Walking through the hallway at the edge of the hall, the two of them reached the courtyard at the back of the hotel.

The courtyard has only one floor, most of which are guest rooms, and the rest is used as a kitchen and warehouse. Wren didn't look around, and followed Zoltan into a courtyard, judging by the decoration of the house, this should be Zoltan's own residence, cleaned up, but there were no other dwarves to be seen.

Zoltan used the key to open a room with a lot of stuff piled up in it that looked like a utility room.

Wren watched as Zoltan pushed open the cabinet against the wall, revealing a downward staircase.

"Come down. ”

The dwarf didn't explain much, and led the way down the stairs.

Wren hesitated, but followed.

The stairs were not long, and soon they came to an end, and an empty basement appeared in front of them.

A few gas lamps lit up, Wren was quite surprised when he saw it, this place was much larger than he expected, with an area of nearly 100 square meters and a height of three meters, and there was no feeling of crampedness and stuffiness at all, it could no longer be called a basement.

However, Wren's attention was drawn to the surrounding machinery.

A machine machine-like machine in the middle of the basement looked thick and bulky, and a little old, but it was well maintained, and the various coupling gears and flywheels were polished and shiny, without a trace of rust. The machine was connected to a tall boiler, apparently steam-powered.

"Steam lathe!"

Wren recognized it at a glance, but he didn't think it was right.

The machine is complex, not just a single lathe, it seems to be a combination of cutting, forging, planing, milling, grinding and extrusion, like a patchwork all-purpose machine. In addition to the steam lathe, there are many other tools around, such as forges, grinding wheels, etc., and various metal materials and parts are stacked in the corners.

Seeing Wren's expression, Zoltan said proudly: "This is my private workshop. ”

Wren asked curiously, "Boss, are you a mechanical craftsman?" Before he guessed that Zoltan was an alchemist, so he would sell alchemy materials.

"Sort of. ”

Zoltan shrugged his shoulders, "I used to be a blacksmith in the clan, but my skills were very poor, and then I came to the empire to learn machining, but I have little interest in making swords and weapons, and now I am a gunsmith. ”

As he spoke, he flashed the pistol on his waist and slapped it twice.

Wren hadn't heard of a gunsmith, but he could guess that he was a craftsman who specialized in making soul guns, so it was no wonder he saw a lot of barrels, springs, and other parts in the pile of metal.

"When I was really sleepy, someone brought me a pillow. ”

Wren was pleasantly surprised, and his plan was to see if he could make gunpowder, and if so, find a way to make a gun.

There are many artisan workshops affiliated with the "Steam and Machinery Union" in the city of Longshand, which sell all kinds of weapons and can also order metal parts, as long as they can afford it.

His previous idea was to order the gun parts in batches at different artisan workshops and assemble them himself, but the overall cost must be high, so he had to get a sum of money first.

Now seeing Zoltan's workshop, Wren immediately had a new idea.

If you can borrow this workshop, do it yourself, and then use the mechanical structure diagram in your mobile phone to help, you can save a lot of money and quickly build a gun.

Zoltan walked over to a wall and raised his hand to press it.

Several silver lines emerge from the wall, forming a door, which then opens inward. When opened, the door made a dull noise of rubbing against the ground, and it was obviously extremely heavy, as if it was made of a single piece of stone, and the average person could not push it open.

"It's a magic door!"

Wren was stunned for a moment, it was the first time he had seen the Might and Magic, but he was even more surprised that Zoltan seemed to trust him very much and was not afraid to leak it out at all.

This also made him wary, would Zoltan have other plans?

Zoltan seemed to guess Wren's thoughts, and said nonchalantly: "I didn't build this magic door, including this basement, before I bought the hotel." There's really nothing particularly valuable in it, it's just the place where I store my alchemy materials, and many people who trade with me have come in. ”

"Don't grind, do you still want to buy alchemy materials?" Seeing that Wren was still hesitating, the dwarf became a little impatient.

Wren didn't think much of it, so he walked in.

The secret room behind the Magic Gate is not large, only more than 20 square meters, the walls are all flat stones, and the whole room seems to be hollowed out of a boulder, which is impermeable. The only light source in the chamber was the gas lamp that Zoltan was carrying, and the lighting was unstable because his hand was shaking.

Wren secretly turned on the camera and turned up the brightness in his field of view.

Rows of wooden shelves are arranged in the room, divided into hundreds of compartments, in which various materials are placed.

Zoltan raised the gas lamp to illuminate the wooden frame, and said: "My alchemy materials are all here, I have used a lot recently, and I have sold a lot, and I haven't had time to replenish them, so you can see for yourself which ones to buy and tell me." ”

"Good. Wren nodded.

There are hundreds of materials here, and they are complex, mainly in the form of various ores and powders, as well as some treated plant branches and leaves, as well as some strange shapes and materials that may be from living creatures.

Wren was suddenly a little embarrassed, and he didn't recognize most of these materials.

He remembered the recipe for black powder, but he didn't know how the three ingredients were said in Orion, and he couldn't tell if they were here for a while.

However, there are also some things that are easy to recognize, such as alcohol and graphite, which may be useful, and Wren took them down and put them on the table. He continued to search, and his gaze fell on a glass jar containing a black particle, dark and dull, very familiar.

"This is black powder?"

Wren stepped forward to open the lid, smelled a smell of gunpowder, and was overjoyed, he also thought about making it himself, but he didn't expect that there was already a finished product.

"Boss, what's in this jar?" he asked casually, pretending not to know the black powder.

Zoltan walked over and looked at it, and replied: "This is fire sand, which was used by our dwarves to make musket bullets a long time ago, but the power is too low, and it is not easy to preserve, and a lot of smoke will come out when the gun is fired, so it has long been replaced by phlogiston, and now it is of little use." ”

Wren was very convinced that this was black powder.

It turned out that the dwarves had discovered black powder a long time ago, but it was not used on a large scale and was eliminated by phlogiston.

Wren had previously heard of phlogiston, the main material used to make soul gun bullets, which can ignite explosions like gunpowder, but require soul power to activate. He immediately understood that it was because of the existence of phlogiston that the world of Ehrenus did not continue to research the more powerful gunpowder.

In fact, the power of black powder is not small, but the dwarves did not study the most precise formula, so they quickly gave up.

However, this pot of fire sand is estimated to be useless, and it is not powerful enough.

Wren thought about it for a while, decided not to hide it from Zoltan, and said: "Boss, I want to buy some fire sand for research, and I also want a copy of its preparation method and enough raw materials, I don't know if you have it?"

"I'll look for it. ”

Zoltan didn't ask Wren what he wanted the fire sand for, but walked back and forth in front of the wooden frame a few times, and soon took three or four materials down, and introduced: "Fire sand is made of volcanic loess, charcoal powder, and bitter ice, and I will write to you later on the preparation method." ”

Wren immediately recognized that volcanic loess was sulfur and bitter ice was saltpeter, and he also remembered the names of these materials.

After that, he didn't buy anything else, and asked Zoltan to calculate the price.

Because these materials were relatively common, not very precious, and not very numerous, Wren only paid 100 copper lisos to buy them.

Before leaving the chamber, Wren's gaze inadvertently swept the floor, and found strange notches under some wooden shelves, forming complex shapes, but they were filled with dust, which were not obvious. If he hadn't turned up the brightness of his field of view, it would have been difficult to see the existence of these nicks.

However, he didn't pay much attention to it, and followed Zoltan out of the secret room.

Closing the magic door, Zoltan glanced at Wren who was holding the alchemy materials, and said, "If you want to do alchemy research, my alchemy table can be lent to you for a few days, so that you don't burn down my hotel with fire sand upstairs." ”

As he spoke, he pointed to a table in the corner of the basement with a number of glassware.

Wren was naturally willing.

Not only did he want to borrow the alchemy table, but he wanted to borrow the entire workshop and use the steam machine.

"Thank you boss. Wren smiled a little embarrassedly, "I still want to borrow this lathe, can I?"

When Zoltan heard this, his eyes immediately widened, and his beard was cocked.

Wren hastened to add: "I can pay." ”

Zoltan's expression softened, he thought about it for a while, and said with some reluctance: "It's okay to pay." He stretched out five thick fingers and said fiercely: "50 copper lisos a day, the coal and materials consumed are calculated separately, and if the tools are damaged, you will be compensated according to the price." ”

Wren calculated the remaining money, which could last for more than ten days, and with his own operational ability, he should be enough to make a gun.

If you fail, you will have to find another way out.

In order to take revenge, he gritted his teeth and nodded in agreement.

Zoltan walked around the workshop, counted the materials he had, and left.

Wren didn't want to waste time, so he immediately went to the alchemy table, familiarized himself with the glassware, and began to prepare black powder.

He had read a book in the library about weapons and ammunition, which included not only the history of gunpowder, but also the methods of making various types of ammunition.

The simplest of them was black powder, and he was so impressed that he could clearly remember what the optimal ratio was.

In fact, black powder is not the first choice, Wren also remembers a method of making smokeless powder by solvent method, which is more powerful and not difficult, but there are no raw materials here, so he can only settle for the second.

After a few attempts, it only took half a day for Wren to successfully formulate fire sand!