The problem was that there were likely numerous flaws and Randidly couldn’t even see them He simply didn’t know enough about the metal Curious he brought the steel ingot he had created to the foreman a man named Davey
He eyed it as if it was the suspect in a murder well to be fair my first bit of steel wasn’t much better He grunted glaring at the metal
Randidly’s face twitched it had been a long time since he had felt so bad at something Since the System arrived he had been worse than other people in some areas sure but that was still just differences in mastery Here it seemed he was Insufficient
Well I can give you the dollar for it but only because it’s your first Davey finally announced taking the steel ingot I would however recommend purchasing the information regarding the Smelting Skills that’s really the area that you struggled
He gave Randidly the dollar and then was gone following the call of a tall grey haired woman Randidly considered this for a bit
Over the next two days Randidly continued to smelt the metal the old fashioned way without bothering to learn about the Smelting Skill There was even a point that he was prompted to learn the Skill but he denied it He had already used 5 of his 8 free Skills since obtaining a Class He would also likely need one in order to learn to make drones down the line he didn’t want to waste one now
During that time it was only by his 13th attempt that he produced a steel ingot that Foreman Davey accepted The rest he just snorted at and turned away
5 in materials two days at 1 apiece and 9 in revenue from selling the steel a 2 profit from 3 days Randidly said looking up at the sky He had learned a lot about the temperament of iron in the meantime and his powerful Perception and Control finally settled into use allowing him to minutely control the temperature in the furnace Unsurprisingly he had gained 2 Levels in Fire Resistance from brief burns and 7 Levels in Chosen of Fire
Randidly smiled at the overcast sky above him Then he turned and walked back into the factory He swore to himself he wouldn’t leave until he had enough money for preliminary citizenship
Chapter 505
The first thing Randidly did was to rent a larger work area This new area was on the west side of the factory which was largely unused Working with so much iron ore at once made it difficult to properly melt it all so most people preferred to use the smaller workstations It cost 5 a day but you would work with 20x as much ore Not that Randidly planned on using it for much he basically only needed the blast furnace to add the carbon
Aside from renting the room Randidly also spent all 92 of his remaining money in order to buy 368 units of iron ore Foreman Davey gave Randidly a strange look when he did it but said nothing
Randidly went to his first unit of iron ore smiling down at it
Extract He said focusing on the iron within the ore It quivered and Randidly’s smiled turned more serious
Ex tract Randidly emphasized his eyes blazing His Willpower bore down on the ore forcing the issue There was a crack and the outer layer of the ore disintegrate into dust What was left was a misshapen lump
Refine Randidly said
This time the metal obeyed immediately Randidly smiled
Hank knew something was wrong about this idyllic cabin next to a Danger Zone but he couldn’t figure out what exactly was going on
Problem 1 The group was never attacked The kid Nathan was skipping about working on tending the small garden around the thorny cabin The cook and his wife were tending to about a dozen different types of animals that they had domesticated and kept in a corral The highest of those was a Level 32 Hog which trundled back and forth snorting in derision whenever Hank walked past
Why were there no monsters attack this place Was it really so easy to start a farm out here in the borderlands
Problem 2 Every morning there was a pile of dead bodies waiting on the South side of the “safe area” Very quickly Hank and his crew grew familiar with the safe area because immediately upon walking past it there would be powerful monsters lying in wait In fact it seemed that whatever was acting to push the monsters away was known to them and they seemed to be waiting there surly
It was dangerous hunting because the monsters in the area were strong and vicious but they wouldn’t pursue Hank’s group back into the safe zone This added an element of unpredictable security that helped a lot with the hunting
Problem 3 The people of Zone 32 didn’t seem interested in the Elixirs at all They allowed Hank’s group to bring back the bodies of monsters above Level 55 trading each for an Elixir Even Hank participated getting himself a Focus Reaction and Agility Elixir All increased the Stat in question by 10 as predicted Now he was struck with the dilemma of whether to trade bodies for some of his less used stats or go with the risk of spending an Elixir and receiving nothing in return
In the wake of Randidly’s departure Ezekiel at first seemed relieved sinking back into his old snarky ways But he also was driven to extremes by the offer of the Elixirs and would spend most of his days out seeking monsters to trade for them Unlike Affina who gradually attempted higher and higher Leveled monsters Ezekiel always brought ones back at Level 55 57 but his hunting speed improved immensely over the days By this point he had used one of each of the Elixirs and was now asking for more in Intelligence and Endurance
Based on Ezekiel’s expression it seemed his second attempt went well and now he seemed intent on getting at least 20 for each Stat Hank understood the desire after all that would be an increase of 240 stats across the board Already the man had a taste of that and due to the drawbacks of his Class was especially drawn by the possibility of stats
But they had a mission And this place was starting to weird Hank out
The people were nice enough but the longer they stayed here the more he could sense the heartbeat of a secret One that all of the people here were protecting Hank was curious but these seemed like upstanding folk and he had no need to step on toes to satisfy his curiosity
Although Ezekiel didn’t like it he followed Hank and the rest of the group away as they continued on towards Zone 32 It was a short break but a timely one as all of them grew a noticeable amount in strength for staying there
As they were departing the cook and his wife joined Nathan at the edge of their area to wave them off Laurel spoke quietly as they walked away voicing Hank’s worried thoughts We grew strong just staying there for three days how strong do they have to be for this to be so While I was there I had no dreams only oppressive silence from the spirits Although we didn’t sense it we were in the grip of something there
We would know if we were strong enough Affina said her expression thoughtful
Ezekiel nodded Hank said nothing He simply turned and began to walk forward One step at a time
The purified and Refined iron ore was the easy part The only other task he required was to mix the carbon into the metal After all steel was the most commonly produced and bought by the factory Still there were other metals trades based on strange formulas which could be bought at a premium depending on how they fared in the tensile strength test
Humming to himself Randidly began melting 10 units of his purified iron ore in the crucible The blast furnace smoked and spat heat radiating off of it It seemed to be some portal to hell then a giant entrance to an unearthly tomb Very quickly the heat had reduced the metal to a liquid form It calmly bubbled in the superheated crucible
With a flick of the wrist Randidly produced Acri who was hiding up against the flesh of his right arm lurking under the illusion around him Randidly pointed to a giant monster femur laying on the work table in his station