Overwhelming Firepower

The second Lucen woke up from his sleep, the first thing he did was check his status window, and there was the blessing of greater flames added.

Sometimes it was hard to know what was a dream and what wasn’t nowadays, especially for Lucen, whose memories often blurred between his past life, his current one, the dreams from the ring, and the meeting with the deities.

Still, the second he woke up, he wanted to immediately test the blessing he had, and the best person to test the limits of what he had was, of course, with his partner in crime, Robert.

When Lucen found Robert, he was working with the dwarves to use steam to make something like an airship.

”Oh, Lucen, you’ve arrived earlier than usual.” Robert immediately noticed Lucen and greeted him.

”Yeah, I came because I wanted to test something out.”

The second Lucen said those words, Robert’s eyes practically sparkled in joy and excitement. ”What are we going to test out?! Did you create something new?”

”No, what we’re testing is my body.”

”Hoh, did you perhaps gain some sort of new ability?” Robert asked while curiously looking at Lucen up and down.

”Something like that.”

”Alright then, let’s head to my lab to conduct some testing.” With that, Lucen and Robert headed to Robert’s lab.

***

After explaining to Robert that he wanted to test his resistance to flames, the first test he did was to place his hand over a candle.

Lucen did not feel anything, nor did a mark appear on his body. They then used a stronger flame, and the same thing happened.

It wasn’t until Lucen placed his arm in a fireplace that Robert became quite interested.

Since knights who trained their bodies can do the same thing, but the one with the fireplace not feeling anything or getting a burn mark was not normal if they did not use aura or a defensive spell.

Yet Lucen did not use his aura, nor did he use any spell; he was doing nothing at all, but the flames would not even harm his skin. They tried burning his hair, but even that wouldn’t burn.

They then went out, and Robert attacked Lucen using the four-circle spell [burning wheel]. It was the hottest spell Robert could use, but even that could not burn Lucen; in fact, what was even more surprising was that Lucen’s clothes were fine as well.

”This means it’s not your body that’s resisting the flames, but you have something similar to an aura mantle covering what’s around you, making it resistant to flames.” Robert hypothesized.

The two then went to the forge, and Lucen placed his hand into the burning forge, which made everyone there panic, but then they saw that the flames looked like they were avoiding him.

Durik, who witnessed the scene, spoke out. ”The Father of the Flames has blessed you.”

When the other dwarves heard what Durik said, they all knelt on the ground to show their respect not to Lucen but the deity that had blessed Lucen.

”The father of flames?” Robert looked at Durik and the other dwarves, interested as to why they were acting this way.

”The father of the flames, the creator of the dwarves, the one you humans call the God of the Forge and Flames.”

”Oh, I see... A different title given by a different culture.” Robert said, amused by the thought.

Once that was done, Lucen stopped testing his new blessing, and everyone went back to work.

***

During the time Vardon left for Caelhart to attend King’s meeting alongside the other nobles regarding the making of the tracks throughout Norvaegard, Lucen, who now had dwarves working for him, was now upgrading or creating more things for battle.

One of the things Lucen was currently working on was improving the guns they were using. Right now, the arquebuses that Thornefang had been using for years have finally been upgraded into a repeating rifle.

It wasn’t hard for the dwarves to make it. Once Lucen explained the basic idea, the dwarves already had an idea of how to make it, not to mention Lucen had a more detailed explanation about it because of his skill: gun knowledge.

The repeating rifle overshadowed the former Arquebus: Thunderstorm, which could fire more rounds before the need to reload.

Not only can it hold more bullets, but the shape of the bullet used has also changed. There was no longer any need to bring gunpowder with them.

Previously, Thornefang’s arquebuses relied on simple metal balls. These were nothing more than solid spheres of lead or iron that were loaded into the barrel after pouring in gunpowder. The ball itself contributed nothing beyond weight.

All force, accuracy, and penetration depended entirely on the amount of powder used and the user’s experience. The new repeating rifle no longer used metal balls.

Instead, it fired specially shaped bullets, elongated rather than round. This shape reduced air resistance and allowed the projectile to maintain speed over a much longer distance.

More importantly, the bullet was designed to spin as it traveled through the barrel, stabilizing its flight and dramatically improving accuracy.

Each bullet was now part of a sealed unit. Inside the protective shell, called a casing, was a measured amount of gunpowder, along with an ignition compound that would ignite when struck by the rifle’s firing mechanism.

Because the powder was sealed within the casing, it was no longer exposed to moisture, wind, or human error. Every shot used the exact amount of powder required, no more and no less.

It was a little more difficult to make than just a metal ball, but overall, it was cheaper to make since there was no longer an excess of gunpowder used.

Another result was that those who use it no longer needed to carry powder flasks, measuring tools, or ramrods.

Reloading was faster, safer, and far more consistent. Misfires caused by uneven loading or damp powder were drastically reduced.

Lucen then asked Durik if he and the other dwarves would be able to create the Gatling gun in his mind.

Durik focused on the sketches Lucen made. He was already imagining the thing Lucen explained.

”Rotating barrels,” he muttered. It was a similar concept to the Arquebus: Thunderstorm, but the firing rate was higher, and it was going to use the new bullets.

Based on the description Lucen said, and looking at the sketches, he could already imagine what this weapon could do on the battlefield. Still, the overall mechanism was somewhat similar to a few crossbows.

”This can be done,” Durik answered Lucen, who smiled.

The design he showed Durik was not that of the original designed Gatling gun he wanted to make at first, but a M1900 Gatling Gun. The reason he changed his mind was because of the abilities of the dwarves.

”Still, the design of this thing is quite good, and it makes use of that new bullet we created. This is another powerful weapon that can be used by those guys who can’t use mana or aura. However, a hand crank seems inefficient. You don’t mind if I make some changes to this, right, lad?”

Durik asked Lucen, who nodded his head and replied. ”Sure, as long as you can make it better, change it however you want.”

Hearing Lucen’s reply, Durik started drawing something in Lucen’s sketch of the Gatling Gun. ”Instead of a hand crank, where it’s possible that the person can get tired, how about we use steam power?”

Getting more ideas while muttering to himself, Durik continued to draw a few more things, and after a while, the original look of the M1900 Gatling Gun was changing shape into something from a steampunk novel.

What Durik sketched that day became the foundation for a new class of weapon. The original hand-cranked mechanism was discarded entirely. In its place, the dwarves designed a compact steam-driven rotary system.

A reinforced boiler sat beneath the weapon’s frame, feeding pressurized steam into a series of pistons and gears that replaced human effort entirely.

As long as pressure was maintained, the barrels would rotate. The design was crude at first, overly bulky and dangerously prone to overheating.

But with Lucen’s input and the dwarves’ unmatched mastery of metallurgy and runic reinforcement, the flaws were corrected one by one.

Heat-resistant alloys were used for the barrel cluster, while runes engraved along the internal housing regulated pressure and prevented runaway acceleration.

A mechanical governor ensured the rotation speed never exceeded what the structure could safely endure.

The problem arose not from the weapon itself, but from what fed it. Coal worked, but you needed a lot to make this thing work, and on the battlefield, aside from bringing this heavy Gatling Gun with ammo, you needed to bring coal as well.

That was too inefficient; they needed something that could replace the coal. That was when the dwarves, alongside Lucen and Robert, who was pulled over for now, began experimenting.

Instead of burning solid fuel directly, they turned their attention to heat storage. Deep within the mountains, dwarves were familiar with certain viscous substances that seeped from cracked stone near volcanic veins, thick, dark fluids that burned fiercely when ignited.

With Robert’s help, Lucen’s creativity, and with runic stabilization, those substances became something new.

They called it Runisene, seeing as no one could think of a good name for it, so Lucen just combined two words into one thing.

Runisene was a dense, crimson-black liquid refined from volcanic seep-fluid, alchemical binders, and trace fire-aligned mana residue left behind during smelting.

Unlike ordinary fuel, it did not burn explosively. It instead released heat steadily and violently, but more importantly, it worked better than coal, and you only need to bring a small amount for the Gatling Gun to work.

So rather than shoveling fuel into a furnace, Runisene could be poured into a sealed reservoir beneath the boiler.

From there, it was fed through narrow channels into a combustion chamber, where runes regulated how much heat was released at any given moment.

The only problem with it was that it was possible for it to explode if not treated properly. So they needed to make reinforced containers for Runisene.

Now, with all that, they had finally finished creating a usable steam-powered Gatling Gun. Aside from the steam-powered one, they also created the hand-crank Gatling Gun, due to the limited amount of Runisene they create at the moment.

’With this thing, a single soldier can mow down an entire battalion of regular soldiers.’ Lucen was now feeling a bit more confident in surviving the chaos that was sure to come.

While Lucen continued creating more things, the meeting of the nobles with the king was about to start.