You were made to farm, and now you're the emperor of an empire?

Chapter 113 Innate Steel-Refining Sacred Body
The second crystal sphere yielded magic ore.

However, it was twice the size of the magic ore that Roman had obtained last time.

The town of Sige now has a smelting base.

Extraordinary resources such as adamantite, mithril, orogen, and magic steel can also be forged.

Roman started a brainstorming session, and a multitude of plans instantly flooded his mind.

He wanted to increase Aaron's offensive capabilities;

He wanted to forge a fine gold short sword and mithril armor for Green;
He wanted all his soldiers to wear magic steel armor and magic steel weapons;
He sorted out all those thoughts one by one.

'Take it one step at a time, being down-to-earth is the most important thing!' Roman told himself this.

He brought in Ruto.

To others, he was a blacksmith's apprentice in Haibao, not yet a master, and his price wasn't considered high.

But Roman believed he was capable enough to stand on his own.

Ruto was dark-skinned, short and stocky, less than 1.7 meters tall, and looked like half an iron tower.

"I hereby appoint you as the head of the foundry department, responsible for all foundry processes."

Ruto was somewhat surprised. He had worked extremely hard and performed exceptionally well during this period, but he had not surpassed Lax. He was worried that this would arouse the old blacksmith's hostility.

However, the predicament of building iron sheds is obvious.

Lord Roman was putting pressure on them every day, and his demands were increasing. He brought in many blacksmith apprentices and made them forge weapons day and night.

Lax couldn't manage so many people to teach them forging skills, and the teaching process was a complete mess.

This was a good opportunity for him, whose goal was to become Lax's second-in-command, helping him manage the blacksmith shop and instructing the clueless new blacksmiths in forging.

I didn't expect to be promoted so quickly, especially by the lord himself.

Ruto understood the meaning of the casting department from Roman's explanation.

This is not about banning Lax, but about becoming Lax's superior.

The blacksmith's workshop can only be considered one unit, while the foundry department manages three units simultaneously.

They are respectively engaged in coal and iron mining, blast furnace smelting, and iron forging.

Ruto is someone who is good at hiding his talents, but now that he is faced with this heavy responsibility, he has no choice but to take it on.

"Master, I will not let you down!"

Roman nodded slightly, and he gently raised his right hand with an extremely elegant movement.

Ruto kissed the back of his hand, which was covered in coal dust, dirt, and iron filings, with reverence.

The simple ceremony of pledging allegiance took effect from that point on.

Roman said, "You must do your best!"

He spoke clearly and with a strong emphasis.

Upon hearing this, Ruto sensed Roman's hidden meaning. The other man's intensely focused eyes pierced his heart like arrows, making him feel guilty and unable to look him in the eye.

Roman handed the magic ore to Ruto.

"How much magic steel can it produce?"

Ruto no longer concealed his abilities. He weighed the weight for a moment, "A little over a hundred pounds. Sir, as you know, magical ore needs to be placed in flames, and its volume and weight will shrink significantly. After the residue has drained away, it will condense into a dense and hard magic stone—and 100 pounds of steel requires at least 1 pound of magic stone to melt into it. If it were gold or silver, even more magic stone would be needed."

This magic ore weighs about four or five pounds, but its quality is poor and its purity is not high; it can only be described as medium quality. Once it is burned into magic stone, it will only weigh a little over one pound.

The surface of the ore shimmered with a star-like glow, the light elusive and captivating, a truly beautiful sight.

The blacksmiths made their judgments based on this.

The denser the stars in a magic ore cluster, the better the ore quality.

In Sinnoh and the Free Cities, magical ores are called "Star Iron" or "Star Stone," meaning treasures from the stars.

In the Arctic Ocean, it is called "earth crystal" or "vein stone." It means the essence of the earth, coming from the depths of the rocks. According to Arctic legend, in an ancient and chaotic era, the earth cracked, the ocean boiled, and magma gushed out from the depths of the earth's core. Dragons rushed into the human world from the scorching magma, bringing with them endless vein stones.

The names for magical ores vary from place to place, but the methods of using them are basically similar.

It's impossible for Ruto to take over the entire foundry right now; Roman has a lot to hand over to him.

He was a traditional blacksmith, completely ignorant of coking and blast furnaces, so you couldn't expect him to have an epiphany on the spot... but it wasn't impossible either.

Sapphire has found its place.

In this land, blue gemstones symbolize "wisdom," and they can calm people down and help them enter a meditative state.

In eerie and ethereal legends, it is a favorite of sorcerers and witches, and clergymen are obsessed with it.

On Roman's side, it can enhance the abilities of the apostles.

Roman used a high-quality sapphire to enhance Ruto's skills.

There is no plus sign after the skills in the Apostle interface.

Their skills are usually what they are good at, while some skills have no value for improvement.

Roman was initially at a loss, but he quickly figured it out.

He used the power of the sapphire to mentally overlay his knowledge of iron smelting onto Ruto's apostle head.

Roman also noticed this method of skill enhancement—

He and his many apostles did indeed have some secret and solid mysterious connection with each other.

He had assumed that Ruto would be like him, and a flood of knowledge instantly surged into his mind.

However, the latter did not respond at all.

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

But soon Roman realized he was worrying unnecessarily.

During the training of Ruto, the latter quickly mastered the basic knowledge about blast furnaces and coke ovens. Even before Roman had spoken, Ruto understood the meaning behind the steps without being taught.

Although Ruto's talent is not low.

But the level of understanding he's showing now is somewhat illogical, as if his brain has been upgraded.

Ruto was also surprised by his own performance.

He is actually the type who can make up for his lack of talent through hard work. He has a naturally gifted body. While others work eight hours a day, he works twelve hours a day. He is a natural workaholic and is naturally better than others.

With 99% perspiration and 1% talent, he was able to work with ease in the blacksmith shop and was ready to graduate at the right time.

However, these skills are limited to the blacksmith shop.

Blast furnaces and coke ovens were completely foreign to him, yet he was still able to grasp the knowledge and figure out the principles behind them very quickly.

Am I really a genius?

Could it be that my talent lies not in blacksmithing, but in iron smelting?
Ruto couldn't help but feel conflicted, thinking that he had been held back all these years.

It's like how those incredible magic tricks become insignificant once their underlying principles are revealed.

"Knowing" and "not knowing" are very close, differing only by the word "not," but if you can't get past them, you just can't get past them.

The more Ruto observed the blast furnace, the less difficult it seemed to be to build and use it.

As a blacksmith, a practical profession, Ruto knew that understanding and being able to do are two different things.

Putting aside everything else, only laymen would think that blacksmithing is just about swinging a hammer and doesn't require much skill, but if you put him in that position, he really wouldn't be good at it.

Ruto thought to himself, "If I can learn this so easily, I can be considered a genius in iron smelting. Then what level is Lord Roman, who personally built the blast furnace and overturned the old iron smelting technology?"
Innate Steel-Refining Divine Body?

Without Mr. Roman, I would just be an ordinary person in this era.

(End of this chapter)