452 Touring the Place (2)
With flowers in both hands, our group started to tour around the place.
With Ember leading the way, we exited the skyscraper, which was apparently named Debauchery Hotel for some reason, and followed the road straight ahead. The factory was literally at the end of this road, as per Ember's explanation.
Along the way, she also started to explain the few buildings we passed by. Most of these were storage houses to hold raw materials... which were produced by Ember's clone turning gigantic before detaching, creating a pile of such materials at practically zero cost.
"Can we open it to check?"
Curious, I asked while pointing at the nearest one, but Ember chuckled immediately.
"We could, but not that one. It's filled with nitroglycerine, so it could be bad if we open the airtight doors."
"...!"
She's leaving what's technically a lump of bombs in such an open place?! I almost wanted to keep my distance from it right after Ember told me that, but her follow-up quickly made me calm down.
"It won't explode, as I keep the space inside a vacuum. But if the door is opened, then..."
Probably a powerful Kaboom!
Anyway, as expected, Ember wasn't that careless with handling the storage of her raw materials. Right, the nitroglycerine was apparently being used by her to create a substitute for the bullet's propellant, like smokeless gunpowder. Usually, a part of the stored energy is used to fire the bullets, causing a slight loss in power, but using a different, pre-made propellant would preserve its power until the bullet hits.
Due to this, the new bullets she made can be imbued with singular energy without the need for the combination of fire and wind energies to propel them forward.
"But weren't gunpowder-based propellants lacking force when against demons?"
That was the main reason why it was phased out and replaced by completely energy-based bullets. However, Ember simply shook her head, explaining further.
"The ones I make are special, as they react violently when infused with energy. From my experiments, the use of gunpowder increased the bullet's penetration and speed by 30%."
"..."
That's quite an improvement. It looks like Ember really is the Goddess of Creation, as her title suggests.
As we walked on, we finally reached a large warehouse-like building, with sounds of machinery and metal clanking echoing from within.
"This is the gun factory. Here, I make the frame of the guns before they are attached with the smart sensors."
Ember announced as she snapped her fingers, causing the large shutters of the facility to wind up, revealing the scenery inside it.
"Woah...!"
Inside were large machines that were working nonstop. How they were made was a mystery, but the pace at which they were making guns was astounding.
"So you're not using injection molds?"
Seeing the process, I realized that most of the parts were made by stamping, shaping, cutting, and other cold-working processes. Although this could lead to more wasted materials, the metal would simply get fed to a furnace and reformed into blocks and sheets for another set of manufacturing processes, technically having zero wasted materials at the end.
Furthermore, with the entire process automated, working 24/7, and with this not the only factory around, Ember's making tens of thousands of guns a day!
'Did we increase the number of exported guns?'
I couldn't help but wonder.
"Well, after a lot of trial and error, I found that making them from large parts and squeezing them into smaller parts strengthens them, compared to making them at once with injection molding, especially for the rifling of the barrel."
"Hmmm?"
Curious about what she said, I looked around and searched for the rifling process, and I quickly found it in one corner of the room. There, the large machine was hammering the sides of the barrel, with a shaper inside for the rifling.
Through this method, the metal would be shaped by impression, avoiding the use of traditional subtractive manufacturing, which further avoids having more micro cracks along the barrel.
Honestly, letting Ember make them herself was a lot faster and more high-quality, but such a process would tire her out faster. At most, she can make a few hundred guns this way a day, but it's not like making guns is the only thing she has to do.
After a short tour of the factory, we went to the next one, right beside it, where the electronic parts were installed. Since it uses energy instead of electricity, I guess it's technically "not" electronic, though.
The next factory beside it was for creating bullet shells, since the automatic makers that the dwarves made weren't fast enough anymore to cater to the current demand. For the energy, Ember created somewhat of a shortcut, which requires less help from others... She's extracting Fire Energy straight from the sun and imbuing it inside the bullets!
11:14
There were the sensors that Ember and Fatima worked together to create, the locking mechanism, the scope enhancements, and a few more little additions.
The next factory beside it was for creating bullet shells, since the automatic makers that the dwarves made weren't fast enough anymore to cater to the current demand. For the energy, Ember created somewhat of a shortcut, which requires less help from others... She's extracting Fire Energy straight from the sun and imbuing it inside the bullets!
Flames are the most destructive of all energy forms, after all, so they're best when used with bullets. Still, to think she could now harness energy from other objects... Is this the effect of her reaching the God Level?
By the way, her forges were solar-powered too, literally. I hope this doesn't contribute to the sun losing power and dying... Well, it shouldn't have that much effect since it's just a small fraction of the sun's energy.
After touring all the factories, we then reached one with a different structure. Rather than a factory, this one looked like a tight security prison...
"This is my laboratory."
... Or not.
With her permission, we entered her laboratory too, and inside, I became speechless. If the factories outside were something around the Industrial Revolution era, then this laboratory alone came from the future!
Robots, literally, were roaming around and creating bigger robots!
"Are you going to make mecha's too?!"
"... Mecha?"
Ember tilted her head cutely, confused at my sudden outburst.
"These are the next-generation exoskeletons that I would be using for battle. However, they're still far from complete."
Exoskeleton... but fifteen meters tall... That's already a f*cking G*ndam, Ember.
Join me in my lonely discord server: https://discord.gg/DEVbwSbZUh
SeraphWedd
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