Chapter 72: Iron Age

Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

"Leader, what are these?"

The three objects that abruptly appeared by the furnace immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the camp.

Xia Hong's ability to create things from nothing wasn't exactly a secret in Great Xia Camp. Considering the mystical nature of the Smelting Furnace, everyone was naturally curious about these three objects, looking at Xia Hong with great anticipation.

Some people from Boulder Camp had also gathered around now, though they were mostly the younger, more curious ones. Shi Qing's children, Shi Ping and Shi Lu, were among them.

Xia Hong didn't hide anything and gave a general introduction to the three objects.

The Great Xia people were fine with it, having complete faith in Xia Hong. Hearing about the powerful functions of the three objects, they immediately became excited. However, Shi Ping, Shi Lu, and the others from Boulder Camp showed some skepticism on their faces when confronted with these unheard-of things.

"Leader, give it a try. Activate this Wooden Dummy, and I'll practice with it."

Xia Hong naturally wouldn't waste time explaining. When he heard Yuan Cheng asking him to demonstrate, he waved his hand repeatedly.

[Resources: Wood 1140, Coal 144, Iron 312, Silver 0, Gold 0]

Currently, there were no sources for coal and iron mines yet. The three buildings had just cost so much, and the remaining resources weren't plentiful. Not a single bit could be wasted before new production came in.

Xia Hong's brow twitched slightly as he looked at the small amount of coal left on the ground. He picked up a small piece and threw it into the Smelting Furnace.

Whoosh...

The moment the coal entered, the flames surged upward instantly, a wave of heat spreading out from the furnace in all directions. The temperature inside the cave immediately rose significantly.

"So warm! The heat from coal is actually this intense!"

"I'm not cold at all now, and the cave entrance is wide open!"

"Did Rogge Camp give us a lot of coal? Can we all use it from now on?"

"Probably not right now. Once we all break through to the Digging Realm and can mine coal ourselves, then we can use coal for heating."

...

The camp members felt the temperature rise and immediately started discussing animatedly.

Xia Hong felt the heat radiating from the coal and immediately understood why Rogge Camp didn't really use wood for heating.

The amount of heat generated by burning the two wasn't even in the same league. Moreover, the smoke produced by burning coal was practically nothing compared to wood.

Not to mention its usefulness in forging weapons.

The moment the coal was thrown into the Smelting Furnace, the system displayed the daily consumption rate: 20 units of coal per day.

20 units converted meant 400 jin.

Xia Hong couldn't help but click his tongue mentally - this consumption rate was absolutely terrifying.

But thinking about Rogge Camp's average fifty-meter square wooden houses, each requiring 150 units per day, while this Smelting Furnace could cover a hundred-meter radius and only burned 400 jin per day, it didn't seem unreasonable.

Basically, they were just poor.

They only had 144 units of coal total right now. Even if they used it all for heating, it would only last seven days. They couldn't afford to burn it, absolutely couldn't afford it.

Xia Hong took a deep breath, picked up two more pieces of coal and threw them into the Smelting Furnace, then selected a fist-sized iron ore from the ground.

For the same weight, iron ore was twice as small in volume compared to coal. A piece of coal weighing forty to fifty jin was only fist-sized. The iron ore in Xia Hong's hand was also fist-sized but weighed over a hundred jin.

"According to Luo Ming, the iron ore in this world doesn't need refining - it just needs to be melted with coal fire, then poured into molds to shape into iron blanks. Then you keep hammering until forging patterns appear, and that counts as a weapon.

The more forging patterns, the more powerful the weapon. Generally speaking, once you reach the ten-fold forging level, breaking through the defense of low-level Frost Beasts shouldn't be a problem!"

Remembering what he learned about weapon forging from Luo Ming before leaving Rogge Camp, a thoughtful expression appeared in Xia Hong's eyes.

Compared to his previous life, this forging process was certainly unreasonable, but the iron ore in this world was clearly different from that on Blue Star.

You could tell just from the weight.

Remembering Wang Ming's large sword that weighed about six hundred jin, Xia Hong stopped overthinking. He selected fifteen pieces of iron ore, roughly over six hundred jin, and placed them directly on top of the Smelting Furnace, then added a few more pieces of coal underneath.

"Leader, are you planning to forge weapons now?"

"Definitely. Didn't the leader just say that black stone can be shaped into any mold? Once the iron ore melts and gets poured into the mold, the weapon should come out, right?"

"Our Great Xia can forge weapons ourselves now."

"There probably isn't enough iron. We probably can't make many pieces now. Once we have an iron mine in the future, we'll all have weapons."

...

Xia Chuan and others who had been watching from the side immediately guessed what Xia Hong was planning when they saw his actions. They all looked excited and started discussing animatedly.

If only it were as simple as they said.

Xia Hong shook his head inwardly but didn't say anything. He walked to the black Grinding Stone and placed his hand on it.

After just feeling it for a while, Xia Hong immediately understood.

This Grinding Stone would deform with a light press, but if you applied force, it became incredibly hard, somewhat similar to non-Newtonian fluid from his previous life, but clearly more advanced than that.

Xia Hong flattened the Grinding Stone, then lightly pressed to create a blade blank shape.

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

The heat released by the Smelting Furnace made the entire cave as warm as spring. Nobody felt sleepy at night anyway, so everyone gathered around, chatting while waiting with Xia Hong for the iron ore to melt.

After more than three hours, approaching midnight, the iron ore on the furnace finally completely melted, turning into a mass of milky white, intensely hot liquid.

Xia Hong placed the Grinding Stone to one side of the furnace, then carefully and slowly poured the liquid above into the blade blank groove he had pressed out earlier.

Sssss...

The liquid entered the groove, contacting the Grinding Stone and turning solid, immediately emitting a thick cloud of white smoke.

A long time later, when all the molten iron on the furnace was gone, Xia Hong finally let go and looked down at the Grinding Stone, a pleased expression appearing on his face.

"Go get some water."

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

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

The alternation of hot and cold produced an even more intense burst of white smoke.

Nobody showed any impatience on their faces. They all craned their necks, waiting for the thick smoke to dissipate to see if the blade blank had succeeded.

After about ten breaths, the thick smoke dissipated. On the Grinding Stone, a long black iron blank quietly appeared. The iron blank was one and a half meters long, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, with a clear curve at the end. Anyone could tell it was the shape of a blade.

"This is just the iron blank, not quite a blade yet, right?"

"It's already very close. It probably still needs shaping. Didn't the leader bring back a blade before? We've all seen it."

"It probably still needs forging. The leader definitely knows. Watch."

...

Xia Hong took the blade blank from the Grinding Stone, then placed the blade blank on top of the Smelting Furnace, and began gently kneading the Grinding Stone again.

Under his gentle kneading, the Grinding Stone quickly took the shape of a hammer. Only when he left a half-meter handle at the end did Xia Hong stop.

Using wood to secure the blade blank on both sides of the Smelting Furnace, Xia Hong raised the grinding hammer, took a deep breath, and struck the first powerful blow against the blade blank.

Clang...

A clear, crisp striking sound echoed in everyone's ears.

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

Then followed a series of rhythmic hammering sounds. To everyone listening, it sounded like celestial music, their faces full of anticipation. As their pupils reflected the sparks flying from Xia Hong's strikes, something inexplicable seemed to be gently stirred in their hearts.

Xia Hong was like a tireless machine, growing more energetic with each strike.

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

But his current mood could be described as extremely excited.

Because the blade he was forging now, in a way, declared that starting today, Great Xia Camp had officially entered:

The Iron Age.