system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Witcher] how far out is The Continent from developing firearms?

Alchemists clearly have an advanced understanding of explosive and combustible materials. I refuse to believe there isn't at least one warlord with an engineering team that has come to the conclusion that explosion plus bottleneck equals high velocity projectile.
gpt
They're between 100 to 300 years away from rudimentary firearms.  The biggest issues facing them are consistent metallurgy as often times nations don't share technology with each other and if they become overwhelmed by another will destroy their secrets to deny their enemies.  And the other issue is mages.  Magic users can and will protect their foothold in society.  If a king could have his best marksmen a new firearm that doesn't require special training to use and can outperform a mage day after day without crushed rubies or powered elk horn to function why bow to the whims of a crazy kook that refuses to leave the castle for war.