Thinking of taking action, Roland immediately went to the ammunition factory after leaving Third Border City!
Even though Anna wasn't in Neverwinter at the moment, if his idea was correct, this part of the modification could be completed with existing technology alone.
Or rather, only in this way would it have value for large-scale production.
Surrounded by his guards, he walked into the factory, and the unprepared workers immediately knelt down in unison, filling the scene with surprise and excitement. Looking at everyone's fanatical gazes, Roland realized at this moment that his actions might have been a little impulsive, but since he was already here, he had no choice but to make the best of it, turning the trial run into a tour of condolences and inspection.
After finally getting the high-spirited workers back to their posts, he immediately instructed the person in charge, "Call the most skilled foreman in the factory, I have something I want to prototype."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
The principle of tracer rounds is not complicated. Simply put, the solid bullet head is hollowed out and filled with a luminous agent, a combustion aid, and a delayed fuse, and then sealed with a tailpipe and aluminum foil. When the bullet is fired, the propellant gas will break through the foil, ignite the delayed fuse, and cause the luminous agent to burn, eventually forming a bright trail.
For later generations with a complete range of chemical industries, this is just a matter of adding a production line, but switching to Neverwinter, where industrial projects are extremely unbalanced, is obviously a headache. The luminous agent is generally a mixture of strontium nitrate, magnesium aluminum powder, and barium peroxide, which means that if you want to produce tracer rounds on a large scale, you must first overcome the industrial production lines of these compounds. Roland naturally knew the level of the chemical industry in his own territory—until now, the Chemical Industry Department did not dare to say that it could definitely meet the automatic rifle ammunition supply of the First Army, let alone anything else.
The person in charge quickly brought in a craftsman—somewhat to his surprise, the other party was not an old man with gray hair and trembling hands, but a young man in his mid-twenties. He knelt down on one knee excitedly, saluting like a knight, "Your Majesty, what can I do for you?"
Roland immediately realized, yes, Neverwinter had entered the era of mechanical production, and the younger generation with stronger learning abilities were becoming the main force of the industrialization wave. This was also a scene that was difficult to see in handicraft workshops—the speed of technological progress surpassed the advantages brought by age, and in the face of new production tools, past experience was no longer applicable.
Now that he thought about it, most of the people working in the factory were in their twenties and thirties. Thinking that they were already holding key positions, the future of Graycastle was really worth looking forward to.
Roland nodded with satisfaction, "I want to add something new to the bullets. Do as I say."
His idea was very simple. Since the "Stone Slab" emits a dazzling light when it deforms violently, perhaps the same tracer effect can be achieved by using the impact of the propellant gas.
The specific principle is similar to a press—a gradually narrowing bottleneck is cut into the inside of the bullet head, and a thin slice of the Stone Slab is filled at the bottom. When the bullet is fired, the expanding gas will directly squeeze the slice into the bottleneck. Due to the existence of the bottleneck, even after the bullet leaves the barrel, the slice cannot return to its original state, which is equivalent to being in a constantly shrinking state, thereby continuously emitting light until the electrical potential is exhausted.
After explaining a few words, the other party completely understood his intention and agreed to it.
Only one day later, a verification report was sent to Roland's desk.
The results proved that the method was indeed feasible. After many attempts, all twenty or so successfully modified bullets could be seen with obvious flashes, and the bullet screen left a clearly distinguishable light trace in front of everyone.
He couldn't help but be greatly encouraged!
All along, the night battles where the shooting landing point could not be seen had always been a major weakness of the First Army's fortress tactics. Even with illumination rounds, it was still difficult to reach the daytime shooting level under dim lighting conditions. In addition, if automatic rifles were moved to airplanes, this problem would only be more prominent—even on a clear day with no clouds, pilots might not know where they were shooting their bullets. If the indicating effect could be achieved with such a simple method, it would undoubtedly be of great benefit to the upcoming Battle of Divine Will.
What's more, traditional tracer rounds constantly consume luminous agents, and the weight and center of gravity will change, eventually leading to deviations in the trajectory. Therefore, at the beginning of its appearance, there was also the saying that "if a tracer round hits, it means other bullets have not hit." Using the "Stone Slab" fragments that will not be consumed as indicator lights, the performance is more excellent than traditional methods—as long as the bullet body is slightly lengthened, the flight characteristics of the new tracer rounds are almost the same as normal bullets.
The only question left was how many "Stone Slabs" were available in the Extreme South.
……
A week later, the two discoverers of the desert ruins arrived at Shallow Beach Harbor.
In the reception room, Roland re-inquired about the scenery they had discovered under the water cave.
The two men's answers were roughly the same as the content of the report—before encountering the Ironclad Giant Scorpion, their exploration distance was only a few hundred meters, and they knew nothing about what was behind the so-called "Stone Slab Wall."
In other words, the "Stone Slab" they saw was likely only a small part of it.
After all, according to the murals, there should be quite a few corpses that could cause blood to gather into rivers.
In addition, there was one description by the sandman Simbadi that he was very concerned about, that the environment in the cave was like the Silverstream Oasis, and even the Divine Envoy Flower, which was rumored to have become extinct, appeared.
If the once vast grassland really degenerated into a desert because of the departure of the Three Divine Envoys, then the underground of the Endless Cape should be no exception.
Perhaps there was a deviation in the rumor itself, or there were other mysteries hidden there.
He couldn't wait to dig up that desert and take a look.
After asking about the situation, Roland left the Fjordsman behind separately.
"Your diving gear is very interesting, and the ruins you discovered are enough to be remembered in history," he slowly took a sip of tea. "To be honest, I was a little surprised to see that you can use the steam engine in new inventions—you know, most people buy it and have difficulty even using it by following the instructions. Without the guidance of technicians sent by the factory, they can only stand aside, falèng, let alone modify it. Based on this ability alone, you already have one foot on the stage of the Lifetime Honorary Explorer award."
"T-thank you for your praise," Rex said excitedly. "It took me half a year to figure out the principle of controlling it. If you need it, I can give you priority to supply diving gear, and a little discount is completely fine—"
"No, you misunderstood, I don't need your diving gear," Roland smiled slightly. "In fact, as long as I want to, I can make a better one."
Rex blinked, seemingly not expecting such a reply. He awkwardly grinned, as if trying to squeeze out a smile, "Your Majesty..."
But Roland interrupted him directly, "You may think I'm bragging, but that doesn't matter. What I really want—is the Invention Society."
The other party couldn't help but be stunned, "I... don't understand what you mean..."
"I know what you want to prove, and I can help you achieve that." Roland said straightforwardly, "There are two types of sage's knowledge in the world: stargazing and alchemy—leaving aside the former, I don't think what you are doing is essentially different from alchemy, both are creating new things for mankind. Then why can't we regard invention as the third type of sage's knowledge, and establish an industry association that matches it?"
Rex's breathing suddenly became rapid, and he suddenly realized the meaning of these words—if someone else said these words, he would only think it was nonsense, or even ridicule. Compared with the famous Alchemist Association and the Star Observation Society, the Invention Society was not worth mentioning at all. But the King of Graycastle was different, with his reputation and momentum, this was not an impossible thing.
He swallowed and felt his throat was a little hoarse, "Then... what's the price?"
Since the other party was planning to help the Invention Society to rectify its name, it was impossible for there to be no ulterior motives.
"All of this."
"What...?"
"Cough, cough, no, I mean, you will work for me." Roland cleared his throat. "Move to Neverwinter and become a member of Graycastle. All research results belong to me, including sales rights and usage rights. And you will receive honor and wealth, as well as a more ideal research environment."
"I..." Rex didn't know how to answer for a while. Although the things they created were full of contempt and criticism, they were at least like their own children. If they were handed over to others like this, probably more than half of the Invention Society would not agree.
"I know this needs to be seriously considered. Go back to your resting place and think about it carefully." Roland stood up and pushed a book next to him in front of him. "Give me an answer in three days."
"Your Majesty, this is..." Rex picked it up and asked in confusion.
"Your reward for discovering the ruins." He raised the corners of his mouth and replied.