Blood-Patterned Black Steel and Weapon Upgrades
The nest was filled with acrid smoke and a sour stench, and the ground was littered with burnt spider shells and broken webs.
Fabien led the way with his sword, while several Knight carried torches and proceeded cautiously.
When they stepped inside, they stopped in their tracks. Behind the cracked cave wall, a dark red vein of minerals was clearly visible.
Unlike ordinary Black Iron, the ore had faint, fine blood-like veins crawling across its surface, buried in the rock strata like a dark blood vessel half-buried in the mountain.
When illuminated by the firelight, faint red light could even be seen deep within the mineral patterns, as if it were slowly flowing.
Fabien couldn't understand any of this; he just felt that the thing exuded an inexplicable eeriness.
Garrick, who was following behind, stared wide-eyed.
Blood-Patterned Black Steel ore, and not just any fragmented ore zone, but a whole vein that can be dug deeper into.
He has spent his whole life working with metal materials, so he knows all too well what they mean.
Ordinary Black Iron is hard enough, but it cannot withstand long-term high pressure and high heat, while Refined Steel is tough enough, but once used in heavy boilers and large-size guide rails, it will still fatigue and deform over time.
Blood-Patterned Black Steel is different; it is inherently more resistant to high heat, high pressure, and the corrosion of Sourceblood.
It is a first-class material used for boiler inner walls, Heavy Repeating Crossbow chassis, pressure-bearing guide rails, winch spindles, and even core load-bearing components of large city defense mechanisms.
In other words, Victor's large defensive structures suddenly had the potential to be built.
No wonder these Night Spider built their nest in such a horrible place.
This type of mineral vein itself carries a strong bloody aura and yin energy, making it a rare strategic material for humans and an excellent nesting site for the Night Spider.
The more Garrick thought about it, the more his back tingled, and then another extremely absurd idea suddenly popped into his head.
Most Holy One, has the Lord received another revelation in a dream?
Otherwise, how do you explain it? He first came to clear the spider nest for the bowstring, but ended up pulling out a Blood-Patterned Black Steel Mother Vein.
He truly is the Chosen Child of the Holy!
But Shien had no idea what he was thinking.
He stood before the cracked cave wall, his gaze calmly fixed on the mineral vein, his mind preoccupied with more practical matters.
The mine is good, but the problems are equally obvious.
This area is beyond the stable coverage of the Sacred Flame in Blackpine Fief. It can't be left unattended, but if it is to be mined, it's not as simple as sending a few teams of miners to dig a few pickaxes.
We need to bring in manpower, build roads, and set up perimeter security and a temporary Sacred Flame camp.
We need to carefully plan how to truly turn this mine into property of Blackpine Fief.
The Knight, laden with their spoils, entered the underground Workshop and carried bundles of Shadow Venom Silk, gleaming with a dim, eerie light, onto a large stone platform.
Layers of damp, cold, fine threads spread out, creating a dark, silvery sheen on the stone surface.
A dozen or so Mechanic and Alchemist in the Workshop gathered around, their eyes fixed on the new materials.
Shien stood beside the drawing table, not immediately drawing a conclusion, but merely glancing around at it:
"Don't rush to put these into storage. This batch of goods isn't just for replacing bowstrings. Think about where else they can be used."
After he finished speaking, the Workshop fell silent for a moment.
Victor was the first to speak, "Let's make the Composite Bowstring first."
A slightly younger craftsman chimed in, "It can also be woven into the lining of Knight's armor. Iron armor always has gaps that it can't cover. Using this to patch them up can at least prevent cuts and also protect against small hooks and silk entanglements."
Another Alchemist reached out and touched the Venom Threads on the stone platform. "They'd also make tripwires, with barbs attached, or soaked in alchemical venom."
The dozen or so people got more and more excited as they talked, and soon several sheets of parchment were spread out on the table. Whoever thought of something would bend down and write it down, and no matter how messy the handwriting was, they kept adding items one by one.
Shien didn't interrupt, but just stood there listening.
Once everyone quieted down, Shien reached out and put the papers away, flipping through them briefly.
"Keep thinking. Don't rush into action these next few days. Make a complete list of all the directions you can try: detoxification, weaving, soaking in medicine, and pressure bearing."
I'll make a final decision in a few days, deciding which items to do first and which to do later.
Everyone in the Workshop nodded in agreement.
Shien then turned the topic back to the batch of Poisonfire Mine on the table. "Let's make this clear first, these are well-made. They played a crucial role in the battle of Poisonfire Mine Ashen Gorge."
As soon as those words were spoken, the atmosphere in the Workshop visibly relaxed.
Shien paused, then turned his gaze back to the finished mine casings.
"However, it's not mature enough yet. If we move it out with the current version when the Blood Moon Season arrives, problems will still arise."
The dozen or so people exchanged glances and quickly quieted down again; they were already somewhat used to it.
Shien may have praised it, but as long as he's willing to continue, it means there's still room for improvement.
Shien picked up a landmine casing that hadn't been fitted with a fuse, weighed it in his hand, and said, "First, the trigger mechanism is too rigid. Some of them could be replaced with Pull-Activated Trigger, using Shadow Venom Silk as a tripwire."
Expand the trigger range outwards; it doesn't have to be a direct hit. As long as the line breaks, it will explode. This way, whether it jumps, dives, or slides along the ground, it won't be so easy to miss.
Victor stared at the thin line, and his single eye slowly began to glow.
Several Alchemist nearby also moved closer, clearly following this line of thought.
Shien continued with the second point, "Secondly, the lethality is too scattered."
He put the iron case back on the table, opened a new parchment, and drew a concave cross-section with a few strokes.
"For now, you're still relying on explosions to blast the Iron Shards in all directions. Clearing out regular enemies is no problem, but if you encounter heavily armored or high-level monsters..."
For example, this Third Tier Spider Queen was completely useless; its power spread too widely.
The charcoal pencil touched the tip of the indentation.
"Don't make it flat here, but make it concave, so that when it explodes, the force won't scatter randomly in all directions, but will press forward."
What will emerge then won't be a chaotic mass of fire and scrap metal, but a stream of high-temperature metal forced out. This method is more effective against heavily armored and large targets.
The Workshop was quiet, and no one showed any sign of dissatisfaction.
Victor had already lowered his head and started taking notes, and the Mechanic next to him nodded in agreement, silently memorizing the key points.
They might not understand every single principle, but they knew that Shien wasn't just spouting nonsense.
They can no longer simply view Shien as a genius.
Because some things simply cannot be explained by talent alone.
Shien knows too much, not just mechanical structures, alchemical materials, and battlefield applications.
Sometimes, he can even readily extract ideas that don't belong to this world and then modify them in the most suitable way to make them practical.
Of course, what they didn't know was that Shien's knowledge didn't come from nowhere.
Some of his abilities were acquired through the Canon of Grace and Righteousness from people like Victor and Garrick.
Some of them were transformed and processed by the Sacred Canon, and their fragmented memories from their previous lives were pieced together and directly implanted into their minds.