Chapter 76: The Blacksmith's Betting Match

  In the pit, there were some dog-headed men adding firewood to the stove. The oil-soaked pine wood burned extremely fiercely, and just looking at this stove gave one a feeling of intense heat; walking up to it was even more unbearable.

  The iron forge is not only used to make equipment and tools from scrap metal, but also to smelt high-purity ore into pig iron for use in the iron forge.

  It can be said that the current iron and steel industry has become a simple system integrating mining, smelting and casting. Although this system is very rough, it is already an embryonic form of heavy industry.

  Kua walked forward and saw that the people adding firewood under the vertical furnace to observe the flames were all his own dog-headed people, and the one standing in front was his own brother Tubba.

  Kua furrowed his brow. Although he was very dissatisfied with humans letting their own brothers do such hard work, he knew that this was an important part of learning technology and had to hold back his temper.

  Tuba clenched his teeth, adding fir firewood to the stove on one side while observing the fire through a small hole on the other.

  At this time, a pot of iron ore was being roasted fiercely in the vertical furnace, emitting a strong heat that distorted the air. On one side, there was also a human sitting on a recliner, fanning himself and saying leisurely: "Pay attention to the fire, when the flame turns purple, you quickly pull that lever and pour all the molten iron from the furnace into the mold below, did you hear?!"

  Tuba grunted loudly and continued staring inside with a dead gaze.

  Gua walked up to Tubba and asked: "Tubba, are you tired?"

  Tuba nodded slightly and looked at Gua Gu with a dull expression, replying: "It's hard work."

  Gua Gu asked again: "Since it's hard work, why are you still down there watching the fire burn?"

  Tuba paused for a moment and continued: "Because the boss needs me here to learn human ironwork techniques, so I must be here to master the skills. Only then will it do."

  Upon hearing this sentence, the person who was pointing and criticizing Tuba for working hard rolled his eyes and said in a low voice: "What a bootlicker."

  Gua heard this sentence, and didn't react. He could tell that Tubba's words were all sincere, without any flattering words. His heart couldn't help but feel some emotion. Although the Dog Head people's IQ was not high, wanting to learn some knowledge was really too difficult, if there was no talent, it would be impossible to become a technician for life.

  Even if he had the talent, his learning ability was very poor, which is why Xilang didn't have time to try teaching himself and instead used magic infusion on Tusi and the other three qualified Dog Head people.

  But the Dog Head People are a humanoid species with very firm beliefs and convictions. It can be seen that Tubba's current object of faith is Gogopa.

  Gua Gu observed for a while longer and discovered that Tubas physical condition had improved greatly, it seemed that in this relatively extreme environment, the fighting spirit seed within his body had also undergone some changes, and had even reached the verge of a breakthrough.

  Seeing that Tubas' condition was stable, Gua didn't say anything more. Lifting his head up, he saw that the noisy sounds were coming from inside and so went back in again.

  Things are not so tidy inside. In the yard there is a row of spacious houses, and in the largest room there is a row of five stoves, each with a large bellows next to it, a large iron anvil and a wide water tank.

  A group of human blacksmiths stood in a circle, holding their arms and ridiculing while watching the group of dog-headed people operating the furnace. "Can this group of monsters still learn to forge iron? It's really laughable, be careful that the hammer is too heavy and will smash your dog brain!"

  "It's really ridiculous! As ridiculous as a monkey wearing clothes!"

  "Nonsense! Watching a dog-headed man forge iron is definitely more fun than watching a monkey wear clothes!"

  Only the first of those human blacksmiths, with hands clasped together, looked gloomily at the stove in the middle and the laboring dog-headed people around.

  The melon walked in, and those humans were still loudly ridiculing him. The melon let out a cold hum, and the dragon's prestige on his body suddenly flashed, changing from a dormant state to an excited state. The radiation area of the dragon's prestige reached 10 meters and could be retracted again, surrounding the melon's body and saving energy. As soon as the dragon's prestige appeared, it immediately shocked all the humans around, and several people who were speaking sarcastically even had two red blood flows flowing from under their noses, and their legs almost softened. They looked up to see that it was the caster of this castle who had come, and they all shut their mouths obediently.

  Kua So kept this posture and quietly watched the dog-headed people forging iron in the field.

  At this moment, there is only one furnace burning inside, and three dog-headed men are vigorously fanning the bellows, making the fire in the furnace very vigorous, and also burning a piece of iron ingot to bright red.

  Immediately, two dog-headed men quickly took out the iron ingot and placed it on the anvil. The three dog-headed men operating the bellows stopped at once, while Tudou, standing to one side, swung a large hammer down heavily.

  Gua's eyes narrowed, and at this moment, Tuo's height had already exceeded 1.6 meters, reaching the height of an ordinary human youth. His muscles looked very strong, but compared to the ironworkers around him, he was still a bit inferior. It could be seen that under the nourishment of the Dou Qi seed, Tuo's body had also undergone tremendous improvement and was standing at the edge of a Dou Qi breakthrough.

  Ding ding ding! A series of rapid hammering sounds came, and the red-hot iron slab was hammered fiercely, splashing out many sparks. Until the iron slab was about to turn black, Tudou stopped moving. After completing this action, Tudou exhaled: "Good!" Then he started breathing heavily.

  The two dog-headed men holding the tongs continued to put the iron slab into the furnace, and the three dog-headed men pulling the bellows immediately pulled the bellows quickly, burning the iron slab red again. The two dog-headed men holding the tongs took it out and placed it on the anvil, where Tudou hammered it with a large hammer.

  After repeating this process five or six times, the iron ingot had been forged into shape, forming a rough outline of a two-handed cross sword, exactly like the one tied at his waist. A two-handed cross sword was not an easy weapon to forge, requiring much experience and control.

  Generally speaking, blacksmith apprentices would choose a kitchen knife or an iron spearhead as their first work. Tudou chose the shape of this sword, apparently because his loyalty and admiration for Gua made him most motivated to forge such a weapon. Gua was once again moved by Tudou's almost foolish loyalty. After Tudou had forged the sword blank into shape, he put down the large hammer and began to hold the tongs with one hand, holding a single-handed hammer in the other, and started fine-tuning the forging process.

  An apprentice who has been doing it for less than two months, it's already not easy to get this far. The human craftsmen have already made a sound of admiration. However, at this moment, Guagua can see that Tudou is already somewhat exhausted, and I'm afraid this pair of double-handed cross swords cannot be cast.