The Neighbor Stocks Grain, I Stock Guns; the Neighbor Is My Granary

Finally, Colin and his group arrived in front of a mine entrance that clearly showed signs of human activity, supported by several heavily bent wooden posts.

The area in front of the mine entrance was slightly damp, with withered vegetation and scattered gravel strewn about.

Colin did not hesitate to use his ability.

[System: You realize that this is what you have been longing for: Niter. It can be used to synthesize a key weapon.]

[Although the gunpowder simply synthesized from it is already obsolete in the era you come from.]

[But just as you dreamed of while sleeping yesterday, you yearn to give this land a baptism of artillery fire to sweep away all the gloom, and this will be the first step.]

That's going too far! You even know what I dream about.

Colin didn't dwell on this trivial matter, his gaze shifting to the chunks of Niter scattered on both sides of the mine entrance.

This natural Niter had not yet been purified and contained many impurities; a gentle squeeze was enough to crush it into a fine powder.

However, after Colin took out the Synthesis Table and, with a thought, processed multiple batches, those impurities vanished.

Although Colin didn't understand the principle, the Niter now in his hands had turned into a slightly yellowish powder, with no other impurities visible to the naked eye.

Colin's eyes glowed slightly, but he knew there were still a few steps left before reaching the "finished product."

Even though the steps were simplified to the extreme thanks to the Synthesis Table and the help of the prompts, he still had to spend some time on it.

However, Colin did not intend to return; instead, he decided to experiment nearby and craft a batch of "Power" on the spot.

While the prompts could provide some data, the true power had to be witnessed firsthand, otherwise, it would just be empty talk.

Subsequently, after ordering his men to collect the Niter scattered outside the entrance, Colin obtained several dozen portions of the material.

Finding a temporary shelter nearby and killing the Aberration inside, Colin ordered everyone to stand guard.

At the same time, Colin took out some food and, following the recipe , synthesized some jerky to replenish everyone's stamina.

In a situation where food is not scarce, maintaining a good state is a matter of great importance.

Shana, Number Two, and the other subordinates had no objections to this, but when she saw Colin trading those important, high-stamina-restoring foods for various materials, she couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache.

"Are you really going to trade food for some ordinary charcoal?" Shana couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

Shana had no concept of the thing Colin described that would explode so powerfully; in her view, it was likely at most equivalent to a mage's Explosion Spell.

However, the power of an Explosion Spell could really only deal with ordinary people.

Doing a simple calculation, Shana felt that if she were given a bit of food, she could take down a whole group of ordinary people.

Moreover, Colin did not shy away from letting her see the chat messages on the World Channel.

"Someone is actually trading food for charcoal? Is this person an idiot?"

Shana could see similar messages, many of which were mocking and questioning. This made her frown, and she felt a bit like correcting those who were speaking against Mr. Colin.

"It's fine, you will realize its importance soon enough."

Colin's hands didn't stop moving, but as he watched the chat scroll by, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

Shana's sapphire-like eyes looked at Colin's profile, his striking face filled with considerable focus.

Shana knew he was truly serious, so she said nothing more, simply nodding and preparing to perform her duty of close protection.

As the strongest combatant in the entire team, she naturally needed to shoulder this responsibility to ensure that no accidents befell Colin.

At this moment, some stones emitting a peculiar odor were taken out by Colin from the trading market.

Shana noticed that someone had posted in the Regional Channel again.

"Hahaha, I just snatched some food using a few pieces of Sulfur. Hahaha, how could there be such a stupid person, using food to instantly buy out all the Sulfur on the trading market."

"Sulfur? This stuff is completely useless for survival. Why is he trading for Sulfur?"

"Wait, you said someone is trading with you for Sulfur? How could anyone be trading for Sulfur at this stage?"

"I have a bad feeling. I don't know if my guess is right, but someone might have discovered a Niter mine."

"What does Sulfur have to do with Niter? Why do you look like something big has happened?" someone asked, puzzled.

"No way, no way, don't tell me there's someone who doesn't know how Black Powder is made? Charcoal, Sulfur, Niter—the three essentials for transmigrators. Did the person above graduate from kindergarten before starting work?"

"2333, I don't know which lucky bastard in that region it is, but the survivors there are probably in for a rough time. Having access to Black Powder in the early stages is basically equivalent to being invincible."

"Neighbors hoard grain, I hoard guns; the neighbor is my granary," someone said gleefully in the chat channel.

He didn't think this person would appear in their region; after all, the trading market was shared by the entire district, with a thousand people per district and millions of districts—what were the odds of them being in the same one?

By the time everyone developed further later on, Black Powder wouldn't be of much use.

They still had plenty of opportunities to become stronger.

"Ah, this. It shouldn't be our region, right?" The person in the Regional Channel seemed to have realized it too, saying somewhat listlessly:

"Besides, Niter is rarely distributed naturally. Most of us struggle just to go out; where would we find the chance to look for this stuff? Maybe they just have a lot of snakes over there."

Neighbors hoard grain, I hoard guns; hoarding guns is equivalent to hoarding grain? Is Lord Colin hoarding guns? Doesn't look like it.

Shana wondered curiously. Her attention was relatively focused on food, so she was very curious about this phrase.

The only guns she knew were spear-like weapons, so she couldn't understand what those people were talking about.

However, judging by the sudden change in their tone, it seemed that Colin was indeed doing something quite remarkable.

This made her heave a sigh of relief; she had always been worried that Colin was the type of person like a cultist or a mad doctor, someone who believed that combining a mess of random things could grant immense power or at least fill an empty stomach.

In reality, however, they usually just ended up with a pile of useless trash, insisting that the concoctions—which would likely kill anyone who ate them—could make one stronger, or claiming that consuming powders made from different crushed stones could keep one alive.

A faint white light radiated from Shana, her hands half-clenched into fists, her face calm and natural, revealing no particular expression, though her mind was racing.

Just then, she suddenly heard Colin say with a smile, "Finally finished!"

Shana turned her head curiously to look, only to see a tattered box sitting on a bench, filled with nearly a full container of black powder.

Was this the powerful weapon Mr. Colin had been talking about?