Chapter 512: Modifying the Sleeve Gun
“Excuse me, what are you doing?” I asked. When I came to the doorway just now, I heard the ding-ding-dang of hammering and the roar of machines from inside. Now that I’ve opened the door, the sound is even louder.
Last time I came, the huge boiler in the middle of the workshop was not running, it was only maintained at the lowest startup state. But now it’s different, the entire workshop is running at full capacity, with sounds of jetting and metal friction everywhere.
“I’m customizing a set of armor for some important clients, so I’m very sorry, but I can’t lend you the workshop right now. However, after I finish this batch of goods, I can lend it to you for half a day,” Old Fegen said.
“Then, perhaps you don’t need the workbench. I’m just doing some fine modifications and I won’t need to use the furnace or the forging table. You can just lend me the workbench,” I suggested.
“Uh, if you don’t need too much time.” Old Fegen seemed to see that I was in a hurry, and he somewhat agreed.
“Of course, I won’t disturb you. I’ll pay three silver coins for rent.” I added another layer, last time I came to borrow the workshop it only cost two silver coins, which was a friendly price considering Old Golden Tooth. This time I even took the initiative to add another silver coin.
“Okay, Miss, you’ve convinced me,” Old Fegen said with a smile. Seeing that we had reached an agreement, Old Golden Tooth bid farewell and left.
Old Fegen welcomed both me and Jayad into the workshop. It was Jayad’s first time here, and he looked with surprise at all the unfamiliar machine tools and roaring steam boilers, which were things he had never seen before.
“Kid, don’t touch anything randomly. If you get hurt, I won’t compensate you. However, if you break my machines, you will have to pay,” Old Fegen said, stating an unequal treaty as if it were natural.
However, I felt that his machines couldn’t hurt Older Brother Jayad. Of course, it was possible that Older Brother Jayad might accidentally break them. As long as the Holy Light Shield was activated, these machines would definitely get stuck.
I went straight to the workbench I needed. This place was for precision processing, such as gems or clocks, while those machine tools and furnaces over there were for processing with higher technological content.
I specifically chose this place because of the complete and convenient tools. If one wasn’t dedicated to this industry, it would be difficult to gather so many professional tools.
As soon as I sat down, I eagerly asked Jayad to take off his sleeve dart weapon, and at the same time took out tools such as pliers and screwdrivers from the workbench.
“Miss, are you still going to modify that assassin’s gadget again?” Old Fegen kept watching us. Of course, he was curious what I did when I rented his workshop last time. Then he saw me taking out the sleeve dart weapon that he disdained.
“Yes, this thing has some tricks to it,” I said as I tried to open the sleeve dart weapon.
“Heh heh, a real man should swing a big axe and hammer upwards, or carpet bomb them with firepower. What’s the use of those tiny assassin gadgets?” Old Fegen said with a smile, of course, this was his dwarven values.
“But I’m not a man.” My words left Old Fegen speechless. Actually, I would never have said I wasn’t a man before. Although this has become a reality, I at least don’t admit it verbally or in my heart.
Unexpectedly, I can now say it so naturally when joking. Even I was stunned after saying it.
“Then there’s nothing good to modify about this assassin’s gadget. Modifying it further will only add some functions. Can you even shoot the blade out?” Old Fegen asked doubtfully.
Only then did I take out the part I wanted to modify, the women’s pistol that I was fooled into buying last time. “I want to disassemble the pistol and install the barrel mechanism into the sleeve dart weapon, so I can shoot from my sleeve, making it impossible for people to guard against.”
“Ah, this?!” Old Fegen was shocked by my wild idea, but then he repeatedly shook his head. “This is impossible. The sleeve dart weapon is so small, how can it load gunpowder? Reloading by hand would lose its stealth, and it’s also easy to blow yourself up.”
Because he was too surprised, he even called the sleeve dart weapon by its name, instead of calling it a sleeve dart gadget like he did before.
“Of course I’ve considered these things. Just watch,” I had already fully conceptualized the design idea for the modification before coming, so I was confident from the start and didn’t need any research, I just started working.
I first removed the arm guard of the sleeve dart weapon, and then disassembled the women’s pistol. I actually only needed its firing pin and barrel parts.
In fact, I could even make these parts myself, but for the sake of convenience, and since I agreed not to use Old Fegen’s forging table this time, I could only use existing materials for the modification.
Old Fegen was still hammering his semi-finished breastplate at first, but soon he was dumbfounded. Although my modification movements were not exactly skillful, they were agile and smooth, with no need to stop and think or hesitate anywhere.
Moreover, the modified parts were very ingenious, with many small details that made Old Fegen, who understood them, unable to resist clapping his hands in admiration. As for the parts he didn’t understand, he wanted to ask, but he was afraid of disturbing me. In this situation, remaining silent was the industry’s rule, which made him itch with curiosity, wanting to ask but unable to.
My modification was actually very simple, and the structure was not complicated. It was just that some small details might not have been discovered in this era yet.
The core technology was actually semi-automatic loading. The sleeve gun fired small 5-millimeter caliber pistol bullets, which had their own gunpowder inside. After the firing pin struck, the gas from the gunpowder explosion would eject the shell, loading the next round, and using recoil to complete the loading.
The magazine was made by myself. It was not the popular revolver type, nor the straight-row type popular in my previous life, but more like a circular drum magazine, an annular type that encircled the arm, which better fit the structure of the armguard.
My idea was to load bullets from the top of the armguard, about eight bullets could be loaded, and they would be ejected from the gun barrel below, allowing for continuous firing. The effective range didn’t need to be too far, within fifty meters was enough, after all, aiming couldn’t be considered, and the gunpowder in the small bullets was not enough. The main purpose was to achieve surprise in close combat.
The core design was actually not complicated. The most brilliant part was actually the semi-automatic firearm knowledge I learned in the Dream World, which automatically loaded the next bullet into the chamber and pushed out the empty shell. At most, to prevent jamming, I optimized a lot of the structure based on that knowledge.
Finally, there was the issue of firing. I couldn’t make the firing action too troublesome, otherwise it would lose its surprise effect. But it couldn’t be too simple, otherwise it would easily lead to accidental discharge. This balance was quite difficult to achieve.
However, when I was discussing my favorite firing posture with Older Brother Jayad, he told me a method I never expected in a matter-of-fact manner.
“Can’t I just use Holy Light to push the trigger?”
