Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest
Chapter 124 - 27: Innate Steel Refining Holy Body

Chapter 124: Chapter 27: Innate Steel Refining Holy Body

The second crystal ball revealed Magic Ore.

However, it was twice as large as the Magic Ore Roman had obtained last time.

Sige Town now had a metallurgical foundation.

Fine Gold, Mithril, Mountain Copper, and Magic Steel—all these extraordinary resources could now be smelted.

Roman spurred a brainstorm, his mind instantly flooded with too many plans.

He hoped to enhance Aaron’s Attack power;

He wanted to forge a Fine Gold Short Sword and Secret Silver Armor for Green;

He wished for all his troops to be equipped with Magic Steel Armor and Magic Steel Weapons;

He organized all these thoughts one by one.

"One step at a time, staying grounded is most important!" Roman told himself.

He summoned Ruto.

In others’ eyes, he was just a Blacksmith Apprentice of Sea Castle, not yet a master, and was fairly inexpensive.

But Roman believed he was ready to be independent.

Ruto was dark-skinned, stocky, less than five and a half feet tall, resembling half a steel tower.

"I now appoint you as the head of the Casting Department, responsible for all the casting processes."

Ruto was somewhat surprised; he had been working extremely hard recently and had excelled, but he hadn’t exactly outpaced Lax, and he was worried about attracting the old Blacksmith’s animosity.

The trouble in the smithy was evident.

Lord Roman pressed daily, his demands grew by the day, he crammed over many Blacksmith Apprentices, charging them to forge blades day and night.

Lax couldn’t manage so many people; he had to teach them the art of Forging, and the teaching process was a complete mess.

This was a great opportunity for him, his goal being to become Lax’s assistant, to help him manage the smithy, and to guide those novice Blacksmiths in Forging.

He didn’t expect to be promoted so soon, especially by Lord Roman himself.

Ruto understood the significance of the Casting Department from Roman’s explanation.

It wasn’t to replace Lax but rather to become Lax’s superior.

The smithy could only count as one unit, while the Casting Department had to manage three units.

They were respectively coal and iron mining, blast furnace smelting, and Iron Forging.

Ruto had a character good at hiding his abilities, but now faced with this significant responsibility, he must bear it, no matter what.

"Master, I will not let you down!"

Roman nodded slightly; he elegantly lifted his right hand.

Ruto devoutly kissed the back of that hand, stained with coal ash, dust, and iron particles.

A simple loyalty ceremony thus took effect.

Roman said, "You must do your best!"

He enunciated clearly, his tone quite stern.

Hearing this, Ruto sensed Roman’s profound implication and the other’s commanding eyes pierced into his heart like arrows, making him feel guilty and unable to meet his gaze.

Roman handed over the Magic Ore to Ruto.

"How much Magic Steel can it produce?"

Ruto no longer hid his capabilities, he pondered for a moment, "Over a hundred pounds, my Lord. As you know, Magic Ore needs to be placed in the Flame, then its volume and weight will greatly decrease. After the residue drains clean, it will condense into a dense and hard Magic Stone—A hundred pounds of steel would need at least one pound of Magic Stone, and if replaced with gold and silver, even more Magic Stone would be required."

This piece of Magic Ore weighed about five pounds, but it was of mediocre quality and not high in purity; it could only be regarded as medium quality. Once burnt into Magic Stone, it would equal slightly more than one pound.

The surface of the ore twinkled with a star-like glow, those lights were elusive and very beautiful.

That was how the Blacksmiths made their judgments.

The denser the star formations in Magic Ore, the better the quality of the ore.

In the realms of Divine Mysterious and Free City, Magic Ore was known as "Star Iron" or "Star Stone," signifying treasures from the stars.

In the North Ice Ocean, however, it was called "Earth Crystal" or "Vein Stone"—the essence of Earth, originating from the deep layers of rock.

According to legends from North Ice, during an ancient chaotic era, the earth cracked open, oceans boiled, and magma surged from the depths of the Earth’s core, and dragons burst forth from that fiery magma into the human world, bringing with them an endless supply of Vein Stone.

The names given to Magic Ore varied greatly from place to place, yet the methods of utilizing it were quite similar.

It was impossible for Ruto to take over the entire Casting Department now, as Roman had many things to hand over to him.

He was a traditional blacksmith who knew nothing about coke refining and blast furnaces, so one couldn’t expect him to have an immediate epiphany... though it wasn’t impossible.

The Blue Gemstone now had a use in weaponry.

In this land, the blue gemstone symbolized "wisdom," and it had the power to calm one’s mind, entering a meditative state.

In eerie and ethereal legends, it was a favorite of Mages and Witches, and even Clergy would go mad for it.

With Roman, it could enhance the abilities of an Angel Envoy.

Roman used a high-quality Blue Gemstone to enhance Ruto’s skills.

The skill interface for the Angel Envoy did not have a plus sign after their skills.

Their skills were usually things they were good at, and some skills had no value for enhancement.

Initially, Roman was a bit at a loss, but he quickly figured out the trick.

He harnessed the power of the Blue Gemstone to overlay his iron refining knowledge, in the form of thoughts, onto Ruto’s Angel Envoy avatar.

This method of enhancing skills also made Roman realize—

He and his numerous Angel Envoys indeed had some kind of secretive yet strong mystical connection.

He had thought that Ruto would also experience the same flood of knowledge in his brain as he did.

However, there was no feedback whatsoever from the latter.

This made Roman somewhat doubt whether this method of skill enhancement was effective.

But soon, Roman realized he had been worrying unnecessarily.

In the training of Ruto, the latter rapidly grasped the basic knowledge about blast furnaces and coke furnaces; some concepts, even before Roman articulated them, Ruto comprehended the underlying meanings on his own without instruction.

It wasn’t that Ruto’s talents were insignificant.

But the kind of understanding he now displayed seemed illogical as if his brain had been upgraded.

Ruto was also surprised by his own performance.

He was essentially a type who made up for clumsiness by diligence; with inherent physical talent, others worked eight hours a day while he worked twelve, a born overachiever, naturally outperforming others.

Ninety-nine percent perspiration plus one percent talent combined had allowed him to excel in the Blacksmith Shop, waiting for the right moment to complete his apprenticeship.

Yet, these skills were limited only to the Blacksmith Shop.

Blast furnaces and coke furnaces were unknown to him, yet he was still able to quickly master that knowledge and deduce the principles.

Could it be that I’m actually a genius?

Could it be that my talent lies not in blacksmithing but in iron refining?

Ruto couldn’t help but feel conflicted, thinking he had been held back all these years.

It was like those mind-boggling magic tricks that seem trivial once their secrets are revealed.

To "know" and "not know" are very close; only a ’not’ separates them, but if you can’t breach it, then you can’t.

The more Ruto studied the blast furnace, the lower he viewed its construction and use complexities.

As a pragmatic profession, Ruto well understood that understanding and being able to do are different things.

Not to mention, only outsiders would think blacksmithing just involves swinging a hammer and lacks technical content, yet he couldn’t do it.

Ruto thought, with the ease I have picked this up, I must be an iron refining prodigy. Then what level is Lord Roman, who personally built a blast furnace and overturned past iron refining techniques?

An Innate Steel Refining Holy Body?

Without Lord Roman, I would have remained a mere mortal in this era.