Chapter 79: Rumbling Thunder

Several avian creatures flew high in the sky.

“Master, are you sure you want to test it out yourself?”

“Why don’t we test it with a wooden puppet?”

In a clearing outside Twin Dragon Mount, Li Qing, who was usually calm and silent, spoke with worry!

“There’s no need for that. I know what the limits are. Let’s begin!”

Ji Ye looked at Li Qing and shook his head.

“Alright!”

Li Qing nodded and a gilded lighter with a ZIPPO logo appeared in his hand.

Thud!

The bluish-yellow emitting flames ignited something.

Boom!

Then, there was a thunderous sound.

A black ball flew towards Ji Ye!

Hum!

Before the orb flew out, a green barrier of light had already covered Ji Ye’s entire body.

However, the green barrier shattered the moment it was hit by the black ball of light. The black ball reduced its speed slightly but continued moving forward.

Thud!

However, in the blink of an eye, it encountered a new barrier. It was a yellow light that was as thick as a finger. Although it was much smaller than the green barrier, it was much more corporeal.

However, even the yellow light could not completely withstand the impact of the black ball. It was shattered in the blink of an eye.

However, the powerful recoil produced by the yellow light also reduced the black ball’s speed and strength greatly!

Thud!

In the end, the black ball was grabbed in midair.

“Wow… You grabbed it with your bare hands!”

A voice sounded.

“Impressive. He’s much stronger than that Extraordinary Rank-2 martial arts master I saw in the previous settlement. Is Master really a player?”

They were players who had recently arrived at Twin Dragon Mount’s settlement.

They were all in a daze.

This was because the black ball that Ji Ye had grabbed came from a “cannon” forged from Frost Metal which Li Qing had drawn from the black pool.

In other words, Ji Ye had just forcefully grabbed a “cannonball”.

“Cool!”

A female player’s face was slightly flushed, and her eyes were glowing.

However, her appearance no longer mattered. Rumors of beauties having an attractive trait had spread in Twin Dragon Mount.

“It’s not weak. Theoretically, even an Extraordinary Rank-3 creature won’t be able to withstand it without defensive techniques and equipment!”

Ji Ye threw the “cannonball” in his hand to the ground and said casually with his hands behind his back.

Of course, if the reason why he placed his hands to his back was to cover up the small movements of his hands that had been scalded by the high-temperature cannonball, as well as him secretly rubbing his hand against his clothes, this series of actions was probably a well-disguised act of “posturing”.

The reason why Ji Ye gave such an evaluation was that after a period of cultivation, his current level had already reached Extraordinary Rank-3.

Furthermore, his soul power, inner strength, and Earth’s Boon had all reached Extraordinary Rank-3. It was almost the peak of Extraordinary Rank-3.

As a result, the power of this “cannon” had reached his expectations.

After the settlement leveled up, the players of Twin Dragon Mount discussed many things. In the end, the “soul” of a hot weapon like gunpowder became one of the options.

Of course, although they were sure that they needed gunpowder, their initial target was definitely not backward gunpowder, but modern gunpowder like TNT and RDX.

However, they discovered that these two items were directly designated as Extraordinary. The Honor requirements for direct conversion were high, but if they were to convert the relevant raw materials, the Honor requirement wasn’t that high.

However, it actually required a large amount of the fort’s light from providence!

“It’s obvious that if such high-level modern gunpowder appears in Twin Dragon Mount’s settlement, it will greatly affect our competition with the surrounding species. Therefore, here we are…”

Elder Meng, who had a deep understanding of classical culture, came up with a conclusion.

This was because he had been notified when they leveled up. They had to maintain sufficient light from providence when the City of Humans was opened in two days.

In the end, everyone could only first try to get their hands on the gunpowder. Then, they were surprised to discover that the amount of power of providence consumed to create the ingredients for the black gunpowder was extremely small.

“It should be because gunpowder exists in the background of the settlement. Ling Zhen, who was ranked 52nd on Mount Liang based on the legend and nicknamed Heaven Shaking Thunder, was famous for producing firearms. He could create artillery that can fire more than five kilometers,” Elder Meng said.

Ji Ye, who had already learned about Water Margin in detail, naturally knew about the Heaven Shaking Thunder.

This person was originally a government official from the Song Dynasty. Later on, he surrendered to Mount Liang and specialized in producing artillery for Mount Liang, such as “Mother-Child, Golden Wheel Artillery, Wind-Fire Artillery, Carbox Artillery, Sky Piercing Artillery”…

In addition to having the ability to make cannons, Ling Chen was also good at shooting. He was known as the “Great Song’s number one gunner”.

The most outstanding battle result was probably against the Daoist priest, Bao Daoyi, who severed Wu Song’s arm with a flying sword. He was killed with one shot during an expedition!

However, this was also the only dazzling battle result.

It was only because this rarely-seen firearms talent was not valued at all in Mount Liang that, in the majority of cases, this Great Song’s number one gunner was arranged by Song Jiang—the leader of the Mount Liang Marsh—to set off firecrackers to boost his presence.

This was probably because firearms were not powerful enough during the Northern Song Dynasty, apart from the fact that ancient craftsmen did not have a high status.

However, the cannon in front of Li Qing, which was specially nicknamed “Heaven Shaking Thunder”, was naturally not too bad.

This was because not only was Elder Jiao, an expert in materials science and fuel science, but Ji Ye had also specially gone offline. With the cost of “Honor” promised by the Earth’s Confederation Office, he had invited specialized personnel to discuss an “artillery design plan” that could mainly be successfully created using the materials in the fort!

Then, he forcefully memorized it with the memory of a former Yang City top scorer. He returned to the fort and reproduced the blueprints again.

Of course, because there were too few Stones of Civilization and there were limited Extraordinary materials like Frost Metal, the caliber of this “Heaven Shaking Thunder” was actually rather small. It was greatly inferior to the legendary Hongyi Cannons that could directly blast open ancient city walls. In addition, the gunpowder-propelled shots were relatively weak. Otherwise, even if Ji Ye had the green barrier, Earth’s Boon, and the Alpha Wolf’s three-layered Extraordinary inner armor defense, he would definitely not be able to withstand modern artillery.

“Elder Jiao, I’ll have to trouble you for another half a day. Use the 3D printer to make three more cannon barrels!”

Ji Ye looked at the exhausted Elder Jiao, who had been at the testing ground. He had bloodshot eyes and looked haggard.

To make a “cannon” that could be used in actual combat, there was still a lot of work to be done, even with the design blueprints. Elder Jiao had spent almost all his time these few days, even lighting candles at night to calculate various data and test parameters!

After all, as a starter equipment, the 3D printer had limited usage or even had a maximum production limit. It could only be used to print the most crucial cannon barrel.

The rest of the things still needed to be man-made. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have to choose a “solid shell” with limited destructive power.

“Don’t worry, Master. I can still hold on!”

“I have to thank you for this Five Bulls Cigarette. Back when I worked overnight for a project overnight in Yang City, I smoked Five Bulls Cigarettes. I originally thought that I wouldn’t be able to smoke it for the rest of my life, but to think that at my old age, I’m actually smoking it again in this Land of Inheritance. In the blink of an eye, so many years have passed, but the taste hasn’t changed.”

Elder Jiao smiled generously as he took two puffs before thriftily extinguishing the cigarette.

“It’s good that you can get used to it. As long as you don’t mind it being cheap!”

Ji Ye smiled.

Originally, he had planned on selling this Five Bulls Cigarette that had dropped after killing the Bronze Bull to other rookies. However, he had forgotten about it later. It finally had a use.

“Oh? I suddenly have an idea. I need to return home and enter ‘seclusion’ for a while. Chief Lu, help me guard the area. Don’t let anyone disturb me!”

Ji Ye’s expression suddenly changed as he said to Lu Zhishen, who was also in the testing grounds.

This was because the hourglass that represented the cooldown of Fusion had already disappeared from his consciousness.