After two days of studying, she felt that using alchemy to manufacture bullets was actually a fairly straightforward affair.
Albert had once said that the most fundamental — and universally applicable — three steps of alchemy were: "comprehension," "deconstruction," and "reconstruction."
"Comprehension" could be thought of as learning — understanding the relationships between things and figuring out exactly how the materials in your hands should be used.
"Deconstruction" was even simpler. Whether you were boiling herbs in a crucible over high heat or crushing dried insects and rodents to powder in a medicine pounding mortar, it was all a process of breaking things down — primarily to release the mana or medicinal properties sealed within.
"Reconstruction" was the finished product — the completed potion.
Lan Qingyou tried drawing an alchemy array, then placed a chunk of iron ore on it and used the array to "deconstruct" it into fragments. From those fragments, she reorganized the iron molecules and "reconstructed" them into a block of pure iron.
Simple to describe, but far from easy in practice.
Sweat was already beading on Lan Qingyou's forehead as she pressed both hands against the brilliantly glowing alchemy array.
Only she, through the feedback of her mana, could tell what was happening inside.
A few minutes later, the glow faded and a smile finally crossed Lan Qingyou's face.
Two piles of material now sat within the array.
In the outer ring was a circular mound of gray ash, while in the small circle drawn at the center rested a thumb-sized silvery-white object.
Lan Qingyou picked it up and checked it through the Appraisal Glasses, and only then did she allow herself a satisfied smile.
Ninety percent purity iron — well within usable parameters.
Which meant the alchemy array she'd drawn was functional.
After sweeping aside the debris from the cracked stone slab beneath her, she pulled out the lead ore, copper ore, and other minerals Shang Chuan had provided and began batch-refining them.
Once refinement was complete, came the shaping of casings and bullet tips.
Due to the difference in manufacturing precision, the casings she produced ended up considerably thicker than the sample Shang Chuan had given her, leaving far less internal space for propellant.
But that was fine — Lan Qingyou had anticipated this.
Only after all of that was finished did she turn her attention to the propellant itself.
Honestly, she knew next to nothing about gunpowder. She'd barely even heard of the stuff.
As she'd noted before, alchemy followed specific steps.
Without understanding something, attempting to manufacture gunpowder — or a primer, for that matter — was simply impossible.
But no worries. Lan Qingyou had already prepared a backup plan.
She first numbered each casing with ink, then pulled out her Explosion Potions.
One drop, two drops, three drops...
With meticulous care, she dripped varying amounts of Explosion Potion into differently numbered casings, then placed them on the alchemy array to fuse casing and bullet tip together.
The defining property of Explosion Potions was that they detonated upon strong vibration or impact.
This characteristic was functionally identical to gunpowder's combustion-explosion serving as propellant for a bullet.
That was exactly why Lan Qingyou considered this approach entirely viable.
"Burst Bullet (E-)"
"Effect: Has a chance to produce a small-scale explosion upon hitting an enemy."
"Description: A 7.62mm bullet with extra bang for the same price. Using it to take out your enemies should be a thoroughly satisfying experience."
Huh?
Were the Appraisal Glasses glitching?
Seeing that description panel, Lan Qingyou blinked, then remembered the Explosion Potion loaded inside the casing.
That was probably where the extra effect came from.
The fact that this otherworld even recognized 7.62mm ammunition made Lan Qingyou crack a wry smile.
Kalim's World Will certainly knew a lot — must have had quite a few chats with Blue Star's World Will.
'Oh well, let me make a few more and see how they perform.'
Lan Qingyou then produced ten bullets in total, each loaded with progressively more propellant than the last.
Once all ten were ready, she sent them over to Shang Chuan.
Lan Qingyou: "Each bullet is numbered. Test them and tell me which one works best."
Shang Chuan: "No problem."
The moment Shang Chuan received the bullets, he forwarded them to Eluel for test-firing.
Meanwhile, Lan Qingyou pulled out a pile of iron ore chunks and began refining them into iron plates.
What she wanted to try now was whether she could turn iron plates into alchemy array bases.
If that worked, she'd never need to commission Li Huai for stone slabs again — and she wouldn't have to sweep out all those shattered slab fragments after every alchemy session.
By now, a sizable pile of broken stone slabs — tossed out the door by Lan Qingyou — had accumulated at the base of the great tree beneath her shelter.
Unfortunately, the experiment was a disappointment.
Iron-based alchemy array pedestals, it seemed, weren't so easy to make.
And even with the Appraisal Glasses, she couldn't pinpoint where the problem lay.
She'd always assumed that as long as she stayed airborne, no threat could touch her.
But Shang Chuan's firearms, the crossbow now in her own possession, and the longbows and shortbows she'd seen among the starter tool options — all of these could apparently threaten her even in the sky.
For now, they still seemed mediocre.
But what about later?
These were the lowest-tier E-rank weapons. When D-rank and C-rank versions came along, who could say how far they'd shoot?
Ding! Ding! Ding!
A message from Shang Chuan.
Shang Chuan: "The gun blew up."
Lan Qingyou: "...How? Give me the details."
Shang Chuan: "When testing bullet number 9, the barrel suddenly exploded."
Lan Qingyou: "What about the rest?"
Shang Chuan: "Number 8 was the best. It even triggered the explosion effect."
Lan Qingyou: "Err... you can't blame me for that. They're alchemy bullets — they come with a burst effect built in. You should have appraisal glasses, right?"
'Like hell I believe you.'
Shang Chuan was already regretting asking Lan Qingyou to make ammunition.
Before this, he'd assumed it would be straightforward — just bullets, surely an alchemist could handle that.
But now he realized that if an alchemist wanted to screw you over, you wouldn't even be able to find evidence.
Did Shang Chuan have Appraisal Glasses?
He actually didn't.
He almost never left his shelter, and with the Small Screen's built-in appraisal function, he had no use for that inferior product.
That was precisely why he'd sold the glasses to Lan Qingyou in the first place — to maximize profit.
But it was also thanks to the Small Screen's appraisal that he'd identified what the bullets were. He'd even been pleased at first.
It wasn't until Eluel reported the barrel explosion that he realized he'd been thoroughly played by someone who looked like nothing more than a young girl.
In his assessment, Lan Qingyou's goal was crystal clear: destroy the firearms on his end, thereby ensuring her own safety.
And was that actually what Lan Qingyou had been thinking?
Yes.
No need to question it. Exactly as Shang Chuan suspected, that was precisely Lan Qingyou's intention.
Because there was no way she would tolerate something like that existing anywhere near her.