Steel

After completing this load of fuel transport, the tractor did not stop. It set out again and, after more than an hour, arrived at a previously surveyed open-pit iron mine.

A vast area here was covered in iron ore, but Li Qingsong clearly did not yet have the ability to mine it on a large scale.

He could not even break up the larger chunks of iron ore. For now, all he could do was pick up small pieces of iron ore from the surface and take them away.

Even so, after specifically selecting the smaller pieces on the surface, the trailer was filled in no time, holding around ten tons. At the current rate of consumption, that would be enough for the blast furnace to use for over a month.

The tractor rumbled as it hauled the iron ore, with a total mass of ten tons, back home.

Fortunately, gravity on Luoshen Star was lower. Those ten tons of iron ore only weighed about eight hundred kilograms here, allowing the crude steam tractor to pull them.

On Earth, it probably would not have moved an inch even if the boiler exploded.

When this shipment finally returned, Li Qingsong was filled with excitement.

The first step toward industrialization was finally about to begin!

Although he had previously smelted metal using the ore-refining and processing equipment brought from Earth, that was clearly Earth's technology, not technology he had developed himself.

Now, this entire set of smelting equipment—from the generator and blast furnace to the transport machinery—had all been made by him!

That meant it could be replicated and expanded on a large scale, utterly unlike the machines brought from Earth.

The massive Steam Generator, with a total installed capacity of 130 kilowatts, was ignited. The boiler shook, roaring silently.

The heavy rotor began to turn. As it continuously cut through magnetic field lines, electricity was generated in a steady stream and flowed through the cables into the blast furnace beside it.

The first batch of iron ore placed inside, with a total mass of three hundred kilograms, gradually heated up.

Some gases frozen within it rose as they were heated. Once the pressure reached a certain point, they were released through the exhaust port. After the gases were gone, only the minerals remained inside.

The various elements were continuously separated, then additional elements were added according to the formula, such as chromium and nickel. After a series of processes, long steel plates continuously slid out of the outlet, each only ten centimeters wide, three centimeters thick, and fifty centimeters long.

This was precisely the size the Multifunctional Metal Processing Equipment could handle.

Looking at this first batch of steel he had produced himself, Li Qingsong felt heartfelt joy.

Now that he possessed preliminary steel-production capabilities, the Multifunctional Metal Processing Equipment no longer smelted steel. Instead, it began custom-producing minerals that Li Qingsong could not yet produce himself but were indispensable at this stage.

Such as Nickel Ore and Chromium Ore.

With steel production temporarily on the right track, Li Qingsong turned his attention to another matter.

Metal-processing capability.

At present, all of Li Qingsong's metal-processing capabilities came from that Multifunctional Metal Processing Equipment. But that highly precise, extremely advanced machine had originally been designed for high-precision processing of special metals. Using it to process crude steel was far too wasteful.

It had more important uses. He could not waste all of its productivity on steel. Li Qingsong needed metal-processing capabilities of his own.

Thus, using it as the mother machine and steel from his self-built blast furnace, a large number of components were produced once more. Under the clones' assembly, they became one metal-processing machine after another.

Metal-processing machines for cutting, stretching, polishing, bending, stamping, drilling, and more appeared before Li Qingsong one by one.

By the time all seven types of metal-processing equipment had been completed, more than half a year had passed.

The Deep Space's database did not contain manufacturing knowledge for these metal-processing machines either. But that was fine. The basic principles were enough.

Over those past months, Li Qingsong had studied without interruption while continuously directing the clones on Luoshen Star to experiment and learn through trial and error. After many setbacks, he had finally built all of these machines.

At this point, Li Qingsong had a total of twenty-seven bodies under his command. Another five clones were still being cultivated and would be born in roughly four months.

Looking at the seven metal-processing machines placed out in the open, all powered by that large Steam Generator, Li Qingsong felt deeply gratified.

"I finally have metal-processing capabilities of my own. From now on, I can process some relatively simple metal components with low precision requirements myself."

At this point, the matter Li Qingsong had long been looking forward to finally showed a glimmer of hope.

That matter was using his own Industrial Capacity to build another, larger planting base.

At present, the Sunlight Lamps, Planting Shelves, special films, and other supplies brought from the Deep Space were basically all used up.

If he wanted to build another planting base, he could only rely on himself.

At the same time, the number of clones under his command would soon rise to thirty-two, then reach thirty-seven another half year later.

And thirty-seven clones were the limit that No. 1 Planting Base could support. Any more, and it would be unable to feed them.

"What kind of population is this? It's nowhere near enough.

"I have to solve the food supply problem once and for all."

Li Qingsong quietly made up his mind. "Not necessarily forever, but at the very least, I need to stop worrying about food for the next decade or two."

Building a planting base was not difficult in terms of location. There was a cave nearby with an area of over ten thousand square meters, more than enough.

Planting Shelves would be easy too. It was not as if he lacked steel-production capabilities now.

Cables and electricity would also be easy to deal with. There were copper mines on Luoshen Star, so he could make copper wire himself.

Although insulation would be difficult to solve, for now he could make do by keeping the wires separated by distance. As for power, he could simply build several more generators.

Only one problem gave Li Qingsong a headache.

Sunlight Lamps.

Farming on Luoshen Star would not work without Sunlight Lamps. But Sunlight Lamps were different from steel components; they required a certain degree of technical expertise.

"To make Sunlight Lamps, I first need to master glass-tube forming technology, electrode manufacturing technology, ballast and starter manufacturing technology. I'll also need Phosphorus Powder, Mercury, and inert gases."

Li Qingsong silently calculated. "I understand the basic principles behind all this, but mechanized manufacturing won't be easy."

After thinking it over for a long time, Li Qingsong gritted his teeth. "I should be able to handle the glass tubes mechanically. As for the electrodes, ballasts, and starters... if there's no other way, I can only custom-make those three by hand for now."