The Lord of the Rings: Lords of Middle-earth.

Chapter 699 Crafting Magical Equipment
Compared to the universally disliked Roland, Yunfeng preferred dealing with the gentle and intellectual Queen Nyx. After all, Nyx wouldn't treat him like a beast of burden while acting as if it were her due. Whether it was her behavior or her words, Nyx always gave Yunfeng a feeling of warmth and comfort. Even working for her would be much more comfortable than working for Roland...

After saying goodbye to Nyx and Roland, Yun Feng scratched his head, feeling a bit bald. Even for a sixth-tier sage like Yun Feng, creating ten sets of superior-grade equipment in the next few months would undoubtedly be an extremely challenging task.

……

"Your Majesty, I heard you haven't been handling state affairs lately?" As Yunfeng had predicted, Lance arrived outside his room that evening.

"Come in and talk!" Yun Feng looked around and pulled Lance inside, then slammed the door shut.

"What happened? You quit? You confronted His Highness?" Lance asked, somewhat alarmed. After all, Yun Feng practically single-handedly supported the entire kingdom's administrative system. If Yun Feng were to open up, Lance, who was at the bottom of the system, would be in serious trouble.

"Calm down, sit down and talk this out!" Yun Feng rolled her eyes helplessly, seeing how frightened the child was...

“It’s not what you think. You’re aware of the kingdom’s predicament. The number of refugees is constantly increasing, but our food supplies are constantly decreasing. With our current reserves, we simply won’t last until next autumn’s harvest,” Yunfeng calmly explained to Lance.

"So purchasing grain from abroad is the top priority this autumn, but the kingdom has no money..." Yunfeng spread his hands and looked helplessly at Lance.

"Should we ask everyone to donate? I can donate all of my salary!" Lance quickly said.

"Hmm, your intentions are good. But what can you do with your meager salary? And has King Roland ever paid us a salary?" Yun Feng's words left Lance speechless. It seemed that this salary was indeed just an empty promise from King Roland. He truly deserved to be called the King of Empty Promises in the Middle Kingdom!

“We’ve done the math. We need at least 2.5 tons of grain to ensure the kingdom’s food security so we don’t fall into famine! How many tens of thousands of gold coins would that cost?” Yun Feng countered.

"Then what does this have to do with your resignation?" Lance shook his head, returning to the original question.

"Hmm, good question!" Yun Feng chuckled. So after all that calculation, he's the only beast of burden in the entire Lagrang Kingdom? Are you trying to fleece someone? Is Lagrang really in ruins while Yun Feng is busy mending and patching things up?

"I'll make magical equipment to make money!" Yun Feng snorted a few times with a dark face. If that bastard Roland really made him do alchemy while handling official business... Heh! Tonight, he'll show that brat what it means to suddenly have a madman sharpening his knife at night, and the imperial star swaying high like Mars!

"Uh, I understand. Then I won't bother you any longer!" Lance bowed with his hand on his chest and slipped out before Yun Feng could react.

"Holy crap? Wait a minute! The government affairs haven't been handed over yet!" A few seconds later, Yun Feng suddenly realized that if Lance ran away, who would hand over the government affairs to Queen Nyx?
……

"Sigh... what should I use?" Yun Feng crossed his legs, carefully considering what material he should use to make the knight's armor. After all, the material needed to have sufficient ductility and strong toughness, and the price also needed to be reasonable. Otherwise, using pure mithril for a full set of plate armor would probably make even a count tremble with fear. "I'll use Star Silver Steel!" After thinking for a moment, Yun Feng decided to use the most common magical alloy material, Star Silver Steel, to make this set of knight's armor.

……

"Your Majesty, greetings!" The next morning, Yun Feng appeared outside the blacksmith's shop. He pushed open the door and went in. Several blacksmiths who were busy hammering and forging hoes looked up and bowed to him when they saw that it was Yun Feng.

"You all go about your business. I need to use the lava forging furnace." Yun Feng waved his hand to indicate that everyone should not be reserved, and then walked straight to the lava forging furnace at the back of the blacksmith shop.

"Whoosh~" Yun Feng opened the furnace and looked inside. The surging flames were constantly rolling and a wave of heat immediately hit him.

"Splash!" Yun Feng tossed the irregular pieces of Star Silver Steel into the container of the forging furnace, then closed the furnace and quietly waited for it to melt into molten iron.

……

"Hiss!" White smoke mixed with rolling heat waves rushed towards him, but Yun Feng was unfazed. He surged his magic power to form a shield that blocked the heat waves. Then, he waved his hands in the air and activated Mage's Hand! Invisible hands guided the semi-solidified Star Silver Steel to extend, and soon a Star Silver Steel plate appeared in mid-air.

At this moment, the dark red Star Silver Steel plate had not yet fully solidified its shape, making it the perfect time for shaping. A six-pointed star magic circle appeared on Yun Feng's hands, and powerful magic directly wrapped around the still "soft" steel plate, twisting and bending it. Soon, the prototype of a breastplate began to appear. As the magic surged, the entire steel plate changed shape, and before long, a breastplate radiating steam appeared in front of Yun Feng.

"Hiss!" Smoke billowed out, and Yun Feng used his mage's hand to throw the still-warm breastplate into a specially prepared cooling oil to quench it. Soon, a silver breastplate with starlight was retrieved.

"It's time to eat!" Yun Feng looked up at the sky. He hadn't expected it to be noon already! It was just that this one breastplate had taken him all morning, and the key was that he hadn't even noticed the passage of time!
"Is this the magical equipment?" Lance, who had appeared behind him at some point, asked after Yun Feng finished his work.

"Nothing went wrong today, right? Prince Nyx isn't very familiar with things, so problems are bound to arise!" Yun Feng didn't answer Lance's question but instead asked about the day's political affairs.

"In fact, Queen Nyx picked it up faster than we expected! After all, she is a noble of the Grand Duke level. They have been learning these things since they were young, so it is not surprising that she can learn them quickly!" Lance shook his head and said to Yun Feng. Nyx handled government affairs as quickly as Yun Feng, and even seemed quite adept at it.

"What happened to King Roland?" Yun Feng frowned. Could it be that all the nobles were capable except for Roland, who was rendered useless? (Roland: That's the truth. I feel offended.)
"Uh..." Lance was speechless. He could only say that Yun Feng was good at chatting, but she often managed to kill the conversation... How was Lance supposed to respond? Was he supposed to just admit that Roland's terrible and cringe-worthy abilities?

"Forget it, let's talk about equipment instead!" Yun Feng shook his head, ending the topic. After all, he felt uncomfortable whenever Roland was involved. As a beast of burden, he just wanted to shout that even a beast of burden has its own life!