Farming in the Magical World

Anyway, he'd played around with it... well, I mean, he'd pretty much figured it out. Lanny dusted off his hands and stood up.

He had roughly observed the effects of the molding powder and felt that the time was almost up. He noticed that the hardness was significantly increasing, and now he just had to wait for it to eventually return to the hardness of iron, which wasn't anything particularly interesting.

"Jimmy, didn't I already tell you how to use it? Do I need to teach you again on the spot?" Although the experiment was actually finished, Lanny's attitude was still not very good because he was interrupted.

"Sir, you invented this, so you should inspect it!" Seeing that Lenny's attitude wasn't very good, Jimmy was terrified. After bowing and apologizing, he stretched out his hands like a treasure and handed over the ink line. Then he looked at Lenny with excitement and trepidation.

This was his first achievement since arriving at the castle, and naturally he hoped to receive Lanny's approval to feel at peace.

Lanny took the ink line from his hand, examined it carefully from all angles for a while, and then nodded in satisfaction.

It must be said that although he didn't have many tools at his disposal and little experience in fine polishing, Jimmy's work ethic was truly commendable.

The ink line in his hand is not round but square. This is because it is difficult to carve a round groove with the tools he currently has, while a square one does not have this problem. It fits the cut of the newly made chisel perfectly, so Lanny changed the design and drew it as square. Anyway, it does not affect the use!

Jimmy had carefully polished the outside of the inkwell, making it exceptionally smooth and rounded. Holding it in your hand, you wouldn't feel any bumps or rough edges. It felt as comfortable as an antique that had been handled for many years, much more comfortable than that chisel!

In front was a square inkwell containing some scraps of cloth soaked in ink. Behind it was a thread reel made of a small piece of wood, from which a hemp thread was drawn through the inkwell and extended from a small hole at the front of the ink fountain.

Apart from its square shape and the fact that the rotating handle at the back is made of wood, it is no different from the ink line used by the old carpenters he had seen in another world.

He gently turned the reel handle, which was slightly stuck, and a slight creaking sound came from the support. After all, it was made of pure wood and the lubrication was not enough, but it did not affect its use. Now all that was missing was a nail to secure the thread end.

Nodding, Lanny walked to the wooden plank that had been set up and stood there. He beckoned to Iron Hammer, who was watching the spectacle with great interest, to pull out the thread at the end of the ink line so he could test the effect himself.

"No, no, no, Hammer is clumsy and might break it. Let me do it." Jimmy, who was holding the plank, immediately objected, jumping up to stop Hammer and letting him hold the plank while he personally pulled the cotton thread from Lanny's hand.

As Jimmy pulled the thread to the other end, the reel spun with a creaking sound until Jimmy secured the thread at the other end. Only then did Lanny press down the inkwell to tighten it, and then gently flick the hemp thread.

Snapped!

With a soft click, the cotton thread left a clear ink line on the beige wooden board.

"Huh... ..."

Hammer exclaimed in surprise, finding the thing quite interesting. With just a light flick, it could draw such a long line on the wood. He climbed down and examined the wood closely for a long time, confirming that the line was indeed very straight. He looked up at Lanny with a look of astonishment.

Under the admiring gaze of the hammer, Lanny slowly turned the reel in his hand, secretly pleased with himself, even the frustration of his previous failed meditation vanished.

Jimmy is probably very happy too... ...right!

He was just about to check Jimmy's expression, hoping to gain some more admiration and satisfy his own vanity, when he didn't expect Jimmy's eyes to redden and he burst into tears.

"Wow... ..."

Lenny and Hammer exchanged a bewildered glance, completely confused as to why Jimmy had suddenly started crying.

In this world, carpentry apprentices are first assigned to chop wood for six months before they start working with their masters. Only when the planks they chop are long and straight, without any bumps, are they considered to have met the basic requirements and have entered the field.

Of course, if you accidentally break or miscut the wood, then sorry, you'll have to pay compensation, since the wood in the craftsman's shop was bought with money.

Although timber is not valuable, it takes time to go from novice to expert. Which apprentice doesn't break dozens of logs when they first start out?

Jimmy lost a lot of money because of this, which prevented him from continuing his carpentry studies, as his family simply couldn't afford to pay the fines.

"If, if you had invented this earlier, Mr. Lanny, I could have saved myself four months of wood chopping, and my mother wouldn't have been unable to afford medical treatment and would have had to... ... ... ... waah!"

Thinking of his mother, Jimmy couldn't hold back any longer and burst into tears again, his tattered sleeves soon covered in snot and tears. Lenny and the other man looked at each other, unsure how to comfort the young carpenter.

Although he tried hard to suppress his emotions, he clearly couldn't control himself for long, and his speech was still choked with sobs.

"I'm sorry, sir, I just... I just... I couldn't help it when I thought of the past..." As he spoke, tears welled up in his eyes again, and he tried to wipe them away with his sleeve, but he couldn't get them out.

Lanny didn't know how to comfort Jimmy about his painful past.

He felt that this training in chopping wood should be fine, and it made sense, since the world often deals with logs.

But if he has to pay for the damaged wood, it's probably a way for his teacher to deliberately rip him off. Since he's an apprentice, couldn't he have started by practicing with scrap wood? Why did he have to start with raw logs right away?

Even if you have this ink line, can't you say the line is crooked? Can't you say the line was too heavy and contaminated the wood? There are many ways to make someone pay compensation; it's just a matter of finding some excuse.

Of course, saying all this now will only make Jimmy more heartbroken and hate his master, but it won't do any good!

"Sir, what should we call this thing? You invented it, it looks like a box for holding ink, how about we call it the Laney Ink Cartridge?"

As a blacksmith, Hammer couldn't empathize with Jimmy's plight. He grew impatient listening to the grown man sobbing and changed the subject.

They were even somewhat smug about coming up with such a good name.

Well... ...

Lenny was speechless, feeling utterly helpless!

Laney ink cartridges? I even have a Laney brand printer!

He really wasn't used to having a tool call him by his name. Every time someone addressed this thing, he felt like he was being summoned, and the thought of it made him feel awkward.

However, what Iron Hammer said wasn't entirely wrong. Since this thing has never appeared here before, it's okay to assume that he invented it, right?

However, calling it "Lanny Ink Cartridge" is absolutely unacceptable; it's too awkward.

After thinking for a moment, Lanny decided to name it "Modou" (墨斗), and decided to come up with a random name, since he was really not good at naming things.

"Alright, alright, let's get to work!"

Now that the tools were ready, Jimmy naturally began to build the bellows step by step according to Lanny's design. The boards and some miscellaneous parts had already been prepared, so the remaining workload was not much, just a bit tedious.

He needs to polish and drill holes in the existing wooden boards, and then assemble them according to the design drawings. Jimmy estimates that it should take about one or two days to complete.

Meanwhile, Iron Hammer was not idle either. His task for the past two days was to dig soil and mix mud to repair the blacksmith's table.

Lanny planned to try using the new bellows and upgraded blacksmith table to repair Tim's broken longsword. Since the molding powder was too expensive and he didn't have much money, he decided to try the new method first. If it worked, wouldn't he save several gold coins?

The upgrade to the blacksmith's workbench wasn't too complicated. It involved making a fireplace-like shell out of mud around the furnace to try and fix and confine the furnace's temperature, and see if the furnace temperature could be raised to 1,000 degrees Celsius.

If he remembered correctly, a block of iron at 1000 degrees Celsius is almost melting and can be easily shaped by external force. It's probably not as easy as using molding powder, but don't forget that once the temperature reaches this range, it can not only be shaped by forging, but the forging process also improves the toughness and rigidity of the iron.

He roughly figured out why Tim's longsword broke. It was most likely because the forging technology in this world was inadequate. The iron sword was hard enough, but too brittle. Once the critical force was exceeded, it would break into several pieces.

A longsword that has been repeatedly forged should not be so brittle; it should have greatly improved toughness and perhaps even higher hardness, at least it wouldn't break so easily.

Of course, the temperature in a blast furnace is much higher, and he understands the principle and general structure of a blast furnace, but he doesn't plan to make steel now, so there's no need to go through all that trouble.

He had a feeling that if this method worked, it would be the low-investment, high-return money-making project he had been racking his brains for.

After all, what business can make money faster than manufacturing weapons?

He's not entirely confident yet, so he'll have to wait for the test results.

The reason he wasn't sure was that he wasn't sure if the magical elements of this world (which he guessed were likely the legendary spiritual energy) would come into play again, making things strange and unpredictable.

After all, if it really is because the magical elements of this world have affected the burning process of the flames and lowered the temperature, it wouldn't be surprising if there were other strange influences as well.

“Master Lanny, this is a small matter of mixing mud. You can just find a child to do it. You don’t need me, do you?”

Iron Hammer was somewhat reluctant to accept the task assigned to him, feeling that as an adult, he was too embarrassed to be asked to pee and play in the mud like a child.

"Heh, you think playing in the mud is easy?" Lanny looked at Hammer with a strange smile.

"I need to coat the outside of this stove with a layer of clay that can withstand the high temperature of the stove without cracking or breaking, but it can't be too thick, so as not to affect the subsequent operations! And the clay that meets these requirements can't just be found anywhere."

He pointed to the riverbank outside. "The soil there definitely won't do; it has too much sand and will easily crumble. As for where to find it, you'll have to go and find it yourself. And you must find it before Jimmy gets the bellows set up!"

Hammer: ... ...

He never imagined that something as simple as playing with mud could have so many requirements.