Chapter 38: A Home Sailing the Seas

"I really am a genius," Ian mused with a satisfied grin, admiring the flared-muzzle alchemical musket in his hands.

Yesterday had been a productive day. Ian had organized his materials and studied alchemical musket craftsmanship as a precursor to building cannons. After all, a cannon was essentially just a scaled-up musket.

Today, he tested his newfound knowledge and succeeded on his first try. The self-praise was mostly tongue-in-cheek, as Ian knew the flintlock musket's basic design wasn't overly complicated.

In this world, the standard firearm among major kingdoms was a front-loading flintlock musket with a bore size ranging from 13 to 20 millimeters. The ammunition, typically lead bullets, was chosen for its low cost and malleability, making it suitable for muzzle-loading. Black powder was used as the propellant, packed in paper cartridges to improve moisture resistance and reload speed.

What made alchemical muskets exceptional was the quality of their materials. These weapons were crafted to withstand greater heat and pressure, allowing for larger charges and calibers. This translated to more destructive power and longer range, though accuracy remained average at best.

Naval warfare on the Sea of Miracles often devolved into brutal close-quarters combat, which made the design of alchemical muskets distinct. They featured flared muzzles and fired scattershot, earning them the fearsome nickname "deck cleaners."

The musket Ian held was one such weapon.

Ian wasn't a firearms enthusiast in his previous life, but he had a basic understanding of advancements like rifling, breech-loading, and metallic cartridges. However, armed with alchemical transmutation abilities, he was confident he could innovate on existing designs if given time.

For now, though, his priority was crafting alchemical cannons and ammunition. Innovating the technology could wait.

On the other side of the cliff, cannon fire echoed intermittently over the windswept beach.

Wawa, Ian's living warship, had grown noticeably larger. Its length now exceeded 24 meters, with proportional increases in draft and width.

However, its internal expansion far outpaced its external growth. The ship's internal space had already surpassed 1,500 cubic meters.

Of course, such rapid growth came at a steep price. The spiritual materials Ian had painstakingly acquired dwindled at an alarming rate. Wawa consumed resources as though it burned through gold coins. Ian ultimately decided to stash all the materials within Wawa's storage space—out of sight, out of mind.

The ship's forward deck now featured a 24-pound alchemical cannon mounted on an unconventional base. Below the cannon was a sliding carriage embedded in a circular platform, allowing for 360-degree rotation. This innovative design was based on Ian's concept and crafted by Wawa.

Instead of traditional wheeled mounts, the sliding carriage absorbed the cannon's recoil through rails, ensuring stability after each shot. The circular platform allowed the cannon to target enemies from any direction.

Currently, a semi-sentient chain, moving with an almost lifelike rhythm, was assisting in cleaning the barrel, loading powder and shot, and packing them tightly. It then adjusted the cannon's angle and direction under Wawa's control.

With a thunderous boom, the cannon fired, launching a projectile nearly 3,000 meters and raising a massive splash on the distant sea.

The recoil pushed the cannon sharply backward along the rails, but the ship itself only shuddered briefly before regaining balance.

The entire firing sequence—from cleaning to firing—took less than 20 seconds, a pace that far exceeded the average. While trained crews might achieve a reload time of 30 to 40 seconds, this was an extraordinary feat.

Ian's experiment was a success, though not without its hiccups.

Initially, Wawa struggled to handle the recoil. Despite its reinforced structure, the force from the 24-pound cannon was too intense, destabilizing the ship for subsequent shots. Ian's sliding carriage design resolved this problem perfectly.

However, a new issue arose: the animated chains lacked the finesse to operate the cannon properly. While they could instinctively handle sails, firing a cannon proved to be a task beyond their capability—like teaching a toddler advanced mathematics.

Frustrated, Wawa abandoned the chains and took over the cannon operation itself.

Over the past few days, Wawa had undergone significant changes. Its once-obvious tentacle-like features had been replaced by two massive anchors with extended chains. These served as both weapons and tools, capable of delivering devastating blows to wooden ships despite their slower speed.

For Ian, relying on Wawa to fire the cannon felt like overkill. It was only a stopgap measure, as Wawa's growth would eventually make its chains too unwieldy for such delicate tasks. The problem of finding proper gunners remained unresolved.

Despite the gunnery challenges, Ian's research into alchemical cannons and ammunition progressed rapidly. He estimated that within three days, after exhausting his remaining materials, he would master the crafting techniques for 24-pound cannons and their ammunition.

Ian and Mierta dined in the ship's lower-deck mess hall that evening. After moving all their supplies aboard yesterday, they had officially taken up residence on Wawa.

Unlike traditional sailing ships, where space was at a premium, Ian's ship was designed for maximum comfort. With no need for sail operators, the ship could prioritize quarters for gunners and combat personnel. Its features included a captain's cabin, officer's quarters, crew dormitories, a kitchen, mess hall, cargo hold, and even a medical bay.

Ian had also taught Wawa some modern conveniences, such as bathrooms, flush toilets, and a freshwater plumbing system.

Hygiene was a notorious problem during the Age of Exploration, with more sailors dying from disease than combat or shipwrecks. Wawa easily addressed this by routing a freshwater system through its hull. It even allocated a 100-cubic-meter internal space solely for freshwater storage—enough to last Ian and Mierta over 2,500 days at 20 liters per person per day.

Wastewater and garbage were temporarily stored in seawater tanks and disposed of through closable drainage pipes, keeping the ship spotless.

With built-in furniture, soundproofing, and exceptional stability, life aboard Wawa was more comfortable than staying at a high-end inn in Paradise Harbor. Neither Ian nor Mierta had any desire to return to their old tower.

During dinner, Mierta hesitated before finally speaking.

"Captain… have you thought about naming the ship? And shouldn't we have a proper flag?"

Ian froze mid-bite. The warship was Wawa's body, so he'd always just called it Wawa. But clearly, that wouldn't do for formal use.

First, it would invite unwanted questions about the ship's origins. Second, it simply didn't sound intimidating enough.