The orc iron deposit was located on the outskirts of the settlement. For some reason, the sacred tribe people had most of their points of interest separated. There might have been some reason for it at one point but Ed just found it annoying.
'I know you can't move the mine but you can definitely move the houses…' He grumbled before starting his 5-minute sprint. If he had gone all out he could have shortened that time further but there was no point in overexerting himself just yet.
'There it is' Ed knew he was at the location after catching sight of some faint wooden buildings.
After growing closer, he could see what appeared to be mine shafts leading down underground. The supporting wooden pillars also seemed fairly sturdy and well taken care of.
He didn't trust this judgment blindly however as he studied the perimeter as well as the pillars themselves more closely. This carried on for less than five minutes at which point Ed could safely conclude that the place had seen a lot of use but that it was also well taken care of.
It was safe to wander down the tunnels but there was something else he had noticed in one of the more unkempt rooms.
'Isn't this a smithy?' There was a poorly built forge full of soot and waste metals. Ed could tell that the smithy had seen some use recently but it was still in a bad state. Ed racked his mind a bit trying to think of why he didn't know about this and could only sigh.
'This map is somewhat of a mess...' The map was fairly detailed, enough for Ed to find all locations with certain importance but for some reason, certain things seemed to also be lumped together. The mine and smithy appeared to go hand in hand.
'Which reminds me there should actually be some smiths from the sacred tribe' There was a chance he had killed them but if he got lucky he would be able to find one among the captives. If not, in the worst-case scenario he would need to search his mind.
Ed exited from the rundown smithy and turned to the mineshafts.
'Let's hope there is still iron left for me to mine' Ed thought as he chanted a short incantation for a fireball to lead the way into the dark mineshaft. As he ventured further and further in he realized that he didn't have much of a clue at what exactly it was he was searching for.
He, therefore, stuck to the tried and true classic... assess everything!
[Excaved Orc Iron Ore]
[Orc Iron Ore]
[Orc Iron Ore]
'Hm?' It seemed as though he was already surrounded by it.
Ed grew closer to the wall making sure to also increase the potency of the fireball he held and was able to see the firelight refract from all of the metal inside it.
'I guess my visibility was too poor' It was also a matter of the entire area being the orc iron vein. Although some portions were excavated, lots of orc iron was still leftover. The orcs didn't have any extravagant tools so any labor they performed was prone to errors or imperfections.
Having found what he wanted, Ed now needed to mine it. He first tried manipulating it through earth manipulation but for some reason, it felt… heavy? It was an odd sensation considering that controlling mana was nothing like one's own limb but the earthen mana contained inside natural metals must have been condensed rather sternly. There was no moving it.
'But I don't have a pickax and there is no way I'm punching these' He had already fallen victim to that when trying to break apart the ice in the secret cavern. Even if his fists were strong it would still hurt like hell!
Ed's only potential solution to this dilemma was to get himself a battle axe but…
'Looks like the dungeon is watching' Ed wasn't allowed into the system space. Not minding it too much, he exited the mine and created himself a pickaxe out of the dirt.
'The only problem is that this will expend my mana' Ed knew there was no other option however, he had to take whatever he could get.
With a flame in one hand and dirt pick in the other, Ed began to hack away at the orc iron ore. His great strength caused the ore to shatter and spread wildly in all directions whenever it was struck.
Still, Ed knew that he wouldn't be able to perfectly remove the crude orc iron from the wall. He didn't lament the loss and simply continued making strong yet calculated hacks around a large portion until it ultimately fell out.
[Crude Orc Iron]
Ed grabbed the hefty chunk and decided to head back.
'My mana has been spent quite considerably' Ed also didn't intend to spend the rest of his day mining. He needed to smith some weapons! He didn't care if he could only start with a simple dagger. On the contrary, that would be ideal regardless of whether or not there were any constraints.
As for who would get him more iron from thereon… it would of course be the sanctuary orcs. He could make them pickaxes and all would be well. The main problem was deciding who should be put in charge of this.
'I did kill my crystal mining guy…' It was a true disservice to Sarul to call him as just that considering how he bravely jumped headfirst into danger. Though he had provided him with many of the valuable magical stones, Sarul was first and foremost a great warrior.
'Duma sure knows how to pick them huh…' Ed mused thinking that the capable hands he employed around him were perhaps the only reason why his settlement had lasted as long as it had, his cowardice did suggest so. Although technically it still existed now but Ed had simply messed it up beyond recognition, in a good way.
Ed continued to consider his options of people to put in charge of this but decided to put the matter aside as he finally reached the cath- no, the smithy. He walked on in still carrying the hefty chunk of metal.
'This place is kind of dark' Ed thought as he looked around the mostly empty box of a building he called a smithy. The chimney that reached out through the ceiling was the only thing that made it more than just a box.
Reminding himself to install torches as well as some more proper rooms, Ed ignited his forge using fire crystals. Usually one would use something like coal or charcoal but Ed didn't want to waste his time with such things. He instead used what he learned from the warm maintainer to create a powerful fire array.
This also meant that in the future Ed could do the same for any wind going into the forge, he could make it come from a wind crystal.
'Magic sure helps one skip through many of the usual ages of civilization' It made Ed think back to the encyclopedia and the date it was listed under.
'The 1300's might be the present' The technology of the adventurers was rather advanced when compared to his past life at that same time period Of course it still had many ways to go but the modern age would come much sooner for this world, there was no denying that.
Ed cast aside the distracting thoughts and focused back on the ore he mined. The mineral seemed mostly pure but Ed knew there was still bound to be useless rock inside. He formed a hammer and started to carefully crush the ore inside of a container.
After that, Ed tried his best to separate what was and wasn't useful before throwing the ore into the forge. While Ed had done all of this the forge had gotten more than enough time to heat up considerably. Nevertheless, the temperature wasn't sufficient to melt the orc iron.
'Which is entirely fine' His level 2 craftsmanship allowed him to know the basic way to process ore. First came roasting, then smelting, and finally refining. Each of these steps had scientific reasons for working but Ed didn't know any of them. He could only rely on what the skill told him to be the truth.
The ore was put to roast and later Ed turned up the heat. The ore inevitably started to melt. This allowed Ed to catch signs of foreign substances forming into what appeared to be slag. Ed waited some more couple of minutes before taken it upon himself to try and remove this waste from the metal.
The final result was a somewhat resplendent white metal.
[Refined Orc Iron]
Orc Iron refined by a beginner with little experience.
'Well, I can't do anything about that but continue' That was the only way to gain experience and Ed wasn't expecting to create a pure ingot either.
Now that it was time to form the iron into a weapon, Ed found that he was still ill-equipped. He could make do with the earth created tools for the job but reinforcing them was a significant waste of mana and although it could serve as practice, it was practice Ed could do without.
'I can't be focusing on too many things while smithing' Overall the whole thing was somewhat relaxed since there was a fair amount of waiting involved but conversely any mistakes would waste that much more time.
Ed, therefore, decided to try and create a crude hammer. He didn't need to worry too much about creating casts for the time being since he still needed to create a steady supply chain of iron.
'Once I'm done here I'll have to get on that' He would also need to pick some strong orcs to work with him in the smithy. There was no way he would be creating all of the weapons used by Sanctuary.
Ed did some final cleaning and after taken a short moment to admire the metal, he tossed it into the forge to melt. He then created a mold in the shape of a hammer and split into parts that would eventually connect.
After this was done, Ed poured the melted iron into the reinforced earthen casts and waited for them to cool, He considered if there was any hammering to be done but his molds had taken care of most of the job.
Ed was then able to stitch the components together and admire the monstrosity he created.
[Cast Orc Iron Hammer]
A simple hammer made by a beginner with little experience. The hammer serves its purpose.
After the assessment, however, Ed now knew that it wasn't really a monstrosity which was a relief.. More importantly, the hammer would serve its purpose which was all Ed needed for the time being.