Shen Qin slept straight through to the next morning. After taking a shower and changing into clean clothes, the fatigue washed away, leaving him feeling refreshed and clear-headed.
Ah, the perks of youth ─ one good sleep and he was back to full energy.
He loaded the weapon case, which held three modified explosive guns and several dozen explosive bolts, onto his hoverboard and made his way toward the Knights of Favonius training grounds, grabbing breakfast from Good Hunter along the way.
By the time he arrived, several Knights, Diluc, and Keqing were already there, all eyes drawn to the large crate on the hoverboard, clearly aware that this was the new invention he had summoned them to see.
"Bro, we've all dropped what we were doing to gather here. If your invention doesn't live up to the hype, you'll owe us a proper explanation," Kaeya teased, a sly smile on his face.
"Oh, Kaeya, don't be so harsh on our sweetie," Lisa said as she glanced toward Shen Qin. "After everything we've been through lately, this trip back to Mondstadt might as well count as a vacation. Still, for him to come up with something new already… I'm starting to think his brain might just be sharper than mine. Perhaps we should have him take over my research on the Stormterror barrier?"
'You just want to slack off in Mondstadt, don't you?'
Jean gave Shen Qin a nod. "Please, show us your invention. I trust that, if you've called us all here at such a critical moment, it must be something that can significantly turn the tide of battle."
'Ah, as sharp as ever. Captain Jean never disappoints.' Shen Qin nodded inwardly in admiration and called on Kaeya to help him unload the weapons onto the ground. He opened the case to reveal three exceptionally crafted explosive guns and a wide variety of specialized ammunition.
These were the very first explosive guns to be created in all of Teyvat, and Shen Qin intended to keep them for his own use. As such, he had put particular care into their outward design.
Each weapon was coated in a matte charcoal gray finish, the metallic surfaces polished with fine sand for texture. Stamped upon each frame was the twin-headed eagle emblem of the Imperium from Warhammer 40K, its dull silver sheen catching the light in a way that reduced reflection, meant to minimize detection by enemies during combat.
"Are those… weapons?!" Jean exclaimed.
When she'd received Klee's notice the previous day. Along with the extensive list of materials and metal plates to prepare, she had already begun to suspect the new invention was a weapon. After all, the performance of the Dragoon Type-I on the battlefield had been nothing short of dazzling.
She had even asked Shen Qin prior to the recent operation whether the Dragoon Type-I could be mass-produced, but he'd warned that its dissemination could trigger panic among the other factions of Teyvat, possibly turning Mondstadt into a prime target and negating any strategic advantage.
'I hadn't expected his next invention to be yet another weapon.'
"That's right. They're weapons," Shen Qin confirmed, face unreadable and tone grave. "And extremely powerful ones at that. I developed them due to the current emergency. If deployed on the battlefield, they could ensure the Knights' final victory in under two weeks… but their consequences would be equally severe."
"These weapons can give an ordinary person the destructive power of an elite-level monster with only minimal training. If left unchecked, they could pose a greater threat to Mondstadt than the Abyss Order and monsters we're fighting now."
"What's more, they level the battlefield. The power they offer rivals that of Vision holders. One Vision holder can only do so much, but thousands of Vision-equivalents form an unstoppable army. If the Knights adopt these weapons, they must be prepared for the pressure this will bring from the other powers of Teyvat."
"And more importantly," Shen Qin said, his voice low but firm, "they must be used as instruments of peace and not tools of conquest."
He phrased it delicately, but he knew Jean would understand.
"So I suggest you all discuss this thoroughly before deciding whether to release them to the world."
The Knights glanced at one another. If what Shen Qin said was true, then the potential impact of these new weapons was far greater than they had anticipated. In the worst case, it could completely upend the current balance of power among Teyvat's factions.
Keqing and Diluc also stared in stunned silence at the three unassuming weapons lying in the crate.
Diluc finally spoke, casting a glance at Jean, who wore a furrowed expression of deep contemplation. "Words don't convey it clearly enough. Why don't you demonstrate their capabilities for us first? Then we can make a proper judgment."
"No problem." Shen Qin directed the others to arrange five alloy steel plates, each one centimeter thick, spaced twenty centimeters apart at a distance of twenty meters. Why such a short distance?
…Because he was worried he'd miss if they were placed any farther!
He then loaded a standard explosive bolt into the Reaper explosive rifle, chambered the round, released the safety, and took aim at the target fifty meters away. He pulled the trigger.
With a deep, muffled bang, the explosion erupted where the plates stood. A fireball three meters wide bloomed into the air.
When the smoke cleared, everyone was stunned to see that the bullet had pierced through the first two plates and detonated between the second and third. Within half a meter of the blast center, both plates had melted halfway through from the heat. The shockwave had bent the plates outward, and a jagged crack half a meter long had been torn into the second plate's impact hole.
"This is the power of a standard explosive bolt. The Reaper has an effective range of two thousand meters. Within fifteen hundred meters, it can produce damage of this scale if the shot lands. Beyond that, the bullet's penetrative force will drop, but the explosive force remains the same."
Amber gasped. "That's… about as much destruction as I can do with a fully charged shot!"
While the explosion wasn't quite as potent as Baron Bunny or her Elemental Burst, the fact that an ordinary person could use it to such effect was astounding.
Shen Qin then demonstrated the Kraken Piercer round, capable of penetrating four steel plates in a row. Its terrifying penetrative power left the audience reeling, it had already surpassed the strength of most regular attacks at full force.
"Diluc, could you coat the steel plates in a fire-element shield? Let's see how well it holds."
After Diluc readied the elemental shield, Shen Qin loaded the Judgment Thunderbolt round into the Reaper. He aimed and fired in one fluid motion. A high-voltage lightning zone three meters wide appeared instantly at the shield's surface, triggering an Overloaded reaction between the lightning and fire elements.
Diluc grunted as the shield shattered and the remaining lightning crashed onto the metal surface.
"The lightning element burst was too concentrated, it caused an immediate elemental reaction. The fire element burned out faster than I could sustain it, which is why the shield broke so easily," Diluc explained.
With the help of Kaeya, Lisa, Jean, and Albedo, Shen Qin proceeded to demonstrate the Judgement Thunderbolt, Infernal Blaze, and Zero-Frost bolt against a variety of elemental shields. They even called Barbara over from the church to cast a water shield for testing.
Even shields made of Geo and Anemo, which had no direct elemental reactions, could be broken through with combined attacks using multiple types of elemental bolts.
With the demonstration complete, it was time for Jean and the others to decide.