Chapter 26: A Life of Unparalleled Success Needs No Explanation! The Iron Age's "It's So Good!" Law! ...
That iron dagger has become the star of the restaurant!
Lin Yue made a simple scabbard out of animal hide, and carried it on his waist every day. He would take it out from time to time to wipe it clean, admiring its cold gleam in the sunlight. He felt like he was walking on air, and his back straightened up a bit.
Using it to cut meat, peel potatoes, or even trim nails is incredibly efficient—it's like upgrading from a slingshot to a cannon, from a bicycle to a motorcycle! Tasks that used to take forever to complete with a stone knife can now be done in just a few swift strokes.
"Science and technology are the primary productive forces! The great man was right!" Lin Yue exclaimed more than once, then looked at the discarded stone knives and flakes in the corner with pity, as if looking at an antique.
Gray coveted the iron dagger even more. Every time Lin Yue finished using it, he would borrow it, examine it over and over, carefully tracing the sharp blade with his fingers, his eyes practically overflowing with desire.
Even Xiao Fen, who is usually not interested in anything other than eating and sleeping, seems to know that this is a good thing. She no longer tries to gnaw on it, but occasionally she will curiously sniff it and then sneeze.
A small iron dagger has already brought about such a significant change; what if we had an iron axe, an iron hoe, or an iron spear?
Lin Yue simply couldn't believe it.
His only thought right now is: Do it! We have to do it! The more the better! The faster the better!
Under Lin Yue's enthusiastic urging and the continued allure of the future culinary blueprint, Uncle Shi Quan, though complaining "What's with the rush! Do you think I'm a donkey in the production team?!", honestly threw himself into the new round of forging work.
After all, for a true blacksmith, the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction from turning cold lumps of iron into useful tools is irreplaceable!
What's more, having a sweet-talking, flattering, helpful, and somewhat pedantic guy assisting you is quite an experience... doesn't seem so bad?
As a result, the open-air blacksmith shop of Lin's Restaurant has entered a state of "7*24 hours" non-stop operation!
The clanging and banging of blacksmiths became the new background music for the small restaurant.
Gray was responsible for burning charcoal, operating the bellows, and transporting ore and iron. He worked hard without complaint and had amazing physical strength.
Lin Yue served as Shi Quan's chief disciple and all-around assistant, responsible for heating the iron block, handing over tools, observing the heat, recording data, and occasionally acting as a "firefighter" when Shi Quan accidentally set the wood on the fire tongs on fire.
Uncle Stone Fist once again demonstrated his prowess, proving that "an old general can do the work of two!" He wielded his simple stone and wooden hammer with formidable force!
He has an incredibly rich experience, possessing a set of exquisite skills passed down through generations, including how to control temperature, how to determine the properties of iron, how to remove impurities through forging, and how to shape the material!
With Shi Quan personally wielding the hammer and Lin Yue providing scientific assistance, brand-new ironware appeared in Lin's Restaurant like bamboo shoots after a spring rain!
The first item successfully produced was an improved iron logging axe!
This axe was made by Uncle Stone Fist based on the blueprints for the "Effort-Saving Lever Stone Axe" provided by Lin Yue, combined with the traditional forging experience of the dwarves. It was made from the best quality magnetite pig iron, through repeated forging, folding, decarburizing, shaping, and quenching. It was still made with ordinary water. Stone Fist said that good steel requires a special quenching liquid, which is not available at the moment!
Although the axe blade is not perfect and the axe body is a bit rough, it is a divine weapon compared to the previous stone axe!
When Gray got the iron axe, he was so excited he could hardly speak! He rushed to a oak tree that he had been chopping at for ages with little progress, swung the iron axe, and chopped away fiercely!
Wood chips flew everywhere! Each axe blow left a deep mark on the tree trunk! The efficiency was more than ten times greater than when using a stone axe!
Watching the big tree rapidly shrink under Gray's care, Lin Yue and Shi Quan both showed gratified and proud smiles.
[System Notification: Successfully forged [Improved Iron Logging Axe] *1. Quality: Common+. Attributes: Chopping Efficiency +50%, Durability +80%. Logging skill experience gain speed increased!]
Following closely behind, the iron hoe tip and the iron shovel head were also launched!
Although they are just the heads of tools and require wooden handles to be installed before they can be used, their emergence will undoubtedly bring revolutionary changes to the agricultural production of Lin's Restaurant!
Lin Yue couldn't wait to use his hoe to cultivate more wasteland and plant more potatoes and wheat. He hadn't even planted the seeds he got as a reward from the previous elf-finding mission yet!
He even started thinking about whether he could develop a curved plow to achieve another leap in farmland efficiency!
Of course, in addition to production tools, defensive weapons are also of paramount importance!
At Lin Yue's insistence, Uncle Stone Fist specially crafted a reinforced iron spearhead for Gray! This spearhead is longer, sharper, and stronger than the previous bone spearhead! Mounted on a sturdy wooden shaft, it's practically a killing machine!
After receiving the new spear, Gray immediately practiced a few moves in the open space! The spear flashed and hissed through the air! The fierce killing intent made even Lin Yue, who was watching from the sidelines, feel a chill!
"That Gray guy... with a good weapon, his combat power will at least double!" Lin Yue clicked his tongue in amazement. "Who would dare to mess with us in the future? We'll just let Boss Gray pierce us with one spear!"
Even Lin Yue himself received an upgraded version of the [Refined Iron Dagger]. Compared to the first crudely made one, this one was noticeably smaller, sharper, and had a better grip. He treasured it and carried it with him every day.
The appearance of ironware was like a shot in the arm for this fledgling group!
Efficiency! Unprecedented efficiency!
The logging speed has increased! Trees that used to take a whole day to fell can now be cleared in half a day! The fencing project is progressing much faster!
The pace of land reclamation has accelerated! Land that used to leave you exhausted after a day of digging can now be easily turned over with a hoe! New experimental fields are expanding at a visible rate!
The success rate of the hunt has also increased! Gray went out with his new iron spear, still cautious, but clearly more confident!
He's brought back some pretty good prey lately, and once he even dragged back half of a antelope-like creature that he'd pierced through the throat with a spear! Everyone got to enjoy several delicious barbecues!
Even the convenience of daily life has been greatly improved! Cutting meat, peeling skin, and chopping bones with an iron knife is so clean and efficient! Lin Yue even started thinking about making a simple razor out of a piece of iron, so as to at least tidy up his increasingly savage appearance.
Everyone was immersed in the immense convenience and joy brought by iron tools, and they were full of energy!
Lin's Restaurant presents a thriving and bustling scene! It seems that overnight, it has switched from a difficult mode of struggling to survive and not having enough to eat to a mode of rolling up its sleeves, working hard, and striving for a better future!
Lin Yue watched all this with a sense of satisfaction.
"As expected! Technology is the key! The Iron Age was awesome!"
He's brimming with confidence now and has already started planning his next grand scheme:
Mass-produce ironware! Not only to meet internal needs, but also because we might be able to exchange it for valuable items later!
Expand planting! We must plant potatoes! We must plant wheat! Let's strive to achieve staple food freedom as soon as possible!
Improve the smelting furnaces and forging equipment! Strive to produce better steel! Forge even more powerful tools and weapons!
Continue to improve the defenses! Wooden fences aren't enough; we need stone walls! We also need watchtowers and traps!
Explore the surrounding area! Find new resource points! Encounter other intelligent races!
His mind was filled with all sorts of plans and ideas; he wished there were forty-eight hours in a day!
Of course, he also knew that one must eat one bite at a time and walk one step at a time.
The most urgent task is to improve the blacksmith's production efficiency and make more basic production tools.
"Uncle Stone Fist! Gray!" Lin Yue called out to his two core members, "We need to step up our efforts! Let's strive to achieve our small goal of having ironware in every household at our little shop this month... uh, within this cycle!"
Shi Quan snorted, which was taken as tacit agreement.
Gray nodded vigorously, his eyes filled with anticipation for the future. The gates of the Iron Age had been fully opened! And Lin's Restaurant would ride this wave, setting sail on its own journey!
Putting everything else aside, ironware is practically an otherworldly version of a cheat code!
With an axe, the progress of the fencing project is skyrocketing! With a hoe and shovel, the efficiency of clearing wasteland is increasing exponentially!
With the iron spear, Boss Gray's hunting haul became noticeably more abundant, and the dinner table was no longer filled with nothing but melancholy bluebirds!
Even Lin Yue himself, carrying that exquisite iron dagger, felt much more confident, and was no longer so afraid to get up at night to go to that five-star eco-friendly luxury dry toilet!
The significant improvement in living standards filled everyone in the small restaurant with joy and boundless energy. It was as if the legendary "curse" had been largely dispelled by the clanging of metal.
However, Lin Yue knew very well that the three and a half of them weren't enough. To realize his grand vision of "rebuilding the wasteland and rapidly achieving a moderately prosperous society," they needed more manpower! More labor!
But where do people come from?
On the edge of this cursed land, it's a desolate, uninhabited place. Aside from oddballs like them, and the occasional unlucky soul or clueless robber passing by, you wouldn't see a soul in sight.
We can't expect a bunch of hardworking, self-sufficient, and self-sufficient laborers to fall from the sky, can we?
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