Chapter 145: Ballistic Progress

"...So this is the weapon you made, Zenith? It seems kind of delicate. It’s funny coming from you, who aren’t exactly...delicate... The design is pretty comfortable to hold," Nadir says, spinning the pistol between his fingers. He places it in a holster attached to his clothes, testing what it’s like to carry the weapon.

’I’m not delicate, huh...asshole... I’m only not saying anything because he’s right.’ It’s annoying when he’s right about these things. It’s almost like he said it on purpose just to get under my skin.

"It’s a little heavy compared to a vector pistol, but nothing that actually gets in the way," he murmurs, noticing the same thing I did.

"Exactly, Nadir. It has a few disadvantages! I’m still testing it and making changes, so how about you try shooting it?" I ask, taking my eyes off the computer and looking at him.

"Can I shoot?" He asks for confirmation as though he’s unsure whether the weapon is actually safe to use. I give the screen a quick glance, watching it track the weapon’s performance.

"Of course. No problem." He draws the weapon again, trying a quick draw while the computer analyzes everything in real time: the angle, speed, movement of the weapon, and several other small details I’ll use for further adjustments in the future.

"Zenith...I found a flaw here. If I draw quickly and fire, there’s no shot correction, so the bullet will hit the ground. And if I move the weapon too quickly, I’ll deform the barrel because it can’t handle my strength." He tries to help by explaining what he discovered.

"Hmmm, I hadn’t noticed that before...I haven’t tried a quick draw with it yet. I’ll add it to the list of things to look at later." Modern vector weapons have instant aim correction based on movement force.

When you draw one, you can pull the trigger before you’ve even positioned the weapon. The weapon "understands" that it’s being drawn and only fires once the drawing motion is complete, allowing for extremely fast shots right from the draw.

"Let’s see how powerful the shot is now..." Nadir fires, then instantly moves his hand and catches the bullet in midair. He squeezes it in his hand, stopping it without any trouble.

"It’s weak and slow. Considering the strength I used to stop it, I’d say it travels at 250 to 300 meters per second. A vector bullet can reach 2,000 meters per second in a quality weapon...useless against most monsters. It only specifically works against Nemesis, and she’ll still be able to stop the shots, so we’d have to be very close, with the weapon almost pressed against her, or she’d have to be distracted." Nadir notices the same flaw I did.

"Yeah, I know, Nadir. It’s a weapon that uses gunpowder ammunition, so it doesn’t even come close to the level of a weapon with vector energy in its bullets. Even air resistance affects the bullet’s strength...I think by 200 meters, this bullet will already be much weaker." A shot from a vector pistol can travel a full kilometer before actually losing its power. It’s an absurd difference.

And that’s assuming the bullet hits something. If a vector bullet doesn’t hit anything, it will travel much farther before actually losing its power. But what really matters with this weapon is that it can genuinely hurt Nemesis. It doesn’t need to be the strongest weapon.

"You’re putting a lot of effort into this, Zenith...do you have any other ideas?" He asks, dropping the shot he caught onto the floor. Then he fires another one, this time letting it travel forward until it hits one of the supports I set up for him to test against.

’Speed isn’t something I can do much to improve, but maybe I can improve the bullet cartridges...’

"I’m having several ideas, but I wanted something compact and small. A large weapon wouldn’t let us fight at our full potential, so I thought a pistol would be better. But it’s been difficult to make this pistol stronger." I explain what I want to him.

With Aya’s help, I could make an old-fashioned weapon that’s stronger, but they’re larger, and the bigger they are, the less mobility I have.

"...What about modifying the bullet and the barrel?...We just need to be careful not to make it too technological. But we could make the weapon’s bullets much stronger, and we could make different cartridges: explosive rounds, armor-piercing rounds, incendiary rounds. We could do all of that without actually having to put technology inside the weapon." He gives me a great idea.

"Aya, what do you think about that? How could we make that kind of ammunition for a weapon like this? Would it be possible?" I ask Aya, who is analyzing all the data we’ve collected so far.

"[Yes, Zenith-sama. That would be possible, and manufacturing these customized bullets would not be very complex. We would just need to purchase a few additional materials for the 3D printer. Metal, rubber, plastic, and other materials of that sort would not be enough.]"

"[For incendiary bullets, we could use compounds containing alcohol and gunpowder, and for explosive bullets, we could use sensitive chemicals such as nitroglycerin. Alternatively, we could use metallic potassium, which reacts aggressively with water and explodes, releasing a great deal of heat and producing hydrogen, which can ignite.]"

"Okay...those are good options, but buying that stuff would be kind of suspicious, wouldn’t it? Besides, something that explodes on contact with water...that’s too dangerous. A pistol bullet is small, so putting water and metallic potassium in the same capsule would mean that any slight degradation of the bullet could make it explode on us."

"And in a fight, we’d easily get hit and thrown from one side to the other, or we’d make sudden movements...we need to think about safety too. Besides, this weapon requires some very specific things." I look at Nadir as he unloads a magazine of bullets into the target, practicing with it.

The bullets from this weapon are affected by gravity much more than those of modern weapons, so Nadir will still need some time to practice with it.

"[We can try using other, more modern chemical compounds, but the problem is that most chemical processes used today rely on vector energy, which Nemesis is resistant to. So the only options are chemicals from before the vector energy era.]"

"Ugh...that’s complicated. Let’s take our time and look into it carefully. We have time. For now, let’s just focus on the weapon’s design. It’s already comfortable to hold, it can fire, which is the most important thing, and it’s not easy for it to slip from our hands...but it’s fragile."

"I think it would be good to have three of them for fighting. Maybe some kind of holder that could be hidden inside our clothes...oh, and there’s also the new outfit I’m making for us." The clothes use vector-reinforced materials.

Since it’s not like we’d be using the clothes to attack Nemesis, fortunately, I’m able to put every piece of advanced material I can get my hands on into them.

"Anyway, Nadir, do you at least think the weapon will work against Nemesis? It doesn’t matter if it’s weak, slow, and inefficient. If it works, that’s what counts. You tore Nemesis’s arms off before, didn’t you? Even if she were in Delilah’s form, her resistances wouldn’t be much different, so what do you think?" I ask Nadir, who seems thoughtful.

"I think it’ll work perfectly against Nemesis, as long as we’re close enough. I’d say 10 meters...Any farther than that and it’ll be way too easy for Nemesis to stop the shot or dodge it."

"And the closer, the better. It would also be good to make more of these and give them to your students, wouldn’t it? Since you want them to fight too. It would also be good to give some to the other Kairas...drones, have you ever thought about using drones to deliver the weapons?" When he says that, I feel embarrassed that I didn’t think of it.

’Damn...sometimes when I talk to Nadir, I feel like an idiot...’ I had thought about carrying everything manually. I was going to be covered in weapons at that point just so I could hand them out to whoever needed them.

"Yeah, your idea is great...I was going to think of that eventually." When I say that, she gives me a smug little smile as if she knows I hadn’t really thought of it and never would have.

"Of course, you would’ve thought of it eventually. Since Aya already has control over drones, you just need to give her more drones and have her deliver the weapons." Nadir’s idea is undeniably good, better than mine of carrying everything manually.

"We’ll look into that later. Aya’s drones aren’t exactly cheap, and they’re not very durable either. One hit and the drone is done for, so we’d need a lot of them. I need to check my budget..."

"Since I quit my job as a teacher, all the money I earn now comes from the lollipop factory and my military pension, which isn’t much on the military side. And, of course, there’s all the money I’ve saved throughout our lives." When I say this, he looks thoughtful.

"I’ll help you. I have the money I earn from the chocolate factory, and there’s also all the money I’ve saved over the years. I put part of it into investments, so I have some extra income I can use to fund you. Combined, our money should easily be enough for this, and we’ll still have some left over."

"Smartass," I say with a smile, and he turns his attention back to the weapon after solving our money problem.