Elias, now officially the rebellion's tactician, begins the long process of reverse-engineering gunpowder. His "workshop" is a dilapidated shed in the corner of the village, and his "students" are the most loyal of Ser Kael's followers. He is a teacher, a chemist, an engineer, and a leader all at once. The rebel blacksmith, a gruff but honest man named Corvan, is his most skeptical but most vital asset.
"This is devil's powder," Corvan grumbled, tapping the strange black dust. "It smells of sulfur and brimstone."
"It's just saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal," Elias replied patiently. "We're not making magic; we're making chemistry. We're making progress."
Word of the "devil's powder" spreads like wildfire. The imperial propagandists seized on the term, painting Elias as a demonic sorcerer from a cursed land. They told tales of how his "unholy powder" would corrupt the pure magical essence of the world and destroy everything they held dear. This was the first shot in the war of ideologies, a "clash of feudalism versus industrialism, magic versus ballistics." It was a war Elias knew how to fi
ght.