BXBX NOVEL Chapter 140: | 140 | R&D Department
Of the many departments scattered throughout the United Navy, acting as its pillars, the R&D Department was amongst the most expensive ones. The cost of researching new technology and discovering weaknesses to the enemy\'s technology was a difficult endeavor to maintained.
Even for the naval organization such as the United Navy.
Riding inside the elevator was the fleet admiral and his sword, the dragoness. For the first time, they were planning to meet with the ones guiding and advancing the research, development sector of the United Navy. One would wonder who these figures were.
"As expected of the R&D Department, their entrance looks intriguing." Abraham muttered to himself, gazing at the metallic elevator covered with futuristic neon lights. It sang a mechanical hum that felt as though he was inside a sci-fi movie.
"They haven\'t wasted the budget I have given them." He lightly chuckled while Laplace maintained her silence and stood beside him. It didn\'t take long before they reached deepest underground sector of the United Navy, and the metallic doors of the elevator slid opened.
Abraham and Laplace stepped out of the elevator, which immediately closed. They were met with a long, futuristic hallway, swiftly capturing the interest of the fleet admiral. He observed with calm amazement as this was the first he had ever seen such a scene personally.
\'But it makes me wonder how far are they in their development. After all, I need results.\' He thought to himself as what he would see beyond this hallway would decide the fate of the R&D Department. After all, departments that gave little to no results wouldn\'t deserve the high budget they have.
There was nothing free in this world. Resources take time to acquire, more time to manufacture. If results weren\'t being given in time, the resource-hungry departments would merely strained the United Navy.
This was a concept that Laplace understood. It was the reason why she was silent the whole time despite Abraham\'s clear amazement. After all, in his hands was the scythe of death that would decide the fate of the R&D Department.
The two walked through the futuristic hallway and were met with a monotone voice introducing itself to the two of them. *The R&D Department is honored to be in the presence of the fleet admiral and the dragoness. I am EVA, an artificial assistant of the department.*
*How may I assist the two of you?*
Laplace lowered her head while the edges of Abraham\'s lips rose. He glanced at the CCTV strapped carefully in the hallway and responded. "I\'m here to see the results of this department personally. I\'d like to know how far you\'ve gone into the task I have given all of you."
His calm words resounded throughout the hallway, but they carried his authority as the fleet admiral. Silence followed after his response, though it didn\'t take long before EVA spoke.
*Understood, sending all data to the fleet admiral...*
*Opening security procedures, welcome Fleet Admiral Abraham Shepherd.*
Along with EVA\'s monotone words was the hallway breaking open, revealing the entire R&D Department sector to the fleet admiral and the dragoness. It was a vast floor filled with all kinds of technologies, tested and untested.
With them were researchers, scientists, and inventors who lined up together to meet with the highest authority of the United Navy, the fleet admiral.
Upon meeting Abraham, they immediately bowed at the same time and uttered.
*IT IS AN HONOR, FLEET ADMIRAL!*
Their words echoed throughout the department sector, but Abraham maintained his calm and observed each and every single one of them with a scrutinizing gaze. Laplace did the same as her golden eyes brought about pressure to the people surrounding them.
After a short while of staring contest, Abraham smiled at the group of people and remarked. "It has been a while, months have passed since the creation of this department. So, I\'d like to hear about your progress."
He was straight at the point as he didn\'t see any reason to beat around the bush. Technology was of importance to the United Navy. But it had its limits, and they must invent new technologies against their foreign enemies capable of using magicraft.
The director of the R&D Department stepped forward. He was a skinny old man wearing a lab coat and a silver-trimmed eye glasses. A serious expression was plastered on his face as he uttered. "I am here to report, Fleet Admiral."
"Good, let me hear everything." Abraham glanced at the old man, wanting to hear their progress from his mouth. He wondered how far they have gone in their research. He hoped that it would at the very least be useful in their present circumstance.
"Affirmative," The director nodded and began his report.
His first words were about the discovery of a new element they called Adamantium. It was an excellent element capable of legendary effects, and most of all, they had a lot of supply from the northern quarry.
They have understood how to utilize this element and manufacture it with metal. The effects would be the metal being 5x stronger, 3x harder, 4x lighter, and 7x more durable. It was practically an all-round upgrade.
The problem however, was that the manufacturing process of the metal being expensive. They were finding ways to simplify the process and make it cheaper for mass production.
However, they have also manufactured weapons based on Adamantium. One was a Magus Gun with its barrel and ammunition blended with the new element, while the other was a revolver entirely made of Adamantium.
Naturally, these two weapons where what Abraham was interested the most. Especially, the Adamantium revolver. He was recently looking for a new revolver that could be affective against the Magus, he didn\'t think there would be actually one already manufactured in the R&D Department.
"So, tell me about the difference between the new revolver and the general one?" Abraham inquired the director, who coolly answered his question.
"Well, because of the lightweight nature of the revolver. We were able to incorporate design changes that would have proven inefficient because of the extra weight. Its size have become significantly larger and longer while its magazines have increased to ten bullets."
"On the other hand, its ammunition has leaped high in terms of capabilities. The penetration has increased for about 5x, giving the revolver the power of a Magus Gun. However, because of our limited understand with Adamantium, its armaments cannot exceed 100 rounds per minute."
The director was honest and told Abraham about the current limits of the Adamantium Revolver. Although, it was unfortunate that the Adamantium couldn\'t be incorporated to guns with high firing rate. The advance rate of the new element was enough for him.
But it appears that the explanation of the director was far from reaching its end.
"We also discovered a special property in regards to Adamantium, Fleet Admiral. It was something we accidently discovered it during our testing. It is the fact that Adamantium is highly aggressive against magic."
"It seems to return mana into its natural state, making magic weak against it. After all, magic is a refined-mana processed into a spell." The director calmly explained.
The special property surprised Abraham. It was something he didn\'t expect, but it was a welcome surprise. He turned his gaze towards Laplace, who already nodded and said. "You want me to check, right? I heard about a useless metal that couldn\'t be forged through the usual ways."
"This might be the so-called new element you have found." Laplace walked towards where the Adamantium Guns were presented and observed them with scrutiny.
"They are hard to process into viable weapons through forge works. This means that one would need magic. But since the metal turns magic into its most natural state. Spells are useless against it." The dragoness closed her eyelids, but soon opened it and turned her golden irises to Abraham.
"However, my scales are harder and stronger than this metal. It is also efficient with magic. Quite the total opposite of this new element. Though, it will be useful to the United Navy." Laplace smirked as she could already imagine the kinds of weapons Abraham would build with it.
"I don\'t think anything is stronger than your scale, Laplace." Abraham remarked while shaking his head. But since she had concluded that it would be useful. It might as well be.
"Director, your department is excellent for discovering and researching ways to properly and efficiently utilize Adamantium. I\'ll applaud you for success. But I want to go to the main topic, what have you learned about magic?" He asked the question that brought him to the department.
Laplace merely squinted her eyes from the question, also wanting to know about what they had learned.
"Do not worry, Fleet Admiral." The director straightened his back and raised his eye glasses with confidence. "We have learned a lot from the magical artifacts you have given to our department. None of them were wasted."
With the confident tone of the director, Abraham felt somewhat excited. It seems that the people of the R&D Department weren\'t to be underestimated. It was time to see whether or not the budget that could feed the fleet of the United Navy for a month wasn\'t wasted.
"You sound confident, director. I\'m sure you have discovered something worthwhile about magic." Abraham remarked and leaned on the metallic wall behind him. "Tell me everything you know about it. I don\'t care if it takes hours for you to do so."