Chapter 136: Melting Elf Metal, Horse Armor Upgrade Kit with Elf Metal Armor Plates

As for making an upgrade kit for horse armor, it was clearly most appropriate to go to the Burning Furnace Merchant Guild.

After all, the horse armor previously used by Tianxuecao was made right inside the Burning Furnace Merchant Guild.

After settling matters at the inn, Jier originally intended to carry the items over alone, but when Weier saw Jier was going out, he offered to accompany him.

"After all, you are the leader of a rather capable team of warriors like ours; if you go out without anyone following, it would look too lacking in presence." Weier's words were truly persuasive, so Jier agreed to his idea of tagging along.

When Jier handed the bundle of metal rods in his hands to Weier, Weier had originally prepared himself to be drenched in sweat from the exertion, but the moment the items were in his hands, he was stunned.

Why is this thing so light?

He couldn't believe it as he weighed the bundle of metal rods he had to hold; they were indeed very light compared to their volume. He tapped the surface of these rods, which appeared to be metal, and they emitted a crisp metallic ring; at the same time, the hardness was that of a metallic material.

"My lord, this is a Magic Material, right? Where did you get these? And so many of them?" Weier was somewhat incredulous; generally speaking, the price of various Magic Materials was about the same as an equal weight of gold, and the appearance of this material in his hands precisely overturned his long-held thoughts and experiences.

Of course, Weier was from a great family after all; he had seen and experienced much, knowing there were countless magical materials in the world, so naturally, there should be such light and sturdy metal materials.

But he just found it hard to believe that Knight Jier could take out so much of this material at once.

Where did it come from?

Jier just smiled and did not answer any of Weier's questions regarding this Elf Metal, and Weier also understood and stopped asking related questions, instead honestly helping Jier carry these magical metals.

However, in his mind, he was calculating that if this metal were used to make him a full set of metal armor, then this magical material, which looked quite sturdy yet was lighter than most wood, would certainly be able to greatly enhance his own combat effectiveness.

One must know that the sword technique he studied focused primarily on skill and speed, completely different from the sword technique of Knight Jier, which was full of wildness and maximized for practicality and aggression. While ensuring sufficient protection on his body, the lighter the weight of his armor, the more he could bring his sword technique into play.

Simply pursuing the display of sword technique wouldn't work either; after all, through recent battles, he had also seen that to achieve something on a fierce battlefield, the first priority was to protect oneself.

In battles with a smaller scale, he could still utilize companions in the same team holding shields to fight in coordination, but once on a fierce battlefield—such as the final decisive battle against the parasitic Monster at Momona Village—in a crowded battlefield, his sword technique could hardly be utilized at all.

On the contrary, an axe or a shield was far stronger than his still-exquisite sword technique, capable of killing enemies or protecting himself on a fierce battlefield.

Therefore, this material that could provide him with sufficient protection while not affecting the performance of his sword technique due to its extreme lightness was exactly what he needed most.

However, Weier was not stupid; he knew that Knight Jier could not possibly hand over such rare materials of unknown origin and quantity to him, or sell them to him, unless he showed his value.

But when Weier followed Jier to the Burning Furnace Merchant Guild once again and found Mr. Scott, he only then learned that these materials were actually brought by Knight Jier to upgrade the horse armor for his warhorse?

"Such excellent material, I... I have never seen it before." Mr. Scott was a knowledgeable professional; the entire Burning Furnace Merchant Guild had been engaged in the smelting, storage, and trade circulation of metal materials for many years, so naturally, he had handled countless metal materials and various types of metals.

But for this peculiar material of Jier's, which had a hardness slightly stronger than steel, less toughness, and a weight only one-twelfth that of ordinary steel, let alone having seen it, before seeing the actual object today, he didn't even think such a similar magical material could exist among related Magic Materials.

"I can only say it is magical; this material is truly too magical. If you are willing to sell it, Knight Jier, I can personally make the decision to purchase these magical materials in your hands at ten times the price of related Magic Materials." Mr. Scott rubbed his hands, looking at Jier with an expectant face.

But Jier smiled and shook his head: "No matter how much money there is, what is the use if your life is gone? Wouldn't you agree?"

At these words, everyone present could only nod in agreement.

Jier then explained: "I will be participating in this war that is spreading across the Southern Province later. The protective ability of my own warhorse is directly related to my battlefield survivability. Only if the warhorse is alive to carry me back and forth on the battlefield can I perform meritorious deeds or escape alive. If I am shot down by a rain of arrows, no amount of money can help me."

"That is not quite right; if you have enough money, you could even have the Church of the God of Wealth custom-make a set of Divine Armor for you. Although I hear that few people can afford that price." Mr. Scott added.

"Well, at least no amount of money can help me on the spot, right?" Jier shrugged, reiterating his needs.

The Burning Furnace Merchant Guild naturally possessed a full set of metal smelting equipment, as well as related Forging Tool Sets, and a significant number of various Craftsmen. The Merchant Guild not only operated the trade of metal raw materials but also involved itself in metal tools and various finished metal products.

After all, producing only raw materials yields far less profit than selling them after processing. The Merchant Guild would not process these metals too finely; they would either sell and resell the metal raw materials or sell some semi-finished metal products.

Roughly produced cast metal, or high-quality Metal Ingots forged many times—the former were things like farm pickaxes or carriage axles, while the latter were sold to blacksmith shops everywhere, where those village blacksmiths could simply forge and shape them into a freshly made weapon.

After all, many village blacksmith shops did not have sufficiently qualified Furnaces and could not smelt metal ore into primary iron.

Because Mr. Scott was very curious about the magical material in Jier's hands, he specifically pushed all his work for the day to tomorrow, specifically accompanying Jier to forge the reinforcement parts for the horse armor.

Following Jier's guidance, all these Elf Metals, including the Elven Metal Shield, were repeatedly smashed and crushed by the Furnace Craftsmen using specialized heavy Great Hammers, and then the fragments were thrown into the red-hot Furnace. In less than half an hour, under the wind provided by the bellows powered by livestock nearby, the Elf Metal inside the bottom-heated Furnace gradually melted, turning into a pool of white-hot molten metal.

It is particularly worth noting that because the Elf Metal in Jier's hands was not very abundant, in order not to ruin the guild's Furnace, before adding the Elf Metal, the relevant Furnace Craftsmen of the guild first added some easily melted metal with a low melting point into the heated Furnace. Since the melting points and densities of the two metals were obviously different, when they both melted in the Furnace, they would not easily fuse together but would separate into two different layers of molten metal based on density. When needed, one only needed to tilt the Furnace and pour out the lighter Elf Metal liquid on the top.

During this spare time while heating, Jier was not idle either; he specifically had Mr. Scott find a batch of heat-resistant wood and personally used tools to dig shallow grooves 30 centimeters long and 20 centimeters wide, with two "holed ears" at the top, into the blocky wood.

The bottom of the grooves was polished by a Carpenter to ensure that after the molten metal cooled, the surface would not be too rough or have too many dents and unevenness.

After all the Elf Metal in the large Furnace had melted, the Furnace Craftsmen brought over small heat-resistant crucibles next to the large Furnace, carefully adjusting the angle of the large Furnace through mechanical means, letting the molten metal solution pour out along the pouring spout at the top of the Furnace.

After the crucible was filled with the solution, the pouring angle of the large Furnace was immediately turned back, then a new crucible was sent to the bottom, and then the angle of the Furnace was tilted again, continuing the same process.

And the crucibles that could be lifted and moved by human power could then be carefully used to pour the molten metal solution into the grooves of the heat-resistant wood on the side.

This step was also very careful, but Jier took it on himself, holding the very light crucible and slowly pouring the molten metal solution inside into the prepared grooves.

This step needed to be very slow because the hot molten metal solution was very light in weight; if the angle was too large during pouring, or if the crucible was too far from the wooden groove, the poured molten metal solution would splash everywhere.

That would be troublesome; the high-temperature molten metal solution would ignite anything it touched. Although there was plenty of water for extinguishing fires prepared in the furnace workshop at the back of the Merchant Guild, molten metal falling on a person would also cause very serious injuries.

Although the Burning Furnace Merchant Guild had prepared a special fund for every relevant staff member to have a Church Priest of the God of Wealth treat them at any time, it was best not to use that money if possible.

Wounds can be healed, but the pain is one's own.

An overly painful scalding experience often makes the Craftsmen and apprentices in the furnace workshop develop a strong sense of fear toward hot metal; at that point, a person is no longer suitable for working in the furnace workshop.

The loss to the Merchant Guild is real; after all, the cost of training a qualified Craftsman to manage a Furnace is truly not low.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—

The molten metal solution was carefully poured by Jier into the heat-resistant wooden grooves. Even though the wood was specifically chosen for its heat resistance, it was actually far inferior to things made using the lost-wax casting method and clay. But Jier did not have much time, so naturally, he had no energy to go and make replacement molds.

So, if it looks ugly, let it be ugly; simple heat-resistant wood is not unusable.

After the wooden groove in front was nearly filled with the Elf Metal solution, Jier immediately moved with small steps, turning the crucible in his hand toward the second steadily placed heat-resistant wood.

Just like that, after using up the Elf Metal in one crucible, Jier would pick up another crucible filled with molten metal solution, and the Craftsman controlling the large Furnace would also cooperate with Jier's speed, providing him with one crucible after another filled with Elf Metal solution.

When the last of the dozens of identical heat-resistant wooden grooves were filled, what remained were wooden grooves of a much smaller size; these smaller grooves were for making the Elf Metal Armor Plates specifically added to the horse's neck.

Finally, when other molten metal solutions were poured out from the large Furnace, the Elf Metal was clearly used up.

Next, it was naturally a matter of waiting for the metal to cool. After all, unlike iron, Elf Metal did not require careful adjustment of the metal's temperature and material properties, or the removal of impurities and the like.

Because its weight was too light, it always floated on the top layer inside the Furnace and did not fuse with the other metals added underneath to form any other alloy.

This made Mr. Scott even more curious about Jier's magical metal. He didn't say anything, just gave a look, and the experienced Furnace Craftsman nodded. While processing the other parts of the molten metal solution, he specifically used a long, heat-resistant spoon to scrape some of the hot molten metal solution from the top of the Furnace.

These things were poured by him into another crucible, mixed beside the molds of other molten metal solutions, and were inconspicuous.

Mr. Scott was not coveting the magical metal in Jier's hands; he just happened to leave some behind to give to scholars hired by the Merchant Guild to examine later, to see what kind of new thing this metal of Jier's, which had never been seen before, actually was.

Elf Metal dissipates heat and cools very quickly. The Burning Furnace Merchant Guild also specifically waited until the metal had slightly cooled and set before placing the heat-resistant wood into a water trough, using cold well water to accelerate the cooling of the metal in the wooden grooves.

Once it no longer felt hot to the touch, Jier personally stepped in to remove the Elf Metal plates from the scorched, heat-resistant wood and inspected them carefully.

The side facing upward was smooth, but the side facing the grooves of the heat-resistant wood was pitted and uneven; although the heat-resistant wood performed well, the high temperature of the molten metal had still caused uneven warping.

This issue was simple to resolve; it only required keeping the smooth side facing outward and the pitted, indented side facing inward.

The truly critical part was the two ear-like hooks on the upper part of the Elf Metal Armor Plate, which had been specially designed with holes for Rope to pass through.

Jier inspected them thoroughly and found the situation acceptable; although they were not perfectly round, they were close enough to be usable, provided that the Rope could pass through and hold them in place.

Subsequently, the Burning Furnace Merchant Guild prepared thin, sturdy Rope, which was specially crafted from a type of special vine soaked in medicinal liquid, dried, twisted, and blended with steel wire and special spider silk.

Despite its thinness, it was exceptionally tough, resistant to slashing, and impervious to rain and sun; this type of rope material could even be used to weave defensive Armor, though it could not bear heavy loads and was resistant to slashing but not piercing.

In battle, however, the most lethal damage often came from piercing, while there were too many ways to counter slashing, and it was not easy to kill someone with it.

Since the Burning Furnace Merchant Guild still had the size records from the previous Horse Armor, they simply followed those records to add an extra layer of Metal Armor Plate over the original Horse Armor.

This required several Craftsmen to weave the sturdy Rope through the rings on each plate at the appropriate size, tension, and spacing, from bottom to top, to create a set of Metal Armor Plate Horse Armor that looked loose and baggy but would actually cover most of the horse's body once draped over its back.

The Merchant Guild specifically found a tall Draft Horse similar in build to Tianxuecao to serve as a model; the guild had a replica of the Horse Armor similar to the one Tianxuecao wore, and after fitting it onto the model, they draped the newly crafted Metal Armor Plate Horse Armor over it, and the difference was immediate.

Indeed, metal Armor possessed a different appearance and protective effect than leather Armor.

This Metal Armor Plate Horse Armor was made in four parts: the head and neck, the chest and front legs, the back and belly, and the rump and hind legs, all connected to each other by metal Lock components, making it very secure.

Even when this Draft Horse was fitted with the full set of Armor and tested with swords, the timid Draft Horse felt nothing at all.

Not to mention the much stronger and bolder Tianxuecao.

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