Chapter 63 Getting Short

"Well, this is what I have been working on so far," Gwenth explained, handing me a large blunderbuss with an extended barrel.

Typically a weapon like this would be used at a short range, but the extended barrel might give it a bit more range. The flared muzzle meant that it used buckshot more than likely, which was just a bunch of small pellets.

"Is this the standard design that most people use?" I asked as I looked at the hammer and flint that was attached to it.

"Yes, but they use a shorter barrel. This will shoot up to fifty feet before the damage falls off. That's almost twice as much as others," Gwenth explained, and I nodded.

"Does anyone use slugs? Like single shots?" I asked.

"Not many. It is hard to make the bullet go straight, so we just use the spread shot, which does a lot of damage at close range! You can blow a hole right through someone if you aren't careful," Gwenth warned, and I nodded.

"Yes, I am aware of how dangerous these are, but this thing looks like it is just as likely to blow up in my face. What is going on with the firing pin here? The chamber is open here," I said, flicking the fizzle forward, checking to make sure the thing wasn't loaded.

"We have trouble with them blowing up in our faces if we make the hole under the sparker any smaller. It's better to have some blowback out the side rather than the whole thing blow up," Gwenth said, and I nodded, but that would take a lot of the firing power.

"Alright, so you are using what I would consider old tech, but the design is right for the most part. You have the hammer with the flint that strikes the fizzle, or the sparker as you call it. Then it is flipped up, and the black powder is lit and boom. Basics for black powder rifles like this, but we are going to leap ahead. Today I will show you how to create a bullet," I explained, and Gwenth screwed up her face.

"A bullet? Why make them? You can stuff whatever you want into this, and you can fire it! I mean, some things work better than others, but many people just use small bundles of steel rods," Gwenth explained, and I laughed.

"That does work, but if you are using different things all the time, how do you stay consistent with your shots? Some things will fly better than others, but a single bullet is much better if you know where it is going to hit," I explained, but Gwenth was still frowning at me.

"A single bullet?! I told you that it doesn't work very well, and people that try that don't live long," Gwenth said, and I nodded.

"You are playing with fire, but I promise you that one bullet is much better than a bunch of them. Give me a piece of brass if you have it, and I will show you. You are going to have to figure out how to make the casings since you would be able to do it the same way as me," I explained, and Gwenth signed but went and grabbed me a lump of brass.

I laughed when she handed it to me, and Gwenth gave me a look. I had hoped it would be a sheet, but that was too much to ask for, and I could make do with this.

"So, what are you going to do?" Gwenth asked, and I put up a hand.

"Give me a moment of silence. There are a couple things that I have to do first. Just watch how I am doing it. If you are as smart as I think you are, you will be able to figure it out," I explained, and Gwenth crossed her arms to watch me.

Seemed that she was still on edge about Wispy, and I considered asking her, but I decided I would wait for another day.

Instead, I pulled Pure Magic to me and started to heat and mold the brass lump into a flat sheet.

"Watching you makes my head hurt. How can you just mold that like that?! I have to hammer and roll that for hours to get it even close to that shape!" Gwenth complained.

"Stop whining and pay attention!" I snapped, and Gwenth jumped back.

There was nothing easy about this, and I was using three different spells to do this. It really annoyed me when people just assumed that everything was easy.

"Sorry," Gwenth said, and I nodded.

"This is not easy, and I am putting in a lot of effort to show this to you. Pay attention so that in the future, you can recreate what I am doing. I understand that you are frustrated with Wispy, but I am taking the time to give you something that will most likely make you one of the most famous gun makers this world has known. So, I expect you to watch and listen and stop telling me how impossible things are or how they won't work," I growled, not even really sure why I was acting like this.

It was almost like she had hit a nerve from one of my past lives, but I couldn't put a finger on where it had come from. I think that I am going to need a break after this; the frustrations of the day were starting to build up.

Gwenth stayed quiet and watched as I made a small disc from the metal and then created the stretcher. This consisted of a rod and a steel set of thick rings that tapered in, but they had nearly the same angle.

"Brass is a very soft metal and has a low melting point compared to steel, making it easier to stretch," I explained.

"You can stretch metal?" Gwenth asked, and I nodded.

"Yes, some kinds work better than others, but with the right tools, the metal will slowly stretch. Watch," I said as I placed the brass disc over the rings.