The Creators: From Night City

"Foundry Team Leader, the hunters' demand for equipment may increase recently. You must coordinate the work well."

"No problem," the foundry team leader readily agreed. "Commander-in-Chief, our traveling friend has brought some surprises. He has excellent insights into equipment manufacturing."

"Oh?" The commander-in-chief frowned.

"He is currently refining the design specifications of the defense force's standard steel warhammer in the workshop." The casting team leader stammered, touching his smooth scalp.

You should know that the standard equipment of the defense force has been tested in actual combat for decades, and has been continuously improved and finally finalized. It can be said that it has achieved the ultimate in templateization.

"Is there a problem here?" The commander-in-chief guessed what the other party had not said.

"No, their improvement ideas are very mature, and the whole plan is fine." The casting team leader sighed, "At most, the modified hammer's killing method is a bit fierce."

The "ferocious" commander-in-chief was somewhat unable to understand what the other party meant.

"Aren't weapons used to kill enemies? Isn't it better to be a little more ferocious?"

The foundry team leader's face was filled with indescribable expression.

The problem is that everything from the equipment's design concept to the caster's performance is too fierce.

Chapter 441 Earth Vein Crystal

"Let our traveler friend give it his all and see what surprises he can bring us. Once the transformation is complete, take him to the training ground for testing. You can notify me to come and observe."

After arranging the work, the commander-in-chief looked at the silver crystals on the table and said to everyone, "Everyone, take some of these crystals back and study them. Especially the foundry team, carefully explore whether these crystals can be used in some way."

After the meeting, when the foundry team leader returned to the base camp, Jiang Bing was still busy with the casting work.

Although the workshop has an automatic forging hammer device, the power provided by the waterwheel is only long-lasting, and the power is not strong. The craftsmen who do not think highly of the efficiency of mechanical forging hammers simply do it themselves, carrying a casting hammer to pretend to be a hydraulic hammer.

To be honest, if the workshop floor had not been specially reinforced and paved entirely with metal plates, the foundry team leader would definitely be worried that the other party would collapse the floor.

The blow was too ruthless. The experienced foundry team leader had seen powerful hunters, perverts who danced with war hammers as if they were nothing, and had been playing with foundry hammers for decades, but he had never seen anyone use a foundry hammer to create an afterimage.

In the light of the red fire, Jiang Bing almost turned into the Thousand-Armed Guanyin. The sound of the hammer hitting the metal was so dense that it almost formed a line. The extremely high hammering frequency made the material on the anvil quickly change into the expected shape.

Under the worshipful gaze of several apprentices of the foundry team leader, Jiang Bing picked up the newly-made component and shook it casually. He keenly found some parts that did not meet the standards. He put the component back and hit it a few times with a hammer, shook it again, and then tossed it aside with satisfaction.

Under normal circumstances, to make a unique weapon, even a highly skilled foundry team leader would need an average of three to four days with the assistance of machinery and four or five disciples. However, the foundry team leader had never seen someone with Jiang Bing's casting efficiency.

No measurement or testing is required, no thinking is required, and he is even tireless, with no defective parts. This traveler friend is indeed a ruthless man who can smash the head of a Tyrannosaurus Rex with a war hammer. His strength is also incredibly great, far surpassing that of machines.

The work that normally requires repeated hammering, here he only needs to use great force and momentum, turning decay into magic with a dozen hammer strikes, and he can achieve the same effect, as if those metals and materials have come to life and will actively tell others how to be most efficient.

The foreman of the foundry team felt that he had learned the blacksmithing skills from a dog in his half-life.

He walked to his seat and sat down, putting the crystals aside, and prepared to check the other party's transformation progress.

It would be fine if you didn't look at it, but once you did, you'd be shocked. Jiang Bing wasn't forging the modified standard steel war hammer for the defense team, but was clearly casting the restraint crossbow that the workshop would need next.

The modified warhammer lay quietly on the side, and together with the accessories beside it, it emitted a charming metallic luster under the fire.

The defense force's standard steel war hammer has been completely changed. The originally solid hammer head has a hole in the middle, specifically for equipping the cylindrical component newly added by Jiang Bing.

This component is a short-range directional blasting tube, a disposable item. Its construction principle is the same as that of an armor-piercing projectile. It is propelled by gunpowder explosion and shoots out a metal jet to destroy the target.

However, the range is extremely short and can only be used close to the face.

However, this was also Jiang Bing’s original intention when he designed it.

It's not that he can't design a weapon that's more powerful, stronger, and more domineering, or even one that can send a Tyrannosaurus Rex to be friends with Louis XVI with one hammer, but such a weapon will inevitably become a unique and unreplicable piece due to the high manufacturing cost and complex process.

His original purpose was to increase the destructive power of the hammer as much as possible while keeping the user's own strength unchanged, to prevent the situation where the hammer could not break the defense even when shot at close range as before. At the same time, it should be able to be manufactured and reproduced with the casting level of this world.

With the level of technology in this world, Jiang Bing is like dancing in shackles.

Fortunately, the rich have their own ways to make ends meet, and the poor have their own ways to make do. Although the road to single product quality is difficult, it is still okay to pile up materials.

Mr. Jiang is good at piling up materials.

"Tomorrow, can we take this weapon to the training ground for a real-life test?" The investigation team leader picked up the revamped warhammer, tried the feel, and suggested.

Jiang Bing hammered out the metal tail of the crossbow with a few hammer strokes, then gently trimmed the edges. After making sure there were no problems, he tossed it aside. "The main body is done, but I'm still short of materials for the accessories."

"What's missing?" The foundry team leader patted his chest and took the responsibility.

"Gunpowder, or explosives."

"I thought it was something else. The supply department has plenty. I'll have someone greet them. You can make a list."

Jiang Bing was about to respond when something suddenly occurred to him.

For the first time, Heimer conveyed to him the emotion of 'wanting to eat'.

Jiang Bing followed his feeling and found that what attracted Heimer were a few crystals that the investigation team leader had casually placed aside.

"What is this?" Jiang Bing asked the other party in Monster Hunter World, which he was not very proficient in.

"Ha, you are interested. This is some kind of crystal that the commander brought back from the depths of the earth's corridor. It is said that it is everywhere there." The leader of the investigation team had no intention of keeping it secret at all. He readily picked up a piece and threw it to Jiang Bing.

Firstly, if what the commander-in-chief said was true, this thing was really everywhere, as common as rocks. Secondly, this information was not important. Thirdly, this rough-looking and meticulous foundry team leader wanted to take the opportunity to test Jiang Bing's background.

Resisting the urge to eat from Heimer, Jiang Bing carefully looked at the crystal in his hand. From the perspective of a 'craftsman', it contained abundant life-giving energy.

"If I'm not mistaken, this should be the crystal of earth energy, but the energy density is too low, and it is difficult to apply it to equipment manufacturing." The casting team leader is not a person who just sits there and does nothing. In a short period of time, he has already figured out the essence of the crystal.

However, as he said, compared to the 'Dragon Jade' which is the energy essence condensed from the bodies of various monsters, the energy content in these crystals is like the difference between a nuclear power plant and a dry cell battery, the latter being a disposable and non-renewable thing.

If you want to reach the energy threshold that meets the equipment manufacturing requirements, the size of the crystal will be extremely large and it will be impossible to carry it with you.

The foundry team leader had already figured out these situations on the way, so he showed little interest in these crystals.

But what is chicken ribs to others is honey to me.

Jiang Bing held the silver energy crystal in his palm and let Heimer lick it lightly. When he opened his palm again, the crystal had shrunk to an imperceptible size.

The life-oriented energy was extremely suitable for the other party's appetite, and although the energy was small, it was several levels higher than electrical energy. Jiang Bing estimated that a few palm-sized crystals were equivalent to the amount of wool he could fleece from the Zeta Technology Power Station in one go.

The casting team leader in front of him had just described the place where these crystals were found with a flood of words.

[Key], the eternal God, is still so reliable.

"I must go to the place of crystallization!" Jiang thought to himself.

Chapter 442 Happy Big Explosion

As the original owner of the warhammer, Ta Tan was honored to be chosen as the hammer tester of the new hammer.

He was naturally happy about this because he was attached to his war hammer. After all, the hammer was not cheap and cost him half of his fortune.

So he got up early in the morning and couldn't wait to go to the room arranged for Jiang Bing at the Xingchen base.

But no one was found.

Finally, under the guidance of the members of the stronghold's supply team, they found Jiang Bing tinkering with something at his desk in a valley far away from the stronghold.

Ta Tan looked at the cabin where Jiang Bing was and couldn't help but marvel at it.

The wooden house is backed by a cliff and is located in a sheltered place. It is built horizontally and vertically. The logs used to form the walls are carefully polished and smoothed to make the cut surfaces level. There is no need to fill the gaps with moss, mud or other fillers when splicing them together, because there is no gap at all between the two logs.

This made Ta Tan gasp in shock. What a level of precision!

The entire wooden house adopts the traditional mortise and tenon structure, and the overall area is quite large. Looking at the tower, it is divided into living area, storage area, bedroom area, living room, and study area.

Next to the house, in addition to the reserved ventilation and smoke exhaust passages, the tower altar also has a miniature workshop consisting of a strange-looking small furnace and many casting tools!

There is also a small fireplace in the living room, with chopped firewood neatly placed next to it, and a large number of wooden tables, chairs and benches neatly placed in the house. These furniture are even carved.

Of course, the most eye-catching thing is the oak door on the inner wall of the living room.

Although it was only gorgeous in appearance, the hunter's keen intuition told Ta Tan that this thing was very unusual.

Accustomed to the simple and rough architectural style of the Star Stronghold that prioritized quality, he was a little surprised to see such an exquisite wooden house.

The hunter was 100% sure that this place was an empty space before yesterday.

After all, the passage next to it leads to the training ground of the base, and he has been there many times.

"Sabul, what is this?"

"I just built it casually. After all, there is a shortage of everything here, but there is plenty of wood." With the existence of Heimer, Jiang Bing theoretically has an all-weather luxury safe house, but in order to hide his tracks, he still built a bunch of buildings like this.

After all, it didn't take much time. The trees in the ancient forest were thick and straight, and the wood was of good quality. It was simply the perfect material that carpenters dreamed of. With enough raw materials, with Jiang Bing's current efficiency, it would take him an hour, including his own appreciation time.

Ta Tan stammered, "There are actually rooms inside the stronghold."

"I'm not used to living with others." Jiang Bing raised his head and explained the reason.

"Please take a seat. Your new warhammer is on the table over there. You can get familiar with it first. I still have some 'seasonings' to prepare, so I'll have to wait a while."

What is Jiang Bing doing now?

Purified gunpowder.

The technological level in Monster Hunter World is very strange, mainly because of the strangely rich natural ecology.

Can you believe it? There is a plant called gunpowder grass in the wild. Its fruit can be ground and dried and used directly as the raw material for gunpowder.

What's even more outrageous is that a kind of mushroom called nitroglycerin will grow in the ground, which can be said to be nitroglycerin that can grow from the soil.

More importantly, the energy density of the gunpowder and nitrate extracted from the two through a special process is much higher than that of the ordinary gunpowder mixed in the Cyber ​​World. This situation directly refreshed Jiang Bing's three views.

It is no exaggeration to say that this world is a paradise for farmers.

The gunpowder weapons used by hunters are mostly a mixture of the two. Although the energy release efficiency of these gunpowders seems to be a complete waste in the eyes of Jiang Bing, a "craftsman", their power cannot be underestimated.

Its effect is comparable to the strength of modern three-base gunpowder.

However, the methods used by the hunters still fail to tap the maximum potential of these "natural treasures" that grow from the land full of life energy.

Jiang Bing originally wanted to focus on weapon modification, but after learning from the casting team leader the general principles of gunpowder production used in muskets, light and heavy crossbows, and personally studying the gunpowder, he almost felt heartbroken and couldn't breathe.

They all said that Jiang's design concept was just to pile up materials blindly, because they had never seen how hunters used thermal weapons.

Because the energy release efficiency of gunpowder was not high enough, they simply increased the amount of gunpowder, making each bullet as thick and large as an RPG bullet.

Since the lethality was not enough, they simply loaded more explosives. To this end, they even made a large barrel of explosives that was more than half a person's height, which was the ultimate in piling up materials.

This cult-like technological development route almost made the "craftsman" stamp his feet. However, considering that this world is affected by various factors, it is understandable that the level of technological development can reach this level.

Being able to understand does not mean being able to tolerate. Jiang Bing took the note approved by the foundry team leader that night and got several barrels of gunpowder and a pile of gunpowder fruits, nitrate mushrooms, and other miscellaneous materials from the material team. He found a secluded place and started the localized research of "Art is Explosion".

As for why they didn't do it in the Star Base, we can only say that they were researching explosives after all. If an accident really happened, Jiang Bing probably would be fine, but it would be difficult to explain if half of the Star Base was blown down.

Black powder, or nitrocellulose (nitrocellulose), nitroglycerin, nitroguanidine, etc., generally affect the final power depending on the following aspects.

In terms of combustion speed and method, the reaction principle of black powder is deflagration, which relies on potassium nitrate to provide oxygen, generate a large amount of gas and heat, propel the projectile or produce an explosion effect, while more advanced modern explosives often use detonation reaction, and both the combustion efficiency and energy release efficiency are so high that they cannot be compared.

The destructive power displayed naturally varies greatly.

Taking TNT as an example, 1KG of TNT releases about 4.2 MJ of energy, which is more than 1.4 times that of the same weight of black powder, but its detonation velocity can reach 6900 m/s, while the detonation velocity of black powder is only about 500 m/s.

It can be said that the energy release efficiency of detonation is more than 10 times that of deflagration, and there is basically no residue to waste energy.

Of course, the decisive factors include not only the reaction mechanism, but also chemical composition, energy release efficiency and physical structure.

Considering the extremely high energy density of the nitrifying mushroom, the world's gunpowder fruit, its application prospects still have great room for development. It only requires a few tiny process improvements, and I believe it will definitely produce satisfactory results.

'Craftsman' also wants to be a happy big bomb.

Chapter 443 Trading Chips

For example, the preliminary finished products on the table now, Jiang Bing did not perform any complicated processing on them. He only removed most of the impurities through grinding and hot water crystallization, and mixed them with microporous activated carbon generated by carbonized ancient tree hardwood after grinding, added preliminary purified nitrified parasol mushroom extract, and finally used local specialty honey of high quality that looks like amber for the final blending, thus completing the entire manufacturing process.

The last step is an old technique passed down by our ancestors. The stickiness of honey can bind the gunpowder powder into particles, improving the oxygen contact area during combustion and making the combustion more even.

Granular gunpowder burns faster and more stably than powdered gunpowder, which indirectly improves energy release efficiency.

Although its power has not been tested yet, Jiang Bing's intuition as a "craftsman" tells him that this thing will definitely amaze everyone.

Of course, the finale is the refining process of nitrified mushrooms that Jiang Bing is currently working on.

As a mushroom rich in unstable nitrifying substances, Jiang Bing did not have the time to study how it grew into this state. He just used the tools at hand to explore its application.

After all, the most important thing at the moment is to come up with a plan that can be applied on a large scale with the technical level of the Star Stronghold, and then we can take these things to the commander-in-chief to discuss business.

Yes, talk about business.

To be more precise, it is to discuss business with the Hunter Guild behind the other party.

This idea took root in Jiang Bing's mind as soon as he came to this world. After seeing the Felyne and the hunters with incredibly strong physical fitness, this idea grew rapidly. Finally, the unique products represented by the gunpowder fruit and nitrate mushrooms completely strengthened his confidence.