Tactical Retreat [Research / Solo]

[Icyferno]

Status: Healthy / Rested

~

It was during one of those times that he was lazing about somewhere that he realized something.

As in real life, there was the option of fight or flight in every situation in the world they were now inhabiting, be it fighting a few boars, navigating the depths of the Londinium underground or even cooking, though the responses vary greatly. More specifically, in terms of combat, there was little an Adventurer, or even a Lander for that matter, would be able to do once it was decided that there was no chance of winning and one should flee, apart from running. Yet, running was not enough in many cases, as only a few classes had the agility to make a quick getaway due to the weight of different types of armor, bases stats and a few other factors. It was even worse for People of the Land, who could only outrun really slow opponents, the likes of which he had yet to see occur yet.

A solution to such a problem needed to made. On the plus side, there was such an invention in the real world which might be able to do just that, thus saving him from taxing his brain cells. On the minus side, he lacked the specific knowledge to go about recreating it, having only some basic conceptual knowledge of how it works and no way to find out in detail.

The invention he was thinking of was known as the smoke bomb. In the real world, it had a tactical role in the military, serving to create smokescreens to prevent enemies from seeing you while you either move into a position to engage them or fall back. It could also be used as a signal, although colored variants were used for those.

As he sat down in what was quickly becoming his base of operations, he pondered on what kind of materials he would need for such a device. He would probably need a material that could be ignited by mana. A slow burning type, so that the smoke was not released immediately after activation. Next, a material which produced smoke. Ideally, it would be best to get a material that produces much smoke in as small a timeframe as possible. Apart from the chemicals involved, he would likely need to spend some time recreating the basic smoke grenade design from the real world and refining it to suit their needs here.

~

Word count: 407
Total word count (Pharmacist): 407
Notes: N/A

[Icyferno]

Status: Healthy / Rested

~

As he moved across the city looking for materials, he pondered on the design of the smoke grenade. As he recalled, the original design meant for use by soldiers was a metal cylinder with a couple of holes on either end to expel smoke. He supposed he could copy that design, though he did not think having smoke pour out in a steady stream would be efficient in helping one make getaway. In most of the combat scenarios he visualized, he would need a smokescreen within seconds for it to be most successful.

With that in mind, he decided on using a simple spherical shape, made of either glass or ceramic. Perhaps he would need an indentation to allow mana to flow more readily, or perhaps he may need to use a magic conducting material. The matter of the design aside, the materials required to produce smoke was proving to be more of an issue. Finding some materials which burned slowly and ignited upon contact with mana proved challenging, but not impossible. However, there was almost no trace of any materials that produced smoke when burned. He was told some of the more prominent stores may sell some, but few actually had anything in stock.

Perhaps he may have been too optimistic. Either way, since he had already started on it, he was going to see it through to the end, botched project or not.

Stopping by a library, he stepped inside, heading straight for the section on pharmaceutical goods. Picking a few books at random, he skimmed through their contents, searching for the information he needed. No luck. He would likely take way too long trying to search for the ingredients he would need to create such an item. Perhaps the librarian may know more.

Heading to the nearest counter, he met a thin middle-aged man with short, graying hair, a pale face that likely hasn't seen much sunlight, and calculating blue eyes framed by a pair of black spectacles. As he approached, the man looked up from the book he was reading and set it aside, turning to face him as he did so.

The librarian spoke in a decidedly quiet manner. "Good afternoon, did you need something?"

~

Word count: 370
Total word count (Pharmacist): 407 + 370 = 777
Notes: N/A

[Icyferno]

Status: Healthy / Rested

~

Several minutes later, he sat down at a table, a stack of painstakingly gathered books falling onto the table in front of him to the annoyance of the nearby readers. They 'tsked' him, gave him a sour look that said, "haven't you been in a library before? You should know your manners" before going back to whatever they were doing before. Well, they could do whatever they want, but he was more interested in the books he had gathered under the guidance of the librarian than the sharp, judging gazes of those around him. Opening the first book, he began to read. With the number of books stacked in front of him, this was going to take a long time to go through.

***

Two hours later, he lean backed on the wooden chair, exhausted. After examing every article and cross-referencing them to each other to spot duplicates and prove the reliability of each context, he was down to several different types of ingredients. Each of the ingredients he picked out seemed to be acceptable to use, on paper, that is. He would probably need to buy small samples of each kind to test out and find the best possible one to use in the final product, much like what companies often do when researching a new product. Not that it made him feel any better to connect to the real world in such a corporate setting. More and more, he found himself drawn in to the world he now inhabited, with all the things which would never have been possible had he never- okay, he was going off-track. Time to focus on the task at hand.

***

Visiting as many of the major pharmacist chains and lesser stalls as he could, he managed to acquire the ingredients, somewhat. He only managed to get two types, one a pale grey plant that grew in hot climates and a some leafy green herbs often used by People of the Land to signal each other from afar due to the sheer amount of smoke it produces.

By the time he got back to his 'home', it was already late in the evening. Man, he did NOT like working at night. It was not something he enjoyed, partiularly because he loved his sleep so. Yet, some things had to be done now, while he still had the inclination to complete the task at hand.

In his opinion, the best way to maximize the explosive power of the smoke bomb would be to crush his ingredients into a fine powder, since it would allow for a higher concentration of the chemical involved than if he used, say, solvent or the actual stuff itself. Resigning himself to doing the painfully long and boring part first, he briefly wondered if he should hire some poor Lander as a lab assistant. Having someone do the hard bits for you would definitely be nice.

~

Word count: 484
Total word count (Pharmacist): 407 + 370 + 484 = 1261
Notes: N/A

[Icyferno]

Status: Healthy / Rested

~

A painful hour of rinsing, mashing and drying over a fire later, he stood over two small handfuls of powder, probably less than half of what he had intended to use in his final product, assuming they fit the bill. Oh, and plus the powdered variant Why had he not made more, when he clearly had some leftover? Well, it was a pain mash everything all by his lonesome, for one. There was no need to commit himself to actually preparing the whole thing unless he had a good reason to believe he could nail this in one shot. As things stood, he was pretty much going on some text written in pharmaceutical books, so it may or not give him his desired results.

Scooping both piles up and placing them in separate flasks, he made his way over to the outskirts of Londinium. After all, there was no point in dirtying his bed when he could let the smoke out in the air right? As long as he did not get found out by any extreme environmentalist, he should be safe, for the time being.

He emptied both flasks some distance away from each other on the flat, stone steps of one of the various abandoned buildings that had yet to be purchased or used by anyone. Leaving a trail of the slow burning powder from the piles to a short distance away, he readied himself for the test.

Touching the igniting fuel, he concentrated on it and released some mana into it. Within seconds, it began to burn with a small but steady orange glow, which painstakingly made its way to the fork where each path led to a different type of smoke powder. Note to self: Keep usage of ignition fuel to a minimum. The time spent waiting for the smoke grenade to explode could be better spent on other things.

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, the orange glowy bits finally reached said powders at around the same time, thanks to some calculations on his part to extend the pathways where necessary. This was the moment he had been waiting for. Sitting up on the floor, he carefully eyed both powders from a distance so he could compare which was better.

The results were unexpectedly one-sided. The powder on the right sputtered, then began its horrendously difficult task of spewing smoke. On the other hand, the one on the left sizzled for a moment, then exploded into a small cloud of smoke with a loud BANG, making him jump up in surprise. Okay, that was NOT the volume he intended, but for all intents and purposes, it seems to work to some degree, though it produced far less smoke than the one on the right, which had just finished up its job of releasing a fair bit of air pollutants into the air. Man, those environmentalists will kill him if they discovered him.

Leaving the scene quickly, he made some mental notes on preparing such an object for actual use. Perhaps, once he finished up on a prototype, he might do a field test before putting it up on the shelves. Though not something he would want used against him, it would likely make an appearance sooner or later, so why not be the one to introduce it to the world?

~

Word count: 557
Total word count (Pharmacist): 407 + 370 + 484 + 557 = 1818
Notes: Finished. Will put up research claim tmr and hope it goes through.