surprising, I suppose. Still feels quite weird to have them behave like this. By now, and especially after that drinking session last night, they would have been filled in on the gossip of who does what around here. I'm sure that Verona and myself have featured in that discussion.

"How are things going?" Jonathan asked one of the smiths near the back.

The man was quite large, almost as big as Jonathan or Zac, which he used to great effect as he swung a hammer onto a heavily dented metal chest piece from the inside to straighten it out.

"Very good, sir." He said, putting down the hammer and wiping his hands with a spare piece of cloth. "Give us a couple of days and we should have all of these repaired."

"That is very good to hear, but I am not a sir." Jonathan replied.

"Forgive me." The man said with a light bow of his head. "It is something we learned to survive in Maxill. Whomever worked for the Duchess..."

"There won't be any of that happening here." Anton added.

"Thank you, Grand Mage."

"A what?" Jeff asked a moment before Anton could.

"A Grand Mage." The smith looked somewhat confused and a little nervous. "That is what you would be called in the Graterious Kingdom, for someone of your magical strength. The name does not do you actual justice. Only, that is the highest rank that I know of."

"Huh." Do Anton said as he turned to Jeff and Jonathan. "I guess you learn something new everyday. Thanks for the information."

The smith bowed very deeply this time. Relief was evident all over his body, relief that Anton was not going to use his magic to punish him for some reason.

"Shall we continue?" Anton asked.

"I really do want to see this thing." Jeff added.

Jonathan nodded and led them through to the back, leaving a very relieved smith to carry on with his work. Anton did not miss to notice that the other smiths looked as equally scared as him. He had told Kal that he did not intend to use fear as the primary tool to keep order but it did seem to have its advantages when used correctly.

They reached the back of the smithy, close to the second wall, and Jonathan opened the door. The inside looked to be like a tinkerer or inventors workshop. Small and broken pieces of the mould sand lay everywhere along with scraps of paper, all with different ideas on how to make Anton's cannon idea a reality.

"It is a bit of a mess," Jonathan began, "But I have not allowed anyone else in here, for security reasons."

He pointed to one side of the room. Lined up against the side were the barrels of the explosive powder.

I hope this can actually work. Otherwise a lot of my knowledge of combat could be going to waste. That would limit us to the sciences and magic’s of this world. Then I've only got my magic, and the money we've managed to recover, to work with. Not that that's something to scoff at.

"The metal tubes, which we are calling the 'Hand Cannon', are right over here."

Next to the barrels of powder was a table, which had five of the Hand Cannon's resting on it. To the side of them were over a dozen metal balls. They looked like they would fit perfectly into the metal tube. Jeff moved forward and inspected the, to him at least, bizarre contraptions that Jonathan had built for him.

"These are what you have been making?" He asked.

His tone was not offensive, he seemed genuinely interested in what they were.

"I suppose you could hit someone with these but... You would already know that. They are almost hollow..."

He picked up one of the metal balls and held it in his hand.

"I... Uh, I'm going to let you two explain what this actually is."

"I definitely think we'll want to head outside for this test. The last thing we want is this whole place to go up in flames."

Jeff looked a little afraid, like he was starting to suspect what these things could do.

---[]---

The impromptu test range was set up outside the second wall of Atros, past the eastern gate. Jeff wrangled a few of the soldiers on patrol to carry the equipment outside. They seemed just as confused as to what the actually were for as Jeff still was. A wooden stand was hammered into the ground, large and hopefully strong enough for the Hand Cannons to be lashed to without breaking during the tests. A large wooden table had been brought out as well on which the Hand Cannons were placed, along with a barrel of the blue explosive powder. Jonathan started to pour some of the powder into the cannon and compact it with a tightly wound cloth wrapped around a stick. He looked quite happy as he did this.

The soldiers looked very confused as this was done and made the smart decision to stand back. Even the soldiers on the wall watched with an eager, but cautious, fascination.

"This seems quite dangerous." Jeff mumbled, holding a iron shot in his hand. "If what you say about this is true, it could kill us as just likely as the enemy if it goes wrong and destroys the hand cannon."

"I believe that would be called a misfire." Anton replied. "That's also why, for our first proper test of these, we won't be anywhere near them."

"But how will we ignite the powder?"

"I'll use my magic to make a little fireball and use that to ignite a powder stream leading away. By the way, Jonathan, how are we coming along with that?"

Jonathan stood hunched over the table, trying his best to get some of the blue powder into the Hand Cannon without it spilling over the table and making a potential disaster.

"There's the last one done." Jonathan announced, dusting off his hands and looking very pleased.

Jonathan pulled out a small wooden scoop out of the powder barrel.

"There was not a lot of to go off with those drawings of yours. I am also guessing that this powder is probably not the same stuff you are... used to. So I had to guess with how much to use."

Jonathan moved and tapped on each of the cannons.

"So, I made each one with a different amount of powder. I know how much is in each one when we need to do it again."

Anton and Jeff nodded.

"I get it." Jeff began. "You don't know which will work best, so when we find the best we can just use that in the future."

Jonathan smiled again.

"I believe this is the beginning of something called 'Standardisation'." Anton said. "So when I say it needs two scoops, or whatever it could be, everyone else will know what it will mean. So long as they have the same scoop. That's another problem."

"The building bondsmen are saying similar things about the wall and buildings. So we can build everything to one design. They say it'll mean that we can build much more quickly and so it can be repaired much more easily." Jeff added.

"How's he taking it?" Anton asked.

Jeff and Jonathan shrugged happily.

"Pretty well, I think." Jeff answered. "He can see the good in doing it so that's enough for him. Though, that might just be him putting on a tough face."

If I get this thing with Verona sorted, I'll need to track him down and have a proper chat. Haven't really done that with him yet. The infrastructure of Atros will be vital for everything we do. It'll pay in the long run to make sure that he's doing alrigh. See what I can possibly add from my world, though I'm not sure what I can actually add with this level of technology.

"I'll see about getting to have a proper chat with him later." Anton continued. "I can light the powder with this."

He held out his hand and summoned a small fire ball. It was strange that neither of them showed any fear as he did this, they really must have trusted his ability and judgement.

"So where do I light it? And the same goes for normal people using these."

Jonathan pointed to a small hole on the top of the Hand Cannon. He withdrew his mana before looking in. In it he could see the blue powder but also a tiny trail out and a few inches along the down the cannon. Amongst the powder were several slightly larger granules of the blue powder. He touched one and it broke apart. Everything felt like very fine sand, and came off his fingers quite easily.

"From those drawings, It presume that a small flame, like one from a torch, is put onto the powder trail. That burns along the trail and then causes the whole thing to work. There was something like a string coming out of one of your drawings, but I do not think that is what you would want for this. This will have to work for now."

"Work?" Jeff asked.

"If it works, you'll be amazed." Anton said. "Do we have any more spare target boards?"

Jeff nodded and repeated the order to the waiting villagers. They seemed glad to be heading away from a series of instruments that were talked about in such a cryptic manner. While they waited for the target boards to arrive they lashed the Hand Cannons to the wooden horizontal stand, making sure that the powder did not spill out. Each cannon was given almost two feet in-between so they would not all go off at once from an uncontrolled spark or his fireball.

I seem to recall that some of the later cannons used essentially a plug of powder for the charge, that they could load it easily and more quickly than this. So they did not have to pour it like this...Still one step at a time.

The soldiers returned very quickly with the spare target planks, each of which had a large red circle in the middle.

"What's the range of this?" Jeff asked. "Is it longer or shorter than a bow?"

"Depends." Anton said as he placed the target only a few meters away. "From what I remember the larger cannons, the ones that I would like to have built one day, could hit something many times over the distance that an arrow could."

"This little metal ball?" He asked incredulously.

Anton nodded.

"A bigger one though for the larger cannons. You see how big the tip of an arrow is? And we both know how much damage that can do. This will be going a lot faster too. So I think you can guess what it'll do to a Goblin or Kobold."

Jeff took a second then nodded.

"Okay Jonathan. Are we ready to begin?"

Jonathan made one last check on the cannons before giving his nod of approval.

"Let's get behind the wall, just in case one of these decides to blow up."

All of them moved inside and onto the wall, the two soldiers closed the gate behind them. The few soldiers on the top were looking very confused, but followed their actions when they squatted down behind the wall.

"I suppose I should start with the closest one." Anton said, with no objections uttered.

He moved to a section where he could see through and summoned another small fire ball. The distance was not that great for him, especially as the fire balls could move much further than the lightning bombs before loosing their form and exploding. With a small push with his mana the small bead of fire towards the closest cannon.

Thankfully they were situated far enough apart that they would not all catch on fire at once. As the first bit of powder caught on fire, a few bright and enegetic sparks lept out from the trail and flew in all directions. Some landed along the next three Hand Cannons. Each tiny ember had enough energy to ignite the next line of powder.

Before he could say or think anything the thick blue smoke obscured his vision over the cannons as they all ignited at once.

A loud crack rang out and the first cannon fired, followed immediately by the sound of something hitting a piece of wood. Before they could say anything the next cannon fired, much louder this time. Then the third and fourth. His ears were ringing as he clasped his hands over them. Something in him was waiting for the fifth but nothing came. Silence overcame them.

He glanced around. Jonathan looked quite scared. He knew that he was working with over a dozen barrels of the blue powder very close by to a forge and smithy. They would need to find somewhere more appropriate. Jeff was doing better but he was rubbing his ears to try and get the ringing sound out. The other soldiers looked as scared as Jonathan.

As the seconds passed it was clear that the fifth cannon did not fire.

Anton patted himself down and stood up, followed by the other villagers.

"Guess we should have done more tests with the powder on its own." Anton mumbled. "I don't remember it being so volatile when Lester tested it."

“Fucking hell!” Jeff said, looking a mixture of anger and confusion.

"Well...That was a little more dangerous than I thought it would be." Anton said cheekishly as the others looked out at the cannons. "I didn't know that the powder was that dangerous. I don't know how dangerous it should have been."

"Maybe because it was compacted?" Jonathan offered, looking very nervous, "There were those tiny little beads in the powder, maybe that is why it did that?"

"I just was not expecting it to be so volatile. No wonder Lester only had a tiny bit of it and didn't want much to do with it."

Jeff laughed lightly as he looked out at the cannons. The first three were leaking blue smoke. The fourth had ripped itself to pieces, only bent out and curled fragments remained. The other four looked fine.

"I'm laughing, but do you see that?"

He pointed to the wooden targets. Anton had been rather more worried about the explosions, and bits of metal flying about, rather than if they had actually worked and struck the targets. The first cannon's target had a large dent, with the next three target boards had holes punched through.

"Let's... Let's go have a look." Anton offered.

The others were not so confident to go near something that had managed to make such a large volume of sound and smoke. While Anton, Jeff and Jonathan went down to have a look, the soldiers on the wall remained crouched down while the two that had gone with them seemed only confident enough to open the door and hide behind that.

Anton stopped a meter away from the cannons.

We are going to have to figure out a better system of getting the powder to work. If it did that here I do not want to know what it would do in a real combat situation. Probably just hurt our own side more than the enemy. We'll need to test out anything we buy before trying the big tests like this.

While Jeff and Jonathan moved to look at the wooden targets, Anton looked at the few bits of powder that remained.

Why did it spray out like that? I was keeping the fire ball as steady as possible.

He picked up a few grains of unburned powder and rolled it around in his hand. It had the same texture as a very fine sand, but when he squished it together in the tips of his fingers it changed into a oddly solid ball. Just like the small ones that had been present before he ignited the powder. With a roll of his fingers it broke apart again.

It changes physical properties when you compress it? And when it's ignited it spits out with enough energy to start the rest. If it's used for performance...then it might be a bit unstable. No wonder there wasn't that much in Qaiviel. Could be a reason... Still a good reason to work on a better explosive charge system. Not bad for our first attempt though, I suppose.

Anton looked at the remaining and un-ignited Hand Cannon. It did appear to have the compacted powder beads on the outside as well.

"Any idea where it went?" Jeff's loud voice caught his attention.

Both of them were either side of the wooden targets, their heads down and scouring the grass. They were looking for the iron shots. Anton looked over at the targets and could see something that looked like a tuft of upturned grass about a hundred meters away.

"I think that's where one of them landed." Anton said, pointing into the distance.

"Yeah. That could be it." Jeff said, as he started walking quickly towards it.

Anton turned his attention back to the wooden targets. Specifically, the holes smashed through them.

The first cannon did not have enough power to punch through the wooden board but left a serious dent. If that had been a person, shattered bones, damaged and bleeding organs would have sure to eventuated at the very least.

The second hole was quite large, compared to the other two. The third was only slightly smaller. The last hole, made by the exploded fourth cannon, was only slightly larger than the iron shot. Jonathan saw him looking as well, his face looking quite puzzled. Anton ran his finger on the inside of the wooden board.

"That iron ball travelled so fast that the wood did not have time to bend. It just went straight through."

Jonathan looked at the other boards, noting the way the wood splintered and compared to the previous two.

"Oh. I understand." He said. "What would happen if we tried that fifth one?"

Anton chuckled nervously.

"I don't really think we need to try it out. It blew this one apart." He patted the remains of the fourth cannon. "If we did I don't think there would even be the stand left."

"Found them!" Jeff cried out from far away, it appeared to be well over sixty meters.

He ran back towards them, looking quite cheerful in his stride. Perhaps he was starting to see the potential that Anton saw. Anton heard some movement on the wall. Many villagers and soldiers had gathered, all talking quickly and in hushed whispers. He did not need to use his magic to understand what they were talking about.

Guess this is another thing that will add to my public image. Some strange, mad magician that's trying to blow up Atros. Could be worse I suppose.

Nobody appeared brave enough to ask what they were doing. Anton endured the, oddly loud, whispers until Jeff made it back.

"These little things are bloody hot." He said, handing the iron balls over.

They were still very warm to the touch.

"This one dug itself nearly a foot into the ground." Jeff started to smile. "I can see why you wanted this. If someone was standing in the way if this... Not to mention how fucking scary that thing was when it actually did it. I would definately be running away, or at least thinking about it."

"I have no idea if they were meant to be that loud, but I'm pretty sure that it had quite a terrifying effect on anyone that had never seen or heard one before. I hope that Goblins will have the same thoughts."

He chucked an iron ball into the air and caught it again.

"We've got the basic principle down. Jonathan, you did remember to count how much powder you put into the second and third Hand Cannons?"

Jonathan nodded.

"Excellent. I think for now we'll use these Cannons for defence. It'll be too difficult to carry these around, especially as these are our first few. Maybe we could attach them to some sort of cart or something when we've got them sorted out properly."

"They are a little difficult to make." Jonathan admitted. "Now the Kobolds are gone I can focus on making them much more quickly. As well as making better ones."

Anton hummed as he furrowed his brow.

"What's wrong?" Jeff asked. "You don't want more of these things?"

Anton shook his head.

"It's not that. It's just that those barrels of powder are all we have. Quite possibly for several years, I mean, winters. If the man we bought them off is right, this might be all there was in the whole eastern side of the Qaiviel Kingdom. Maybe in the whole of Qaiviel."

Jonathan looked surprised.

"Those twenty odd barrels is it?"

Anton nodded. Both looked rather disappointed.

"But," Anton continued, "He did also say that this stuff is made in the Graterious Empire."

"Which is where you want to go next?" Jeff asked.

"Yes. See what we can get there as well as a regular supply of this powder. Maybe even a way to make it ourselves."

"So, what of these?" Jonathan asked, turning to the Hand Cannons.

"We'll keep them, and keep experimenting with the design. Make it larger and stronger. A longer barrel would help too. There were some that were almost as big as me, I think those-"

"Anton!" a loud voice yelled out from the gate. It was deep but clearly feminine, he had heard it nearly every day.

Verona, with Kal following her, emerged from behind the gate and out towards them. It appeared that none of the growing crowd was brave enough yet to approach.

"What... What was that!?" she asked, confusion clear on her face and her voice. "We heard four loud cracks coming from here-"

Anton did not miss the tiny wince Kal made at the mention of the sound. It could have sounded like a blast of lightning, something that terrified her still.

"And we find you three out here with.... What is that?" Verona pointed to the torn apart Hand Cannon.

"This is, or at least was, one of the special items that Jonathan had building for me. As you can see, it's a bit of a mess."

"Is it safe to do this where so many people can see?" Kal asked. "If it's meant to be a secret..."

"Think of this as a 'proof of concept' test." Anton answered.

Verona, Kal, Jeff and Jonathan looked quite confused.

"There is no point in pursuing something like this if we don't know if it will even work on the most basic level." Anton patted one of the intact Hand Cannons. "And this doesn't give away too much information that somebody could actually use in another kingdom or empire. Not that they could actually get here yet. Now, we can get Jonathan to continue designing better ones. Although you are right, Kal, we do need somewhere that would be a safe and secret practice area."

They were silent for some time before Verona snapped her fingers.

"You could use the area by the lake. Nobody goes that way and there's a ridge in the way so nobody still in Atros that could see what you are doing. Even if they were looking from the highest point in the village."

Anton smiled and nodded.

"I like it. Jeff, can we make that our testing area for new weapons?"

Jeff shrugged.

"I don't see why not. As Verona said, nobody goes there. So there shouldn't be a problem."

"There might still be wolves lurking about so we would need to bring quite a few soldiers, and archers, with us for protection."

“Ugh, those things.” Verona grumbled, shaking her head.

Kal looked a little disturbed as well, she knew what sort of wolves they were. Jeff nodded. He was still in favour of it. Anton turned to Jonathan.

"Sometime over the next few days, before we head off to Graterious, I'll make sure to help you figure out some of the... Better designs for these things. I've already got a few in mind."

"So do I." He replied. "It was rather fun to play around with these things. Spending all day doing the same thing over and over does get a little tiring. But, I would still like to do some normal smithing."

"I don't see any problem with that." Anton said, Jonathan looked very happy.

"The test is done." Anton said to Jeff. "And it did very well, all things considered. Jeff, can we get someone to take these back inside Atros. And get the people to carry on with their day, we don't want them gawking at us during the next bit."

Verona took a deep breath, trying to calm herself for what she knew would be coming.

"Right." Jeff waved to the two guards, still waiting nervously by the gate. "You two, we need this stuff back inside Jonathan's smithy."

The soldiers approached with some trepidation.

"It's fine so long as you don't get a fire near it. Come on..."

Jonathan unwound the fifth cannon and emptied its contents, putting the iron ball with the others and what powder he could save back into the barrel. There were quite a few granules present in the salvaged powder.

I must try and find out this stuffs' name and the name of the people who make it as soon as we arrive in Graterious. It'll be pretty weird if I just started asking around randomly. Less suspicion will be attracted if I already know the name but not exactly where to find it.

The guards, hesitant as they were, still followed their instructions. They handled each of the cannons with some trepidation, especially the exploded one. Jeff picked up the barrel while Jonathan handled the table. They both turned to Anton to see what he would say next.

"Verona and I are going to be doing some magical training. So we won't be free until some time later. Hopefully we'll stop for lunch."

Jeff and Jonathan looked at each-other before looking at Verona. She looked awkwardly back at them. They knew what he was talking about, even if they were going to be polite by not speaking it.

"Right. We'll see you both then."

Jeff waved at the soldiers on top. They took this as an order for the crowds to disperse. Some seemed quite glad that whatever Anton was up to had stopped.

I'll make a note about this at dinner, or lunch, saying that it was a weapons experiment. That might allay some fears as to what I am doing.

As the crowds disappeared it left Anton, Verona and Kal alone, again.

"So," Verona began, "Are you... Ready?"

"I guess I am. What about you?"

Verona scratched her head roughly.

"I... I suppose I'm as ready as I'm going to be." she said with a light shrug. "... Running away from it is not going to help. It's not just going to get better on it's own. It’ll probably piss of Jira as well, so she'll make the urges start to affect me when I'm not using the power."

She took a another deep breath.

"Okay. I'm ready."

"Um, Kal?" Anton said.

"Yes?"

"This really isn't a thing where we want...company. Just in case."

Kal looked worryingly at Verona, who could only smile awkwardly back.

"I understand, Anton."

It did not feel right, though, just to cut her loose in a village where many people might still harbinger animosity to her kind.

"I don't really have that much for you to do, so-"

"Actually," she cut in, "I do have something that I could do. Or get, rather."

"What's that?" Verona asked. "I think that Sybil has the new Sherriff thing covered."

"Incidentally, who did you guys pick for the new Sherriff?"

"Dennis." Verona answered.

"And who's that?"

Verona looked rather embarrassed, that she had not explained a little further.

"He is Dana's brother. And he should be perfect for the position."

"That's right, she had a brother." Anton said as he searched his memories. "He came with using into the Yellow Goblin tunnels to rescure her. I didn't actually get his name then."

"Well, he's got all the right reasons to be a Sherriff." Verona continued. "Loyalty, he comes from here and knows what it was like before, when everyone was at each-others throats. So he's got a good reason to work hard and keep the peace."

"A good decision then." Anton smiled at Verona.

"Sorry Kal," Verona apologised, "We kind of stopped you talking there. You said that there was something you wanted to... Get?"

Kal nodded.

"Before... Before coming here... I kind of didn't say the truth when I said that I only had my daggers and clothes as my possessions."

Makes sense I suppose. Don't bring everything here just in case we were hostile and you had to run. Although, what else could you have? Food, or loot? Something else perhaps?

"What do you have out there?" Verona asked.

"I only have a few things. A few extra clothes and a few copper and silver coins that I have stolen over the winters. Also, I... Ugh..."

Kal looked very awkward as she struggled for words.

"It has been some of the best days of my life here, but I don't want to forget how to move in the wild without being seen."

She looked fairly embarrassed. Perhaps she did not want to imply that she thought that Atros might fall.

"That's fine.” Anton said with a smile, which she returned, “It's a good idea to keep in touch with your strengths. How far away is it? I take it's a cave or something?"

Kal looked out to the north east. There was mainly grassland, but in the distance there some tall trees on a ridge.

"It's a small cave. I should be able to get back before the middle of the day." she sounded very confident in herself.

"Alright." Anton said, starting to walk away from the wall. "You definitely know how to handle yourself. We'll be on that ridge over there. Just in case you run into trouble."

"Thank you Anton, Verona. I will return shortly."

She gave a slight bow to each of them and ran off. Anton did not miss the smile on her face as she passed. Even her gait looked like she was bursting with joy.

Verona walked up to him and wrapped her hand around his.

"You don't think she's going to run off, do you?"

"No." Anton replied flatly.

"Good, I don't think so either." Verona spoke happily.

Another second later and the apprehension returned.

"Let's do this." she said, leading them both to the small ridge, where they would start to figure out how to control her power.

------------

Hello.

Shorter chapter again, but it was easier to break it up, forflow and editing reasons.

First tests of the hand cannon with the blue explosive powder. They worked alright, although the powder behaves a little more differently than it does on earth. I also know that the more 'modern' cannons have a proper fuse but this is just the first attempt. Didn't want to drag it out either. They know what roughly works so they'll be working on improving that.

It also means that the cannons, or anything else like that, won't be ready for some time.

Next one will be from Kal's perspective, reflecting on how her world has changed dramatically in such a short time. The one after that will be Verona starting to control her power properly.

So, Thanks for reading!