Tian Hao researched and searched for more Chaos Ants, eventually finding the Ant Queen as well. The results were fairly good.
These Chaos Ants possessed little intelligence. They were likely among the lowest-tier Chaos creatures in the Chaos Sea, unable even to withstand the impact of Chaos currents alone. They needed to dwell within Chaos Stones to survive.
The reason they could bore through hard Chaos Stones was only partly due to their body strength. More importantly, they possessed an Innate Ability that allowed them to secrete an acidic fluid specifically capable of corroding Chaos Stones, enabling them to tunnel through them.
"It seems I don't necessarily have to smelt materials at high temperatures. Powder can be used for forging too."
Picking up a grain of excrement produced by a Chaos Ant after it had eaten a Chaos Stone, he rubbed it between his fingers. The powder was exceptionally fine, though its main component remained Chaos Stone. It was simply that the Chaos energy within had been absorbed by the Chaos Ant, while some of the Chaos Stone powder had even fused into its body, especially its shell, increasing its hardness.
This was a good line of thought.
Previously, he had only considered melting Chaos Stones and reshaping them. Now, however, he saw another path. The inspiration came from the forging of tungsten steel in his previous life. Tungsten steel was not forged through melting, but by sintering powders.
Perhaps he could use that as a reference.
Once the thought occurred to him, Tian Hao immediately acted. While relying on the Nine-Leaf Foxtail Swordgrass to absorb Chaos energy and convert it into Life Energy, which he poured into the already-refined Ant Queen to make her rapidly produce more Chaos Ants, he also studied the Chaos Stone powder digested and excreted