"Full of lies," Nightingale stated as Roland returned to the office after dealing with the alchemist, "What ancient tome from four hundred and fifty years ago? Isn't Elementary Chemistry a textbook you wrote for Scroll to memorize? That thing will be taught to the citizens sooner or later, right?"

"A benevolent lie," Roland said, picking up his cup and taking a sip of tea – since the merchant Margie from King's City gifted him a packet of black tea, he could finally bid farewell to the days of drinking plain water or ale, "How could a prince residing in the palace know so much about alchemy? If he does, it would be from the teachings of the King's City alchemists. Giving him a textbook to study himself is easier to accept than me directly imparting alchemy. After all, people always trust themselves the most."

"Oh?" Nightingale suddenly leaned forward, approaching Roland, "Then who imparted your knowledge, exactly?"

"Uh..." Roland barely opened his mouth before Nightingale stopped him with a finger, "If you don't want to say it, then don't. I don't want to hear you lie."

He blinked, and she finally retracted her hand.

"While there are still five days until the competition," Roland seized the opportunity to change the subject, "I need to let Carter familiarize himself with the operation of the new weapon in advance."

"But didn't you say that the dànyào problem hasn't been solved yet?"

"Smokeless powder only affects its practical use. If it's just for the sake of the competition, it's still possible for each gun to fire one round. After all, there's no need to consider transporting bullets and repeated reloading during the competition; ten bullets are enough to get a result," Roland said. Of course, the issue of reduced firing rate due to the lack of smokeless powder was a matter of probability, which could only be decided by fate and Carter's luck.

*******************

West of the town walls.

Carter arrived at the previous zhàyào explosion test site to accept the new mission assigned to him by Roland.

"Fighting a witch?" The Chief Knight paused, "Can I wear the God's Stone of Retribution?"

"Of course," Roland said with a smile, "But you're facing a special witch. The God's Stone of Retribution is ineffective against her, and her combat style is similar to a warrior's, using a greatsword to attack."

"You mean she's a witch proficient in close combat?" Carter glanced at Nightingale beside Roland.

"More or less, but since her ability is to strengthen herself, both her strength and speed far exceed ordinary people," Roland said. "You need to be mentally prepared. Her physical fitness is probably several times higher than that of the death row inmates used to test the pills before."

"Several times higher... Your Highness, do you know what that means?" Carter widened his eyes, "It's very likely that even if I observe her movements, my body won't be able to keep up with the reaction. If she's really as powerful as you say, I'm afraid I won't be able to defeat her."

"Theoretically speaking, your chance of winning is indeed zero," the prince handed over a strangely shaped firearm, "But with this, your chances of winning will greatly increase."

"This is... a new musket?" Carter took it with both hands – because its trigger and barrel were very similar to a flintlock gun, the knight judged that they should belong to the same type of weapon. It wasn't large, but it felt heavy in his hand, even heavier than a flintlock buqiang. What was particularly eye-catching was that, except for the wooden handle, the entire gun body was made of metal. The smooth lines and corners, as well as the gray-white metallic luster, had an indescribable beauty.

Carter instantly fell in love with this weapon.

"Its name is revolver," Roland took out another weapon of the same shape, and popped out the wheel like a honeycomb to the left, "Now I'll teach you how to use it."

Carter quickly discovered that its operation method was simpler than that of a flintlock gun. Bullets and huoyào were already integrated into one. Just load them into the middle wheel to fire. There were five holes on the wheel, which could load five rounds of dànyào at a time, which was probably why it was called a revolver. There was a small hole at the rear of the gun corresponding to the wheel. As long as the trigger was pulled, sparks would burst out of the hole, accompanied by a sizzling friction sound.

Perhaps there was a flint hidden inside, he thought. But this bullet design was too ingenious. The light huangsè shell was probably made of thin copper plate, presenting a perfect circular shape as a whole. It was smooth and seamless. The bullet was thin in the front and thick in the back, with the tail about the thickness of a finger, which could fit precisely into the cylinder hole. How was this made?

"This is an unfinished product, so you must always pay attention to the opening at the bottom of the bullet," Roland made a shooting motion, "Like this, point the muzzle slightly downwards, and don't let the huoyào leak out from the opening. After each shot, you must clean the bullet chamber of the wheel to avoid scattered huoyào accumulating in the hole."

"Unfinished product?"

"Yes," the prince shrugged, "There is still a key technology to be solved. If everything goes well, you may be able to catch up before the competition. At that time, the opening at the bottom of the bullet will be sealed, and you don't have to worry about leakage anymore. Let's try target practice first."

If the bottom is sealed, how to ignite the huoyào inside the bullet? Carter thought for a while and decided to give up thinking about this seemingly impossible problem. After all, he was not as knowledgeable and erudite as His Highness.

That's right, he's erudite. Carter was now utterly impressed with the Fourth Prince. Whether it was a court scholar, alchemy master, or astrologer, no one could invent so many strange things like His Highness, and these things had extremely high practical value, unlike inventions such as snow powder and manned kites, which could only be reduced to noble toys. The steam engine invented by His Highness had already been used for mining and water pumping in the mines, and firearms and cannons had repelled evil beasts and the Duke's coalition forces. Now Carter firmly believed that Roland Wimbledon would inevitably ascend the throne of Graycastle in the future.

The target was set up ten meters away, and the humanoid target at this distance was only the size of a palm. He held the gun with both hands as His Highness taught him, turned his body slightly, aimed the sight of the barrel at the target, and pulled the trigger.

Sparks and gas spewed out from both sides of the cylinder, and the huge sound made his ears ache. He felt as if someone had pushed him hard, and his wrist involuntarily lifted upwards. When the gunpowder smoke dissipated, the target looked intact.

"Continue," Roland said.

Carter took a deep breath and fired the remaining four bullets, but still none of them hit the target.

"This..." Carter looked at His Highness the Prince, who didn't seem to care.

"Due to the short barrel, the range and accuracy of the pistol are not as good as those of buqiang, so it's normal to miss the target. In addition, the bullet caliber is close to twelve millimeters, and the recoil is much greater than that of a flintlock gun." He began to say things that Carter couldn't understand again, "In short, practice hard according to the method I told you. Before the competition, you must be able to hit the target with all five shots to have a chance to win. By the way... don't forget to collect the shell casings. After reloading them, they can be used many more times."