Gray held up his finger and said:
"I can provide a set of blueprints for a single-arm reinforced armor, a blueprint for a frontal layered half-armor, and blueprints for three close-range charged-fire weapons... I think these would be suitable for you."
Ed for a moment and asked in return:
Are there any other options that aren't suitable for me?
Gray nodded:
"Yes, because most of the machinery uses brass, so it's much heavier than it looks. And most powerful organizations would have a hard time producing that much metal. Even if they chose to melt down some of the copper coins, it would be difficult to gather enough in a short time."
Ed felt that what the half-trading merchant said made sense, and he asked again:
"What if we only use brass to manufacture the critical parts?"
"And what about the other places...?"
Gray was halfway through his question when he suddenly realized he had guessed what Ed was thinking.
What is the nearest settlement to here?
It's Dragonborn Village!
What's in Dragonborn Village?
cast iron!
The young lord probably wanted to replace brass with cast iron to replace non-critical parts.
It's rare to see someone with such a flexible mind, what a pity...
Gray shook his head:
"Perhaps I'm sorry to disappoint you, but there's a reason we're using brass. Common cast iron can hardly completely replace brass, and as for steel... I doubt there's much of it in Dragonborn Village, is there?"
Ed looked at Gray in surprise:
"Who wants to use cast iron?"
"Oh? You're not planning to use cast iron?"
Now it was Gray's turn to be surprised; he simply couldn't think of any material that could compare to the alloys personally selected by those Grand Foundry Master.
Ed looked at the dumbfounded merchant, stretched out his palm in front of him, and several slender buds gathered together, growing and hardening rapidly in Ed's hand. Finally, under the gaze of the group, they naturally dried and withered, turning into a short stick about half the thickness of a wrist.
Ed stepped forward with the stick, which was about the size of a rolling pin, and gently tapped Gray's metal shoulder.
Unexpectedly, what reached Gray's ears was a crisp sound of metal clashing.
"How... how is this possible?"
"Why not?"
Ed twirled the heavy short stick in his hand:
"Don't forget, I Tree Worship Church."
Actually, this matter has nothing to do with the Tree Worship Church; it's mainly due to Ed's derivative ability [ Hybrid Creation ].
During his recent period of rest and recuperation while farming, in addition to creating strange creatures such as " Vending Tree," " Public Resurrection Tree," " Self-Service Deposit and Withdrawal Tree," and " Two-Location Teleportation Tree," Ed also tried to combine the characteristics of some plants similar to birch and sandalwood from his hometown to create a very hard and wear-resistant tree species, such as the rolling pin in his hand.
In addition, he created a number of plants whose purpose he didn't know, just waiting to be added to the next version update along with the Teleportation Tree, believing that the Master he found from another world would definitely have a good way to make the most of them.
Hearing the crisp tapping sound, Gray was momentarily stunned.
After realizing what Ed meant, he nodded:
"If there were a large quantity of this type of wood, it could indeed have a similar effect; at least I know that some trees are very durable."
"Since this wood is so hard and durable, how do you plan to process it? After all, given the hardness of this stick, cutting it with ordinary metal tools would result in a lot of wear and tear, and the error would be unimaginably large."
Upon hearing this, Ed shook his head and pointed to the traveling merchant in front of him:
"We're just making a few prototypes right now. Just tell me the dimensions of the parts, and I'll have it grow into the corresponding shape."
"Ah?"
Gray understood, but was also stunned and confused... Could parts really be processed like this?
As a professional dealer, Gray's knowledge of mechanics was far inferior to that of his wife, Nora. If she were here, she would be surprised by Ed's ability to handcraft parts, but she would also consider the gap between samples and mass production, and thus selectively modify some mechanical structures to reduce the production difficulty to a level that the Second Holy See's productivity could produce.
But Gray obviously wouldn't think that far ahead. His knowledge lay more in the practical operation of mechanical structures than in design, and the blueprints he could provide to Ed were the standard equipment of the Graycast Corridor, without any of his own customizations.
As if to prove himself, a continuously growing gear appeared in Ed's hand. Gray slowly accepted this premise, thinking to himself that he hadn't dealt with the Tree Worship Church Cult enough. Perhaps all the powerful figures in this closed force were like the young man in front of him, human lathes.
Recalling the blueprints in his mind, Gray raised his left arm, now missing his left hand:
"I can draw the blueprints, but I need a lot of paper, charcoal pencils, a fairly precise ruler, and... Since you can handcraft the parts, could you help me repair my left hand first? That would make my work much easier."
"Emmmm..."
Listening to Gray's series of demands, Ed fell into a brief moment of thought.
It's not that he can't help, it's just... isn't there a more suitable candidate?
Opening the player list in developer mode, Ed began scrolling frantically, eventually fixing his gaze on an ID. He clearly remembered that this person had listed their strengths in the questionnaire; if they hadn't lied about that part...
At this moment, the novice player [ Traditional Eccentric Wheel ] is watching [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] fish by the river. Although there are occasional ripples on the water, he hasn't seen a single fish bite for a long time.
"Dude, is it because the fish didn't load today?"
"Impossible, the developers have already buffed the fish in the river twice, there's no way we can't catch them..."
[ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] looked at the [ Epic-Level Giant ] fishing on a small boat in the middle of the river and said through gritted teeth:
"I arrived late today, and this kid stole my boat. But don't worry, I'll attack in my seagull form. Trading a Vine Sheep for a 20-pound fish is no problem."
[ Traditional Eccentric Wheel ] is a newbie who just qualified three days ago. Because his ID is also a bit crazy, he was chosen by [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] to form a mentor-mentee duo.
He had already completed the entire beginner tutorial yesterday and entered a completely free mode, but at noon today, [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] suddenly sent him a private message saying that he wanted to make some grilled fish for dinner.
No one can resist a free grilled fish, so [ Traditional Eccentric Wheel ] immediately set off for the riverbank.
When he finally ran back to the campsite with a stack of firewood, he found that the fish he was promised were still swimming in the river...