Magic, steel, heavy industry

Chapter 41 Replicating the Powerful Crossbow

Five days later, as winter approached and a blizzard was imminent, the biting winds sweeping through Anvil Ridge grew increasingly piercing.

Inside the carpenter's workshop, a tense test firing was taking place under the watchful eyes of more than a dozen people.

They were all the carpenters in the Anvil Territory, plus the apprentices they had recruited. Although their numbers were small, each of them had a certain talent for carpentry.

These days, the carpenters' workshop has only one task: to replicate the powerful crossbow.

This was the lord's most prized weapon, and they had to devote themselves entirely to dealing with it. The carpenters spent almost every day in the workshop, without even going home.

After all, they were very envious when they saw that the blacksmith and stonemason workshops next door had received gold coins as a reward.

If they still can't produce results, what if the lord thinks they're no good and kicks them all out?

To this end, they broke through the slow process of traditional carpentry and used the most efficient means to finally successfully replicate a powerful crossbow.

Its appearance is not much different from the prototype crossbow in Wirtz's collection. Both require holding it with both hands and pressing the string with the foot, and both fire more powerful crossbow bolts.

However, the details are different. Due to the scarcity of crossbow materials, they can only use goblin tendons instead of animal tendons. They soak several tendons in hot oil and then knead them into crossbow strings. Of course, in order to maintain the toughness and strength of the crossbow strings, they also added a little gray magic powder to the hot oil.

The crossbow arms and body were made from the best wood from the Stag Mountains, and for the mechanism, they chose goblin bones, which are more efficient to make, along with iron plates and gray magic powder.

The advantage of this is that the raw materials are simple and readily available, and the gray magic powder can improve reliability.

Of course, the firing mechanism of the crossbow was the problem that stumped them the longest, but fortunately, after many attempts, the carpenters finally managed to replicate it.

Once all the components are assembled, a powerful crossbow, crafted independently by the Anvil Territory, is born.

Of course, the test firing phase is the most important; if the results are not good, they dare not report to Vilan.

The carpenters went to the back of the workshop, where there was a spacious experimental area specifically used for conducting experiments.

The strongest among them, Nalf, raised his powerful crossbow and looked at the apprentice beside him. "Are the bolts ready?"

"Here it is!"

The apprentice immediately placed a bundle of crossbow bolts at Nalf's feet.

Compared to the crossbow itself, the bolts are much simpler to make.

After all, with the help of the blacksmith workshop to forge the magic powder arrowheads, they only needed to ensure the reliability of the arrow shaft.

Moreover, these are all magic powder crossbow bolts with added cyan magic powder, and their horizontal firing range can easily reach over 300 meters.

Nalf nervously stepped on the iron foot pedal at the front, then pulled hard on the auxiliary stringing device to complete the draw, and a muffled thud came from the crossbow arm as it charged up.

He then picked up a crossbow bolt, placed it in the slot, raised both hands, and after a quick aim, pulled the trigger.

As the iron plate finished releasing the string, the crossbow bolt was fired instantly.

With the enhancement of the cyan magic powder, the crossbow bolts flew faster and faster, disappearing almost in the blink of an eye.

The carpenters held their breath, clenched their fists, and shut their mouths.

"Hold it in, you can't laugh yet..."

Next came the target test. Aiming wasn't the carpenters' forte, so they brought in the hunter Scarface.

The latter skillfully took the crossbow, easily cocked it, and at the same time, two targets were set up at 100 meters and 200 meters.

This was Vilan's requirement for them. With the blessing of the blue magic powder, he did not want his soldiers to only be able to shoot enemies at close range.

Scarface took a deep breath, quickly fired a crossbow bolt, then without even looking, bent down, pulled back the pin, and fired again.

The two launches were spaced only 10 seconds apart, followed by two crisp, clear sounds that rang in everyone's ears.

They turned to look and saw that the 100-meter target had been shot through with a large hole!

A 200-meter target... and the crossbow bolt hits the target perfectly!

As for the leather on the target used to test its power, it did nothing to stop the crossbow bolts; they were all pierced through!

At this moment, the carpenters' pent-up emotions, which had been suppressed for several days, were finally released.

"We did it!"

"It's a replica! Even better than the original crossbow!"

Even Scarface gaped, staring in astonishment at the two targets.

At such a distance and with such power, even the best bow in the North could not achieve this!

……

"McKin is back?"

Inside the study, Vilan suddenly heard the news, and his eyes immediately showed some tension.

After all, he is now entirely dependent on Wirtz's legacy and the chest of gold coins he brought. If the business doesn't take off, he won't survive the winter.

Llorente nodded. "Yes, and it wasn't just him and Miles who came back; they brought back a caravan as well."

"what?"

Vilan was dumbfounded. What was a caravan? What exactly had that guy McKinney done in Silver City?

He could no longer calm down and hurriedly led his advisors and guards to the castle gate.

McKinney was dressed in a gentleman's suit, with a polite gentleman with a small mustache beside him.

Miles was behind the two men, and next to him was a strangely dressed teenager.

In the distant town square, more than 20 armed men stood guard over six horse-drawn carriages.

Vilan immediately regained the composure befitting a lord and walked over without flinching.

"Lord Vilan! I apologize, I'm two days behind schedule and only just got back."

McKinley immediately jogged over, his face apologetic.

Vilan nodded and said, "Welcome home. Now explain to me what's going on."

McKin immediately leaned closer and whispered, "I've made contact with Madeline, the biggest merchant in Silverflow City. She promised to take as many magic powder weapons as there are, but we don't have many right now, so she's decided to send someone over in a month."

"Then what is this?"

Vilan glanced at the gentleman at the door, who politely removed his hat and bowed to Vilan.

McGinn continued, "His name is James, and he's a... smuggler."

Vilan's eyelids twitched instantly, and his expression became even stranger.

It was only after McGinn's explanation that he realized that James had approached him on his own. He guessed that McGinn and Madeline had a big deal to discuss, and although he didn't know the specifics, his businessman's shrewdness made him stick to him without hesitation.

Later, when James learned of the existence of the magic powder weapon, he volunteered to solve the hunger problem in Anvil Territory.

Therefore, the six large carriages he brought were filled with food that the Anvil Territory desperately needed.

It includes wheat, smoked meat, salt, honey, and fresh fruit.

Like a child caught doing something wrong, McKinney said awkwardly, "I'm sorry, sir. I just thought this smuggler might be useful to you. As for the bodyguards he brought, don't worry, they're no match for our Ironclad Guard!"