"Magnetic Infantry Project?"
Everyone was intrigued; the name sounded quite impressive.
Ethan nodded, "Although the magic scrolls for Ice Arrows are selling well, they have obvious drawbacks. They are consumables that can only be used once, requiring customers to continually purchase more. As the customer base grows, the production capacity at the Old Sen Mage Shop is starting to fall behind, making it difficult to maintain consistent quality over the long term."
More importantly, Ethan’s proficiency with Ice Arrows had reached its peak; the era of the electrical element was next.
Ethan not only considered customer needs but also his own skill proficiency. For a long time to come, unless there’s a special customer request, their main production focus will be on the electrical element.
"I got inspiration from Sister Bi’an’s forged ’Red Rose’. Why don’t we create some weapons for our customers that can be used long-term?"
"Good idea, but not everyone can use ’Red Rose’."
Sister Bi’an explained, "As I’ve mentioned, it’s essentially an energy emitter. The stronger the user’s magic power, the more powerful the projectile. From what I understand, most of the shop’s buyers are first to second-tier Transcendents. Their weak magic power simply can’t drive magical weapons."
"The key lies in the charging issue."
As the chief researcher at Old Sen Magical Technology, I’ve been studying this issue recently. "From my observations, using magic power as a weapon typically has two modes. The first is what you mentioned, using the user as an emitter, which imposes extremely high requirements on the weapon’s user."
In fact, the design concept of ’Red Rose’ is not avant-garde. As early as several eras ago, the concept of "Holy Artifact" appeared in human civilization. The legendary holy sword, in Ethan’s view, was a magic power emitter, which, although it appeared as a sword, could efficiently release the user’s magic power.
Under this design concept, the true power lies in the user, not the weapon itself.
"In Gear City, I witnessed ’Miracle Creations’. Although the principle seems similar, it’s a completely different design concept. Miracle Creations are essentially magic power reservers rather than emitters, storing the magic power of high-tier clergy from the church, and releasing it when necessary."
Although the holder of the Miracle Creations, Mr. Aisoke, unfortunately contracted the Red Death disease and passed away, he made outstanding contributions to the history of modern magical technology development with his life.
"Miracle Creations are often used in defensive ornaments, utilizing the priest’s ’Protective Spell’. The principle is simple. If the attack is not enough to exceed the magic power stored in the ornament, the attack is nullified by the Protective Spell. It’s simple numerical calculation."
Everyone in the apartment fell silent, even Teacher Cat tilted her head in contemplation.
Numerical calculations?
Where did these concepts come from?
They had never encountered these theories before, but upon following Ethan’s words and thinking carefully, they found it quite reasonable. It seemed not many people paid attention to such subtle differences; most people’s understanding of magical weapons stayed at the level of ’as long as it works, it doesn’t matter how’.
Ave remembered something similar mentioned in the Craftsman’s Handbook, related to the technology of the Golden Era, but it had been abandoned over time.
Ethan was also puzzled by everyone’s reaction, asking, "Did I make a mistake in my theory?"
Teacher Cat became the spokesperson, "It’s very novel, making people want to open your head to see what’s inside."
Having spent a long time with Ethan, she increasingly felt that Ethan’s way of thinking was very peculiar, almost unlike that of a normal person, but somewhat similar to those mad researchers in history. However, most of the time, Ethan was quite normal and never brought his obsessive research mindset into daily life, nor did he treat humans as test subjects.
It’s like having two brains, with the other only activating when necessary.
She lifted her paw, gently tapping Ethan’s head with her soft pad, then jumped onto Ave’s shoulder, tapping her head and tuft.
Hmm, the sound seemed similar, nothing different in the structure.
"Then I’ll continue. The next issue to solve is energy consumption. The key is how to maximize magic power conservation while reducing consumption and maintaining power."
Ethan gathered an electric ball in his palm again, and at the same time, applied an electric current to the empty plate on the table, "These are two completely different ways of using magic power, one generated out of thin air, the other by imbuing existing objects with magic power."
To him, this was the most difficult step.
His goal was to explore the difference in magic power consumption between the two modes, but...
He just had too much magic power. It was like taking a cup of water from the ocean. You’d need a microscope-level observation to discern the differences between the two, "You can imagine this plate as a crossbow. Based on my research, conjuring an elemental arrow out of thin air consumes far more than letting elements attach to a regular arrow, but the destructive power of the two is nearly indistinguishable."
Hence, a concept began to develop in Ethan’s mind, "We can create a crossbow with an energy-gathering crystal core that uses the electrical element as a driving force, using arrows that can be bought anywhere as ammunition."
In many sci-fi shooting games Ethan had played, the concept of electromagnetic crossbows appeared.
He initially thought that, in that era, arrows would struggle to withstand the power from electromagnetic shooting, but elemental enchantment helped him overcome this issue—electrical elemental enchantment does not damage the arrow because, theoretically, the final damage dealt to the target is from the elemental elf attached around the outside of the arrow.
"Finally, there’s the cost issue."
Ethan said, "Each electromagnetic crossbow requires an energy-gathering crystal, priced between 50-60 Gold Lions according to the Fireplace Bay market. Adding manual costs, the suggested retail price is about 80 Gold Lions. Once the energy in the energy-gathering crystal is depleted, it can be recharged at Astrology Guilds in major cities."
For clients of Old Sen Magical Technology Store, this is a luxury purchase but something they might afford with some financial stretch.
And for us, the Haywood Mine’s Small Manager Type I will continually provide us with energy-gathering crystals, enough to arm a city’s troops with production capacity.
Besides selling the first batch of electromagnetic crossbows, they could also bring qualitative leaps in Ximu Town’s defense capabilities.
After all, the mission of Old Sen Magical Technology is not to offer opulence to high-tier Transcendents but to provide means of resistance for the majority, who are ordinary people.
"Sounds interesting, I’ll draw up the blueprints for the crossbow."
Sister Bi’an rolled up her sleeves, ready for a big endeavor.
She understood more than anyone present the significance of this theory. Although on the surface, it seemed people regressed from firearms back to the era of crossbows, if Ethan’s theory wasn’t wrong, this would become a weapon more powerful than firearms!