Revenge of the stone.
Colin muttered.
But the stone hadn't hit him. It had landed about two meters away.
After several seconds of deathly silence, Colin discreetly rubbed his sore ribs while smiling and reassuring Miss Shana that he was fine.
Colin's gaze involuntarily swept over Shana, and he decided the dirt would probably have been softer.
After all, his back hadn't hurt when he fell, but his chest had taken a painful knock.
"Ah, I-I'm sorry," Shana apologized sincerely.
Even without her stepping in to block it, the stone probably wouldn't have hit anyone. The whole thing was just a little awkward.
"Would you like me to brush the dirt off you?" Shana asked.
"N-no, that won't be necessary."
After politely declining, Colin shifted the conversation without drawing attention to it, hoping to escape the awkward topic. "Rather than worrying about something so minor, I think we should go check out the explosion site."
At the mention of the explosion, Shana's eyes lit up. She nodded in agreement.
Before long, Colin reached the spot where they had just placed the explosives and saw an enormous crater in the ground.
The crater was over half a meter deep and several meters wide, enough to demonstrate its terrifying destructive power. The dirt around it, however, was incredibly "soft." Stepping on it felt like walking on a fluffy cake.
[Notice: After observing the blast, you have found that its power seems to be similar to the descriptions you once saw online.]
[Therefore, you are certain that even though this world contains many strange things, the scientific knowledge you possess should still apply here.]
Colin's lips curled up slightly. He had been worried that in a place with magic and other unusual energies, firearms and cannons might be far less powerful.
Fortunately, the notice had given him an answer he was happy with.
Everyone around him looked astonished. Shana took a deep breath of the "fragrance" lingering in the air. Whatever she was thinking, a hint of excitement entered her usually gentle, friendly voice.
"How many of these can you make?"
She had seen it all clearly from beginning to end. The unique weapon didn't need magic to set it off.
That meant even ordinary people could use it!
And if it could be manufactured in large quantities...
Shana thought that just imagining it made her feel happy.
"Making ten or twenty barrels shouldn't be a problem right now."
Colin thought for a moment, then answered casually. "It mainly depends on how much Frost Stone is left in the mine."
He wasn't too worried that they would run out of Niter. Judging by the productivity people of this era had demonstrated, that seemed unlikely.
The only exception would be if the upper ruling class, who were obviously Extraordinary, came to mine it themselves. But that was even less likely.
So it was safe to assume there was still plenty of Niter in the mine.
With all the system's various functions, even on his own, he could quickly make a large quantity of explosives.
The problem was that mining the Niter in the Mine Cave was extremely troublesome. If Colin didn't want to be tied to this place, he would need to set up a production line.
That would require quite a few workers.
Human lives were cheap.
To put it bluntly, under the current circumstances, a life might be worth only one or two hundred milliliters of water and a slice—or even half a slice—of bread, at least to a lord who refused to eat people.
But the Hurricane Lamp, the need for blood, and the limits on food and territory all made it impossible for Colin to cause a population boom.
And the longer he waited, the greater the cost of a population boom would become.
Once all the Servants he couldn't afford to feed at the beginning had starved to death, the price of triggering a population boom would be staggering.
The more Colin thought about it, the more pressure he felt.
In an instant, the joy and sense of accomplishment brought by the Black Powder were washed away.
At that moment, in a Level 2 Territory shrouded in mist, a Level 2 lord named Huang Weiyang was contentedly enjoying the roasted rat meat in his hands.
There were no spices, salt, or seasonings of any kind, but the crisp, savory meat was still irresistible. Fragrant fat mingled with saliva, and Huang Weiyang felt the primal craving for protein that came with being alive.
"I worked hard for over ten years and still couldn't afford a house. Who would've thought I'd get one in a place as lousy as this?"
He laughed at himself, a little nostalgic for his rented apartment, which had been only a few dozen square meters.
The toilet had clogged every day even when he hadn't flushed anything, but at least he hadn't had to worry about dying every time he stepped outside.
And the tech stock he'd invested in last year had kept rising. He'd planned to splurge a little at the end of the year, but then he'd ended up here.
As he reminisced about the past, a distant boom made him shudder.
"What was that?!"
He was puzzled for a moment, then recalled the information he'd seen in the Chat Channel not long ago. His face paled.
N-no way it was really that, right?
He'd just been running his mouth about stockpiling guns and the like, and had even felt a little schadenfreude. But when something happened to him, it was a different story.
Now, the people in their region had become a granary.
The man checked the Chat Channel. Most people were still oblivious, with no idea what had happened.
But some people nearby had noticed something strange.
"I think I just heard something. Does anyone know what happened?"
"Didn't notice. What, was it unusual?"
"I think I heard it too. Sounded like thunder. More importantly, I wonder how the people who went exploring in the woods are doing. A few of the guys who used to be active suddenly stopped talking."
"It's nothing serious. They probably died."
"Everyone, I have something to tell you. Don't be scared when you hear it."
"What is it? Why all the mystery?"
"Exactly. Just spit it out already."
"Someone in our region has made explosives."
"..."
The Regional Channel fell silent in an instant.
But seconds later, messages flooded in again, and even the lurkers came out of hiding.
"Holy crap, are you sure you heard right? There are millions of regions. What are the odds it'd happen in ours?"
"To be fair, he's right. The chances are tiny."
Huang Weiyang looked at the messages before him and gave a bitter smile. He typed a reply.
"I served in the military and have seen explosives before. I guarantee I didn't hear wrong. That was absolutely an explosion, not thunder. We really are the one-in-several-million region."
"Holy crap, explosives?! How the hell hasn't the system sanctioned them or banned their account?"
"..."
The Regional Channel was filled with people venting their anger.
They had all ventured out to explore, so they understood exactly what it meant for someone to have obtained Black Powder at a time like this.
After the wave of venting had passed, the man hesitated, then cautiously asked:
"Why don't we band together and go talk to that person? I think I can tell roughly which direction it came from."
Talk? Give me a break!
Everyone knew what he really meant.
Before you continue