Chapter 617: Metal Differences, Memories of the Dragon Disaster

However, what surprised Xia Duo was that when Buloutuo picked up a grey-black hammer, his entire state immediately changed; although his eyes were still somewhat intoxicated, his body stood steadily before him.

"Tell me, what kind of weapon do you need to forge!"

Xia Duo hesitated for a moment, took out several design blueprints, and simultaneously kept taking Adamantine out from his Personal Space; the Tower of Time's Adamantine reserves were very limited, far from being able to be stored in unlimited quantities like Mithril.

He had requested all the Adamantine from the Material Department of the Tower of Time, totaling less than 200 pounds; this Adamantine was mainly used to reward soldiers and officers of the Savile Territory for crafting fine weapons and equipment, and this small stock in the Tower of Time had not increased for decades.

If it weren't for the sake of manufacturing dragon-slaying weapons, perhaps this Adamantine wouldn't be used up for another few decades.

However, although Adamantine is an expensive metal, Netheril already has the ability to refine it independently, so one can just buy more after using it up; this is mainly attributed to the fact that the application of Adamantine is not just about purity, as sometimes the alloy formula is the most important thing.

Unlike Mithril, which is mainly utilized for its high compatibility with energy in a high-purity state, it can, to a certain extent, become a substitute for Magic Net Strings, similar to superconducting materials on Earth.

Once the purity of the Mithril Component in a Magic Item decreases, it either becomes a one-time-use item, or the connection with the Magic Net becomes unstable, affecting the actual use of the Magic Item.

And due to the existence of the Elemental Transmutation phenomenon, the decrease in the purity of Mithril Components in Magic Items is almost an inevitable process during use, it is just a matter of time.

Therefore, Spellcasters always have an infinite craving for (high-grade) Mithril; Mithril is often associated with Magic and can be seen as a manifestation of a country's magical strength.

Yet Adamantine is merely hard; besides the current situation Xia Duo is in, when else would one need to use it in large quantities!

……

Seeing Xia Duo take out a pile of small Adamantine blocks, the hammer in Buloutuo's hand fell to his feet with a "thud"; he rubbed his eyes and asked in disbelief, "How many weapons are you going to forge?"

Forging with pure Adamantine is certainly the simplest method for crafting Adamantine weapons, but the experienced Buloutuo knew well that in actual use, such heavy weapons were very unfriendly to humans, and the weapons themselves were not very clever.

The truly reasonable approach is to forge alloys, as this is the only way to maximize the advantages of Adamantine and other metals; seeing so much Adamantine appear before him, Buloutuo suddenly sobered up from his drunkenness and asked Xia Duo again, "Just how many weapons are you going to forge?"

"Look at the blueprints!" Xia Duo extended the blueprints toward Buloutuo, "Just two pieces, one melee weapon and one special weapon; as for the spearheads, do those count as weapons?"

Buloutuo took the blueprints with skepticism, flipped through them roughly, and only then looked up at Xia Duo, his eyes full of confusion, "Just these?"

"Just these, what's wrong?"

"If it's just these few weapons, you don't need this much Adamantine at all."

Although he really wanted to skim off some Adamantine to pay for his liquor, Xia Duo was not an ordinary sucker of a customer; Buloutuo regarded Xia Duo as a friend and naturally would not think of taking advantage of a friend. Facing the temptation of so much Adamantine, he strictly upheld the fine traditions of the Dwarves.

Of course, Buloutuo would not admit that the bottle of strong liquor Xia Duo brought was an even greater temptation to him; wanting to drink more strong liquor, he naturally could not play any tricks at this time.

……

Having settled the quantity of weapons, the next step was the formal production process; Buloutuo first asked Xia Duo who would be using the weapons, how much strength they had, whether they had any special habits, and other questions.

Upon hearing that these weapons were prepared by Xia Duo for himself, Buloutuo couldn't help but widen his eyes; even his beard, braided into neat little pigtails, seemed to feel his inner astonishment, trembling with his breathing.

"Aren't you a Mage? What do you need these weapons for? Oh right, the last one seems to be a Magic Item, but you also want to use this great blade and javelin?"

Hearing this series of questions, Xia Duo immediately realized that Buloutuo might not know that a Dragon Disaster could occur at any time; otherwise, how could he not have associated it with dragon-slaying?

It just so happened that Xia Duo also wanted to ask if Buloutuo knew anything about the "Dragon Madness Mythallar"; if he couldn't ask an Elf, perhaps he could gain something from a Dwarf, so he said:

"Uncle Buloutuo, how long has it been since you went out?"

"Went out? What's wrong? Do I still need to go out?" Buloutuo said in confusion.

Only then did Xia Duo remember that this guy almost never went out; even his uninterrupted supply of liquor was delivered regularly by someone specifically for that purpose. This question was a waste of effort.

So Xia Duo told him about the Scarlet Flash Star in the northwestern sky. Buloutuo was indeed aware of this; upon hearing that a Scarlet Flash Star had suddenly appeared in the sky, he ignored the fact that Xia Duo was still in the room and hurriedly moved his short legs, rushing outside.

Xia Duo followed closely behind and arrived at the street outside the blacksmith shop, just in time to see Buloutuo looking around, muttering incessantly, "Where is it? Where is it?"

Xia Duo saw this and was immediately amused; due to his height, he could see the Scarlet Flash Star in the northwestern sky, but Buloutuo's line of sight was blocked by the building opposite, which made him hop around.

"Uncle Buloutuo, if you move a bit to the east, you'll be able to see it." Xia Duo reminded him.

On this street, almost everyone knew the Dwarf Buloutuo, but because Buloutuo had lived here for too long, everyone kept their distance from this Dwarf who would occasionally blurt out, "How your grandfather was this or that."

Therefore, even if someone noticed that Buloutuo was looking around for something, no one was willing to come forward to remind him; of course, Xia Duo's presence was another reason.

And when Buloutuo finally saw the Scarlet Flash Star with his own eyes, his expression suddenly became incomparably grave; he turned and returned to the blacksmith shop, picked up his hammer from the ground, his face changing constantly.

Seeing this, Xia Duo hurriedly asked, "Uncle Buloutuo, is that flashing star in the sky really related to dragons?"

"Yes, whenever that flashing star appears in the sky, a Dragon Disaster will occur on the ground—a disaster caused by dragons. When I was young, I once experienced a Dragon Disaster."

Mentioning the Dragon Disaster, Buloutuo couldn't help but shiver; that was a scene he never wanted to encounter again in his life.

"What exactly is the situation with the Dragon Disaster? Is it really caused by the Elven Mythallar?" Xia Duo asked again.

"The Dragon Disaster, ah!" Buloutuo let out a long sigh and slowly recounted his experience—

"I was still young at that time, and I only knew that one day a group of white giant beasts suddenly flew in from the north and attacked our city on the Surface. They attacked everything living they could see as if they had gone mad; even when hit by heavy crossbows or Magic, they didn't care at all, only wanting to destroy. At that time, it was to protect me that my parents were hit by a breath of cold air right in front of me, turning into two lifeless ice sculptures. And those white giant beasts, I only learned later, were White Dragons from the northern Bingyuan."

"Sorry for making you recall these unpleasant past events."

"No need to be sorry; the White Dragon that killed my parents back then was also killed soon after. Dwarves do not shy away from talking about these things."