Blacksmith vs. the System

After handing him the key to improve his skill rapidly, I left Harold on the first floor and pulled the cart filled with the claws to the third floor, directly toward the production as I had prepared.

"Sir," the blacksmiths greeted me excitedly, standing in front of the production line for the ingots I had asked them to prepare.

I said nothing as I touched the devices one by one, using Observe to check the production line. "It's good work, but you missed several spots," I said and corrected them with bursts of mana, preparing to explain how I fixed them in the process.

Any other time, I would have pointed out the mistakes and let the students fix them as an educational experience, but with all the potential enemies we had tempted, every second was valuable. I didn't have the luxury to turn it into the ideal teaching moment.

"The first thing you need to remember," I started as they gathered around me, watching intently as I moved from one device to another, taking note of all the mistakes before I decided which part to explain. I preferred to explain every mistake in detail … but once again, I lacked time. "Production lines are all about consistency and precision. It's a chain that needs to be able to connect without missing a step," I added. "For example, here," I said as I used one of the machines to shape the alloys, rapidly creating ten sample alloy bars. "There's a difference of a tenth of an inch between the thickest and the thinnest of the bars."

I could see their hesitation as I explained. I pointed at one of them, provoking him to speak. He looked hesitant to speak, but he still went with it. "Would it make that much of a difference, sir?" he asked. "We'll still be softening them before using them in our forging."

"It wouldn't necessarily matter that much for the current task, but what about in the future, where we implement automatic steps? Such a discrepancy could ruin the whole batch. It's a good habit to work on our precision, at least as long as it takes a reasonable amount of time."

He nodded, but he didn't seem particularly convinced. "When we forge by hand, every stroke of the hammer is instinctive under the control of the skill, so making small adjustments is trivial," I added. "But here?" I gestured toward the machines surrounding us. "We're relying on mechanisms. That means if something is off by even a fraction, the mistake might ruin the entire batch, wasting material. It might even ruin the machine. And, with the enemy approaching fast, we don't have the luxury to waste time," I said.

Another nod, this time far more honest. I could see that the explanation had worked. I itched to ask a few questions to make sure he got the correct point, but after a momentary consideration, I decided against it. We didn't have time for a debate at the moment. Maybe in the future.

Instead, I moved to the core smelter, which was far larger than the blast furnaces I had, ready to operate. But, I frowned as I traced the pipes that existed to feed the mana to the core of the crusher. "Look here," I said and pointed at the pipe. "There's a tiny crack here."

The crack itself was barely visible on the surface, but it warped the layers of internal structure, which was a considerably bigger issue.

They all turned toward another blacksmith, who had a shocked expression on his face. "I made sure to install it perfectly, sir," he said panickedly.

"Maybe, but did you check it once it cooled down properly?" I asked. He shook his head hesitantly, though he wasn't the only one that had the expression. I sighed. "This is a composite material," I explained. "They are far more fragile than the weapons you create based on System recipes. You can't just let them be after quenching and hope they don't warp. You need to check them regularly for damage and warping."

They looked hesitant, and a touch rebellious as well. But, they lacked the confidence to ask questions.

I sighed as I decided to explain it despite my hurry. Considering the work I wanted them to do, the last thing I wanted was for them to be afraid of asking questions. "A crack like that would have been trivial if we were working with liquids, but it'll let mana leak more than you think. This tiny crack alone would probably reduce the mana efficiency by ten percent."

This time, nods were more emphatic, but their fear was equally intense, particularly the one that made the mistake. I sighed. "I'm not angry or disappointed. Just be careful next time," I said. "Now, that's enough checking. I'm going to start creating the metal. Gather all the apprentices to help with the forging."

"All of them, sir?" one of them asked.

"Yes. We are going to create at least ten thousand sets of armor and weapons, not to mention arrows and other consumables."

With that, some went to gather, while others stayed with me to help with the set-up.

Admittedly, the structure was not too complicated. Instead of the blast furnace relying on the natural airflow, we had steam-powered pumps to send high-pressure air to the fires, reaching a degree that could liquify several tons of metal at once.

Then, there were multiple crucibles to melt the metal, so that we didn't have to wait. The apprentice blacksmiths dealt with the preparations, which allowed me to focus on imbuing the molten metal with the energy from the claws, and then move the material to the casts to turn them into industrial bars.

If we had the dungeon crystals to assist the stabilization, processing the required metal would have cost me merely minutes. Unfortunately, without them, the same process would probably extend to three to four hours, maybe even longer if there was an inconvenient accident.

However, the moment the casts cooled down, my work was over. I didn't even remove the ingots from their casts, leaving it to apprentices, focusing on the two steps that I couldn't outsource. The apprentices with the blacksmith skills gathered at the other end of the production line, and the sound of hammers filled the opening.

It was loud, but also comforting. It was better than working alone.

Despite the urgency of the task, I took a break every ten minutes, walking among the workers, fixing the most egregious mistakes I caught. "No. You need to heat up the metal more, or you'll waste too much time," I corrected one of the farmers, speaking louder than necessary to let the others hear as well.

"B-but, the skill —" he started.

"I know what the skill says, but you don't have the prerequisite Strength to deal with it quickly," I said. "That way of dealing assumes a certain support you won't have until you upgrade your class. Heat up the metal more to hasten the process," Unfortunately, this was the case. Temporarily, the farmer volunteers were limited in their efficiency.

Of course, the limited efficiency was relative to my new understanding. Compared to my capabilities back when I was still in the town, they were considerably better. Their Basic skill was already at twenty-five points of proficiency, and they had much better equipment than I had been limited to. That combination already gave them a significant advantage.

He followed the directions as I explained, only to frown. "I feel like the metal will be too weak if I continue like this," he said.

"Yes, but that's not a big disadvantage," I explained. "This type of arrow is designed to target the larger lizards. If they shatter after penetration, it'll only make the wound deadlier," I explained. "You just need to reinforce the tip slightly to make sure it's strong enough to penetrate through their scales."

He nodded thoughtfully. A glance confirmed that he was not the only one sharing that expression, showing the effectiveness of my impromptu lesson. I continued walking around and fixing the most obvious mistakes, giving some tips, and even making sure to compliment particularly creative ideas.

Hopefully, it would show them that I valued creativity above rote repetition of what their skill was suggesting.

It was not the most ideal way of educating them, which I knew well as a career professor. But then again, it was far from the only topic I was taking shortcuts around, which unfortunately was inevitable due to the circumstances. Impromptu teaching sessions had slowed down the progress somewhat, but looking at the speed they worked, I concluded it to be an acceptable sacrifice.

Five hours later, I was looking at a pile of gleaming ingots of various sizes, only a fraction had turned into weapons. The amount of raw material should keep them busy for three days at a minimum, arming everyone in the process.

"Continue with your forging tasks. Our safety relies on you," I ordered once I finished with my part. As much as I wanted to stay and guide them, I had something more important to address.

To see if my epic forging was working properly…