Farming in the Magical World

Frank is a very reliable housekeeper.

Although he didn't know what the young master wanted these things for, he made preparations quickly and delivered them to the study that afternoon!

However, he didn't bring everything he needed; he was missing the very important saltpeter.

He hesitated and said that nobody knew what saltpeter was.

Lanny then realized that there was no precedent for using saltpeter at this time, so there would be no readily available saltpeter for sale.

Fortunately, he vaguely remembered that this stuff was easy to find on the surface of older stone and bricks; that layer of white frost was it.

Although a lot of impurities may get mixed in during collection, it can still be used after some simple cleaning.

The castle's main building material is stone, so it's naturally indispensable.

The servants were tasked with giving the castle's basement a deep clean, and they also managed to collect a large basin full of this stuff.

"Young Master, what are you doing?" Candy asked curiously, poking at this and smelling that, her little head full of questions.

"Have you finished your work?" Lanny waved his hand impatiently, shooing him away. "If you slack off again, the butler will punish you!"

The next steps were quite dangerous, and he dared not let this curious child watch from the sidelines.

He was cleaning up a large basin of saltpeter powder, but the stale smell was quite strong, so he tried to keep quiet as much as possible.

After Candy left, pouting and sulking, Lenny began his experiment.

First, a small weighing scale was placed on the table, and then various powders were carefully added into it.

A weighing instrument is a device for measuring the mass of an object. It consists of a central support, a horizontal bar on top, two copper trays at either end, and about a dozen matching weights.

Actually, this thing is a balance scale. He had operated it himself in junior high school experimental classes, so he was naturally familiar with it. However, its precision was naturally not as good as that of the one in the experimental class. Although that was just a teaching tool, it was still an industrial product, and its precision was naturally much higher than that of the one in his hand.

While the balance is very sensitive, the problem is that it has no scale and can only be measured by changing different weights.

It's like a scale that only has markings for 5 jin and 10 jin. If you want 2.4 jin, forget it. That's just pure guesswork.

Lanny looked at the materials in his hand, thought for a moment, then reached out and replaced them with the smallest weights before starting to work.

There aren't many ingredients, so if you want to make it multiple times, you have to use them sparingly.

In his first experiment, he prepared the formula according to the most widely circulated ratio: one part saltpeter, two parts sulfur, and three parts charcoal. He used one part saltpeter as a base, then mixed in two times the amount of sulfur and three times the amount of charcoal. He gently poured the mixture into a container, carefully ground it into powder, dried it, and then put it into a pre-prepared cylinder. After sealing the opening, he considered it complete.

Since he couldn't find any bamboo, he could only have some wood hollowed out to serve as an outer shell. He figured this would only affect the power, but it would still explode, right?

He then ground and mixed the mixture in various ratios such as 1:1.5:7.5, 1:2:8, and 1.5:2:7.5, making about ten samples, which he then stuffed into cylinders and waited for them to air dry.

Actually, the one he was most confident in was the 1:1.5:7.5 ratio. He vaguely remembered seeing it in some book, but he couldn't be 100% sure.

But every time I think of that eerie candle, I have a bad feeling, a vague sense that things won't go so smoothly.

While busy with these things, time flew by. When Lanny arrived at the castle's backyard in the evening with about a dozen samples, he ran into Candy on the way. The curious girl followed him again, and he couldn't shake her off no matter how fast he ran.

"Young master, young master, do you need any help?"

Looking at the energetic and bouncy Candy, Lenny felt a little uncomfortable.

As a man, I was surprised to find that my physical strength was no match for that of a young girl like Candy. After only half a day of work, I was already feeling tired.

"Young master, give it to me, I'll help you carry it." Seeing the pile of things in his hands, the little maid hurriedly reached out to take them, but Lanny was so frightened that she shook her head repeatedly.

I thought to myself, although this thing isn't dangerous since there's no open flame, I'm not comfortable entrusting it to you.

Candy didn't get anything and was about to reach out again when she looked up and saw Lanny's face. She immediately started giggling, laughing so hard that the little maid bent over!

"Hehehe... Young Master, what were you doing in your room this afternoon? Why is your face all messed up like you went into the kitchen, all black and white? Hahaha, I'm sorry, Young Master, it's just too... funny. I, I really couldn't help it."

Looking at the little maid who was almost laughing so hard she was falling to the ground, Lanny pursed her lips, thinking to herself, "She's been grinding charcoal all day, how could her face be clean? Look at her hands, they're practically blackened with charcoal."

"Oh, young master, wait for me, let me wipe you clean..." The little maid chased after Lanny with a handkerchief in her hand, while Lanny carried a bunch of things and hurried along, soon arriving at the backyard.

He lined up the samples in his hands and adjusted their order according to the markings he had made, then nodded in satisfaction.

Candy, who followed, first carefully wiped the dirt off the young master's face before noticing his strange actions. She scratched her head, puzzled.

"What is this? Are you planning to make your own candle? I heard that candles are made from small tubes, but why is this candle so thick and short? It won't fit on a candlestick."

What kind of nonsense is this "thick and short"? It sounds so awkward.

Rolling his eyes, Lanny decided not to experiment in the order he remembered, but to try the golden ratio first.

Although he only wanted to scare this annoying brat, he couldn't help but give him a few more instructions: "After I light it, you absolutely must not get close, remember that, and also, remember to cover your ears."

After giving his instructions, he placed the marked sample on the open ground, took out a kindling borrowed from the kitchen, lit the fuse, immediately stepped back a few paces, and reminded everyone again to cover their ears.

Seeing the young master's serious expression, Candy reluctantly covered her ears and looked at the things on the ground.

Since there was no toilet paper, Lanny had no choice but to use some hemp thread as a lead. However, the hemp thread was not absorbent enough, so he had to make it thicker, which made the lead appear particularly "thick".

He originally thought it would burn quickly, since it was so thick, but after lighting it, he found that the fuse did not burn to the end in a flash. Instead, it glowed with a small red dot and slowly began to smolder.

After waiting for a while, Candy grew impatient and turned to Lenny, shouting, "Young Master, why are you taking so long...?"

Lanny turned and glared at her before turning back to stare intently at the sample not far away.

After about ten breaths, the fuse finally burned out. Just when Lanny thought there would be an explosion, he saw a puff of blue smoke rising from the small cylinder, and then... nothing more.

Ok?

Is the proportion wrong?

I was thinking, why is there no reaction at all? Even if it were just a little flame, I would have thought that the seal was not tight enough and that would have been some consolation. What is this wisp of smoke?

Candy was startled by the wisp of smoke, screamed, and jumped a long way away.

Remembering that the young master had specifically told her to cover her ears, she figured what was coming next must be even scarier, so she quickly focused her mind and prepared herself, only to find that the young master had already put his hands down and walked over.

The maid thought for a moment and felt there was probably no danger, so she put down her hands and squatted down next to Lanny. She looked at the young master, who was carefully examining him with a slightly furrowed brow, with a curious expression.

"Young master, what is this? That smoke is quite scary, and it smells awful too." He then fanned the smoke in front of his nose, looking disgusted.

Although Candy found it frightening, Lenny just twitched the corners of his mouth, somewhat speechless.

I thought to myself, if you can't comfort people, then don't bother. Do you want to see that wisp of smoke?

He examined the outer shell carefully for a long time but couldn't find anything wrong. Still unwilling to give up, he took out the second sample, cut off part of the fuse as predicted, and then took out the flint and steel.

After lighting the fuse, he quickly pulled Candy back a few steps, then decided not to remind her to cover her ears, lest the little maid say something strange again.

This time, the result seemed to be the same: a wisp of smoke appeared, and then there was no sound, just like the previous sample, without any explosion.

However, this time Lanny listened carefully, and the hissing sound inside lasted for about a breath, which means the burning lasted for more than a second.

The next few samples also did not explode; they only burned relatively lightly, differing only in the duration and amount of smoke.

Lanny would sometimes squat on the ground rummaging through things, and sometimes he would frown and ponder, and he was also indifferent to his own questions. Candy was also bored. After waiting for a while and finding that there was nothing new to do, she walked away on her own --- --- She still had a lot of work to do and didn't have time to play around with the young master!

Lanny ignored her, continuing to ponder what the problem was. He had also examined the residue inside, and it was clear that the combustion was quite complete, with no significant deviation in proportion, and the purity of the material was acceptable.

Judging from the sounds of the process, it is indeed burning inside, but if the burning is not intense, it is impossible to cause an explosion.

To verify this, he even disassembled one of the remaining samples and ignited the mixture inside. As he expected, the mixture burned slowly.

This process is somewhat similar to using sugar as rocket fuel, but much slower, which obviously cannot achieve the result of intense combustion leading to an explosion.

That's strange, what could it be for?

Over the next few days, he repeatedly adjusted the ratio, but each time it was the same as the first time—a hiss... a puff of smoke, and then nothing more.

It's not even as effective as the golden ratio he favored. At least it burns fast enough. The later ones are like snake-smoke bombs, producing a lot of smoke but not exploding!

He didn't realize he probably couldn't make gunpowder until the entire basin of saltpeter was almost gone...