Chapter 210: The Dawn of Technology

The first ray of dawn filtered through the mountains, painting the sky in gold and orange. Kellar was already awake, taking a walk through the main village’s streets as he watched the tribe begin its daily routines.

In the middle of the morning calm, the hurried footsteps of two people broke the silence. Lennis and Garik were sprinting toward him with excitement written across their faces, each waving a rolled-up blueprint in their hands.

"Great Shaman! Ever since we came back from the mountains my mind hasn’t stopped working," blurted out Lennis, breathless yet beaming with pride. "Garik is a genius! An absolute genius!"

"No, you’re the genius, the idea was yours," cut in Garik, shaking his head with a grin.

"The idea was mine, but you were the one who brought it to life!" insisted Lennis, giving him a friendly nudge.

The two continued trading compliments and interrupting each other until Kellar raised a hand to halt the exchange, a faint smile on his lips.

"All right, both of you hold on," said Kellar, eyeing them with curiosity. "What’s going on? I don’t understand what could be so important that you’re both this worked up at daybreak."

"Follow us, Great Shaman," urged Lennis, his eyes shining. "It’s impressive, you have to see it with your own eyes."

Kellar followed them at a quick pace toward the central forge workshop. As they crossed the threshold, the apprentices who were hard at work polishing a piece on the anvil jumped; upon realizing the Shaman had entered, they quickly covered the object with a heavy beast pelt and laid it across the main workbench.

Kellar walked over to the table and pulled back the fur. Looking down at the object, his brow furrowed slightly: at first glance, the metallic frame looked just like any other rifle used by the army, leaving him confused as to what the commotion was about.

"My lord," began Lennis to explain, stepping up to the table and pointing to the unfolded blueprints. "This was the blueprint you gave us for the bullet. All these days we’ve been trying to figure out how to use it, how to ignite it, and how to forge the spiral barrel you described... and it turns out Garik already knew how to do it."

Garik stepped forward, clearing his throat and picking up a test barrel sliced in half to show the internal details.

"You see, Great Shaman..." explained Garik, pointing inside the steel tube. "The main issue with smoothbore tubes was that the projectile came out tumbling, losing power and accuracy at short range. I remembered the carving techniques we used on the grooves of heavy mining tools. I used a hardened steel bit set at an angle inside a fixed guide; by slowly turning the rod as we force it down the tube’s bore, we managed to cut these spiral grooves... the rifled barrel. When the lead projectile is forced through under pressure, these grooves spin it on its axis at thousands of revolutions per second, giving it a flawless trajectory and a devastating impact."

Kellar stared down at the sliced barrel and then back at Garik, unable to hide the faint smile forming on his lips. Just as he had expected when the system granted him Garik as a reward, he was the ideal helper for this world. He possessed a wealth of practical and technical knowledge that Kellar would have never come up with on his own.

"Fantastic... Simply fantastic," said Kellar, breaking into applause. "You two did an exceptional job. This changes everything."

Garik and Lennis exchanged quick glances, scratching the backs of their necks and feigning modesty at the Shaman’s praise.

"Ah, Great Shaman, you exaggerate," said Garik, lowering his eyes humbly. "All of this was only possible thanks to the foundational knowledge you provided us in the first place. Without your blueprints, we would have never known where to direct our efforts."

"Indeed, my lord," chimed in Lennis hastily, clasping his hands reverently. "We are merely simple craftsmen executing your vision. It is the Bear God’s blessing and your mystical guidance that granted us the clarity to achieve this. We truly do not deserve so much credit."

"Don’t be so modest," chuckled Kellar, clapping both of them on the shoulder. "The merit of turning an idea into real, functioning steel belongs entirely to you."

Kellar turned his eyes back to the workbench, remembering the object the apprentices had so hastily covered upon his arrival.

"By the way... what is under the cloth?" asked Kellar, pointing toward the bundle at the center of the table.

Lennis and Garik shared a knowing smile.

"The upgraded rifle, my lord," answered Lennis proudly. "We decided to call it the Spiral Rifle."

Lennis stepped forward and pulled back the heavy beast pelt with a smooth flourish. Once exposed, Kellar examined the weapon with keen interest. At first glance it maintained the overall silhouette of their previous firearms, but the upgrade immediately reminded Kellar of the breech-loading mechanisms from his past life: instead of the old muzzle-loading setup, it featured a reinforced steel firing pin mechanism and a rear breech lever. Beside it, resting inside a small wooden crate, were several cylindrical lead bullets jacketed in copper, molded precisely to the shape Kellar had requested in his sketches.

"Does it work?" asked Kellar, locking eyes with the two craftsmen.

Garik picked up the weapon with both hands, holding it with reverence, and offered it to the Shaman with a slight bow.

"Great Shaman, please..." said Garik, his voice brimming with emotion. "Grant us the honor of testing for the first time the weapon that will change our army forever."

Kellar took the rifle, feeling the balance and weight of the freshly forged steel in his hands. He nodded to the two craftsmen with a serious expression.

"Lead the way," said Kellar.

They stepped out of the workshop and headed toward the firing range at the rear of the military training camp.