Chapter 33

After breakfast, Tang En said a few words to Fiona and then left. Although Fiona was furious that he was once again neglecting his responsibilities, there was nothing she could do about it.

She knew that what Tang En was working on was related to Ellington and was very important.

Now, Fiona just wanted to see what exactly Tang En was working on.

After leaving, Tang En headed straight for Edgar's blacksmith shop. As soon as he entered the backyard, he saw Brian and Edgar drinking and boasting, with a few meat bones lying nearby.

Eating meat so early in the morning, these two must have really good appetites...

Tang En thought to himself.

"...But when I killed that orc guerrilla captain, his mount wouldn't listen to me. In my anger, I punched it in the forehead, and it just wailed in pain..."

"Master Brian," Edgar said softly, "Given your height, I doubt you could hit a dragon's head..."

Brian's face turned red, and he shouted, "I said I jumped! I jumped! Tell me, do you still want to learn dwarven forging techniques? Always contradicting me!"

Edgar hurriedly said, "Please continue—oh, my lord, you're here!"

Edgar exclaimed and quickly got up to fetch a stool for Tang En.

Tang En smiled and said, "Tina told me you've already finished the base and the shell?"

"Of course!"

Brian grunted, "Who do you think is working on it? I even made the mold while you were away this morning."

"Really!?"

Tang En was delighted. "Let me see it quickly!"

Brian waved his hand, and Edgar eagerly ran over to bring the mold.

After carefully examining it, Tang En praised, "Not bad, as expected from dwarven craftsmanship."

The material Brian used for the mold was unfamiliar to Tang En; it didn't exist on Earth. However, it clearly had similar properties: heat-resistant, stable, and non-stick.

Of course, for a press, it also needed to be impact-resistant, but Tang En was confident Brian had considered that.

Tang En looked around and said, "Move aside, I need to take out the other parts."

"Take out?"

As soon as Brian finished speaking, he saw Tang En wave his hand, and a large pile of parts appeared on the ground, neatly arranged.

"Space... equipment..."

Brian pointed at Tang En, his face full of shock. "You actually have space equipment!? And it can hold so much!? By the beard of the hammer, did you raid a dragon's treasure hoard!?"

Brian was so shocked he was speechless. Even in the treasure hoard of the King of Dwarves, there weren't many pieces of space equipment!

A mere human lord actually had space equipment!?

When did space equipment become so worthless!?

Tang En said very seriously, "Yes."

Fooling around! Raiding a dragon's treasure hoard!? Why don't you say you seduced a goddess!?

Brian didn't believe it for a second.

"Ah!!!"

At that moment, Edgar exclaimed and fell to the ground.

Brian instantly forgot his own shock and scolded Edgar, "What's with the fuss!"

"Adamantium! Such a large piece of adamantium!"

Edgar could swear he had never seen such a large piece of adamantium in his life!

Heavens! If this were used as raw material, how many high-quality weapons could be forged!

"It's just adamantium, you haven't seen much of the world, haven't you..."

Brian turned his head, his mind going blank, and he couldn't finish his sentence.

Indeed, for someone of his status, adamantium wasn't an overly precious forging material, and he had seen many pieces, so he wouldn't have been too shocked.

But—

Adamantium!

It was such a large piece of adamantium!

Brian's eyes widened. "By the beard of the hammer—where did you get so much adamantium from!? And it's of perfect quality!"

Tang En casually replied, "Of course, I picked it up from a dragon's treasure hoard. It's not very useful to me, but it should be good for a ram."

A ram!?

Brian looked as if he had seen a ghost, rushed over, and grabbed Tang En by the neck, growling, "You're going to use such a large piece of adamantium as a ram!? Do you know how many magical items can be forged from such a large piece!?"

Tang En looked at the ram, puzzled. "A lot? Not really, and it's just adamantium..."

"A lot? Just adamantium?"

Brian was envious. "Magical ore veins are now controlled by the major empires. Not to mention adamantium, even mithril and meteoric iron are hard to come by. If it weren't for the significant reserves in the Ambrosia Mountains and our dwarven mining skills, we wouldn't see much adamantium at all!"

"Well..." Tang En smiled faintly and looked up. "Who would have thought I raided a dragon's treasure hoard..."

In the game, adamantium was just a relatively common magical metal. The truly precious ones were dragon steel, starlight gold, and astral iron, especially astral iron, which was extremely rare even in the astral plane, like a living fossil. Yet, it was essential for crafting legendary equipment, making its price skyrocket.

"Fine! It's your stuff, so I can't stop you from using it!"

Brian grunted, let go of Tang En, and muttered to himself, "It's just adamantium... just adamantium... don't be surprised, don't be too surprised, or this guy will look down on me... I'm a dwarf... I'm Brian Hammer... stay calm... must stay calm..."

Compared to Brian, Edgar was much calmer. Although he knew adamantium was very precious, the vast gap in status between him and Tang En made him realize that no matter how envious he was, it wouldn't help. So, he was more relaxed.

Besides, if the lord could use such valuable adamantium to make a press, didn't it show his strength? Working for such a lord, he wouldn't have to worry about earning gold in the future.

Seeing that they had finally calmed down, Tang En breathed a sigh of relief.

If they didn't calm down, the adamantium ram would probably be melted down secretly in a few days...

As my subordinates, how can you lack such mental fortitude? You lost it over adamantium, what about orichalcum? What about mithril? What about dragon steel? Wouldn't you die of shock?

No, I need to strengthen their mental fortitude, they must be trained!

Brian took several deep breaths, his beard trembling. After a while, he perked up. "Shall we start assembling now?"

Tang En smiled gently. "No, we need to make some adjustments first. There's an important issue I haven't discussed with you yet."

Edgar and Brian were puzzled. "What issue?"

As soon as they finished speaking, they saw Tang En take out a long stick.

"What is this? A longsword? No, it's too flat, no blade or guard... Wait!?"

Brian's eyes widened, and he snatched the meter stick from Tang En, swallowing hard, breathing heavily, and trembling. "By the beard of the hammer... Orichalcum! This is orichalcum!"

"What!? Orichalcum!?"

Edgar nearly fainted, leaning on a nearby pillar and shakily moving closer.

The two old blacksmiths looked at the meter stick, their eyes gleaming like perverts seeing a beautiful woman.

Orichalcum...

This was even more precious than adamantium!

If the large piece of adamantium had left Brian and Edgar speechless, this orichalcum meter stick almost made them bleed to death!

The value of orichalcum couldn't be measured by ordinary prices because any equipment made from it was absolutely top-notch!

Even a small amount of orichalcum could significantly enhance the performance of weapons and equipment.

"This color! This luster! This purity! The quality of this orichalcum is absolutely top-notch!"

Brian felt like crying. Compared to the orichalcum in the treasure hoard, this was incomparably superior!

The quality and purity were on a completely different level!

Edgar even thought, "If I could get just one percent of this orichalcum, I could definitely forge a fine-grade weapon!"

"Ha!"

Brian clung tightly to the orichalcum meter stick. "A fine-grade weapon with orichalcum? You're not afraid of disgracing orichalcum? Brother, I can't promise anything else, but if you give me one-tenth... no, one-twentieth of this orichalcum, I'll forge you an excellent-grade weapon, and it will be the best!"

Although Brian had seen orichalcum before, he had never seen such high-quality, pure orichalcum.

By instinct, he didn't want to let go of it.

Tang En remained calm. "It's just an orichalcum meter stick... You look like—uh, like a dwarf."

Brian wanted to cry. "Dwarves aren't this extravagant!"

"Alright, alright... Let go, work hard, and you'll have adamantium and orichalcum..."

Tang En sighed. "Aren't you curious about what this is? You're only focused on the material?"

Brian shouted, "I don't care what it is! I only know it's orichalcum! Orichalcum!"

"The value of the material can't compare to its intrinsic value."

Tang En said meaningfully, "What you're holding is something that will change all of Plandar."

"..."

Brian looked down. "Is this an artifact?"

"No."

"Then what the hell is it!"

It's hard to communicate with illiterates!

Tang En rubbed his forehead, sighed, and said, "This is a meter stick, used for measurement. It's one of the standard units I've created. In the future, the dimensions of everything we make will be determined by it. Do you think it's significant?"

"For measuring length?"

Brian looked closely and noticed the markings.

"Exactly, look closely. The two large markings at the ends represent the start and end, indicating one meter. The medium markings in between represent centimeters, and the small markings between centimeters represent millimeters."

Tang En picked up a part he had adjusted last night and measured it with the orichalcum meter stick. "See, there are numbers. Just read the markings, and you'll know the width of the part."

"Two centimeters?"

"Correct, but for this level of precision, it should be read as twenty millimeters."

Tang En clapped. "Now, do you think this ruler is significant?"

Brian and Edgar thought for a moment and were shocked again.

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