Chapter 74: Iron Age

"Leader, what is this?"

The three things that appeared abruptly by the fire stove immediately attracted everyone in the camp.

Xia Hong being able to create things out of thin air was no secret in the Great Xia camp. Connecting it to the miraculousness of the iron smelting furnace, everyone was extremely curious about these three things, looking at Xia Hong one after another with quite expectant expressions.

Some people from the Great Stone camp also came over, but they were all young and curious, including Shi Qing's son and daughter, Shi Ping and Shi Lu.

Xia Hong didn't hide it either, giving a general introduction to the three things.

The Great Xia people were fine, having deep trust in Xia Hong. Hearing the powerful functions of the three things, they were all excited; but Shi Ping and Shi Lu, as well as those from Great Stone, faced such unheard-of things, and looks of doubt immediately arose on their faces.

"Leader, try it out. Activate this Wooden Dummy, I'll practice with it."

Xia Hong naturally wouldn't waste time explaining. Hearing Yuan Cheng ask him to demonstrate, he waved his hands repeatedly.

【Resources: Wood 1140, Coal 144, Iron 312, Silver 0, Gold 0】

Currently, coal mines and iron mines were still nowhere to be found. The three buildings just now had spent so much, and the remaining resources were not much. Before there was new output, not a single bit could be wasted.

Xia Hong's brows moved slightly. Looking at the remaining coal stones on the ground, he picked up a small one and threw it into the iron smelting furnace.

Boom...

The moment the coal stone went in, the flames surged upward instantly, and a wave of heat spread from the furnace to the surroundings. The temperature inside the cave rose significantly.

"So warm, the heat emitted by coal stones is actually this high!"

"I'm not cold at all, and the entrance is still open."

"Is there a lot of coal sent by the Luo Ge camp? Can we use it in the future?"

"It shouldn't be possible now. Once we all break through to the Earth-Digging Realm and can mine coal ourselves, we can use coal for heating."

Everyone in the camp felt the temperature rise and discussed it one after another.

Xia Hong felt the heat emitted by the coal stones and immediately understood why the Luo Ge camp didn't use much wood for heating.

The heat emitted by the two burning was not on the same level at all, and the smoke produced by burning coal was like nothing compared to wood.

Not to mention, blacksmithing and casting weapons all used it.

The moment the coal stone was thrown into the iron smelting furnace, the system also displayed the daily average consumption. Burning for one day required 20 units of coal.

20 units, converted, was 400 jin.

Xia Hong couldn't help but click his tongue in his heart. This consumption was a bit too terrifying.

But thinking of the fifty-meter square wooden house in the Luo Ge camp, each needing 150 jin to burn for a day, this iron smelting furnace could cover a hundred-meter radius, and burning 400 jin a day didn't seem excessive.

To put it bluntly, it was still poor.

Now there were a total of 144 units of coal. If all were used for heating, it would only last seven days. Can't afford to burn, completely can't afford to burn.

Xia Hong took a deep breath, threw two more coal stones into the iron smelting furnace, and then picked out an iron ore the size of a fist from the ground.

Under the same weight, the volume of iron ore was half that of coal stones. A coal stone of forty or fifty jin was only the size of a fist, and this iron ore in Xia Hong's hand was also the size of a fist, but it weighed over a hundred jin.

"According to what Luo Ming said, the iron ore of this world doesn't need refining. It only needs to be melted with coal fire, then poured into a mold to shape into an iron embryo, and then continuously hammered until forging patterns appear. That is a weapon."

"The more forging patterns, the more powerful the weapon. Generally speaking, as long as it reaches the ten-forged level, breaking through the defense of low-level cold beasts is no problem!"

Thinking of the information about casting weapons he got from Luo Ming before leaving the Luo Ge camp, Xia Hong's eyes revealed a look of thought.

Compared to his previous life, such a forging process was naturally unreasonable, but the iron ore of this world was clearly not the same thing as the one on Blue Star.

Just from the weight, one could tell.

Thinking of Wang Ming's great blade, which was about six hundred jin, Xia Hong didn't think much more, picked out fifteen iron ores, about six hundred-plus jin, and placed them directly above the iron smelting furnace, then added a few coal stones underneath.

"Leader, are you planning to forge weapons?"

"Definitely. Didn't the leader just say that the black stone can be molded into any mold? Once the iron ore is melted, pour it into the mold, and the weapon should come out, right?"

"Our Great Xia can also forge weapons ourselves."

"The iron should not be enough. It's estimated that we can't forge a few pieces now. Once we have iron mines in the future, we will all have weapons."

Xia Chuan and the others, who had been watching, saw Xia Hong's actions and immediately guessed what he was going to do. They were all excited and discussed it one after another.

If only it were as simple as they said.

Xia Hong shook his head in his heart, didn't speak, walked to the side of the black Grinding Stone, and placed his hand on it.

After groping on it for a while, Xia Hong immediately understood.

This Grinding Stone, if pressed lightly, would deform, but if forced, it would be unimaginably hard. It was somewhat similar to the non-Newtonian fluid of his previous life, but clearly much more advanced than that.

Xia Hong flattened the Grinding Stone and then gently pressed out the shape of a blade embryo.

Next, it was just waiting for the iron ore to melt.

The heat released by the iron smelting furnace made the entire cave warm as spring. There was no sleepiness at night, and everyone gathered around, chatting while waiting with Xia Hong for the iron ore to melt.

After three-plus hours, approaching the second half of the night, the iron ore on the furnace finally melted completely, turning into a milky white, scorching liquid.

Xia Hong placed the Grinding Stone on the side of the furnace, then stepped forward, carefully pouring the liquid on top onto the blade embryo groove just pressed.

Sss...

The liquid entered the groove, turned into a solid state upon contact with the Grinding Stone, and immediately sprayed out a thick white smoke.

After a long time, all the molten iron on the furnace was gone, and only then did Xia Hong release his hand, lowering his head to look at the Grinding Stone, a look of joy immediately appearing on his face.

"Go get some water."

Xia Chuan immediately ran to the side of the wall and scooped up a ladle of water.

Xia Hong took the ladle and poured it onto the Grinding Stone.

Cold and heat alternated, and another burst of more intense white smoke surged out.

There was no look of impatience on everyone's faces. They all stretched their necks, waiting for the thick smoke to dissipate to see if the blade embryo had become.

After ten-plus breaths, the thick smoke dissipated. On the Grinding Stone, a long black iron embryo appeared quietly. The iron embryo was one and a half meters long, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, and the tail even had a very obvious arc. One look and one knew it was the shape of a blade.

"This is an iron embryo, not a blade yet, right?"

"It's already very close. It should still need shaping. The leader brought back a blade before, and we have all seen it."

"It should still need forging. The leader definitely knows, look."

Xia Hong took the blade embryo out of the Grinding Stone, then placed the blade embryo on the iron smelting furnace, and then gently kneaded the Grinding Stone.

Under his gentle kneading, the Grinding Stone soon turned into the shape of a hammer. After finally leaving a half-meter grip, Xia Hong stopped.

Fixing the blade embryo on both sides of the iron smelting furnace with wood, Xia Hong raised the grinding hammer, took a deep breath, and slammed the first strike at the blade embryo.

Clang...

A crisp striking sound echoed in everyone's ears.

Clang... clang... clang... clang... clang...

Following that was a series of rhythmic hammering sounds. Everyone heard it in their ears as if hearing immortal music, their faces full of expectation, their pupils reflecting the sparks emitted when Xia Hong struck. Something inexplicable in everyone's hearts seemed to be gently plucked.

Xia Hong was like a machine that didn't know fatigue, hitting harder and harder.

What the rest of the camp was thinking, he didn't know,

but his mood at this moment could be said to have reached the extreme of excitement.

Because the blade embryo he was forging now, to some extent, could be said to declare that the Great Xia camp, from today on, officially entered:

The Iron Age.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 75 =====