Chapter 24 Burn! Burn it for me! This is how otherworldly steel is forged! ^^……
Having stumbled upon a visitor's mark left by a powerful elf, and confirming that his mascot, Xiao Fen, might possess a magical radar attribute, Lin Yue felt an even heavier burden on his shoulders—mainly because he had more things to worry about.
The elf's attitude is ambiguous, like a ticking time bomb; Xiao Fen's bloodline is a mystery, whether it's a blessing or a curse is unknown; external security threats could resurface at any moment; internally, the fencing project is progressing slowly, and the tools are still pitifully outdated…
It's a situation of internal and external troubles, and the pressure is immense!
"No! We must get the ironware out as soon as possible!" Lin Yue turned his gaze back to the earthen smelting furnace that he had placed high hopes on, but which had failed on its first attempt to ignite.
To do something well, you must first have the right tools! Without iron, everything is just empty talk! Whether it's defending your homeland, clearing land for farming, hunting monsters, or even bluffing... no, attracting powerful elves to engage in friendly exchanges, you need strength as your backing!
And the skill in iron smelting must begin with this ugly-cute furnace!
Having learned from his previous failure, Lin Yue decided to completely upgrade and transform the smelting furnace!
Let's do it!
He pulled out Uncle Shi Quan's class notes and the systematic "Summary of Experiences in Smelting Failures" report, and began the optimization design of his second-generation traditional smelting furnace.
Optimization direction 1: Increase furnace temperature! The key lies in the air supply!
The last time he tried blowing air with his mouth and squeezing a leather bag to create air was a truly embarrassing and painful memory for Lin Yue. Not only was it inefficient, but it almost turned him and Gray into overworked human bellows.
We absolutely need bellows! And it has to be the dwarven-technology-enhanced, system-optimized [High-Efficiency Human-Powered Blower Made of Animal Hide]!
Making bellows requires large, flexible, and airtight animal hides. This posed a challenge for Lin Yue. The prey they hunted were usually small, silly birds and rabbits, whose pelts were barely enough to make a mini scarf for Xiao Fen.
"Gray, Uncle Stonefist, are there any tough-skinned, large-sized... uh, non-protected animals around here?" Lin Yue asked humbly.
Gray thought for a moment, then pointed in a certain direction: "...'Stone-skinned Wild Boar'. Thick-skinned. Difficult to catch."
Stone Fist nodded: "Hmm, the hide of the Stone-skinned Wild Boar is quite good, tough enough! But that thing charges around wildly and is incredibly strong, your Broken Bone Spear... is in jeopardy."
[System Scan (Database): Stone-skinned Wild Boar, omnivorous mammal, medium to large size, with severely keratinized skin, high defense, and a fierce temperament. Weaknesses: eyes, abdomen. Hunting with weapons or traps with high penetrating power is recommended.]
"We have to catch it, even if it's difficult!" Lin Yue gritted his teeth. "For the bellows! For the iron tools! Gray, get the gear ready! We're going to confront this stone-skinned wild boar today!"
This time, they were much better prepared. Gray brought his best bone spear, while Lin Yue carried his secret weapon—a smoke bomb he had made earlier—along with ropes and sharpened sticks. Xiao Fen was ordered to stay behind, while Uncle Stone Fist remained at the camp to oversee the operation.
Fortunately, they were lucky this time. Near a muddy swamp, they found a lone wild boar rooting in the roots of plants.
Gray displayed amazing hunting skills! He first used the terrain to approach silently, and then Lin Yue took advantage of the upwind side and threw a smoke bomb to interfere with the wild boar's vision and sense of smell!
While the wild boar was choking and disoriented, spinning in circles, Gray charged forward like an arrow released from a bow!
Instead of attacking the boar's thick back head-on, he used a bone spear to stab the boar's relatively vulnerable abdomen with extreme cunning!
"Awooo—!"
The wild boar, in pain, let out a deafening roar and frantically twisted its body, trying to shake Gray off!
Gray gripped the bone spear tightly, his body moving and dodging like a nimble monkey, narrowly avoiding several attacks from the boar's tusks!
At this critical moment, Lin Yue didn't sit still! He circled around to the side and rear of the wild boar, used a sharpened wooden stick as a javelin, and with all his might, stabbed it hard into the wild boar's... rear end!
Although it has little lethality, it is extremely insulting!
The wild boar was in even greater pain and became even more ferocious! But the severe injury and bleeding from its abdomen gradually slowed its movements.
Finally, under Gray's relentless attacks and Lin Yue's occasional harassment, the ferocious stone-skinned wild boar finally collapsed unwillingly in the mud.
[System Notification: Successfully hunted [Stone-skinned Wild Boar] 1. Gained a large amount of experience points. Materials obtained: Stone-skinned Wild Boar Hide (large piece, good toughness) 1, Wild Boar meat (amount as needed), Tusks 2, Miscellaneous Bones (amount as needed).]
"We did it!" Lin Yue cheered excitedly as he looked at the wild boar carcass, which was even stronger than him. "Gray! You're amazing! You're like a god of war!"
Gray wiped his sweat and a rare smile appeared on his face.
It took the two of them a great deal of effort to drag the heavy wild boar back to the restaurant.
With high-quality animal hides, the bellows making was more than halfway done! Under Lin Yue's guidance and Uncle Stone Fist's experience-based corrections, Gray quickly used wood, animal hides, and plant fibers to create a [Highly Efficient Human-Powered Blower with Animal Hide] that looked quite professional and could actually blow air!
Optimization Direction Two: Improve Furnace Body Insulation Performance! Materials and Structure are Key!
With the blower problem solved, the next step is to improve the furnace itself.
Lin Yue and Gray went out again to the treasure clay pit and dug up more refractory clay. They also found a few pieces of magnetite, feeling quite pleased with themselves.
This time, they strictly followed Shi Quan's requirements, adjusting the ratio of clay and quartz sand, and adding crushed wood ash, which is said to improve fire resistance.
Then, they dismantled the original ugly-looking stove and rebuilt it.
The furnace walls have been significantly thickened, and a layer of wood ash and gravel has been added between the inner and outer walls as insulation. The shape of the furnace chamber has also been adjusted, based on Shi Quan's suggestions, to better suit the principles of hot air convection. The positions of the taphole and slag discharge outlet have also been optimized.
Throughout the entire process, Uncle Shi Quan supervised the work, muttering curses under his breath, but his eyes grew brighter and brighter. He even personally used his thick fingers to carefully smooth the inner wall of the furnace, ensuring it was smooth and flat.
[System Notification: Construction of the [Improved Traditional Smelting Furnace] is complete. Structural Rating: B- (Some details still have flaws, but the overall structure is reasonable, and the insulation performance has been significantly improved). Estimated maximum temperature: 1100-1200 degrees Celsius (with bellows). Note: Although it's still ugly, its inner beauty has improved! We're one step closer to producing molten iron!]
Furnace upgraded! Bellows in place! Fuel plentiful! Ore plentiful!
The second smelting attempt can finally begin!
The atmosphere this time was noticeably more tense and expectant than last time!
Lin Yue took a deep breath and once again assumed the roles of Chief Ignition Officer and Bellows Operator No. 1. Gray was responsible for loading the furnace charge and serving as Bellows Operator No. 2.
Uncle Stone Fist stood beside the furnace, personally acting as both chief engineer and temperature observer. Little Fen... Little Fen was ordered to stay at a distance to prevent her from getting burned by her excessive curiosity.
Ignition! The charcoal is ignited!
"Start the bellows!" Lin Yue commanded.
He and Gray took turns operating the brand-new leather bellows. With each rhythmic rise and fall of the bellows, a powerful stream of air was continuously fed into the furnace!
call--!
The flames in the furnace instantly became blazing! No longer the weak little flames of before, but roaring like the howl of a wild beast! The color of the flames also changed from orange-red to a dazzling orange-yellow, and even pale white!
The furnace walls heated up rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye, emitting scorching heat waves!
[System notification: Furnace temperature is rising rapidly! 800℃! 900℃! 1000℃! The initial reduction temperature range for iron has been exceeded!]
"The temperature is right!" Lin Yue shouted excitedly, "Uncle Stone Fist! It's up to you now!"
Shi Quan's expression was more focused than ever before! He stared intently at the color of the flames and the changes in the ore inside the furnace, occasionally reaching in with a long iron rod made from a captured, inferior iron pickaxe to feel the temperature and the state of the materials inside the furnace.
"Make the wind stronger!"
"Stop! The fire's too strong. Add some ore!"
"Watch out for the slag outlet, something's about to spill out!"
Stone Fist's instructions were concise and precise. Lin Yue and Gray carried them out, albeit hastily and meticulously.
Time ticked by. The furnace had become ablaze with intense white light! Under the influence of the high temperature and reducing atmosphere, the ore began to melt and churn.
[System notification: Furnace temperature has reached 1150℃! The ore has completely melted! Molten iron is being generated and flowing downwards!]
"It's about to tap out iron!" Shi Quan suddenly shouted, and used an iron rod to forcefully poke open the taphole at the bottom of the furnace!
A dazzling, viscous, golden-red liquid, like magma, slowly flowed out from the taphole!
Molten iron! It's molten iron!
Although it still contained a lot of slag and wasn't a pure bright white color, this was definitely the first time they had successfully smelted molten iron!
"We did it! We did it!" Lin Yue was so excited he almost jumped for joy! Looking at the flowing molten iron, he felt even more excited than if he had seen gold! This was a miracle they had created with their own sweat, wisdom, and perseverance!
Gray clenched his fist excitedly, a genuine smile spreading across his face!
Even Uncle Stone Fist, who had been keeping a straight face, couldn't help but grin, revealing two rows of... well... teeth that were a little yellow from the smoke, and let out a deafening, proud laugh!
"Hahaha! Do you see that, you fools! This is the wisdom of dwarves! With just a little guidance from me, smelting iron is a piece of cake!"
Xiao Fen seemed to sense the joyful atmosphere as well, excitedly calling out "Awoo Awoo" from afar.
After the molten iron flows out, it quickly cools and solidifies in a pre-prepared sand mold.
In the end, they got... several irregularly shaped, rough-surfaced lumps of iron with many pores and impurities?
[System Notification: Successfully smelted the first batch of [Crude Pig Iron Blocks]. Quality: Poor. High impurity content, unstable carbon content, brittle and hard texture. Can be used to make basic tools (further forging is required to remove impurities), or as raw material for subsequent steelmaking.]
[Congratulations, host, on completing the milestone event of "First Successful Smelting"! You have gained 500 experience points and 100 system points. The achievement "How Steel is Made (Beginner)" has been unlocked! Your metallurgical skill proficiency has been greatly improved!]
Although the system's evaluation was not high, these heavy, hard lumps of iron were more dazzling than any gemstone in Lin Yue's eyes!
This is the first batch of iron they forged themselves at "Lin's Restaurant"! It's the first cornerstone of their journey into the Iron Age!
With iron, we can forge sharper knives, stronger axes, and more efficient hoes! That means higher productivity! Greater self-defense capabilities! And more delicious… stewed goose in an iron pot!
The joy of success was contagious! Even the air seemed to be filled with the aroma of molten iron and roasted meat... the fragrance of the Industrial Revolution?
Lin Yue looked at the few pieces of iron that were still radiating warmth, his heart filled with boundless anticipation.
"Comrades! We've succeeded!" he announced excitedly. "Although this is just crude pig iron, and we're still far from our goal, it's a great start. Next, we'll learn forging to turn these lumps of iron into truly useful tools."
His gaze once again fell upon the dwarf leader, Stonefist, who stood with his hands on his hips, looking smug and enjoying the admiring gazes of the crowd.
The forging technology still depends on you, sir!
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