94: Chapter 94 [The Scorching, Sharp Longsword]

There was a slot at the bottom of the furnace, which served as an ash outlet for removing ash.

The ash and carbon residue burned in the furnace, along with Ore Impurities,

were all scraped out from this opening.

But now, Hu Gualing placed the iron bar at the bottom of the furnace, seemingly directly facing this ash outlet.

What was he trying to do? Did he want to stuff the iron bar into the furnace through this opening?

Just as Wang Dachui was feeling confused and puzzled,

he saw Hu Gualing lift the furnace lid and use fire tongs to poke around inside, fiddling with something.

Then, a thin stream of fiery red liquid poured out from the ash outlet, slowly flowing down along the slot.

This was...

Molten iron!

Wang Dachui naturally recognized it.

Molten iron was generally only needed during casting.

For example, to make a perfectly round iron ball or an exquisite ornament, such things were difficult to shape through hammer Forging. One could only go through the great effort of melting iron and then pouring it into a pre-made mold, waiting for it to cool and become a unified cast piece.

However, in the village, he usually forged farm tools.

He had almost never used the casting method.

On the contrary, one of the most common methods for making the gauntlets he had previously discussed with Hu Gualing was casting with molten iron.

But hadn't Hu Gualing said he would continue processing the iron bar? Why would he melt the iron first?

As Wang Dachui was thinking, he snapped back to his senses and saw that the molten iron had already flowed onto the iron bar. He was instantly shocked: "What are you doing?"

Hu Gualing was also startled, though it was by Wang Dachui's sudden shout. After regaining his composure, he said, "Don't make a fuss, just wait and see." After saying that, he continued to fiddle inside the furnace with the tongs.

Although the iron in the furnace had melted into liquid, this liquid was still different from water. It didn't have such good fluidity; instead, it was thick and somewhat similar to the pig feed Tang Yao cooked. Only after he poked around did it gurgle out of the furnace, falling onto the iron bar in clumps with a sizzling sound.

Looking at the fiery red mass on the iron bar, Hu Gualing felt as if the air in front of him was being distorted by the high temperature of the molten iron.

No longer an Artifact Refining novice, he knew that this molten iron was over a thousand degrees hot. He didn't dare get too close and only dared to stretch his arm out, using the tongs to scrape the molten iron, spreading it evenly over the iron bar like applying thick bean paste.

Watching this scene, Wang Dachui felt such heartache he wanted to stomp his feet!

While molten iron was also a good thing, compared to this iron bar that was comparable to hundred-refined fine iron, it wasn't worth mentioning at all.

And now Hu Gualing was pouring molten iron onto the iron bar. Once the molten iron cooled and solidified, this high-quality iron bar would be encased in a mass of scrap iron. Wouldn't it be ruined?

Wang Dachui's eyes twitched with heartache, yet he was helpless.

He could only think that the way Hu Gualing was applying the molten iron now was exactly the same as how he had applied the soybean paste before; perhaps it was also a technique he couldn't understand.

Thinking this way made him feel a bit better.

After a long wait, the high temperature of the molten iron dissipated through the air, and it slowly cooled and solidified, merging with the iron bar.

Wang Dachui couldn't help but feel disappointed.

Because after waiting for a long time, nothing happened that caught his eye.

Instead, this thing looked like a piece of scrap iron no matter how one looked at it...

Hu Gualing, however, unhurriedly lifted the large Forging hammer and struck down at the cooled iron block.

With a series of bangs, he quickly knocked off the outer layer of scrap-like iron skin, revealing the iron bar inside.

Wang Dachui looked closely and found that part of the molten iron had fused with the iron bar under the high temperature, even seeping into it. Consequently, the surface of the iron bar was significantly rougher than before.

However, he also noticed that the color of the iron bar's surface had changed, turning from pure pitch-black to a bright black, and it also emitted a white luster. One look and it was clear it was not simple.

At this moment, Hu Gualing also received a game notification.

Game Notification: You have forged [Ordinary Steel * 3.5 catties], Forging experience +205.

[Ordinary Steel * 3.5 catties]: Metal, Forging material, construction material. Iron that has undergone multiple Carburizing treatments, its hardness has been improved, and it contains a certain amount of carbon. It is a decent metal material.

Looking at the item description, Hu Gualing showed a satisfied smile.

The hard work of the past day or two finally hadn't been in vain.

But how was this Forging experience calculated? He had produced inferior steel before and gained 320 Forging experience points. Now this piece of Ordinary Steel was clearly of higher quality than the inferior steel, so why was the experience gained even less?

Hu Gualing couldn't figure it out for a moment, but it wasn't important. Since the Materials were ready, the most urgent task now was to forge the equipment.

After Forging the Ordinary Steel, the next step was to formally forge the equipment.

Although the material had changed from iron to steel, the Forging process was the same: first heat it to soften it, then hammer it into shape.

After cleaning the furnace, Hu Gualing tossed the steel bar in to heat it up.

Even though steel was obtained from iron after Carburizing, and its hardness and toughness were greatly improved, its melting point hadn't changed much. In fact, under standard atmospheric pressure, the melting point of steel is even 20 degrees lower than that of iron.

So, compared to melting iron earlier, Hu Gualing easily softened the steel block this time.

He estimated the weight, used a chisel to cut off a piece and set it aside to use for his own gauntlets later, and the rest would be used to forge the longsword now.

Since it was sword casting, the first step was certainly to hammer the steel block into a long, thin strip.

Since the raw material used was steel, the quality of the forged product would certainly be impeccable. However, Tang Yao had specifically requested that the sword look good, so he inevitably had to put some thought into the design...

Hu Gualing thought about the specific design in his head while swinging his hammer to strike.

...

After a series of tedious Forging steps, the steel block already had the prototype of a longsword. Not only was it thin and long, but due to the high-intensity Forging, the carbon elements accumulated on the surface of the steel block had also dispersed and settled, making the color no longer so black. Instead, it presented a silver-gray color, which was quite beautiful.

Hu Gualing admired it for a while, feeling that the design of this sword was quite good. It wasn't heavy in his hand and was very suitable for a girl like Tang Yao. However, the silver-gray color was a bit monotonous and looked a bit dull...

Hu Gualing wanted to add some Materials so that the longsword's color wouldn't be so monotonous. He scanned the casting room for a long time but couldn't find anything suitable. Finally, he only saw one thing in his backpack that might be useful—[Liaohuo Stone].

He had seen this stone in Xiao Niao's Trading House. Seeing that it could be used as a Forging material, he had spent 1 tael of silver to buy it.

However, although the item attribute column said it could be used as a Forging material, Hu Gualing didn't know how to use it. He had no choice but to take it out of his backpack and consult Wang Dachui.

After asking, he found out that processing this Liaohuo Stone was very simple.

One just needed to heat it up and then slowly hammer it onto the sword body.

Hearing this, Hu Gualing followed the instructions.

This piece of Liaohuo Stone was two fingers wide and one finger long, completely black, with nothing extraordinary about it.

However, after being heated for a while, it could be seen glowing red, as if a layer of dark fire had been ignited, living up to its name.

Hu Gualing took the opportunity to pick it up and place it on the sword blank. He held it in place with fire tongs in one hand and slowly tapped it with a small hammer in the other.

Before long, a layer of dark red shell was knocked off the surface of the Liaohuo Stone, revealing a fiery red core inside that looked like a ruby.

Hu Gualing was overjoyed. Although he didn't know what effect hammering this Liaohuo Stone onto the sword body would have, just the ruby-like appearance of this thing would definitely satisfy Tang Yao's requirements!

And this thing only cost him 1 tael of silver to buy. From Tang Yao, he had taken a total of 20 taels of silver twice. Calculating it this way, it was simply an excellent value!

Hu Gualing excitedly swung his hammer, quickly crushing the Liaohuo Stone into tiny crystals and embedding them into the sword body. Although this might affect its use or even decrease the quality of the sword body, for the sake of aesthetics, everything else was no longer important.

After embedding the Liaohuo Stone, this steel longsword was indeed no longer so monotonous. Some red crystals were added to the silver-gray sword body.

'Hmm... sparkly and quite pretty.' Hu Gualing admired it for a bit, couldn't help but nod, and proceeded with the next steps with satisfaction.

Sharpening, returning to the furnace, and finally immersing the already formed longsword into clear oil to complete the quenching.

A brand-new steel longsword was successfully brought into the world.

Game Notification: You have forged [scorching sharp longsword], [Forging] experience +1200.