333: Chapter 163: Silver Mountain Crossbow and Magic Materials_3 333: Chapter 163: Silver Mountain Crossbow and Magic Materials_3 Leon gazed at the items inside and immediately felt his eyes light up.
He was not unfamiliar with crossbows in this world, having seen mercenaries with them when he was trapped in a slave cage, as well as the Thorny Flower family’s soldiers wielding powerful crossbows in Farolis City.
They all looked similar to the ancient crossbows he had seen in his previous life.
But the steel bow light crossbows inside the box…
Leon picked up a crossbow and examined it; even just from its design, it was far superior to the craftsmanship of ordinary crossbows.
The butt of the crossbow was not straight or merely slightly curved, like most crossbows.
Instead, it resembled the early rifles with a grip design suitable for holding and aiming, which would surely add ten points to its ergonomics.
“I learned how to disassemble and maintain this in Silver Mountain City, and I’ll teach you later,” Azeryan said as he picked up the parts of the crossbow and started assembling it.
In no time, he had put together the light crossbow, attached a quiver of arrows, and led Leon outside to the target range, handing over the crossbow and the handle wheel to Leon, teaching him how to draw the bow.
Lowering the crossbow body, he placed the handle wheel on the bow body, and the end clip locked the trigger in place.
Intuitively understanding, Leon turned the handle wheel just a few times, filling the bowstring with ease, which was much less strenuous than a conventional pulley crossbow.
In his past life, he had played a lot with bows but was not particularly interested in crossbows, as cooler firearms had replaced them in terms of design.
Loading a crossbow arrow, Leon aimed with the light crossbow, initially holding it rifle-style due to its design, but realizing his past knightly strength meant he didn’t have to do so, he switched to firing the crossbow with one hand.
Pulling the trigger, the crossbow arrow shot out with a whoosh, making Leon realize, due to the ease of drawing the bowstring, that he had underestimated its draw weight, which was much higher than he had anticipated.
The arrow swiftly pierced the center of the twenty-meter target with ease, surprising Leon with both its power and accuracy.
He loaded another arrow and aimed at a more distant fifty-meter target.
Another arrow flew swiftly and deeply embedded into the target.
However, its position was seriously skewed, only hitting the edge.
Of course, Leon knew it wasn’t his or the crossbow’s fault, just his unfamiliarity with the weapon.
Of course, from an average person’s perspective, hitting a fifty-meter target with this crossbow would be considered the mark of an extremely skilled shooter.
Moving to a clear area, Leon re-strung and loaded another arrow, but this time he shot the crossbow arrow casually without aiming.
After the arrow landed, he ran over to find it, estimating that the farthest landing point was about four hundred meters, with an effective range likely between two to three hundred meters.
Of course, at that distance, unless volleying a barrage of arrows, a single shooter hitting an enemy would be like winning a lottery in this lifetime.
Considering its outstanding accuracy, Leon looked down at the materials of this fine piece, reflecting that the substantial sum of money spent was indeed worth it.
With such low difficulty of use and performance, it wouldn’t take long for him to have a troop of shooters whose skills, except for firing rate, were comparable to that of skilled archers.
The superior weapon performance even compensated for the typical crossbowmen’s range disadvantage, and certainly, the defense of the Heavy Shield Crossbowmen was much higher than that of archers, though admittedly less agile.
“On this trip, did you manage to find the materials I needed in Silver Mountain City?” Leon asked Azeryan as they walked back, requesting him to search for Netti Card materials in the big city market.
Hearing this question, Azeryan, who was previously in good spirits, looked dejected and helplessly shook his head about the venture’s gains; resurrecting family members seemed a distant prospect for now.
“Nobody has heard of the Erosa Crystal, but an apothecary in Silver Mountain City mentioned that the description of it not melting sounds like the ‘Eternal Ice’ recorded in ancient books, but it can only be found in the extreme north of the Eternal Frozen Land.
I also asked the alchemists of Silver Mountain, they have never heard of ‘Yisuya Soul Stone,’ nor are they familiar with the so-called other name for Elf Soul…
As for the other materials, ‘Moonfall Silver’ and ‘Melted Mountain Gold,’ some people are aware of them, but they are only available within the Alchemy Guild of the Capital and are said to be extremely rare and precious, reserved exclusively for the Royal Family and never sold outside.”