Alloy Plasteel was one of the most basic and widely used multipurpose materials throughout the Empire. It could be used in construction, to manufacture machinery and weapons, and to repair and reinforce facilities and vehicles. Its high strength and resistance to corrosion made it suitable for use in extremely harsh environments, where it could meet the demands of many different kinds of work.
This was especially important on Nuxiao Planet, with its harsh environment.
As far as Gu Hang knew, Nuxiao Planet lacked the technology to produce Alloy Plasteel on a large scale. The whole planet was still using relatively basic and primitive ordinary steel.
By comparison, Alloy Plasteel was vastly superior.
It was obvious that if Waste Mine Society mastered mass production of Alloy Plasteel, it would earn a handsome profit.
Its scarcity and widespread demand kept Alloy Plasteel's price high. But Gu Hang, who had the Black Box, could keep production costs very low—even gaining an advantage over manufacturers on other planets that specialized in the industry.
And Alloy Plasteel would bring more than just profits.
But if they were going to produce it on a large scale, Gu Hang was instead worried that Waste Mine Society might not have enough ore output.
Waste Mine Society didn't have enough people, and Gu Hang hadn't managed to get mining equipment. Most importantly, the quality of the Waste Mine vein itself was only average...
For now, they had enough, but with more and more smelting furnaces being built by the Black Box, a shortfall was inevitable.
By then, though, they should have steady production. There was no need to worry about finding buyers; they wouldn't have trouble selling it. They could also import raw materials on a large scale. In the future, Waste Mine Society's pillar industry would surely shift from resource extraction to metal smelting.
"The parts they've produced should be enough to assemble one smelting furnace. Send them over to Waste Mine Society. They can start production now."
Patel had never doubted that the governor would keep his promises.
If he said he would build them a production line, then he would.
But Patel had never dreamed it would happen so soon.
He watched as servitor soldiers escorted a group of slaves from Governor's Camp—workers, he supposed—who brought all the production parts over on carts.
Patel had already received word, so he brought the young men of Waste Mine Society to help unload the goods.
The instruction manual was ready. A skilled technician from Governor's Camp would guide them through assembling the smelting furnace.
At first, Patel worried that he and his men, most of them barely literate, wouldn't understand the process. But once they got started, he found it was much simpler than he'd imagined.
The manual had text, but it relied mostly on diagrams, which were easy to understand.
First, they installed the furnace body vertically, then carefully aligned each connection. Next, they secured all the parts of the furnace body with fasteners, making sure it was sturdy and stable.
Then came the lid, the viewing window, the exhaust pipe...
Finally, he installed the furnace door with his own hands.
The assembly process was simple, yet meticulous. They only had to follow the steps one by one, taking care to double-check every detail.
The installation took half a day.
They placed the energy crystals that had arrived with the transport convoy into the furnace's power module and activated the heating system.
The entire furnace gradually grew hot as its temperature continued to rise.
A batch of ore they had prepared was fed inside.
The workers of Waste Mine Society were soon drenched in sweat from the waves of heat, yet they stayed at their posts until the Alloy Plasteel smelting furnace finally began to operate, roaring like a beast.
A few hours later, night fell.
The molten alloy metal they had produced cooled in the molds and became ingots, which were stacked in neat rows.
Patel had no idea that the Alloy Plasteel he'd produced was far inferior in quality to the top-grade Plasteel made by the Black Box at Governor's Camp.
But even if he had known, it wouldn't have mattered.
As long as it was acceptable Plasteel, that was enough. It was already a very fine industrial product by Nuxiao Planet's standards.
Old Butch, who had been overseeing construction of Waste Mine Society's surface camp, couldn't help coming to see the finished product.
The two successive leaders of Waste Mine Society looked at the Alloy Plasteel ingots and grinned like fools.
An immense sense of fulfillment filled their hearts.
No one could understand the power of industry better than they did.
From that day on, Waste Mine Society would no longer be a place that could only rely on people digging up low-grade ore and selling it cheaply, just to get food that wasn't even enough to feed them. They had industrial capacity now. They could produce Alloy Plasteel themselves and sell it for a higher price.
They would no longer have to endure hunger and cold. As the governor had said, as long as they worked hard and were willing to put in the effort, they could live a good life.
Old Butch sighed. "Even if Governor wants our lives, I'd accept it."
Patel laughed and patted his uncle on the shoulder. "Governor won't take our lives. He wants us to have better and better lives!"
Soon, a second smelting furnace was delivered to Waste Mine Society.
Its Alloy Plasteel production capacity increased further.
But the problem Gu Hang had worried about earlier did come to pass: just two smelting furnaces had nearly used up all the ore produced by Waste Mine Society.
If they wanted to expand production, they would have to secure more raw materials.
Energy was another problem.
The smelting furnace used energy crystals, another piece of the Empire's technological wizardry.
As Gu Hang understood it, they were essentially batteries—though far more powerful than the kind he remembered.
High-density energy was confined and condensed inside solid crystals, which could safely release it when needed. On certain worlds, these energy crystals could be mined directly. More often, however, they were produced on planets with advanced energy industries, where various power-generation methods were used to compress energy through specialized processes.
There was no doubt that Nuxiao Planet had no such production capacity. The energy crystals Gu Hang was using now were still spoils he'd taken from the Quintet.
But he couldn't keep taking from them forever.
There was good news, too.
First, the energy crystals he had on hand were enough for now.
Second, the smelting furnaces could also be powered by connecting them to an electrical supply instead of using energy crystals.
Gu Hang still had time to set up an electrical supply for his territory.
That was another headache. There wasn't much to be said for high-tech methods. Primitive power generation basically meant boiling water, but they still needed fuel to burn.
"Fuel... raw materials... Trash Town?"
Gu Hang muttered to himself.
The Trash Town he mentioned was a survivor settlement a hundred kilometers north of Waste Mine Society. It had the resources Gu Hang needed.
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