"Are you saying iron can really be smelted from rocks? That's too amazing!"
"I don't know, but looking at the Chief and High Priest's expressions, it seems to be true."
"Those black coals and red bricks are already magical enough. If we can really smelt something a hundred times harder than stone, then we..."
The women's eyes were filled with burning light.
Wei Xian and Eliza stood solemnly before the blast furnace, dressed in formal priestly attire.
Behind them were fifty of the Tribe's most elite Female Warriors, maintaining order with solemn expressions.
Wu Liang chewed on a blade of grass, hands in his pockets, idly waiting for the ceremony to begin.
Ooh—
Finally, as the first ray of golden light pierced through the clouds at the horizon, a series of deep, powerful horn blasts echoed over the Black Rock Tribe.
"The auspicious time has arrived, light the fire!"
Eliza glanced at the sky and announced solemnly and loudly.
Wei Xian personally picked up a torch that had been prepared long ago and thrust it into the ignition port at the bottom of the blast furnace.
Whoosh!
The kindling and charcoal pre-placed at the bottom of the furnace burned fiercely, and the rushing heat quickly roasted the surrounding air hot.
"Pull the bellows! Increase the fire!"
Wu Liang reminded the Female Warriors operating the bellows, shouting loudly.
Several burly Female Warriors, who had been squatting beside the blast furnace, immediately began to push and pull with all their might.
Although it was just a simple bellows made of animal hide and wood, its effect was surprisingly good.
Hiss... hiss... As the bellows were pulled, strong currents of air were forced into the furnace through the reserved vents.
The flames inside the furnace surged upwards like a thick fire python, and scorching hot air blasted from the top of the furnace, distorting the very air.
The onlookers, the women, were frightened by the terrifying display and retreated repeatedly, their faces full of awe.
"Now, pour in the iron ore!"
Wu Liang felt the temperature had reached the ideal state, and he motioned for another group of people to bring baskets of crushed iron ore.
Then, using a simple feed chute, they carefully poured it into the charging port at the top of the blast furnace.
"Add the black charcoal!"
Wu Liang's voice rang out again.
Then, baskets of pitch-black charcoal were also poured in.
Thus, a layer of iron ore, a layer of charcoal, were continuously added in alternation.
Everyone worked tirelessly, sweating profusely from the scorching air.
Time passed minute by minute, the furnace fire burned hotter and hotter, and soon the entire blast furnace glowed crimson.
The women watched nervously, not daring to even breathe.
Although Wu Liang's face was calm, he was actually very much looking forward to the result of the first iron smelting.
He periodically walked to the observation port of the blast furnace, observing the temperature and reaction inside from a distance.
"This Primitive Steelmaking is really hard physical labor. It's a good thing these Female Warriors have such good stamina, otherwise, just adding materials and blowing air would exhaust several groups of people."
Wu Liang muttered to himself.
Once the industrial technology tree advances a bit more, he'll have to quickly switch to a safer and more reliable smelting technology.
After all, steel will need to be produced in the future, and this kind of primitive blast furnace is simply not enough.
"Wu Liang, how is it going?"
Wei Xian and Eliza had been guarding Wu Liang's side, their hearts in their throats.
"Don't worry, it'll be soon."
Wu Liang glanced at Wei Xian, whose cheeks were flushed from the heat, and Eliza next to her, whose eyes were equally filled with tension.
"Keep blowing air, increase the fire. The heat is still a bit off."
Two hours later, the iron ore inside the furnace finally completely turned into a reddish fluid, rolling vividly and dazzlingly at the bottom of the furnace.
"Good! Prepare to tap the iron!"
Joy flashed in Wu Liang's eyes as he announced loudly.
Hearing this, everyone nervously looked towards the blast furnace.
Two Female Warriors, who had long been prepared, used special stone picks to forcefully break open the tap hole at the bottom of the furnace, which was sealed with mud.
Hiss—
Accompanied by a plume of choking blue smoke, the terrifyingly hot molten iron flowed along the pre-dug diversion channel into molds piled with sand and earth nearby.
"Oh my god! Those stones really melted!"
"Such a terrifying temperature, so hot!"
Incredulous exclamations erupted from the crowd.
Wei Xian and Eliza stared intently at the path of the flowing molten iron, so nervous that their breathing almost slowed down.
The molten iron quickly filled the sand molds. Wu Liang directed the Female Warriors to seal the tap hole with moist mud.
"Let the temperature cool naturally."
At Wu Liang's prompting, everyone watched as the red glow in the molds gradually faded.
Until the contents of the molds completely cooled, solidifying from liquid iron into a grayish-black iron block.
"Is this iron? It doesn't seem very special."
Someone in the crowd voiced their doubt.
Wu Liang smiled and said to a Female Warrior:
"Use your sharpest stone axe and chop it once."
The Female Warrior nodded, raised the stone axe in her hand, and swung it down fiercely!
Clang!
The immense recoil numbed the Female Warrior's hand, causing her to stagger back several steps, her stone axe almost flying out of her grasp.
She then looked down again, completely dumbfounded.
There was only a shallow white mark on the iron ingot, while her proud stone axe had a huge chip in its blade!
"Hiss—"
A collective gasp echoed around.
Everyone watched this scene, dumbfounded.
"It's too hard!"
"With this, we can make the sharpest weapons!"
The women erupted in excitement. Wei Xian quickly stepped forward, knelt down, and gently touched the hard iron ingot, which still held some residual warmth.
The Black Rock Tribe had finally escaped the Stone Age.
And all of this was because of him.
She suddenly looked up at Wu Liang, her eyes now filled with genuine admiration and appreciation.
This man, he didn't make empty promises.
He truly brought the hope of changing the Tribe's destiny!
[Ding! Detected a huge emotional fluctuation from 'Wei Xian', generating deep respect and appreciation for the Host!]
[Ding! Wei Xian now regards you as the one who will change the Tribe's destiny. You will become the light in her life!]
[Ding! Wei Xian's heart is surging, and a strong desire to possess you is stirring!]
[Ding! Detected a huge emotional fluctuation from high-potential target 'Eliza', submission +20%, generating worship and admiration for the Host!]
[Ding! Eliza's heart is surging, and a strong desire to possess you is stirring!]
Wu Liang turned to look. Wei Xian and Eliza both had eyes that darted around, their expressions hinting at flirtatious glances as they looked at him.
My goodness, these two women can't handle it again?
I haven't even put in much effort yet. In even bigger situations later, won't you scream and jump?
Strictly speaking, the iron block in front of them could only be considered white cast iron, which was hard but had extremely poor ductility and very high brittleness.
To forge it into qualified good weapons, this brittle cast iron must be processed into usable steel.
[Ding! Detected Host has bypassed the Bronze Age and directly completed the first iron ore smelting!]
[Ding! Congratulations, Host, for achieving the 'Stone Age Terminator' achievement! industrial technology tree reward: Forging Mastery (Beginner) skill x1, complete set of Cold Weapon Smelting and Forging Blueprints x1]
[Ding! Congratulations, Host, for achieving the 'Iron Ore Smelter' achievement! industrial technology tree reward: Annealing Technology x1, Bloom Carburized Steel Forging Technology x1.]
[Ding! You will lead the Black Rock Tribe out of the Stone Age. This is a glorious achievement of historical change, and it will be forever etched in the history of the Black Rock Tribe.]
"Just as I was dozing off, the pillow arrived."
Hearing the series of reward prompts, Wu Liang's heart blossomed with joy.
The so-called bloom carburized steel is made by repeatedly heating and folding this primitive bloom iron in charcoal fire, thereby increasing its carbon content and steelifying it.
This way, under the current smelting conditions, decent iron weapons and tools can be forged.
As for things like layered steel, pattern-welded steel, or even the co-fusion steelmaking method, those will probably have to wait until the industrial technology tree is upgraded later.
But he was content; at least the problem of 'from nothing to something' had been solved.
Wu Liang walked to the iron ingot, scanned the fervent gazes of the Tribe women looking at him, and shouted loudly:
"This is just the beginning."
"Increase production, continue to smelt iron blocks!"