Terra Tinkers Construct is fine.

"You don't need to call me 'sir' up here. You are the leader now, and I'm just an outsider who pays you to guide me."

Milan glanced at him and said, "Lead the way, let's go. And tell me about the purchasing power of Ursus gold coins and the price situation in Chernobyl."

—Besides murder and demolition, does the new boss have any special interests in civil engineering?

Pavel had no idea what could possibly pique someone's interest in building materials, but he didn't dare ask. He simply made a mental note of it and, while leading the way, straightened his back slightly and honestly asked, "Well, uh... upstairs, what should I call you?"

"If it absolutely has to have a name..."

【can】

Thinking of the gang's name, Milan forced a slightly awkward smile.

"You can just call me Jung."

Clay, sand, gravel.

Players familiar with Tinkers' Construct in Minecraft will certainly recognize these three materials: In the world of Minecraft, clay often generates in the beds of water veins such as rivers, lakes, and seas, i.e., in places submerged by water; sand and gravel are different, the former often generates at the edges of water veins and in deserts, while the latter often generates in clusters in various terrains.

If Ursus were a geographically rich area where natural water veins were relatively easy to find, Milan would have gone there to collect materials long ago, instead of having to travel all the way to the mobile city to "finally begin to develop."

If we have to talk about their uses... well, it's hard to say what these three things actually do in the original Minecraft: clay can be fired into bricks and terracotta tiles and then made into flower pots, making it a perfect building and decorative material; sand can be fired into glass and then made into glass panes for decorative windows and glass bottles for brewing potions, which is somewhat valuable to Milan, a non-building player.

As for gravel... in the original version, besides repeatedly placing dig brushes for flint, Milan really can't think of any other use for it.

However, in the Tinkers' Construct (3) mod, these three materials can be considered the starting point of everything in this mod.

Clay + Sand + Gravel = Brick Mortar

[Brick and mud → (firing) → charred black bricks]

And the charred bricks—are the materials that Milan, as a craftsman of the Craftsman's Soul, can finally consider building the Craftsman's Soul Furnace after traveling through such a long period of time!

"..."

Although clay is not a proper building material, Milan's material judgment is not that strict; faced with the heavy Ursus gold coins in terms of purchasing power and weight, the merchants in the building materials market did not ask him why he did not directly buy finished concrete building materials, but insisted on getting natural materials.

Whoever pays is the boss, why are you bothering with all this?

After saying "it didn't cost much," Milan, looking at the materials piled up like a mountain in the temporary warehouse prepared by the building materials market merchants, revealed a healthy smile, as if she had seen an authentic Bandai toy.

"Finally...finally...!"

Chapter 43 - It's Ignited (+1)

Milan's expression at this moment... well, how should I put it?

Those who frequently watch Yu-Gi-Oh! or Kamen Rider shows might be familiar with this – it's roughly the same thing.

But Pavel's feeling was completely different. Although he hadn't known Milan for very long, this was the first time he had ever seen Milan with such an expression. That's how contrast works; when different people show different sides of themselves, it's always the first impression that makes it easier for outsiders to associate them.

What is Pavel's impression of Milan?

"..."

He was now pressed against the corner of the wall, the huge Ursus man looking as if he wanted to dig a hole in the ground and crawl into it.

"What's with that look? I'm not going to put you in the stove."

Lost in his own fantasy for a while, Milan returned to reality. Although this was a memorable and poignant moment in reality, the first step in grasping the power of fantasy, Milan was still relatively calm. Even considering the materials he already had in his inventory and the reassuring prospect of the future, he quickly came to his senses.

He coughed and, under Pavel's hesitant gaze, pulled out a stone shovel.

[Clay ball * 128 suspected Lin Yiqi private dance * wine IV long]

【Gravel*128】

Sand*128

It seems like there aren't many when calculated in MC units, right?

But what if we look at it from another angle?

已知：4粘土球合成1粘土块，视同1立方米粘土；砂砾和沙子各视同1单位为1立方米。

The density of clay is roughly set at 2 tons/cubic meter, gravel at 2.5 tons/cubic meter, and sand at 1.5 tons/cubic meter.

Scorched bricks are the building material used to synthesize scorched brick blocks, which are the most commonly used building material for Tinkers' Souls to build the [Smelting Furnace] - well, let's not talk about the principle of using materials mixed with cement to make bricks to melt all sorts of strange things for now - according to the specifications of the smelting furnaces most commonly used by Milan, he usually uses a furnace with a volume of 3*3*3.

This means that, roughly speaking, about 45 charred bricks, or 180 charred bricks, would be needed. If the firing process is omitted, 2 charred bricks would require 1/4 clay block + 1 gravel + 1 sand, which means that to build a smelting furnace, 90 sets of brick-making materials would be needed.

So here's the question: In reality, how much material would all of this be equivalent to?

...It's hard to say exactly how much, but in reality, it truly deserves the description of "piled up like a mountain." Even if it were a large-scale project, it wouldn't be the amount required for a small civilian project. It's only because the price of this stuff itself isn't high, and the purchasing power of Ursus gold coins as currency is quite outstanding, that Milan felt like he "didn't spend much money."

These mountains of materials, right before Pavel's eyes, vanished as if swallowed by an invisible behemoth, collected by stone shovels and transformed into MC material blocks that were then absorbed by Milan.

He's seen so much that he's become somewhat numb to it all—he's just curious how much Milan, who looks about the same size as an Ursus high school student, can actually hold.

—It doesn't take up much space.

If Milan could hear his question, she would most likely give this answer: In the rules of Minecraft, the unit for storing a player's inventory is a "slot," and the quantity is a "set"; some items can only be placed individually, some items have a stack limit of 16, and most material items have a stack limit of 64.

Despite having so many materials, his inventory only contained 2 sets of gravel, 2 sets of sand, and 32 clay blocks in a four-in-one set... which wasn't even a full set.

This is the scale of MC, terrifying indeed.

"S-Sir..."

"Ok?"

“Oh! Oh oh oh oh... Mr. Jung, Mr. Jung.”

After leaving the building materials market, Milan was quite satisfied: the furnace in Minecraft could indeed smelt iron items to obtain iron pellets, but according to the rules of the furnace, iron equipment in Minecraft could only produce iron pellets, which was really a huge loss. But now it was different. Being able to build a Tinker's Construct forge meant that the metal material recycling rate was almost 100%.

This efficiency is no joke—as for the source of the iron, it has already entered the city, and Chernobog is a mining city, so how could there be a shortage of metal materials?

As for Pavel... he looked terrified, his worldview was completely unstable.

They even almost forgot what Milan was called.

But it doesn't matter. Everyone who comes into contact with the rules of Minecraft has to go through this. He'll get used to it eventually as he gets shocked.

Compared to that, Milan, who is in a good mood right now, is more concerned about something else.

Are there any agricultural or agricultural shops in Chernobog?

"Ah, this..."

Pavel looked confused and troubled.

"Alright, I can tell from your expression that you don't understand."

Milan sighed: "Then let's go somewhere else, like a farmers' market... or a supermarket, you should know where that is, right?"

When Milan returned to the underground, it was after a period of extensive shopping; the bright sun had already set, and the main moon and shadow moon of Terra had climbed to the horizon, indicating how much time he had spent.

And how much money.

Well, although the money was all obtained through shady dealings, it was cheap to come by and not worth the trouble to spend—moreover, aside from weapons, bribes, and luxury goods, the average person's spending level was just a drop in the ocean compared to Boris's estate.

Contrary to Pavel's expectations, Milan purchased a considerable amount of goods, but the items were not as dangerous or extravagant as he had imagined. Instead, they were more like the things a typical newcomer to the area would buy.

Street food, reasonably priced cooked food in shops, clothes from ordinary clothing stores, toiletries... although there are also some strange things that shouldn't be bought by a single person, such as vegetables, fruits, flowers and seeds, and even a single bed.

He even treated me to a meal!

This left the adult man, who had once struggled at the bottom of the Rust Gang, feeling somewhat dizzy when Milan told him to go home on his own after get off work.

After watching Pavel leave, Milan followed his memory and smoothly returned to the spot where he had climbed onto the ground.

He skillfully took out his stone pickaxe, chiseled out a mining tunnel that fit perfectly with the ground after the blocks were put back in place, and sealed the tunnel back up piece by piece. Then he returned to his new hideout along the route he had taken.

—The long day is finally over. Shouldn't it be time to sleep now?

Looking at the nearly overflowing inventory of various odds and ends, Milan twitched the corners of her mouth and stretched her shoulders.

Sleep? Sleep my ass!

Tiger! Get up and party!

Chapter 44 - Building a Furnace (+2)

"Bang! Bang!"

First, two round stone furnaces were placed on the ground.

Terra's reality is unlike the main world of Minecraft, where resources are virtually unlimited and readily available—a harsh reality that Milan quickly realized shortly after his transmigration. If his life were a fourth-rate work by a third-rate author, he would bet that this scarcity of resources would be the biggest limitation to his development.

So he first selected the area where he planned to build the smelting furnace, carefully and repeatedly calculated the volume, materials, and expected arrangements for the furnace, and then he discovered...

—Wait a minute!

In Tinkers' Construct 3, there are two types of multi-block structures that can be called "furnaces": the [Smelting Furnace] and the [Casting Furnace]. The former is probably the furnace most used by Tinkers' Construct craftsmen, as it is more convenient for smelting to increase production or for making alloys.

...No one really uses that ridiculously inefficient alloy furnace from Tinkers' Construct 3, right? Really?

The latter is a new addition based on Tinkers' Conquest 2, which can convert the "increased production" into "byproducts" that are different from smelting raw ore. Although this feature has been criticized by some veteran players, for example, the increased production of the furnace in Tinkers' Conquest 2 is actually +100% instead of +33%... But for some players, the byproducts are often resources that are of higher level, higher quality, and higher rarity than the materials corresponding to the raw ore, so it can only be considered "mostly positive".

but!

One point that must be mentioned, and one that Milan, a Tinkers Conquest player, almost overlooked due to her familiarity with it, is that both of these "furnaces," which are multi-block structures, only recognize liquid fuel-powered fuel tanks to drive combustion.

The most common liquid fuel at the lowest level in the game is [Lava] – you can easily find it anywhere by carrying an iron bucket, or you can dig vertically into a mine and eventually find a lava pool underground…

—In reality, it's still a mobile city, so where am I supposed to go to collect lava?!

"...Damn, if I hadn't done some calculations to save on materials, I would have really fallen into the trap."

Milan took a deep breath, a troubled expression on her face.

The shortage of liquid fuels is a major problem.

In the original game, because of the existence of the Minecraft world, players would never lack lava materials; and although obtaining its advanced material, [Blood of Flame], is a bit troublesome, it is actually just a minor inconvenience and not a big deal - the resourceful Minecraft players will always find various ways to solve the problem.

However, this method wouldn't work in Terra: if it were a fixed base established on the ground, Milan wouldn't mind digging a vertical well down to the bedrock layer, just like he did in the game—in reality, that would mostly mean digging below the earth's crust, so at least he wouldn't lack magma.

However, this is on the ground, even on a mobile city—Milan is still quite confident about the future, after all, Originium will eventually be analyzed, and at that time, its excellent energy supply performance will most likely be included in his fuel range.

But now... for the time being, is it really true that we can only make do with a small furnace [melting furnace]?

[Melting Furnace]

The small furnace added in Tinkers' Conquest 3 is the only functional block that can be used to smelt metal, besides the liquid fuel tank. The furnace has a capacity of only 2160mb, which is equivalent to 24 ingots. It can only hold one type of molten material at a time and cannot be used for alloying.

Moreover, using the matching solid heater, the maximum temperature can only reach 800 degrees... Although this 800 degrees is a conceptual temperature and is not the same as the actual unit of heat, it still greatly limits the range of materials that can be melted.

In the hands of most veteran Tinkers' Construct players... the only purpose of this thing is as a prerequisite for Tinkers' Construct 3: you must make this thing to melt liquid copper in order to cast the [Smelting Furnace Controller]. Once you complete this step, the small furnace can basically be left to gather dust.

"...Fine, eight hundred it is."

Milan sighed.

—Eight hundred degrees it is, games have their advantages... I can reach eight hundred degrees by burning wood, and I can not only smelt copper (500 degrees), but also melt gold (700 degrees) and forge iron (800 degrees). Can other wood-burning furnaces do that?

"And if we want something better, at the very least, we need materials that require high-temperature firing, but we don't have any on hand right now, 800 degrees Celsius should be enough..."

While saying things that were both painful to hear and rolling her eyes, Milan still helplessly calculated the quantities, synthesized the corresponding amount of [brick mortar], and then put it into the furnace to be fired into [charred bricks].

While waiting for the furnace to start working, he didn't sit idle. The place where the furnace was originally intended to be placed had a high ceiling, so Milan took out dirt blocks and spread them on the ground, took out torches and stuck them on the wall for lighting, and marked out a spot to plant saplings. With a fixed spot, he didn't need to waste too much fuel. He took out charcoal, directly synthesized a campfire, placed it on the ground, and then took out cobblestone to surround it.

In Minecraft, campfires are eternal and unlike torches, they not only provide light but also have "heat" as described in their effects: campfires can injure units that step on them and can also cook "food" that can be cooked, making them a very fuel-efficient cooking tool when it comes to careful planning.

Is there a conflict between "eternal life" and "conservation of energy"?

By the way, Milan also tried the bed: although it wasn't a particularly expensive brand, it was more comfortable than a wooden board, but... it didn't pop up the "set resurrection point" prompt that he had been longing for.

—Does that mean only MC beds synthesized using the MC formula can be used?

Milan, who hadn't been able to buy the entire cubic meter of wool in a short time, fell into deep thought.

"Okay, okay, okay!"

The sudden dimming of the light brought Milan back to reality.

The flames in the furnace went out, which meant that the charcoal he had placed in the furnace had burned out, and also meant that the bricks and mud he had put in had been fired. Milan took out the product from the furnace, which was a brick in his hand that was larger than the red bricks he remembered, and was black with a slight sheen.

【Scorched Black Brick (Level 2 Tool/Armor Material)】

—Mom, life is a wilderness.

Even as a Craftsman's Soul enthusiast, Milan never imagined that he would one day be able to establish himself in another world with this thing; he gripped the brick tightly, exerted great force, and finally sighed.

"Damn, wild life."

Chapter 45: This is what Minecraft players are like (+3)

【4 charred bricks = charred brick block】