Leo smiled and didn't take it seriously. He said, "Those are just rumors. And I think your horns look really cool."
"Really?" Marina looked at him in surprise, and tears came to her eyes.
Even her own family avoided her, and this was the first time someone said her horns looked good.
Leo smiled again. "Of course it's true."
He understood what Marina had gone through. Being seen as different, she probably wasn't liked by anyone.
He continued, "Don't worry, the people here will accept you."
"Yeah. Marina, you're so pretty, no one will dislike you." Ava also comforted her.
She was also scared that Marina would bring bad luck, but she believed in Leo more.
"Thanks you guys. But if I really bring disaster, I'll leave on my own." She was still not sure, afraid of being driven out again.
"There are a lot of bad things in the world. What does that have to do with you?" Leo stood up and said, "You should rest first. We're just staying here for a while, and we'll go out to sea soon."
He didn't plan to stay long on Flame Island, and the barbarians here were also a little scared that Marina might bring disaster.
"Ava, where's Lilia?" He hadn't seen Lilia and asked.
They ran out of saltpeter for making gunpowder, and he wanted to go back into the Fire Bat cave to find some.
"She's watching over the gunpowder making. I'll go get her." Ava told Marina a few things, then left with Leo.
Lilia stayed by the hut where the gunpowder was being made. She didn't let anyone get close, especially Anna.
"Leo, do you need something?" She saw Leo and asked, confused.
"Yeah. We ran out of saltpeter. I want to go back into the Fire Bat cave again. Oh, and bring Anna too." He didn't want to leave Anna alone here. She would definitely cause trouble.
"OK." Lilia nodded and agreed.
The three of them entered the volcano area again.
The hot wind hit them, but this time Leo wasn't as messy.
Anna used her water ball spell to help cool him down.
"Is there really material for making gunpowder here?" She didn't like this place. It was too hot, and she almost couldn't feel the water element. Making a water ball was already her limit.
If Leo hadn't said there was material for gunpowder here, she definitely wouldn't come.
"Of course. Do you think I'd lie to you?" Leo said.
Anna looked around and continued, "We made a deal. You have to teach me how to make gunpowder, and you can't stop me from doing experiments anymore."
"Princess Anna, that's too dangerous." Lilia didn't agree.
After the last explosion, she was still scared.
Luckily, Anna was fine. Otherwise, she couldn't explain it to the Elf King.
"Lilia, it's none of your business. If you keep stopping me, I'll send you back to the Elven Forest." Anna threatened.
"I'm listening to the captain now." Lilia wasn't afraid at all and looked at Leo for help.
"You little girl got brave, huh? Now you even don't listen to me anymore." Anna was angry. The two girls teased each other.
Leo stopped them and said, "Be careful. Something dangerous is coming near."
Flame Sprite had already appeared around them. A message popped up.
[Flame Sprite, Level 1 Beast, Danger Level 10]
It was still a danger level 10. He didn't want to mess with them.
The two girls stopped joking around. Lilia quickly acted and easily killed the Flame Sprite around them. Then she led the way into the Fire Bat cave.
There were a lot of Fire Bats gathered here again.
Luckily, Lilia was strong, and Anna could help too. With the water ball spell to cool them down, the group easily went deeper into the cave.
Leo found more saltpeter again. And there was a lot of it.
He picked it all up.
"Leo, is this the saltpeter for making gunpowder?" Anna came over and looked closely.
It was white crystals. If you didn't look closely, it looked just like bat poop.
"Yeah, this is an important ingredient for making gunpowder." Leo explained.
The saltpeter itself wasn't dangerous. The danger was the sulfur and the finished gunpowder.
"It's really amazing." she said, and then sighed. She didn't understand how it worked and didn't want to think about it.
"Lilia, try to explore the whole cave." She wiped sweat from her forehead and made another water ball to help cool everyone off.
But this time, the water ball was smaller.
The water element was even weaker here.
Lilia nodded and sped up.
"Leo, I found another Flamestone." she said happily and pulled a small, bright red gem from the hot rock wall.
"Huh, I thought something cool was there." Anna said, looking at it and not interested at all.
She was a water element mage, and Flamestone was useless to her.
Leo took the Flamestone, and the message popped up again.
[Flamestone, contains Fire Elemental Law power. After refining, you can master Fire Elemental Law]
Still no message on how to refine it.
Leo was a little disappointed but put it in his bag.
"Leo, what if we add Flamestone to the gunpowder? Would it be even more powerful?" Anna's eyes sparkled. She had an idea and asked.
"What?" Leo's eyes lit up. "That's a good idea. Let's test it back at the base."
"Let me do it." Anna said excitedly.
"No way, that's too dangerous." Lilia said.
The gunpowder was already scary enough. If they added Flamestone, it would be even worse.
Leo said, "I'll check it out first. If it's safe, then you can try."
"Okay." Anna didn't argue this time.
They walked a little further. The temperature got higher and higher. Even the Fire Bats couldn't take it anymore.
The group couldn't either. Anna almost couldn't make a water ball at all.
"Let's go back. There's no more saltpeter here." Leo said, and the two girls nodded in agreement.
This time, they had a big harvest. The saltpeter they collected was enough to make nearly a hundred barrels of gunpowder. They also found 14 Flamestones.
Leo guessed there must be even more Flamestones deeper in the cave. But the heat was too much to handle.
The group returned to the barbarian tribe. Leo kept busy making bamboo tube explosives.
Anna was grinding the Flamestones by the side.
Flamestones weren't very hard. They turned into a light red powder, similar to gunpowder.
"Leo, what do I do next?" Anna carried a small jar of the ground Flamestone powder and asked.
"Try mixing it with gunpowder and test it outside." Leo said. He didn't want to take chances, so it was safer to do it in an open area.
"Okay." Anna said excitedly. She took some gunpowder and went to the open beach.
Leo put on armor, almost fully equipped. He took some gunpowder and carefully added the Flamestone powder.
Anna stayed far away. Even though she was wild, she knew this stuff was dangerous and was afraid of an explosion.
The Flamestone powder mixed with gunpowder, but it didn't light.
Leo hesitated, then took out a flint and tried to light the mixture.
A spark hit, and suddenly a big fire exploded. It covered Leo's whole body.
"Leo!" Anna was shocked and threw a water ball at him.
Cough!
Leo coughed badly, and his armor was all black and burnt.
"Nothing." he waved his hand, telling Anna not to worry. He looked at the burnt rock and frowned.
After adding the Flamestone powder, the gunpowder became more stable and much stronger.
And this stuff could even be used as a propellant!
Could they make bullets with it?
Leo thought it was totally possible. Black powder was too unstable and could explode in the gun barrel, so it couldn't make bullets.
But they could make a flintlock gun. But it was too hard to load, and he didn't like it.
Now, with the Flamestone powder added, the gunpowder seemed to change a little.
"Let's try it." he said to Anna. "Find me a small bamboo tube."
"Okay." Anna got a small bamboo tube, about the thickness of a thumb.
Leo mixed the gunpowder and Flamestone powder again, adjusting the ratio a little this time.
He put the mixture into the bamboo tube and carefully placed it on a stone.
"Anna, don't stand behind me." he warned her.
"OK." she stood aside and raised her staff. A faint blue light flashed, ready to cast a water shield.
Leo took a deep breath, took out the flint, and carefully lit it.
A fire flashed, and the bamboo tube flew off immediately.
It worked!
The gunpowder with Flamestone powder could be used as a propellant.
But it still needed some improvements. The fire was too big, probably because there was too much Flamestone powder.
"Leo, why didn't it explode?" Anna looked at the bamboo tube flying out dozens of meters, but it didn't explode.
She felt a little disappointed.