Chapter 79: The Importance of Higher-Quality Fuel!
Kaiden sat inside one of the four barracks he'd built, after stepping in to explore it. He leaned back against the wooden chair and pulled a water bottle from his storage to drink. He was a little worn out — building all those blueprints had taken no small amount of time and effort.
After resting for a bit, he glanced at the new special building's description.
Kaiden roughly understood what this building did. Put simply, it smelted, refined, and processed common raw ores. Take iron ore, for example. Over the past days, it had always arrived as ready-to-shape processed units, so he'd never really thought about this side of things before.
But now, with Novice Protection over, it had been mentioned that seals would be lifted from several things. One of them was the various resource veins and raw ores, which, once found, needed to be mined, then processed to remove various impurities, before finally becoming ready-to-shape units, like the ones that appeared in treasure chests.
"I hope I find a mithril vein. I'd be rich instantly!.. Actually, even an iron mine would be fine..." Kaiden murmured to himself, unable to stop his eyes from taking on a greedy gleam. Even though the ore processing itself was a lengthy process, he was genuinely excited about this.
The reason for his excitement was simple. His need for raw materials — iron, mithril — had grown enormous, and it kept increasing every single day. Take the gate that had been nearly destroyed, for example. Repairing it alone would drain more than a hundred iron units. As for mithril, it was a bottomless pit too. No matter how many treasure chests he opened, they could no longer keep up with his growing needs. Kaiden understood this reality all too well.
...
A moment later, the white flash faded, revealing a smelting building massive compared to this world's other workshops. It was built of gray stone with an arched metal roof. There was no door — the front was left completely open.
A few seconds later, a middle-aged man stepped out. Despite carrying a bit of extra weight, his bulging bronze muscles spoke to his high skill level. The man wore a black apron to hide the soot stains, and he walked forward until he stood before Kaiden, dropping to one knee to pledge his loyalty:
"Johan, at the Lord's service."
"Please, rise. Welcome to our growing Territory, Johan," Kaiden greeted the new professional as was customary. Then he had a short conversation with him while exploring the building's interior.
In truth, what Kaiden most wanted to know was how many metal units Johan could process per day.
"My lord, the amount of ore processed depends on the type of ore and the impurities it contains. It also depends on the fuel being used. For instance, if the fuel is just wood, raising the temperature to the required level takes much longer, which naturally means the amount of refined metal will be lower. But with coal or oil available, the yield would be much higher."
Kaiden had already been aware of this issue. Blacksmith Hook had complained to him about it before, especially after the forge was upgraded. Working specifically with mithril ore made reaching the required temperature using only wood extremely difficult.
Even though he hadn't minded the high wood consumption, since it was available in large quantities on the World Market, the long processing time had been the real problem. And now he had a new professional confirming the exact same thing. Unfortunately, after searching, he hadn't found anyone selling oil, coal, or anything similar.
Kaiden rubbed his temples, feeling a faint headache coming on, then asked the professional standing before him:
"Right now, wood is the only fuel available. Roughly how much can you process on that basis?"
Johan nodded. Upon arriving, his sensitive nose hadn't picked up the scent of coal or any other fuel anywhere nearby, so he'd more or less expected this answer.
"My lord, relying on wood, and depending on the amount of impurities, I can process roughly two hundred to three hundred iron units daily. As for mithril ore, the daily processed amount won't exceed a hundred units."
"Hmm... and if better fuel were available, coal for instance, roughly how much could you process?" Kaiden asked. Even though he didn't currently have any mines, the question was necessary — a large part of his future growth depended on this.
Johan's eyes lit up at the mention of higher-quality fuel, and he answered with clear enthusiasm:
"My lord, with coal available, I can guarantee processing at least seven hundred iron units daily, and three hundred units of mithril, no matter how many impurities they contain!"
"That many?" Kaiden gasped. He hadn't expected the numbers to be this large.
After several minutes of conversation, Kaiden patted Johan on the shoulder and promised to try to secure better fuel soon. Either way, he hadn't found any ore veins yet, so Johan would have to remain without work for the time being. Still, it has to be said Kaiden gained a lot from this conversation — he'd come to realize just how important fuel really was.
...
The sun was shining, and even though it was still early morning, the temperature had already climbed a fair bit. This pushed Kaiden to take shelter in the Lord's Hall early, but the heat was only a secondary reason. The main reason was the post-battle meeting waiting for him.
The moment he arrived at the hall, Kaiden sent for the leaders. In the meantime, he still had one last thing to deal with.
"Finally your turn..." he murmured, pulling something out of his storage. It was, of course, the gold treasure chest.
He'd grown immune to the dazzling golden glow that radiated from treasure chests, but that didn't stop his excitement from flaring up. Without further delay, he selected confirm to open the chest.
---
Opened. You have gained:
× 800 Iron units
× 130 Mithril ore units
× 1 Appaloosa Horse Breed Package (Rare)
× 1 Runic Weapon Package (Rare)
× 1 Forgotten Ruins Key (Silver)
---
The gold treasure chest's rewards were as rich as ever, so Kaiden wasn't surprised. Even seeing the Appaloosa horse breed package, he'd had some expectations, since he'd already built the stable. But what truly caught him off guard was the last item in the chest.
"A Forgotten Ruins Key?.." Kaiden murmured in confusion, staring at the silver key, its gleam carrying the promise of secrets still buried away.
End of Chapter 79.
*Author's Note: Ruins keys are divided into several tiers: Bronze, Iron, Silver, Gold, Platinum. There are also special ruins that will be discussed at the appropriate time.*