Fireworks and Firearms

"So beautiful..."

Tina tilted her head up at the sky and murmured to herself.

Brilliant lights soared into the sky, bursting into dazzling splendor.

Kang De had made a point of asking, and there were no fireworks in this other world.

At first, he had found that strange.

It was understandable that the people of this world had not discovered gunpowder for various reasons.

After all, in Earth's history, Korea, Europe, Persia, Japan, and other places had all learned gunpowder technology directly or indirectly from China in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, through war, merchants, theft, or currying favor with the powerful. In other words, if ancient Chinese alchemists had not tinkered the stuff into existence, those foreign devils from all corners of the world would probably have been eating dust until chemistry became a fully standardized discipline.

It was no surprise that the people of this world knew nothing about it.

But they had magic, at least, and so-called alchemists too.

Couldn't they produce sound and light effects on this level?

The answer was yes, but nobody bothered.

Mages studied questions like how to make bigger fireballs and throw ice lances farther. They improved widely applicable spells by simplifying their elemental models, increasing their power, or reducing their mana consumption. Papers published on such achievements won them prestige and tangible benefits.

The Arcane Council and the magical academies of various nations had established a comprehensive system that brought spellcasters from across the continent together into a vast whole through magical patents, impact factors, and honorary evaluations. This pooled everyone's wisdom and strength to continually expand the magical system and drive the development and advancement of magical technology throughout the plane.

In such an intensely utilitarian system, no mage would study something as pointless as magical fireworks. Spellcasters were immensely proud, after all. They saw themselves as pioneers of the world, walking a lonely road in search of its ultimate answers. Who would use their life's work and achievements to entertain others?

Powerful spellcasters disdained such work, while low-level spellcasters were incapable of it. With a beginner mage's pitiful mana, even acting as a human fireworks launcher would drain them dry after a few sky-shaking thunderclaps or white dragons spitting pearls. As for apprentices, they could probably manage the equivalent of seven or eight double-bangers.

Pathetic.

The same reasoning more or less applied to alchemists.

Just as universities on Earth had popular and unpopular disciplines, the profession of alchemist was extremely broad, covering many fields. The most popular were materials science, potion-making, enchanting, botany, and architecture. The vast majority of talented alchemists went into those fields.

Materials science could improve smelting and manufacturing recipes to produce sturdier armor and more powerful weapons, and enchanting could do even more. Botany improved crops for greater yields and profits, potion-making served combat and medicine, and architecture went without saying. All were urgently needed by the nations, and alchemists specializing in them earned good money, enjoyed high social standing, and were eagerly sought after and treated with respect.

It was just like popular industries on Earth in those years, such as finance and IT.

Other disciplines, naturally, were so unpopular that nobody paid them any attention. On Earth, study medicine and your family would break your legs; study civil engineering and they would hang you from a lamppost; study to be a teacher and they would chop you straight into minced meat. This world also had jobs that paid little and got you chewed out by all kinds of people every day. Who would study those?

In such a job market, how could alchemists possibly go off and study things like fireworks?

So this was probably the first time gunpowder had burned in the skies of this other world.

The lights were magnificent and splendid, bursting with color. The phrase "trees of fire and flowers of silver" could hardly have described them better. They had been enchanted with various Elements, after all, so their display naturally far surpassed the originals.

The princess gazed up, her eyes full of wonder and delight.

Even the knight was no exception.

Beautiful things were always worth admiring, always a pleasure to behold.

"Is this something you use for celebrations and prayers?" Amid the thunderous sounds shaking the sky, Tina turned to Kang De, her eyes bright as she smiled happily. "Cathay has become such a country. I'm both surprised and envious. Being able to devote your energy to creating beautiful things is truly wonderful."

Kang De merely smiled and said nothing.

He suddenly remembered Mr. Lu Xun's words: the Chinese invented gunpowder but used it to make fireworks, while Westerners used it to make firearms.

That was roughly what he had meant.

It sounded a little biased, but it made a great deal of sense. After the invention of gunpowder, ancient China had continued to develop all sorts of gunpowder weapons, but made no fundamental improvements. The West used rigorous scientific theory to derive the optimal formula for black powder, while China kept using the theory of the five elements to explain how gunpowder worked. Its manufacturing methods were also extremely crude and never improved. Compared with the gunpowder of nineteenth-century Western nations, China's gunpowder really was fit only for fireworks.

But times had changed.

Chinese gunpowder could now be used not only for fireworks, but also for firearms that could move mountains and overturn seas.

He glanced at the princess and her radiant smile.

The Chinese had learned what to do.

They had not only beautiful fireworks shining in the sky, but also flowers of death blooming across the earth.

If Mr. Lu Xun knew in the afterlife, he would probably have found it comforting. The Chinese could also use gunpowder to make powerful weapons, and... every Chinese person could know how to do it.

Kang De, a Chinese man stranded in another world, naturally knew as well.

Even without knowing the precise proportions, he could work them out from the optimal chemical equation for the combustion of black powder. A few hundred years ago, only the most outstanding chemists could have discovered that. Now, any middle school student who studied hard could calculate it.

Kang De tilted his head back and watched the brilliant colors continue to soar into the sky.

These fireworks incorporated the power of Elements, making them even more dazzling than the originals, hardly like fireworks at all. That was why they could astonish even the well-traveled elves. But to Kang De, what mattered more was...

"Gunpowder can also incorporate the power of Elements and gain magical properties..."

Combining this cheat with the various products of Earth could produce countless possibilities.

In an instant, a strange feeling suddenly welled up in him. Somewhere in the depths of his mind, he seemed to have gained an insight, to have grasped something, to have thought of something.

"Kang De?" The girl noticed something different about him. "What's wrong?"

Kang De came back to himself, still smiling.

The matter of gunpowder had suddenly given him many, many ideas and thoughts.

He thought that with the books in the bookstore, the Earth supplies within the besieged city, the education, thoughts, and ideas he had received, and this wondrous cheat, perhaps even an ordinary person from Earth could accomplish something in this other world... just like the protagonist of a story.

But this was not a story, after all. He was a living, breathing person.

He did not have the mental fortitude to quickly put his parents, family, and familiar life behind him after transmigrating. He longed to return home safely and reunite with his loved ones. More than some grand undertaking amid turbulent times, with danger and wealth side by side, he wanted to live a safe and stable life, so he would not die far from home.

According to the usual plot of a story, he would probably leave the island with Tina and throw himself wholeheartedly into Goth's war against the invasion, helping Goth climb the technology tree, defeat the elves, and build a great empire. Then he would marry the princess, rule the country, and reach the pinnacle of life.

And so on and so forth.

But reality was always more complicated than a story.

The reality was that he was not close to these Goth People, and had involved himself in their war with the elves only to protect himself. He had desires and ambitions, but more than that, he wanted to go home.

If he were given two choices, the first being to stay in this other world and fight for an empire of his own, and the second to return to Earth, he would certainly choose the latter.

This world was at war, with dragons, magic, and such, not to mention gods. He might run into trouble someday. But back on Earth—his current physique surpassed the peak of human ability on Earth by he knew not how much, and he also had cheats like extraction and enchanting. However he looked at it, being the protagonist of an urban story on Earth was better than being the protagonist of a conquest story in another world. It would certainly be incredibly satisfying.

So...

He looked at the beautiful girl so close to him and hesitated.

Tina was said to be on a mission and surely would not stay here much longer. After defeating the elves, the next question would surface: the Goth People would certainly leave, so what choice should he make?

In other words, if I don't leave with Tina, so the elves don't catch me at sea, how likely is the Penguin to encounter an elven warship again? How likely are we to survive?

If I ask Tina and the captain to come back and pick me up after the Penguin takes Tina to the imperial capital, how likely are they to agree? What would I have to offer? Would they think I'm being a bad friend and refuse?

And if I decide to leave with Tina, what will my status be, and how should I get along with the Goth People? What should I do once we reach the continent? Follow this path to the bitter end and keep fighting the elves? Of course I don't want to, but if I don't, what am I supposed to do? In what capacity?

Kang De was someone who loved to ponder things.

Especially after being stranded on a deserted island, he pondered almost every day.

Once his thoughts turned in that direction, he could not stop them.

"Kang De?"

Seeing that he had been silent for a long time, the princess asked again, "Shouldn't we be going?"

Only then did Kang De come back to himself. At the same time, his phone began to vibrate as the alarm he had set went off. He nodded and waved at the sky. Several seabirds flew down, picked up the spent firework casings, and swiftly rose into the air. He took a deep breath and said, "Let's go."

The knight, who had been silent all this time, said gravely, "Will the elves fall for it?"

Kang De glanced at the rift. He had spent a long time working his way through it and had arranged for the animals to operate the switches inside. Though it had been rushed, he was reasonably confident.

"At least those things will definitely fool the elves... As long as we make them think this place is important, that there's something extraordinary here, and that they absolutely can't let the Goth People get to it first, that'll do."

He said, "The real battlefield isn't here."

The knight nodded. "I understand... The key to winning or losing this battle is whether we can successfully seize or destroy the Wings of Wayne. As long as we leave the elves without a ship, we'll hold all the initiative."

"That's not all."

Listening to the sound of the nearby tide, Kang De smiled.

The knight raised an eyebrow. "Please enlighten me."

"You'll find out when the time comes... I can't say for sure whether it'll work yet."

Kang De spoke lightly. "Next, it's time to leave this stage to our elven friends. I hope they have fun in there."

The knight glanced warily at the mouth of the split valley. His soul sensed the presence of danger.

"In there..." he asked, "what exactly is in there?"

Earlier, Kang De and his animal friends had gone in carrying bags of all sizes, leaving the knight and princess outside. Only after several hours had Kang De emerged, covered in dust. He would not say what was inside when asked, but from the look of him, he had clearly been in several fierce fights.

"Some dangerous things. I only went a short way in. If I'm not mistaken, this is the source of the Black Beasts' mutations on the island... As for what exactly it is..."

Kang De smiled. "Let's leave it to our elven friends to investigate thoroughly."

The knight said uneasily, "If there really is something formidable inside, and the elves get their hands on it..."

Kang De patted him on the shoulder. "I was only seventy percent at ease before, but now that you've said that, it's gone up to ninety percent... Don't worry. I've made arrangements, and besides, once we take the ship, we can still flee if things go badly."

"...What arrangements?"

"Arrangements we didn't use earlier."

On North Second Island, in the valley where Kang De lived, the warehouse doors had already been taken apart. Pigeon cooed, several enormous birds gathered in the square, and oil drums were being rolled out one after another.

Elsewhere on the island, at the Goth People camp, rows of energetic sailors and soldiers stood before Captain Oswald, eager for action. The ship was on standby.

Aboard the Wings of Wayne, Master Laclais returned to the ship with a mixture of excitement and disappointment. After the pillar of light had blazed into the sky, the captain and Sir Taize had finally decided to send out troops, but he had still been asked to return to the ship. After all, in the Holy Seal Archipelago, a spellcaster like him could not help and would instead be a burden.

"I hope they find something..."

The master whispered hopefully.

He pushed open the cabin door and paused, pleasantly surprised. The parrot that had flown away during the day was now perched on his clothes rack, saying to him in Elvish, "Welcome! Welcome!"

"Little fellow, I thought you'd flown off for good."

He had to admit, it lifted his spirits a little. He walked toward his magitech workbench, preparing to continue the experiment he had left unfinished, and said as he went, "If this operation goes smoothly, we're sure to gain a great deal. I'll earn tremendous honors and advancement, and when I return home, I'll..."

Suddenly, he froze.

He had noticed that a sacred artifact fragment was missing from the workbench.

The fragments of the warhammer, short club, and long saber were all there. Only the dagger was missing.

The next moment, a chill touched the center of his back.

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PS1: This update is four thousand Chinese characters... I didn't sleep well last night, and some crap happened again today, so I'm not really up to it. I'll get some sleep and talk about it tomorrow. Good night, everyone.