Chapter 132 - 123: Lava Fortress
He had acquired a new Blank Expansion Card. Now he had a place to put the Lava Fortress.
But it was too late in the day, so Qin Ziwen decided to go straight to sleep.
After waking up early the next morning, Qin Ziwen got out of bed and went to the adjacent blank expansion area.
First, he used the Small-sized blank expansion card.
It connected directly to the original territory, forming a single 20x40 area.
However, in the bottom-left corner, a 2x2 entrance to an underground cave was awkwardly situated, preventing the area from being a perfect rectangle.
Qin Ziwen thought for a moment, then simply pushed his bed back a bit to make room in his master bedroom. He then moved the underground cave entrance to that spot.
Once he finished the arrangements, he stood by his bed and admired the two holes in his master bedroom.
One was the entrance to an underground cave, the other a cellar.
’My master bedroom is really full of holes.’
Qin Ziwen looked into the distance, then took out the Advanced Building Card for the Lava Fortress and chose to use it.
A vast, unending expanse of light enveloped the entire area before him.
[The Lava Fortress is merging with the underground cave...]
[Merge successful.]
As far as he could see, the flat, grayish-white land of the blank expansion area had vanished. In its place was a dry, cold, open-air expanse of black rock.
The black rock looked as if it had been frozen in place, its surface covered in fissures.
A faint white mist drifted slowly from the fissures in the rock, quickly dissipating as it met the air.
The area connecting to his master bedroom had been transformed into a massive entrance.
𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
Perfectly cut blocks of granite were neatly stacked to form a long staircase, about ten meters wide, that descended into the darkness.
Huge stone pillars flanked both sides of the long staircase.
Qin Ziwen descended. After going down nearly ten meters, the heat at the bottom of the steps abruptly intensified, and a wave of heat mixed with the faint smell of sulfur washed over him.
The stone stairs came to an abrupt end, giving way to an uneven rock floor.
Then, he witnessed an incredible sight.
A stream of lava flowed slowly from the far end of the cavern, running through a trench in the center. It made a soft GURGLE GURGLE sound, and occasionally a few lava bubbles would burst. This was the source of the rolling heatwaves.
Qin Ziwen mused, ’This lava is so hot. I wonder if it can be repurposed.’
As he drew closer, he saw that the lava stream wasn’t very wide—only about two meters across. He couldn’t tell what material the jet-black trench was made from.
The trench contained the flow of lava.
Two small tributaries branched off from the main trench.
These tributaries pooled nearby, forming two one-meter-wide "lava pools." A black stone pot was set up over each pool.
The stone pots appeared to be made of the same material as the trench.
The lava in these pools wasn’t constantly full. Instead, it would fill up periodically before slowly draining away, ebbing and flowing like the tide.
Although it was a spectacular sight, and even came with its own lava stream, the place gave Qin Ziwen the distinct feeling of being a "work in progress."
It was too spacious. Many areas still retained the natural structure of the original underground cave.
"Hm? There’s a pool of water over here."
To his right, against the cavern wall, Qin Ziwen discovered a pool of faintly blue water.
The pool was neither large nor deep, and the water was bone-chillingly cold.
There weren’t many man-made structures in the cave, which didn’t seem to fit the name "fortress." Other than the rather magnificent stone staircase at the entrance, the rest was all-natural and untouched.
He used Insight on the Lava Fortress.
[Lava Fortress: Level 2 Metal Refining, Level 1 Rapid Melting, Level 1 Metal Resilience Amplification] (Special Effect: Metal purified within the Lava Fortress gains increased hardness while retaining its original properties.)
’So this place is a metal refinery,’ he realized.
Qin Ziwen now understood the building’s purpose. ’So those two stone pots must be for refining metal, then?’
A boost to metal resilience, plus the special effect of increased hardness...
With simultaneous increases to both resilience and hardness, any metal processed here would be improved by more than just a single grade.
This was core technology!
The ability to make stronger items from the same materials.
Qin Ziwen figured Li Tieshan would be thrilled if he knew about this place.
He looked at the source and the end of the lava flow.
It all came from a pitch-black tunnel that seemed to extend beyond the building’s boundaries, as if generated from nothing. He didn’t dwell on it, though. It was just like a spring that could produce water from thin air.
Returning to the surface, Qin Ziwen found Li Tieshan and told him about the new Lava Fortress and its purpose.
Li Tieshan was ecstatic. He eagerly rushed back to the Blacksmith Shop and scooped some crushed iron ore out of a basket.
Then he followed Qin Ziwen to the Lava Fortress and placed the iron ore into one of the black pots.
As soon as it touched the black pot, the iron ore’s surface started to SIZZLE and emit a greenish smoke.
It then slowly melted, eventually turning into a puddle of golden-red liquid.
The scene was reminiscent of caramelizing sugar in an iron wok.
As time passed, the lava in the pool below gradually receded.
The black pot’s temperature dropped, and the molten iron ore inside gradually solidified, finally forming an iron puck with a steely luster at the bottom of the pot.
Li Tieshan picked up the long-handled shovel next to the pot. With one scoop, he lifted the iron puck. It wasn’t stuck to the bottom and came up easily.
He swung the shovel and tossed the iron puck onto the ground.
Li Tieshan lightly touched the iron puck with his sleeve. It let out a SIZZLE of white smoke, followed quickly by the smell of something burning.
"Sir, it’s still hot. It might be better if we quench it in cold water."
He looked around but couldn’t find a bucket for water.
Qin Ziwen pointed to the nearby pool. "There’s a pool of water over there. You can forge an iron bucket later and get water from it."
Li Tieshan nodded eagerly. He was extremely pleased with this place.
He barely had to lift a finger, and the iron ore was automatically refined into an iron puck. Any helper could handle this task, leaving him free to focus on forging. Plus, the black pot was magical. He planned to experiment with adding different ratios of carbon powder to see if he could directly produce the high-carbon steel Li Yue had told him about.
After giving some final instructions, Qin Ziwen led a reluctant Li Tieshan back to the living room for breakfast.
During breakfast, Li Tieshan was completely distracted, his mind entirely focused on his new workshop.
After breakfast, Qin Ziwen and the others gathered their tools and headed up the mountain to set up the area in preparation for the hunt!
The Card that appeared on the altar today was a Small-sized blank expansion card.
Except for Qin Ziwen, it was the first time anyone else had seen this Card.
Everyone wanted it, because only with a sufficiently spacious area could they use some of the more advanced Cards.
But there was only one Card, so for now, it remained with Qin Ziwen.
It would be distributed after the Giant Toad hunt, based on each person’s contribution.
They methodically set up the grounds and traps, all the while gaming out the Giant Toad’s possible reactions and preparing retreat routes and backup plans.
They worked until evening, by which time all the preparations were finally complete.
Everything was ready. All that was missing was the final trigger.
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