"Is this the legendary cannon?" Mo Bai stared at the drawing on the paper for a long time, looking at Mai Ge with a slightly strange expression. No matter how he thought about it, he felt that this thing looked rather improper, and he couldn't imagine how to use this thing to throw things out.
Hearing this, Mai Ge stared at the paper for a while. Having not drawn anything in years, he'd practically degenerated into a "soulful" artist, this cannon drawing was indeed... well, hard to say.
"This is a sketch. Let me draw you a more detailed schematic." Mai Ge calmly turned the page, sat up straight, and began to draw diligently on the paper with the pencil.
Mai Ge drew the simplest cannon for Mo Bai, roughly the same level as the Red Coat Cannon of the late Qing Dynasty, with a large barrel and a front-loading loading method. The principle was simple and the manufacturing was relatively easy.
Of course, the most important thing is that Mai Ge doesn't understand more advanced cannon very well either, so asking him to draw schematics is really putting him in a difficult position.
Drawing schematics of firearms wouldn't be a problem, he's familiar with that.
However, the manufacturing difficulty of firearms is far greater than that of ordinary cannons. Various processes are extremely demanding. Making a powerful firearm is much more difficult than making a simple cannon. Starting with the simple is the right approach.
After all, he had received formal professional education who could draw internal combustion engine blueprints by hand back then. When he got serious, drawing a simple cannon schematic diagram was naturally not a problem for him.
"The principle of cannon is actually very simple, but its destructive power mainly depends on the explosives sealed in a closed iron ball. The energy released at the moment of explosion determines whether the bomb can kill a giant dragon. As for the specific principle..." Mai Ge explained the principle of how the cannon fired a bomb to Mo Bai in a simple and easy to understand way while drawing.
Mo Bai gradually went from being skeptical to believing, his eyes growing brighter and his expression more and more worshipful, as if a new world had been opened for him.
"That's roughly the principle. The most crucial and essential aspect of cannon manufacturing is the strength of the cannon barrel, which determines the effective range of the cannon. You're a blacksmith, so you should know more about this than I do." Mai Ge put down the pencil, and three standard cannon blueprints appeared on the paper, with detailed annotations of the manufacturing process.
"Boss Mai, you must be a genius." Mo Bai stared at the blueprints for a while, then looked up at Mai Ge, his eyes full of admiration.
Mai Ge's culinary skills had already won him over, but the ingenious ideas he was now displaying completely captivated him.
If the explosives he accidentally discovered were a novel find, then Mai Ge's current idea is to directly and practically utilize this novelty.
Using the enormous energy generated by the intense combustion of gunpowder to propel projectile-shaped explosives, and creating a sealed space with a semi-enclosed long tubular barrel, while simultaneously giving the projectile a controllable trajectory, what a brilliant idea!
"I'm not a genius, I just know a little bit more." Mai Ge smiled and shook his head. It seemed that Mo Bai understood what he meant. As for what level of cannon he could make, that was not Mai Ge's concern. It would probably take a lot of time to make a cannon barrel that met the standards.
Moreover, nothing can be done until the problem of gunpowder stability is solved.
As a man capable of making his own bullets, Mai Ge was quite knowledgeable about gunpowder formulations, but Mo Bai's method of adding magical beast crystal core powder to gunpowder to increase its power was simply cutting-edge technology.
This stopped Mai Ge from making any suggestions. Without the constraints of fixed thinking, he might actually be able to create a terrifyingly powerful explosive.
After all, this is another world. Bullets made from ordinary gunpowder would probably have difficulty even penetrating the defenses of ordinary magical beasts. This is why Mai Ge believes that even if firearms appeared in this world, it would be difficult to change the world. After all, a powerful fire mage is more useful than a cannon.
However, the magic beast crystal gunpowder that Mo Bai had previously created gave Mai Ge a glimpse of a possibility: whether it was a powerful bomb or its application in firearms, the concentrated burst of enormous energy might indeed pose a threat to the giant dragon.
"It's not easy to make a cannon barrel that's cast as a whole and can withstand an explosion of that magnitude. But I will study it carefully." Mo Bai put away the two papers on the table, stood up and looked at Mai Ge with sincere gratitude.
"You're welcome, but I still hope that future explosion-related experiments won't be conducted at home, otherwise I'll feel a bit unsafe living next door." Mai Ge smiled and shook his head, reminding him again.
According to the principle of progressively increasing recklessness, the level of recklessness will gradually increase with each act of recklessness, and Mai Ge doesn't want to be blown up in his sleep one day.
"No, it won't happen again." Mo Bai hurriedly waved his hand.
"Boss Mo Bai? Are you still alive?" Just then, a strong voice called out from outside.
"The repairmen are here, Boss Mai. I'll head over now. I'm so sorry about what happened today." Mo Bai said apologetically, glancing towards the door.
"Okay." Mai Ge nodded, not saying anything more. After all, they were neighbors, and Mo Bai was the restaurant's first customer.
"A magic cannon might be quite interesting." Mai Ge watched Mo Bai's departing figure, a slight smile playing on his lips. He suddenly felt a sense of anticipation for the scene of Mo Bai pulling a cannon and blasting a giant dragon down from the sky.
After putting away the notebook and glass on the table, Mai Ge turned and walked towards the kitchen, tied on his apron, and began preparing the various ingredients needed for breakfast.
When Mai Ge gripped the cleaver, he felt a tingling sensation throughout his right hand, from his fingertips to his shoulder. The intense training last night had taken a toll on his body, but the benefits were also obvious: his agility and reaction time had improved.
After making two chops, Mai Ge suddenly stopped, looked at the cleaver in his hand, then at the chicken leg on the cutting board, and thought to himself, "The thing I do most everyday is chopping ingredients and cooking. I repeat each action thousands of times. If I could incorporate sword practice into it, wouldn't I be able to kill two birds with one stone?"
"Chop." Mai Ge took a half step back, muttered a word, and swung the cleaver down, severing the chicken leg cleanly with a shallow cut on the cutting board.
"Not bad, but I need to work on controlling the force a bit." Mai Ge nodded slightly, and swung the cleaver in his hand again, faster and faster, turning the chicken into small rhombus cubes.
The angle and force of the knife were different from before, but as time went by, he gradually became more skilled from the initial deliberate effort, and the speed became faster and faster. He could almost only see a flash of golden light, and the whole chicken leg was turned into uniform small pieces.