Country of Eruchea:-

While the swordfight tests were going on for the military, Harry was busy working on making guns.

He felt that the result day would be a great time to introduce firearms.

It was like a new beginning for the army since everyone would have proper rankings and positions in the army.

And that was a great time to do away with the era of cold weaponry.

“It’s only because the exam duration is so long that this coincidence can happen!

There was no way automatic rifles can be made in a few days!”, Harry thought to himself.

“Hey…

Wait a minute…

Why am I narrating things that I already know?

System, you care to comment?

Am I going insane!?”

[The system assures the host that there is no anomalies in the brain and advises not to focus on such thoughts.]

“Is that so?

I guess it’s fine.

I mean, you haven’t ever been the one to say wrong things…”

With this thought, Harry again started working on the design for grenades.

It had been a few days since the military exam began and Harry had already sent blueprints for various firearms.

These included revolvers, shotguns, sniper rifles, hunting rifles etc.

Harry didn’t plan on introducing highly advanced weaponry so early on since it was very difficult to make and also very dangerous.

He first needed to ensure some basic amount of protection for his country before getting to the good stuff… (For Harry, “good stuff” meant nukes and other weapons of mass destruction.)

Otherwise, there were high chances of the weapons falling into the wrong hands.

Even if He could have tanks and rocket launchers made, if there wasn’t a minimum level of security present, those could be stolen by other countries.

And if the enemy managed to reverse engineer the weapons (energy users could easily do it) or learned how to use them before the Eruchean soldiers, Harry and his country were done for.

Harry could not let his weapons fall into the hands of others.

Even the grenade he was making was just an improved version of the ones used in the second world war back on Earth, but with very negligible chances of not exploding.

After a few more hours of scribbling, Harry was done with the grenade schematics.

He had to also modify the design to allow the blacksmiths to easily create the various parts.

“Well, I’ve already taught them how to build automatic punching machines using the steam engines to make all the parts.

Even if something is too complicated, they can build the first piece by hand and use it as a mould to make the punching press for the steam engines.”

Surprisingly, the blacksmiths weren’t offended by Harry’s idea of using steam engines to automate the making of several things.

Now, they even used to go around setting up the contraptions themselves if they needed some complicated item in large quantities.

Once the drawing time was wrapped up, Harry called for Stephen and told him to send the blueprints along to the blacksmiths.

He didn’t want to waste time by travelling all the way over there just to deliver the blueprints of a single item.

They were smart enough to understand the things written by themselves and there was no need for Harry to explain anything in person.

Also, considering how efficient their smithies had become recently, it should take about a week for the first set of about 20 firearms to be made.

This was because making the initial set of parts always took a few days, even for the best blacksmiths.

But once they were forged, it was quickly converted into a punching press for mass-production.

And mass-production took only a day or two to create and assemble 20-25 finished products.

Next on Harry’s list was his “favourite” task…

And by “favourite”, what is meant is “the most hated” task.

Also known as going through the daily reports of the various things in the country.

“I really hate those nobles for abandoning the country and fleeing elsewhere!

I thought that I’ll manage, but I was probably really high back then!

There was no way for me to manage this inhuman level of work!”

[But the host seems to be doing pretty well, though?]

The system jokingly responded to Harry’s monologue of complaints.

‘You!

You shut up!

You’re normally so kind and caring but at such times you really don’t pull your punches, do you?’

[The host has a huge misunderstanding.

This system has never “pulled any punches” since the very first time when the host first came to Etheldor.

It’s just that the host acts dumb enough that this system takes pity and offers help.]

“Oi!

If you can’t help, then at least don’t make fun of me!

What happened to your kind and caring attitude!?”

[Everyone, including this system, has a limit.

And after hearing the host’s constant complaints about doing paperwork every day, that limit has been crossed.

So, the system advises that the host should not expect “any pulled punches” from this system in this situation.]

“All right!

Fine!

I’ll try not to complain from now on…”, said Harry with a defeated expression.

Arguing with the system was useless.

It would always just try to force its point upon Harry and tolerated no ifs and buts.

Harry felt that if he tried dragging out the argument, he would end up doing nothing the entire day and the entire discussion would still have the same results.

At least the system was kind and helpful when Harry desperately needed help.

Not like a certain highly shameless system present on the planet Heartfilia.

“No use arguing or thinking about those old web novels…

I’d better finish as much work as I can today.”, said Harry as he resigned himself to his work.

‘But all the changes that the system has done to my brain has one really great benefit.

With the memories stored so perfectly, earworms can be executed ever so perfectly!

Now, let’s see…

Ah, yes!

Daydreaming by my dear little band maid! I really do miss these guys! 

{A/N: This does exist IRL. You guys can search it up if you want to. I recommend their “Unseen World” album.}

But before I start… 

Hey, system, can you allow for something like interdimensional media streaming for me?’

[100 SP per 5 minutes.]

‘I guess I’ll just stick to earworms for now...’, thought Harry as he started playing the song in his head to serve as BGM while he worked.

***

Kunsan Mountain Range, The Wastelands:-

Some days passed.

The first batch of cannons was ready.

These were easier to make in comparison to the small and complicated guns and could be made pretty quickly.

In fact, the only reason why it took the blacksmiths 4-5 days was that they were trying to make the military guns alongside the cannons.

Otherwise, it was just a 1-2 day job for these highly skilled blacksmiths.

With the swordfight tests happening for 10 hours daily (5 minutes per pair and 4 pairs at once), there were only a few days before this part of the examination would get over.

Harry couldn’t attend all of them but did attend once in a while to speed things up.

And today, he decided to give everyone a break from the test and do a weapon display.

Since there were already weapons sitting ready, Harry felt that there was no need to delay it any further.

That’s why an announcement had been made in the barracks the previous day that today was a break.

It was told to the soldiers that their king has invented revolutionary new weapons that would change warfare forever and that the soldiers would be trained to use them once the exams ended.

Everyone readily agreed.

It was way better to watch a weapon display than to fight in all that snow.

If not for all that training and the strictness shown by Harry, the soldiers wouldn’t have come for the examination in the cold snowy weather.

They hated standing out in the snow and watching others fight.

But this weapons display meant that they would be free after a few hours and then they could rest in their dormitories.

Harry allowed them this much since he was conducting the exam in January when there’s heavy snowfall.

And so, the soldiers gathered up near the Kunsan mountain range early in the morning, all wrapped up in several layers of clothing.

The cannons had been covered with cloth.

Seeing everyone trying to peek under the covers, Harry started his speech. (It annoyed him to waste so much time but the speeches were pretty unavoidable.)

“I would like to welcome everyone gathered here to the unveiling of the new weapon I have created, called a ‘cannon’!

This is one of the many weapons that you as soldiers will be using in combat against enemies.

The operation of this great weapon requires only a few people and it is capable of causing almost unimaginable amounts of damage to the enemy!

This shoots a large metal ball towards the target and completely obliterates it.

Earlier, we mortal were always living in fear of the magic users and the cultivators.

But this weapon is capable of defeating many of the cultivators too!

This weapon is like our first step in showing that we too can be powerful and we too can be equal to all those superhuman beings!”

Everyone seemed really excited when they heard that cannons could be used against cultivators.

Usually, only the strongest mortal soldiers could think of facing some of the weak Mortal Realm Beginner cultivators or weak red core magic users. (Technically, they could face the peak of Mortal Realm or the peak of red core too, but they really underestimated themselves.)

But these strongest people were very few.

And then came this new thing called a “cannon” that claimed to allow ordinary people to do at least the same thing as those people.

After waiting a few seconds to let the audience calm down, Harry continued with his speech.

“Now, though this invention is great, it does have its downsides as well.

These include the usual, such as durability issues, chances of the operators getting hurt and others easily replicating the design.

But aside from them, there is also a question of your values.

If any of you agree to operate this, the people killed by you will be many.

Their bodies will be so badly damaged that it would be difficult to differentiate among the dead.

The deaths caused will be gruesome too.

Now, if you can leave many of the values you had as knights and work with me, I can assure you that the day will come when even the immortals will have to bow down before the power of us mortals!”

The soldiers were silent this time.

The prospect of defeating immortals seemed very enticing.

But there was also the issue of leaving many of the core values that they had as knights.

Just then, General George spoke up.

“General Harry, permission to be blunt, sir?”

“Permission granted.”, replied Harry.

“General sir, I feel that you have already made us go through so much mental and physical training that we have left any of those useless rules and moral values long back.

If anyone here says otherwise, it simply means that they have been slacking in their daily training.”

“Is it that bad?”

“I wouldn’t call it bad since it has allowed us to get much stronger than earlier.

But it is a fact that we have left behind any useless moral values and rules that were posing a hindrance to our growth.

That said, there is no one here who has grown into some heartless freak.

I can assure you that much.”

“Good enough.

Now, will you kindly help me with the unveiling?”, said Harry as he moved towards the covered up cannons.

With George’s help, he took off the covers from the two cannons brought to the location and started preparing the cannons for shooting while directing George to do the same.

But all the other people looked very confused.

But Harry wasn’t too surprised by their reaction to the cannons.

Unlike the other inventions, like the steam engine or the trucks, the cannons looked pretty simple.

It was just a fancy looking tube on wheels and had one of its two open ends covered with a fancy-looking hatch.

He couldn’t blame them for underestimating its strength.

Harry was literally waving a gun in front of a medieval knight.

There was no way for them to know its real value.

They didn’t even know of the use of gunpowder aside from in the fireworks.

Harry hadn’t told any of them in detail about the exact working of firearms.

Heck, they didn’t even know the word “firearm”!

“I know that many, if not all of you, are very confused as to how this simple looking tube can defeat those almighty cultivators.

But as the saying goes, do not judge a book by its cover.

It is quite foolish to form an opinion about these cannons before seeing them in action.”

The crowd stopped their murmuring and started staring at the two cannons in front of them.

Harry finally had everyone’s attention towards the little show he planned on putting up.

Even George had his eyes glued upon this highly praised invention.

Finally, Harry began speaking the final lines of his speech as he proceeded to light the fuse of both the cannons.

It was his favourite way of introducing new things.

“The era of knights and swords was the era of cold weapons.

And the era with you soldiers and these ‘firearms’ will be a new era.

The era of hot weapons. The weapons which are capable of both getting people to the heavens above and also bringing down the heavens to the people below.”

Harry watched the fuse come near its end as he spoke.

“And now, I welcome you to this new era of hot weapons!

With a warning to please cover your ears very quickly…”, said Harry a few seconds before the fuse burnt off.

And everyone present quickly shut their ears tightly as the first-ever cannonballs of Etheldor went flying towards the trees in the distance.

With this, the era of knights was over.

And it was the beginning of the end.

The end of the era of the tyranny of the energy users.

[Congratulations on the successful creation of cannons.

The gods above have prepared rewards for this great achievement of the host.]

‘And there are the system’s sweet little rewards as well! Yay me!’, thought Harry as he looked at the awestruck expressions of the soldiers before him.