Compound Bow

Abel planned to use this time to strengthen his abilities, starting with weapons. In this battle, if he had a ranged weapon, he could attack the werewolf from a distance and keep it from approaching. At the very least, he could slow it down.

Abel had thought extensively about ranged weapons. He had also studied the bows and arrows of this world, but he wanted even more to build the 70-pound compound bow he had used back on Earth.

The advantage of this kind of compound bow was that with an 80% let-off, you only needed fourteen pounds of draw weight to keep the bow at full draw once you had drawn it fully (70 × (1 - 80%) = 14). The user could shift their energy away from drawing the bow and focus more on aiming and adjusting their posture.

With a 60% let-off, twenty-eight pounds of draw weight were needed to hold the bow at full draw. The bow stored more energy this way, and the arrows it fired were often faster.

These two settings could be selected directly on the bow, allowing the compound bow's let-off to be adjusted higher or lower according to the situation.

Because of his powerful mental strength, Abel now remembered his past in incredible detail. He clearly remembered every component of a compound bow, as well as the dimensions of each part.

A compound bow consisted of cams, idler wheels, upper and lower limbs, a riser, limb pockets, cable slides, string dampeners, an arrow rest, a grip, a main string, a control cable, limb dampeners, and a string stop. Along with accessories such as the nock, arrow rest, sight, release aid, stabilizer, peep sight, and wrist sling, these formed a complete modern compound bow.

Although this world's level of technology was limited, its people were far stronger than humans on Earth. At the very least, Abel had never heard of anyone in his old world cleaving a man and horse in half with a single sword strike. And Knight Marshall had only been an Intermediate Knight. Abel found it even harder to imagine how powerful higher-ranking knights would be.

Abel himself was already stronger than most people on Earth, despite being only thirteen. He estimated that his strength now exceeded 400 pounds. Back on Earth, even as a fitness instructor, he had only been able to draw a 70-pound compound bow. He could not draw a stronger one.

Thus, although the materials for a compound bow could not be found in this world, people here were stronger—Abel especially. Since he was making it for himself, he could use sturdier materials as substitutes without worrying about the weight.

Abel drew up plans for every component one by one, marked their dimensions, and considered what materials to use.

For the cams and idler wheel, Abel planned to use bearings as the rotating supports for the two wheels. This would reduce friction during operation and ensure rotational precision. He would make both wheels from Hundred Refinements Blank.

Abel did not intend to make the upper and lower limbs himself, as that would take too much time. His idea was simple: dismantle two heavy bows. Heavy bows took a long time to make, and their materials were all of the highest quality. Abel knew there were several 200-pound heavy bows in the warehouse, the strongest bows in the castle. However, few people used them because not many could draw them. Only Professionals of at least fourth rank could manage it, but drawing a bow and aiming were two different matters. After drawing it, the user also had to maintain the same force while aiming, meaning they needed more than 300 pounds of strength—perhaps even more—to use a heavy bow comfortably.

That was why those heavy bows had remained in the warehouse, rarely used. Only the warehouse weapons keeper performed routine maintenance on them. Abel thought that after dismantling two heavy bows, he would have the limbs and two bowstrings he needed.

The upper and lower limbs would both use the limb sections of heavy bows. He would glue together the limbs from two heavy bows, producing limbs stronger than those of a heavy bow.

The dampeners, limb dampeners, and string stop would be made of wood, while the riser and arrow rest would be made from Hundred Refinements Blank.

After planning everything, Abel began making the compound bow. He retrieved two heavy bows from the warehouse and brought in a bowyer. Abel was not confident he could make proper limbs himself. The limbs were the compound bow's primary source of power and guaranteed the finished bow's performance. He believed hiring a professional was far better than slowly failing again and again on his own.

The bowyer painfully dismantled the two heavy bows, then cut them to the dimensions Abel specified according to his drawings. He glued the two limbs together with fish glue, and Abel was extremely satisfied with the finished product.

As for the dampeners, limb dampeners, and string stop, Abel brought in a carpenter. Under Abel's guidance, the carpenter also produced parts that met his requirements.

Bit by bit, nearly all the accessories were prepared. The bearings at the end, however, could only be made by Abel himself.

Bearings could be called the most important components in Earth's mechanical equipment, and they were extremely difficult to make. A bearing consisted of an inner race, balls, and an outer race. The inner and outer races contained tracks, and the balls rolled between them.

Abel began by making the balls. With the technology available now, making them was extremely difficult. There were no industrial machine tools, so everything had to be done by hand. Even Abel, a master blacksmith, found it highly demanding.

He first made a vernier caliper, then slowly forged a small piece of iron with a hammer. After hammering it into a round shape, he repeatedly measured it with the caliper and forged it again. Abel had not expected a standard spherical ball to take so much time. An entire half-day produced only one tiny ball, but measurements with the vernier caliper showed it to be perfectly spherical.

After completing the first ball, Abel used a clay wet-sand mold. Using clay and an appropriate amount of water as the primary binder for the molding sand, he made a sand mold for thirty balls from the first one.

Each bearing needed only twelve balls, but Abel planned to make some extras. He had originally thought the most troublesome part would be turning iron into molten metal with charcoal. After asking Master Bentham, he learned that this world possessed a special natural fire-boosting additive. Adding it during heating could easily turn iron into molten metal.

Abel poured the molten iron into the thirty ball molds. After waiting for them to cool and removing them, he polished them further and finally obtained perfect balls.

Based on the balls' size, Abel calculated the dimensions of the inner and outer races and the depth of the tracks. With the help of his mental strength, he successfully completed these precise forging operations.

Next came combining the inner race, outer race, and balls. This had been explained in many physics lectures and documentaries. Abel took some ice from the ice cellar and placed the inner race in it, then put the outer race into the furnace. After a while, because of thermal expansion and contraction, the inner race, balls, and outer race could be fitted together in order. Once their temperatures returned to normal, he had the bearing he wanted.

He then secured the bearing to the finished cam and idler wheel, assembling everything step by step. In the end, Abel created the first compound bow in this world.

Because this compound bow could not be dry-fired and it was already evening, Abel put it away.

Early the next morning, after playing with Black Wind for a while, Abel took fifty arrows from the warehouse and went to the archery range to test his new bow. Since the compound bow was so strange, Abel cleared the entire range.

He took out the first arrow and set it on the arrow rest, then pulled hard on the release aid. Abel had never imagined that the bow would require so much strength. The combined force of the two heavy bows definitely exceeded 400 pounds. He had to use nearly all his strength just to draw it, but once it was fully drawn, he suddenly felt the strain ease. Less than 100 pounds of force was needed to hold it in that position.

Abel aimed the sight's reticle at the target fifty meters away and lightly pressed the trigger on the release aid. The bowstring gave a soft twang, and the arrow flew out. It traveled in a perfectly straight line through the air and struck the center of the target. After punching a round hole through the bullseye, it continued flying backward until it struck the protective wall thirty meters behind the target and fell to the ground.

The fifty-meter target was already the farthest target inside the castle. Although Abel had confirmed that the compound bow had no problems with firing or aiming, he had not yet tested its maximum range.

Holding the compound bow, Abel stared at the round hole in the center of the target ahead. He had never heard of a bow firing an arrow that flew in a straight line for at least fifty meters. This compound bow was already the most advanced bow in the world.