Chapter 95: Iron

Ethan handled the temperature, Pearl perched on his shoulder and directed each step, he activated Fire of the Spirits, and the flames inside the furnace blazed fiercer and fiercer, the iron ore glowed, softened, and began to drip, fiery red molten iron pooling at the bottom of the furnace.

"Oh... is that molten iron?"

"That’s right, meow, once it cools, it becomes pig iron. Then you add more ore, heat it again, and repeatedly forge and hammer it. That’s how you obtain humanity’s most powerful weapon — hundred-refined steel, meow."

Pearl’s explanation was almost identical to the documentary Ethan had watched before, he thought of things back on Earth and couldn’t help but chuckle, Pearl tilted its head, puzzled.

Just like that, the smelting proceeded in orderly fashion, although it was Ethan’s first time personally smelting iron, Pearl’s guidance kept him on track. He successfully obtained pig iron without a single mishap.

"Next comes the forging." To forge the legendary hundred-refined steel, the metal needed to be repeatedly hammered and folded — hundreds of times.

Zharok had been watching from the sidelines, now he stood, cracked his knuckles, and grinned. "Finally my turn."

"Let’s do our best."

Ethan took up the blacksmithing tools he had brought from the northern ruins, along with the Hammer of Gaia, and went to work. Heat the pig iron white-hot, strike, fold, strike again, fold again.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

"What are you guys doing?"

Vargan had returned with his hunting haul, seeing the group huddled around the furnace, he wandered over.

Then he froze.

The blast of heat hit him first. Then his eyes landed on the glowing metal under Ethan’s hammer, and his jaw dropped.

"You’re smelting iron?!"

"Yeah."

"Ohhh...!!" Excitement gleamed in Vargan’s eyes.

This wasn’t surprising. Only humans and dwarves knew how to smelt iron, and humanity had disappeared long ago. Beastmen could only use iron tools left behind from centuries past, and most of those were rusted and worn, Vargan’s generation had almost never seen an intact iron implement. Now, Ethan was forging one right in front of him.

"Once the iron is ready, can you forge some weapons for us too?"

"I’ll definitely forge yours. But as for the others, I can’t make any guarantees."

Ethan had given his word, and he intended to keep it, he studied the iron block in his hand, glanced at Pearl, Pearl nodded, and he began shaping.

"Something’s taking form... what is that?"

"A hoe."

"A farming tool..."

"I am a farmer, after all." Ethan swung the hammer down.

He hammered out the rough shape, then moved to grinding the edge. The work carried him from daylight into darkness, right up until the moon hung overhead, before he finally set the tool down, sweat had dried in layers on his face, he looked at the finished hoe with quiet satisfaction.

"Finally done."

[Epic — Pure Iron Hoe]

[A hoe forged from pure iron, used for tilling land. Forged by the Hammer of Gaia, imbued with the power of the earth.]

[Grants bonus effects when tilling land.]

[Hammer of Gaia Effect: Imbued with Earth’s Might.]

[Crafting Difficulty: ★★★★]

[You have acquired the Forging skill.]

’Forging skill?’ If this skill worked the way others did, it might make future jobs far less grueling, forging a single hoe had taken every ounce of his effort, doing that every time would be unsustainable.

He thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. First things first — he wanted to see what Earth’s Might actually did.

He mounted the pure iron blade onto a straight Ironwood shaft and carried the finished hoe to an empty clearing.

"What are you going to do?"

"Testing the bonus effect."

He swung the hoe and activated Earth’s Might.

Where the blade struck, the ground heaved, fissures spiderwebbed out from the impact point, a massive swath of earth rolled over as if an earthquake had ripped through it, turning the hard-packed soil into loose, fertile ground.

Ethan stared at the freshly tilled land and gulped. "Farming just got a lot easier."

The effect was staggering, he set the hoe aside with a satisfied nod.

"Now, the spear." ℯℯ𝑙.

"You’re forging a spear for me?!" Vargan’s tail was a blur.

"I promised you." The remaining iron was just enough, he would call it repayment for the Wyrm skin.

’Might as well test the Forging skill while I’m at it.’

He placed the iron block, the Hammer of Gaia, and a length of Ironwood together, then activated the skill.

[Epic — Pure Iron Spear]

[A spear forged from pure iron and Ironwood, excelling in thrusting attacks. Forged by the Hammer of Gaia, imbued with the skill: Void Slash.]

[Hammer of Gaia Effect: Allows the use of the Void Slash skill.]

[Crafting Difficulty: ★★★]

Because he had used the Forging skill, the crafting difficulty dropped to three stars, but the faint glow pulsing along the spearhead made it clear, this was no ordinary weapon.

"Here you go."

"Ohhh!" Vargan snatched the spear, held it up to the firelight, and turned it this way and that, he couldn’t put it down, he swung it once, twice — each thrust cutting the air with a sharp whistle, gusts of wind trailing in the spear’s wake. A grin split his face from ear to ear.

"This spear is amazing! Even better than the weapons humans forged in the past!"

"Good to hear, there’s a skill attached — Void Slash. Give it a try."

"Let me try... Hah!"

BOOM!!

Vargan spun the spear in a flourish, aimed it at the river, and activated Void Slash, an invisible blade of energy shot from the tip. The water exploded upward in a wall of spray, drenching everything within ten paces.

Everyone stared, stunned by the sheer power, one thrust — and the river had practically stood up.

Vargan, however, was already brandishing the weapon overhead and shouting. "Hahaha!! With this, I can hunt any monster! Thank you, Ethan!"

"I should be thanking you for the Wyrm skin." Ethan clasped Vargan’s arm.

"And if I run into danger down the road, I’m counting on you."

"No problem!" Vargan threw an arm around Ethan’s shoulder, beaming, and left — showing off the spear to anyone who would look.

Zharok watched him go, then turned back to Ethan, he didn’t say a word, but his eyes said everything.

’Forge a weapon for me too.’

"You fight with your claws."

"I want armor."

"We don’t have enough iron." Everything Ethan had brought back was used up, they could only wait for the Fox Beastmen to deliver the rest.

Ethan spread his hands, Zharok smacked his lips in disappointment, but you couldn’t forge steel from thin air, he had no choice but to wait.

"Are you planning to sell these to the elves, meow?"

"We’ll see. Haven’t decided yet." Ethan set the hoe aside and stared at the cooling furnace, deep in thought.

Forging with pure iron produced outstanding results, but the process consumed enormous amounts of time, using the Forging skill shortened the work, yet smelting the iron blocks still demanded serious effort, and items made with the skill seemed to come out a shade below what hand-forging could achieve.

’If I have to reforge everything from scratch every time, that’s a real problem.’ Winter was manageable, farm work slowed down, but in the busier seasons, he simply wouldn’t have hours to spare at an anvil, furthermore, weapons and tools forged using the skill seemed to be of slightly inferior quality compared to the hoe he had hand-forged.