Chapter 30 Crossbow Improvement Plan
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”Phew… finally got it done,” Ayumu sighed, wiping the sweat from his brow.
He had kept working on the crossbow long after the shop had closed. First, he ordered several parts from the blacksmith to create a winding mechanism that would make string tensioning easier. Thanks to this, he managed to cut the loading time from nearly twelve seconds down to six or seven. It still couldn’t match the firing speed of a short bow, but considering how slow it was originally, it was a definite improvement.
Next, he refined the bolts, the crossbow’s equivalent of arrows. The first was a paralysis bolt, made from an extract concentrated from a hallucinogenic plant. This bolt had an immediate effect, designed to stop the target’s movements quickly. The finishing strike was a poison bolt, drawn from a highly toxic plant. Its venom was potent against most animals and plants but worked with a delayed effect.
Ayumu chuckled to himself. “I deliberately chose a delayed toxin so I won’t be done for if I accidentally prick myself,” he muttered.
He was always a bit of a prankster.
Then came the prototype explosive bolt. Not quite an arrow, but a bolt meant to detonate upon impact—perfect for when his aim was off or when facing multiple targets. The fuse would react when it hit the ground. Testing it on monsters, however, revealed it lacked the stopping power he wanted. It could wound enemies but wasn’t very lethal.
Night after night, Ayumu toiled over ways to increase its lethality, drawing inspiration from how shotgun pellets were made in his original world.
One breakthrough came after recalling the “shot tower” method. He drilled countless holes in a copper bucket on the second floor, then poured in molten lead. Using gravity and surface tension, he caught the lead in a pail of water below, successfully mass-producing grape-shot pellets.
Packing these pellets into the explosive bolts finally gave him a weapon capable of revenge against the monsters—but it came with risks.
Ayumu shuddered. “I almost ended up full of holes myself!”
The faint thud of a dropped bolt echoed through the workshop, reminding him to be more careful.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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