After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World

The experimentation with this metal was mostly with alloys or in combining them with other materials. So for the past couple of weeks she had been in the armory factory borrowing their workshop and their furnaces.

The findings they had so far needed a bit more trial and error to be able to use them.

To Lin, they had to be used first before she could count it as a discovery in the first place, so there was no hint of excessive pride in her body right now.

This was because she believed that she—other than the fact that they discovered it—hadn’t accomplished anything related to this metal yet.

Creating alloys with the metal had been done several times by now. This was how she got to certain conclusions, but its behavior for larger applications was really different. For example, heating it up at certain temperatures would definitely cause it to behave differently, with even more variances than other metals.

To determine more, she needed either a Class C weaponsmith or a metal user. Fortunately, Alterra was one of the few towns where they did not lack such a level of expertise.

She turned to see Oslo there, playing with a metal in his hand. She blinked. ”You’re still here?” she couldn’t help but ask, a bit surprised. It had been a few hours since he was here, and she didn’t ask anything else of him. She had assumed he had left a long time ago.

At this, Oslo leaned forward a bit, sparkling as always. ”Like alloys, we are stronger together, don’t you think?”

Lin made a face, using her palm to push his face back. ”Stop being cheesy.”

”Anyway,” he said, standing up. ”You seem stuck.”

”A bit,” she admitted without shame. ”Help me.”

Oslo’s eyes brightened hearing this. If anyone else was there, they’d be blinded by his smile. Sadly, Lin seemed to be made of metal herself, merely reflecting his light without a care for it.

”You can manage criel now, right?” she asked.

Oslo nodded. It was only a bit... but it should be enough, right?

Right?

Nope. He was wrong.

A few hours later, Oslo was pale as his stamina was consumed, but with very little success for Lin.

The goal was to successfully merge the few types of metal, including steel with criel to create a weapon superior—and more stable—to their current steel one.

Granted, steel was still a very, very, good weapon at their level, but who’d say no to an upgrade?

The two of them tried and tried until they were drenched in sweat, but it still didn’t work.

”Sigh, theoretically it should work—but theory has a way of not working in this world.” Lin was very regretful, but not entirely surprised either.

Why? Because of aether—the most mysterious element. It was incredibly unpredictable, too. It felt like a wrench in all scientists’ plans after they got to this world.

It was like a new, annoying variable in a math equation, where adjusting one minor variable could change it, making a mess out of the entire equation instead.

”We’d have to call in a weaponsmith after all,” she said. She wanted to try if they could do without weaponsmiths, who had the passive ability of integrating the mysterious elements into their creations.

After all, if they managed to do this without weaponsmiths, that would mean they could be mass-produced. She was still idealistic in the end. Even steel needed a weaponsmith for it to be counted as a Class D weapon.

A few minutes later, Brenda and her father arrived. They also called in the best blacksmith they had, including Hardy—the person who taught many of them how to handle Iron properly.1

There was no actual blacksmith profession in Xeno—only weaponsmith, armorsmith, or creators like Eugene—but he was definitely instrumental to the current state of Alterra’s metalurgy industry.

They looked at Lin and Oslo, who were drenched in sweat and had flushed cheeks. If there weren’t piles of ores in front of them, people might think they were up to ’something else’, especially considering Oslo’s reputation.

Brenda cleared her throat while her father blinked at them. ”...how can I help?”

”Here, take a look.”

The two of them made way for Birion and Brenda. Criel was still an odd metal, so Oslo was still needed for now. Together, they worked for hours on end with Lin trying to instruct them on what to do.

They failed many, many times. Fortunately, metals were reusable, so there was no wastage except for their energy, which was also debatable because they did improve a little every time.

Hours and hours (days) passed by, and Troy would come in with face towels, snacks, and drinks for them. At the side, he patiently waited for them and also listened to the process. He was still on the border of becoming a Class D weaponsmith, and he might be able to break through with this.

Troy even had to peek to see what was taking so long, and it was only way past midnight did they finally created a prototype dagger.

”Sigh, finally!”

”Next is to figure out whether or not its attack and durability are worth all that effort,” Oslo said.

They made this for days straight, after all. One had to know that they were all high-ranking professionals, so their time was quite expensive.

”Probably not,” Lin said, frankly, making the two look at her. ”I just need to figure out its stability, maybe add traces of other metals so Oslo wouldn’t be needed in the process.”

Oslo pretended to be hurt. ”Trying to get rid of me?”

The two women rolled their eyes.

”Besides, there’s something else I learned today...” Lin said, eyes sparkling at the dagger.

Although there was still much to improve on this one, she felt a certain stability and reaction to this alloy, one she had been waiting to achieve for a while now!

It was so stable that even an explosive force would be contained if they shaped it well!

Within the next few months, who knows? Maybe Alterra might just be welcoming a brand new weapon!

”Next up: The handgun.”

The first blacksmith of Alterra