Iron Powder and Spellcasters

  Chapter 46 Spring Guns and Flying Arrows

Research by    Alliance Magic Warfare Bureau shows that spellcaster's spell talent is an inseparable whole. The three major types of spells are artificially divided, and people with spell talent can use all types of magic.

   In simple terms, humans can only be divided into two categories: "with spell talent" and "without spell talent", and there is no such thing as talent with only a part of spells.

   For example, during the test, even if the subjects can only show the talent of fire-like spells, the other two types of spell talents are not shown. But after a long period of training, he can also use sound spells and haste spells.

  Like Winters, although he is good at fire spells, he can also use haste spells and sound spells. It's just that the latter two types of spells progress slowly, so he is more willing to invest time and energy into fire spells.

   But this is not the case with Moritz van Nassau. He is a special case of the more than a thousand spellcasters trained by the Magic Warfare Bureau over the years. He only has the talent of speeding up magic and can only use high-level speeding spells.

   As for sound magic and fire magic, even if he has practiced hard for many years, he can only use the most basic spells and cannot use more advanced applications.

   When Moritz took spellcaster classes at the military academy, his faculty and classmates dubbed the rare condition a birth disability.

   But these outlaws lying in the underground passages probably won't agree with this statement.

   After just a dozen or so breaths, the only people standing in the tunnel were Lieutenant Colonel Field, Major Moritz, and Warrant Lieutenant Winters.

  The combination of rust and earthy smell stimulated Winters' sense of smell. The flickering torches illuminated the walls of the corridor, with red and white splashes everywhere, as if this place was not a tunnel a dozen meters below the sea blue city, but the backyard of a thriving butcher.

  Field threw away the blood on the knife, and took a few steps to catch up with the opening he let the major leave behind.

   "Don't, don't kill me..." The masked man with his knees shattered lay on the ground and was crawling forward with his hands digging through the soil.

   "Shh, don't make a sound." The lieutenant colonel squatted beside the masked man and asked kindly, "Where is the lame man?"

   "In front, right in front." The masked man hurriedly pointed deeper into the tunnel, he suddenly lowered his head and kissed the lieutenant colonel's shoes: "Don't kill me, I'll take you there."

  Field took a step back in disgust.

   "I'll show you the way." The masked man struggled to get up, but couldn't keep his balance. Just as he staggered forward half a step, he fell to the ground again. The wound was affected again, and the masked man bowed like a shrimp, and cried out in pain.

   "It's alright, since we haven't changed places, I won't bother you to lead the way." Field approached the masked man with a saber in his backhand.

The masked man who was still on the ground a moment ago suddenly burst out. He seemed to be arching up because of the pain, but he actually took the opportunity to take out the weapon from his arms. school belly.

  咻, there was another shrill sound, and a silver light hit the back of the masked man's head accurately. The whole body of the masked man was carried forward by the strength contained in the silver coin, and he fell into the dust without gasping for breath.

   "It's interesting, and I want to pull a pad on the back." Field sucked the flower, and inserted the saber into the back of the masked man to make sure that the masked man couldn't die any longer.

   Then he carelessly wiped the blood on the sword with the masked man's clothes, and asked Winters without looking up, "Have you dealt with the rest?"

   Winters found that although the lieutenant colonel looked rough, he was very cautious in some places. He tried to answer as calmly as possible: "Neck and chest, each patched twice."

   "It's interesting." There was a hint of surprise in Field's tone. He didn't expect this little guy who came to trainee to work so neatly. The lieutenant colonel slowly put the saber back into the scabbard: "Let's go."

   The three of them only encountered this group of people blocking the road, and they walked forward without any obstruction.

   Passing through a warehouse where wooden boxes and barrels were stacked, Field led Winters to push open a solid wooden door and entered a small room.

   In Qianmin Street, where the main building is the tomb and the sewer, this small room is elegant. Not only does there have a bed and a table, but there are also stone slabs on the ground. The most conspicuous in the room are the two large bookshelves, which are piled with rolls of documents. If it wasn't in the dark underground, Winters would have believed that this was a scribe's room.

  The flame of the torch swayed left and right, and it seemed that there was a hidden vent or a secret passage.

   "Where's the person? Run away?" Field sat on the bed with a knife: "Cripple, if you don't come out again, I'll burn all your goods outside."

   No one responded to him.

"The old friend is here, but you can't hide. Then I can only hand over your ledger to the Sheriff Commission to see how many respectable gentlemen have participated in your big business." Field continued to face the air say.

   said he was looking for the ledger, but Field didn't even look at the documents on the bookshelf. He got up and took the stacks of white papers on the desk in his hand, and shook at Moritz and Winters: "I found it."

   But what he was holding was clearly white paper.

Field dipped a bit of water from the water basin with his hand, and explained to the two subordinates unhurriedly: "Some people who cannot see the light will write the content that is not visible in an invisible way. This technique is called steganography. In fact, it is using alum water as ink. After it dries, it is white paper, and it can only be revealed by smearing it with water."

   He wiped the water evenly over the white paper, but nothing appeared on the paper.

  Major Moritz coughed slightly awkwardly.

  Field didn't see any embarrassment at all, he said with great interest: "Oh, have the technology improved? It's interesting."

The lieutenant colonel held up a piece of paper, looked at it through the light, and said with certainty: "Steganography is a riddle. As long as the party who needs to read it knows the answer, the process of obtaining the information should not be difficult. The common methods are nothing more than fire and water. If it's not water, then it's fire?"

   Having said that, the lieutenant colonel picked up a piece of paper and approached the torch to bake it. After more than ten seconds, lines of light yellow text really appeared on the white paper.

   "I thought it was something new, but it turned out to be an old trick like lemon juice and ink." The lieutenant colonel's tone was rather disappointed, as if some fun toy had broken.

  The crunching sound of the wooden shaft turning sounded, and a secret door suddenly appeared on the wall.

   Winters subconsciously pulled out his weapon, but he didn't even notice that there was a secret door on the wall.

  The designer used the uneven wall of the earth wall to cover up the gap of the secret door skillfully. Under the dim lighting conditions of the underground, I am afraid that I have to stick to the wall and find it bit by bit.

   An indignant voice came out of the secret door: "It's not a ledger, it's just a few reconciliations. In addition to steganography, I also used encryption, and you won't know what was written just by deciphering the steganography."

A bald gray-robed man limped out of the door. Winters originally thought that the head of the thugs should also be a ferocious man, but the gray-robed man looked like an ordinary person, even more than ordinary people. Even thinner.

   His skin was a sickly white color, probably because of the constant absence of sunlight. But he has straight teeth, which is not common among the lower classes. Hair and beard are neatly groomed, and the fabric of the robe is not very good, but clean. Although it was underground, there was not a single bit of mud between the nails.

   And his baldness is not natural, but deliberately shaved to look like the Mediterranean.

  The man in the gray robe gave Winters the same feeling that Winters had of this room. Had he met this man on the street, Winters would have thought he was a catholic priest.

  Field gestured Winters to take back the sword with his eyes, and waved the stack of paper at the gray-robed man: "Then do you want to try if I can unravel your ciphertext?"

  The man in the gray robe limped to Field's side, and angrily took the stack of white papers from the lieutenant colonel and put it in his arms, he didn't seem to have the slightest sense that he had just killed a dozen of his subordinates.

He dragged his legs and sat back on the bed, and said impatiently, "If you have anything to ask, just send someone to send a message. Is it necessary to spend so much trouble every time? Do you think I am gathering such a group of people? Is it easy to be scum?"

   "I'm not afraid to ask questions if I send someone here." Lieutenant Colonel Field replied with a smile.

   "If you have anything to ask, hurry up and leave." The gray-robed man's grammar was honorific, but his tone was very impatient.

Lieutenant Colonel    Field dragged a stool and sat in front of the gray-robed man: "As soon as the pier exploded, everyone in the city knew about it. Don't tell me you didn't hear a word."

   "You came to me just to ask about this?"

"right."

"I really don't know much about this." The gray-robed man frowned and said, "I only know that someone ordered a batch of reed guns in the north in the black market, short guns that can be used with one hand. Reed guns But it’s a rare thing. As soon as I heard that someone was going to buy a revolver gun and a short gun, I knew that some big man was going to die, so I left a little impression.”

   "Someone's going to buy a reed gun made in the province?"

   "Yes, I want to buy the ones made by artisans from the United Provinces, and the time is very short, and the bid is very high."

   "Can you find out who bought it?"

  The man in the gray robe grinned dryly and said, "What do you think? Why do you think you should come to the black market to buy this thing?"

   "Who sold that?"

The grey-robed man snorted coldly: "Aren't you asking nonsense? Qianmin Street is not my backyard, I'm just here to support a small business, I didn't sell it anyway. It's useless to find out, this place, It is also impossible for the seller to know who the buyer is.”

   This man's tone was very aggressive, but the lieutenant colonel was not annoyed. He supported his chin and asked, "Is there any useful news?"

   The man in gray robe lowered his head and thought for a while, then raised his head and replied, "It's nothing, at least I don't know."

   Winters couldn't tell whether the man in the grey robe was telling the truth or a lie, but Lieutenant Colonel Field didn't seem to doubt him.

   "Then you can help me find out. If there is any trouble recently, please tell me in time." Field stood up, obviously leaving.

   "Please don't come over in person in the future, just send someone to give you a message." The gray-robed man said with a wry smile.

  …

   An hour later, the living room of Major Moritz's apartment.

  Field came upstairs with three freshly washed wine glasses in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other.

   He put the glasses on the little table, poured half a glass for himself, and then half a glass each for Moritz and Winters.

Lieutenant Colonel    is still more concerned about the mental state of Winters, a fledgling rookie.

As he handed the wine glass to Winters, he said, "Don't feel guilty about what happened today, half of the scum in the street, half of them have a murder case on their backs, and the other half have more than one murder case on their backs. Killing them is just a noose money for the Senate."

   "It can't be said that, after all, we didn't go through any trial procedures." Major Moritz took a sip of wine and sang the opposite in a slow manner.

"They attack the officers who are on duty, and they don't need a trial." The lieutenant colonel's tone was very bad. He poured himself a drink and said: "It's a pity that these scum will never be killed. If you kill so much today, tomorrow the lame will be able to Find more people, God knows how many mice are hidden in this hidden street."

   "Who is that bald man, and why is he wearing a catholic priest's hair?" Winters asked while holding the glass.

"Cripple... Cripple is the less scumbag among the scumbags in Qianmin Street. With his restraint, that group of animals can make a little less dirty." Lieutenant Colonel Field did not answer Winters directly. He avoided the important point and changed the subject lightly: "Warrant Officer Montagne, do you still want to learn actual combat spells? If you want, someone who can teach you is right in front of you."

   After saying that, Field pointed to Major Moritz.

   "Want to learn." Winters stood up excitedly.

  Today, Major Moritz's extraordinary magical abilities impressed him. Moritz was suffering from a severe withdrawal that day on the dock, not the true level of the major.

   "What are you learning from me? I can't use anything other than speeding spells. Spellcasters like me are the deformed children of spellcasters - born with disabilities." The major said with a wry smile.

"Fart! The thinking of the Magic Warfare Bureau is completely wrong." Lieutenant Colonel Field slapped his thigh vigorously: "The Magic Warfare Bureau can't wait to let the casters master every spell, and teach us more than a dozen spells. I realized it too late, and after I met Moritz, I realized that this line of thinking was completely wrong. Spellcaster, mastering one spell in a lifetime is enough."

  Although Moritz himself does not seem to be proud of his spell ability, Winters is very determined to learn from the major.

   He has always been troubled by the lack of lethality of fire spells, so he finally had the opportunity to ask more sophisticated spellcasters for advice, and naturally he would not give up easily.

   Seeing that this little boy really wanted to learn, Moritz shrugged.

   He walked into his bedroom, rummaged through the desk for a long time, and finally came out with a small leather bag.

   "Then." The major threw the small purse to Winters.

   Winters untied the ropes, and inside the purse were ten metal rods.

   He took out one of them, and judged from the luster and weight, the material should be steel or iron.

  The metal bar has a uniform texture and a smooth surface, with a pointed end at one end and a flat end at the other.

   It is two circles thinner than the little finger, and about the same length as the middle finger. It is neither light nor heavy in the hand.

   "Is it iron?" Winters asked.

"It's steel, very good steel. This is the practice equipment I figured out by myself." Major Moritz sat back on the reclining chair and explained slowly: "The way to practice acceleration in military school courses is to accelerate heavy objects. The heavier the accelerating object, the better, but I don't think that kind of exercise makes sense.

  I think that when practicing the flying arrow technique, you should ensure that the weight of the 'arrows' used is exactly the same each time, so that the feel can be cultivated over time. The ten steel cones here, five blunt tips, and five pointed tips, have been adjusted by the most precise balance, and they are exactly the same. "

   Winters took out all ten steel cones, five with curved blunt fronts and five with sharp spikes.

   He took two of them and put them in his left and right hands to weigh them, but he really couldn't tell which one was heavy.

   "Ever played darts?" Moritz asked Winters.

   "Played it, not great."

  Moritz entered the bedroom again, this time he dragged out a round target plate from under the bed, the bottom of the wooden plate was wrapped with a circle of straw rope, and a silver coin was nailed in the middle of the target plate.

Major    hung the target plate above the fireplace, turned back to Winters and said, "Take that blunt steel cone as the casting material for the Flying Arrow Technique, and hit this silver coin."

   Winters took the steel cone in his hand and aimed at the silver coin in the center of the target plate, recalling the feeling of using the flying arrow technique, and entering the spell casting state.

   He endured a strong stinging and burning sensation, and used magic to speed up the steel cone in his hand.

   The originally stationary steel cone accelerated magically in a short period of time and flew out of Winters' hand, leaving the range that Winters' third hand could reach.

   hit the edge of the fireplace slowly, not even touching the edge of the target plate.

  [The third hand and fifth limb both refer to spell abilities]

   Winters' face felt hot, but there was no emotion on Major Moritz's face.

   "Aim a little higher," said the major.

   Winters nodded, adjusted his breathing, and shot a second steel cone.

   This time the steel cone hit the target plate, but it hit the upper right corner, still some distance away from the silver coin in the bullseye.

   "Are you still doing spell training every night?" the major asked.

   "Yes," Winters replied. In military school, nightly spell training was required for all spellcaster cadets.

   In addition to being unable to practice spells due to phantom limb pain during the few days on the ship, even when he returned home, Winters did not interrupt spell training every night.

"Change all the training items to this one, and don't practice other spells first. Use the blunt-headed ones for practice, and the pointed ones for actual combat use." Major Moritz explained while drinking: "You can understand the flying arrow technique as the use of The invisible third hand throws the dart, the explosive power of the spell determines the power of the dart, and the feel of the spell determines the accuracy of the dart.

   These two points can be improved through persistent practice. You can practice this after you go home. As long as you can continue to use the Flying Arrow Technique, don’t stop, and practice until the phantom limb pain can no longer enter the casting state. If you can't sleep at night because of phantom limb pain, drink this soaked water. "

Major   Moritz threw another paper bag to Winters, which Winters recognized as something the Major had bought on the black market in Stealth Street. He opened the paper bag and glanced at it, what seemed to be some kind of herbal medicine.

   "Soaking this thing in water can help you fall asleep - just a little at a time, not too much. Sleep can make you self-healing, and the phantom limb pain disappears after sleep."

   "But the phantom limb pain went away after a few days of rest while we were on the boat," Winters asked cautiously.

"I've never seen the severe phantom limb pain when you were on the boat. The phantom limb pain won't be so severe when you do exercises like mine. Don't worry." Strange how the people of the Federal Province made you look like that."

"Understood."

Major    changed from sipping wine little by little to drinking it one by one: "In the final analysis, it still requires long-term training.

  The spellcaster's course ends when you leave the military school, but the spellcaster's training never ends. When I first graduated, my flying arrow skills were slightly better than yours. Don't worry, I'll practice it slowly. "

   Winters took the major's words to heart, but he still had a puzzled question: "Since you have this kind of special steel cone, why do you still use silver coins?"

   "The money is so uncomfortable, why else?" Field, who had not spoken for a long time, suddenly said.

Major    laughed: "What do you think?"

   "Uh...easy to carry?" This is the only reason Winters can think of, but using silver coins is still too extravagant, if he can't bear it.

"That's it." Moritz nodded approvingly: "Just think about it, it's common for you to carry a hundred silver coins when you go out, but it is very cumbersome to carry a hundred steel cones. And these steel cones are specially made, once After the shot is finished, the feel of using the new 'arrows' in a hurry will change greatly, and it will be inaccurate. So I later found that silver coins are better, and even if I go to the ends of the earth, I will not worry about running out of ammunition."

"Fuck! The weight of silver coins is different. Are the coins made by the oathbreaker the same as the coins made by Hailan? I also know that many black-hearted ghosts scrape shards from the silver coins, and all the silver coins that are handled have to be scraped off a little. ." Lieutenant Colonel Field was clearly not impressed with Major Moritz's reasoning.

  [The oath-breaker, the Holy Muro Emperor Henry III]

Major    still said lazily: "It's not too much, and after practicing for a long time, it doesn't matter if the weight is slightly different."

Lieutenant Colonel    is still debating with the Major, and Winters has decided to find someone to make it a few hundred steel cones in one go when he has time. He doesn't feel that it is cumbersome to carry a hundred steel cones with him.

   After all, turning the flying arrow technique into a "coin-spraying" technique is still too much for Winters.

   Thanks to book friend 20181013204343295 for the recommendation ticket. grateful. [Sound explosion technique is simply a large-scale amplification technique, not a more advanced application] (Thanks to the book friend Black Computer Accessories for pointing out the BUG in the plot, I'm here to debug)

   (end of this chapter)