Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Perhaps even the Gnome elder did not understand just how important the black gunpowder was, but as a modern man, Yang Ling understood.

The reason for the rapid rise of modern Europe, being able to occupy a country with merely a few hundred, or even just a few dozen soldiers, was not because of the bravery of their soldiers, but their advanced weapons.

With the black gunpowder, he might one day be able to develop hot weapons, establishing a unique army on land and sea, or even an air force with immense power on the continent. Then, in front of his army, neither the Banto Empire or the Rossi Empire would be able to stand up to him no matter how much of a numbers advantage they had!

With the black gunpowder, he might be able to set off the Steam Age, building a steam-powered ship to explore the vast ocean. From then on, this foreign world might enter an age of sea exploration, and the development of his territory would be tremendous.

With the black gunpowder, he might be able to develop weapons of immense powder, giving him unparalleled might on the continent. He would then be able to quickly find the relics left behind by the Ancient Wizards as well as the secrets to their disappearance, and from there, a path back to Earth.

Hope was always promising, but the reality was often harsh!

In his elation, Yang Ling personally researched the black gunpowder along with the Gnome elder, alchemists, mountain dwarves and human craftsmen, but the outcome was depressing. Without intricate tools and machines, as well as a specific method, there was no way they could move from traditional weapons to an era of hot weapons.

After multiple failed attempts, the Gnome elder spoke as he looked nervously at Yang Ling beside him. “Sir, are we going to test it any further?” His face was charred in many areas, his clothes blasted apart by the black gunpowder. He looked even more pitiful than the beggars on the street. In order to build the so-called gun that Yang Ling had spoken of, he had nearly lost his life.

At the start, the dwarf Rumi had created a cylinder about the thickness of a thumb. In the end, the amount of powder that they could stuff into the cylinder was too little, and they were unable to ignite it no matter what they tried. Even after half a day of tests, it would not create so much as a sound.

Later, the dwarf Rumi led his clansmen and created a cylinder the thickness of an arm. In the end, they put too much of the powder into the cylinder, and the impact blasted the contraption to pieces.

Yang Ling had given his orders from far away, and thus was not harmed in any way. But the Gnome elder’s head was nearly sliced open by the shrapnel. Even though it was cold outside, he became covered in cold sweat out of shock. If he knew that this would happen, he would not have anxiously presented this treasure to Yang Ling.

Yang Ling clenched his teeth. “Let’s try it one more time. Compress this pile of powder into the cylinder!”

Since their tools were limited, rendering them unable to create intricate weapons, they could only focus their attention on creating a landmine. Even though the Gnomes had created a few landmines in the past, they were all made by hand, and just like the drawing of the Magical Spell Formation, they could not make even one in two weeks. There was no way that the mines they made previously could meet the demand.

Looking at the shiny, dark metal ball, then looking at the large pile of black powder, the Gnome elder felt his scalp go numb. He swallowed before speaking, “Sir, if we pile on this much powder, it would be easy to injure one of our allies. Can we split the gunpowder into several hundred portions and create a few hundred landmines that you spoke of?”

Having suffered all this while, the Gnome elder was filled with fear for Yang Ling’s so-called landmine. After having his head nearly chopped off, he no longer had the guts to give it another try!

Miniature bombs?

Inspiration struck Yang Ling. Those words meant more to him than they did the Gnome elder! The Gnome elder had just uttered those words when Yang Ling had a stroke of inspiration, coming up with an idea.

The main reason he had been unable to create guns and claymores was because of the lack of intricate tools to manufacture and process steel outer shells. The craftsmanship of the dwarf Rumi and the rest were decent, and they might be able to create one or two suitable steel shells in one or two months. But the efficiency of the process was too low, and there was no way that they could produce them in batches. The cost of producing one in the end wasn’t worth it.

But miniature bombs were different. Since they did not carry an extreme amount of power, they could be created merely by using the black gunpowder and black clay. Even if any accidents occurred, they would not easily injure his own men.

Without hesitation, after deciding on the idea, Yang Ling immediately instructed the group to take action. They combined black gunpowder and black clay in a certain ratio, creating a dozen miniature bombs, a little bigger than a lychee each.

After taking a deep breath, he personally tested them, throwing a miniature bomb at his target with force. In the end, even though the edge of a porcelain bowl not far away had crumbled on impact, the miniature bomb did not explode like he had expected.

Could it be that the proportions of the formulation are wrong?

After failing in succession several times, Yang Ling, the Gnome elder and the rest began analyzing the possible causes. After increasing the proportion of the pulverized Black Pulp Melon and sulfur, they once again created a dozen miniature bombs. In the end, even though they exploded, the power was lacking. It could not even shatter a porcelain bowl, only leaving behind a few cracks.

After many many tries, the Gnome elder had a stroke of inspiration. “Sir, why not try adding a few drops of Magical Beast Blood Essence to the mixture?”

Magical Beast Blood Essences harbored tendrils of Magical Energy, with the energy in greater concentration within the Blood Essences of higher-level Magical Beasts. Since they could draw Magical Spell Formations with the Magical Beast Blood Essences, the blood essence might have an unexpected effect on the miniature bombs.

After deliberating it for a moment, looking at the mudball-like miniature bomb in his hand, Yang Ling decided to go along with the Gnome elder’s idea and introduce a little Magical Beast Blood Essence.

After returning to the castle, his spider army had brought back quite an amount of Magical Beast Blood Essence from the Terras Forest every day. Thus, he did not mind wasting a few bottles of it as a test.

After coming into contact with the dark, shiny miniature bomb, the Blood Essence collected from Wind Wolves rapidly soaked into the ball, quickly vanishing as if it had touched a sponge. Other than the faint metallic stench of blood lingering in the air, there were no other traces of the blood.

Did I add too little Magical Beast Blood Essence?

He decided he might as well go all out. Yang Ling dumped the entire bottle onto his miniature bomb. Quickly, streams of bubbles came from the miniature bomb as it absorbed the blood of the Magical Beast inside the bottle, as if it were a sponge. In the blink of an eye, half the bottle of the Magical Beast Blood Essence had disappeared.

Unlike the previous time, the miniature bomb turned a little red after absorbing a large amount of Magical Beast Blood Essence. A red glow moved across the surface of the miniature bomb, releasing a faint halo of red light. Looking from far away at night, it looked as though it was a dancing ember, or a firefly.

“Sir, let me test it!” Looking at the red glow moving across the miniature bomb, the Gnome elder volunteered.

He did not dare test out a cylinder piled full of the powder anymore, but the power of this thumb-sized miniature bomb was limited, and he believed that it would not be too big of a problem if any accidents occurred. At the very least, it would not be blasted into pieces that nearly sliced his head off like the larger cylinder.

After carefully handing the glowing miniature bomb to the Gnome elder, Yang Ling quickly moved backward after giving a few instructions. Unlike the Gnome elder, Yang Ling had keenly sensed a little threat after the miniature bomb absorbed a large amount of Magical Beast Blood Essence. Since the Gnome elder had volunteered to help and act as a lab rat, he naturally was willing to watch from a distance.

In order to ensure that he hit the target, the Gnome elder took a few steps forward before throwing the miniature bomb. With a boom, the porcelain bowl blasted into pieces. Of those pieces, one sharp fragment even sliced past the Gnome elder’s throat, leaving behind a faint trace of blood. If the wound was any deeper, Yang Ling was afraid that not even a deity would have been able to save him.

Looking at the dumbfounded Gnome Elder, then looking at the fragments and the small pit on the ground, the group was shocked, and Yang Ling was no exception. Even though he had sensed a feeling of threat, he could never have expected a miniature bomb to possess that much power. It looked like the Magical Beast Blood Essence was a great treasure indeed!

After recovering from his shock, Yang Ling quickly calmed himself down, silently deliberating how best to exploit the power of the miniature bomb. The miniature bomb would explode whenever it suffered from a great impact, and that would mean that there were problems transporting and safekeeping it, be it used for landmines or equipping it on soldiers as grenades.

After a moment’s deliberation about his massive Magical Beast army, Yang Ling had came up with a bold plan. He would create a suicide squad using flying Magical Beasts, and tie the bombs to their bodies.

To a heavily armored or very powerful enemy, one bomb might not pose too much trouble for them, or even two. But if they were faced with the simultaneous attacks of thousands of bombs, even a powerful Sword Saint or Magical Tutor might be unable to defend themselves, much less a Great Swordsman or Great Spellcaster!

The Terras Forest spanned tens of thousands of miles, and contained countless low-level Magical Beasts. Amongst those were a large number of flying Magical Beasts. Yang Ling believed that tying the bombs to the bodies of flying Magical Beasts and instructing them to divebomb from high in the sky to unleash suicidal attacks would be his enemies’ nightmare.

After comparing between the flying Magical Beasts, Yang Ling chose the Vampire Bats and was prepared to form an army of Self Destructing Bats. On an average day, he could station them at tactical defense points in the Aila Mountain Pass or Taildon Valley. On the battlefield, they could be used to focus their attacks on his enemy’s key personnel, like the leader or the Spellcasters.

Compared to the Horned Bee Beasts and Gargoyles, Vampire Bats had the advantage in terms of numbers and were convenient to replace. The could not only be tamed in the Terras Forest, they could be farmed and raised at the Black Water Lake. It was beneficial for the building of a suicidal, self-destructing army, blasting the enemies into pulp.

Furthermore, while the speed of the Vampire Bats was not the fastest, the paths they took when they flew were the hardest to anticipate. While they were flying at high speeds, they could even make a series of evasive maneuvers, greatly boosting the probability of success in their attacks.