Dimensional Descent

Chapter 142: First Design

It was as though a whole new world had opened up to Leonel. 

Even someone with an ability as analytical as himself had been having issues with the blueprinting process. It wasn’t that his mind didn’t have enough computational ability, but rather that he simply didn’t have enough experience. 

Since this was his first creation, it was only made of three parts. Yet, the process of transferring those ideas to their individual blueprints, then visualizing the 2D in 3D while ensuring that all the parameters are within appropriate margins of error was difficult for a newbie like Leonel. 

Imagine for a moment that you had to design a screw and the hole it would screw into. From the outside, this seems incredibly simple. However, this isn’t the case at all. 

The grooves of a screw that allow it to solidly embed itself into the appropriate hole could be measured in millimeters. If the hole is a fraction too big and the screw is a fraction too small, suddenly, the error compounds and you have a useless screw on your hands.

This was the absolute simplest example. What if the parts are more complex than this? What if there’s more than just two parts to consider?

Leonel was dealing with three parts currently, but he already had a headache. Ensuring that machine parts work smoothly as one even when they were manufactured separately was probably the bane of all engineers. But now, Leonel felt that he had solved this problem that plagued all beginner Force Crafters.

In the blink of an eye, Leonel had drawn out the blueprints for all three of his parts and laid them flat in the air. Though his arm moved as though he was really ‘drawing’, this was his dream world. Was there even a need to actually do so? At most, this was a little fanfare.

‘So it’s like this…’

Leonel’s eyes shone brightly, internally kicking himself for not realizing he could use his Dream World in this way. 

If he entered his Dream World, then used Dream Sculpt to build up the individual parts of his creations, it was possible to test everything before he even began. Not only this, but he could check the feasibility of his designs without causing irreparable changes to the materials he was handling. 

Leonel pinched his fingers toward one of his blueprints and pulled them apart, causing the design to expand. Before Leonel’s eye, what once was a flat drawing gained form. 

In a flash, the other two pieces followed suit, then, along with the closing of Leonel’s hands, they came together and formed a complete treasure. 

If someone else was here, they would immediately recognize it as a handgun, albeit a uniquely shaped one. 

The nozzle was incredibly long and narrow for a gun of its kind. It was just over a foot in length, but barely a centimeter and a half in width. 

Its handle was thick and ergonomic. If Leonel were to reach out and grasp it, it would perfectly form to his hand. However, if one looked closely, it was possible to see many small holes spread all across its surface. 

This was the true secret of this gun. It could work with bullets, but the main reason Leonel created it was thanks to its ability to function even without bullets. 

That was right, Leonel designed this gun to work similarly to the invisible attacks of the Mayan Priest or the arrow of Seer’s staff. All he had to do was pour his Force into it and it would form and shoot the projectile for him. 

As for how this projectile would compare to Seer or the Mayan Priest, Leonel was certain that its speed and piercing power would be more than double. However… Those were calculations he had made before he awakened his Light Elemental Force. If he used Light Elemental Force instead of normal Force, the effect would definitely be even more exaggerated. 

The trouble was whether or not his design could take it and whether the Force Arts he chose to pair with this treasure would be enough. 

Leonel exploded the size of his design again and narrowed his eyes, allowing the hovering design to spin slowly before him. He wanted to grasp every single little detail. 

‘The design I settled on is very simple. The nozzle, the hollow grip, and the weight.

‘When I pour Force into the gun, the weight within the handle is pushed up. The moment the energy is released, the weight will shoot back down to its original position. Depending on how much Force I use, the rebound can be either stronger or weaker. Thanks to this, the recoil mitigation can be properly scaled depending on the situation…’

Compared to the anti-recoil technology of the Empire’s best guns, Leonel’s could be considered to be rudimentary to the extreme. In fact, he knew there were many problems with it. 

For one, the current design only accounted for vertical recoil, but not horizontal. Leonel felt that this was an easy fix. If Leonel angled the weights ascent and descent, he could account for this as well.

Leonel mentally made the changes that were needed. And, thanks to his Dream World, they immediately manifested in the design before him, causing him to smile beside himself.

‘The next issue is the nozzle. The longer the nozzle, the more time the bullet will have to accelerate, but it also makes it a weak point of the design.’

Leonel thought about this for a long time. If things remained like this, he didn’t believe that the nozzle would last very long. It was too fragile. 

After a moment, Leonel came to a conclusion. 

‘It’s impossible to create something perfect. Everything has give and take. Instead of worrying so much over this, I should instead modify the design so that the nozzle is a fail point that can be easily swapped and replaced.’

When Leonel came to this decision, instead of making the nozzle stronger, he actually purposely made it much weaker. There was no need to invest too many materials into something that was bound to fail. Not only did he make it weaker, but he added many natural breaking points so that repair would be easy and simple. 

These break points would not only allow the nozzle to fail in predictable ways, but it would also ensure that its failure wouldn’t harm Leonel. It would be too great of a joke if Leonel’s gun exploded and killed him mid battle.

Leonel planned on making two guns and ten nozzles. This way, he could swap the nozzles mid battle if necessary. 

When Leonel settled on the final design, he used Dream Sculpt to create perfect memory fragments within his mind. Now, he was ready to begin.