Chapter 188: Strange Dream (4)

The new area was similar, surrounded by the workstations of Mana Smith, with one behind each workstation. Red quickly noticed the difference. The area was certainly bigger; so was the workstation. Then he noticed piles of rocks. No, it was piles of ore on the side of the workstation.

Each workstation was separated by the piles of ore. He noticed how the ore was different in color. One pile comprised the silver-gray ore, and the other pile was black ore. He tried to use Appraisal on them, but he only got the result for the silver-gray ore.

[Iron Ore]

’What now?’ He was genuinely curious about what he would see next, or maybe learn more. Though he didn’t know where to get this ore.

The Mana Smith started to move, taking four silver-gray ores. He started with Mana Smelting, extracting the metal from the ore, including separating the waste from the ore.

The four ores floated and were covered with mana, bathing in mana as the four ores melted. Then it proceeded with the separation, separating the silver iron and the black waste. Both clumped as the Mana Smelting was off.

He threw the clumped waste into the basket as he proceeded with the next ore, the black one. However, he only took one ore instead of four this time. The smelting process started, and he didn’t know what ore this one was. It was pitch black, and the metal extracted from this ore was also pitch black. The color was close to the waste, but the metal was matte black while the waste was dull black.

At this point, Red wondered what the Mana Smith was doing. What did this place want to show him? Was this place showing him how to extract the metal from ore? He should be able to figure it out since he had the skill, Mana Smelting. He felt like it was a waste until he saw something different.

The Mana Smith’s mana enveloped the iron metal and the black metal. The two processed metals floated, and both were enveloped in the same sphere of mana. The hardened metal first went through the refining process, purifying the metal, further extracting the waste and removing the impurities.

The Mana Smith removed the waste from his mana. The hardened black and iron metal started to soften, turning into liquid.

Red at first wondered why the Mana Smith smelted the extracted metal. Then he found out what the Mana Smith was doing; he was combining the two metals. The two metals blended together. The iron and the black metal were still distinct, not fully mixed.

That was when new information entered Red’s head. This was not smelting or refining, but alloying. The Mana Smith used a skill called Mana Alloying. It was to mix two or three or even more than three to create a stronger metal. But of course, he couldn’t randomly mix the metals. He had to be careful with the composition, or else he might produce brittle metal instead of stronger metal.

The Mana Smith in front of him was making a metal called Abyssal Iron. It was the same metal that was used to make the Abyssal-Iron Dagger.

The ideal composition was 92% Iron and 8% Abyssal Rock. That was the ideal composition, but considering the rarity of the Abyssal Rock, one could reduce the Abyssal Rock down to 4% minimum. If the Abyssal Iron had less than 4% Abyssal Rock composition, then it could no longer be called Abyssal Iron.

Too much Abyssal Rock would ruin the product as well. The maximum Abyssal Rock was 10%; more than that, it would ruin the iron itself.

He watched the process. Even though there was only a little Abyssal Rock, the metal turned black. It was just 10%, yet the end product turned the metal into matte black. While it was still hot and liquid, the Mana Smith poured it into the mold that had been prepared.

[You have learned a skill, Mana Alloying!]

[You have learned a skill, Mana Smith’s Insight!]

[Mana Alloying: An ability to combine metal with one or more materials to create a new material with improved properties by consuming mana!]

[Mana Smith’s Insight: An ability to see Ore, Metal, and Equipment’s properties by consuming mana.]

Both skills were Tier 4 skills. He saw the skill’s description, then he looked at the Abyssal Iron. The Mana Smith took the Abyssal Iron off the mold, and he immediately used Mana Smith’s Insight on it.

Abyssal Iron Ingot

Property: Iron - Purity: 92.3%, Abyssal Rock - Purity: 7.5%

Attribute: Abyssal Aspect

There were 0.2% unaccounted for, and that might be the metal impurities the Mana Smith failed to purify. However, he was more interested in the attribute, Abyssal Aspect. He tried to use Appraisal, hoping to gain information, but that didn’t work. He used Mana Smith’s Insight, but it didn’t work as well.

Red watched another process; mostly, he was trying to gain more information about Mana Alloying. The most important part of Mana Alloying was the composition. Randomly mixing two different materials would not work. He wanted to watch more to figure out the composition; maybe he could use them as reference. He certainly didn’t have the materials these Mana Smiths had.

He could only get the metal by smelting the equipment he had, as he had no way to obtain those ores.

’But that metal might have gone through alloying, so maybe I don’t really need to go through Mana Alloying.’

He went to another workstation, a workstation with three different types of ores: red ore, black ore, and white-gray ore. This time he used his new skill, Mana Smith’s Insight, on the three ores. The reason appraisal didn’t work might be because that was not the skill to appraise the ore or metal.

[Fire Stone] [Black Iron Ore] [Zino Ore]

Red watched the alloying process and saw the final product in half an hour. The alloying took longer compared to the Abyssal Iron Ingot. The final product was dark red; he could see the trace of the Fire Stone, but not the Zino Ore. He used Mana Smith’s Insight on the final product.

Blaze Iron Ingot

Property: Black Iron: 68%, Fire Stone: 24.3%, Zino: 7.6%

Attribute: Fire Aspect