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Qing Kuo immediately replied, "Twenty-one and a half baskets!"

Jian Mo, "Should we melt it down?"

This is metal; once melted down, the tools made from it will be far superior to the wooden, bone, and stone tools they currently use.

With metal tools, productivity was directly boosted.

Wu Jiong: "Refine!"

Qing Kuo: "We've already brought them back, are we just going to waste them by leaving them piled up in the cave if we don't smelt them?"

De Jiang then said, "We'll be going back into the mountains to cut down trees for a while now. Luckily, we have copper axes now."

Jian Mo: "There will be more useful metal axes and machetes in the future."

When the topic of smelting metal came up, everyone began to make arrangements for the next steps.

Jian Mo listened in for a bit and, seeing that their arrangements were very thorough, had nothing to say.

When the people in the tribe actually get to work, they are very efficient.

In just five days, the tribe's first batch of metal was smelted.

They made some improvements to the pottery box this time, leaving holes on the side.

When the ore was placed into the ceramic box, the substances that melted first flowed out through the holes, while the remaining alloy remained in the box, solidifying into a purer and larger metal block.

Jian Mo took the still-warm black and red metal block and examined it repeatedly.

It's described as blackish-red, but it's actually close to black; the red is only visible under sunlight at a specific angle.

He guessed that it must contain a relatively high amount of iron and copper.

As for the composition of other metals—he didn't know either; there were no tools or relevant technology available to determine it.

The only thing that's certain is that this metal block is usable.

Jian Mo stared at the piece of metal for a long time, her eyes filled with complex emotions.

He had no idea what was going on in this world, nor whether this planet was in the same universe as Earth.

Now it seems that perhaps it is.

Given the high iron content in Earth's universe, it would be perfectly normal to find iron ore now if we were in the same universe.

Because of the unknown distance in time and space between them and Earth, even with just a slight guess, Jian Mo felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

It feels like the distance between here and Earth has suddenly shrunk.

Jian Mo's mood has been off these past two days, but no one in the tribe is particularly calm either.

Even Qing Kuo, who seemed unusually calm, had huge dark circles under his eyes.

Although Wu Jiong didn't have dark circles under his eyes, his expression was unusually serious.

The metal was smelted quickly; of the twenty-one and a half baskets of ore, only a little over half a basket of metal blocks were smelted.

Nevertheless, everyone was still very excited.

That day, the core members of the tribe gathered at Wu Jiong's house for a meeting to discuss how to use these metal blocks.

As one of the core members, Jian Mo sat down among them.

At first, Jian Mo simply listened quietly from the side without interrupting.

As their intentions gradually shifted towards storing the metal blocks as strategic materials, Jian Mo couldn't resist any longer.

Jian Mo said, "I don't think it's necessary to keep it. The alloy is very hard, and even with daily use, the amount consumed is not much. We can make it into tools first, and then collect it and melt it down when we need to make other things."

Wu Jiong: "Indeed, the wear and tear isn't significant. The copper axe I replaced before only developed a few chips after so long; a little sharpening will make it work just as well."

De Jiang glanced at Wu Jiong again and agreed with his opinion, "Metal tools do not consume much energy, so we can give it a try."

As the topic came up, everyone gradually became excited and started discussing what they wanted to do.

Jian Mo continued, "I think we can make a batch of everyday tools first, such as axes, kitchen knives, and hoes."

Qing Kuo: "I agree. We can make the kitchen knife first. It's something we use every day, so making a good one will be much more convenient."

Di Ya: "Maybe we don't need to make kitchen knives, just knives, one for each household, which they can use for whatever they want."

This statement was met with unanimous agreement.

Qing Kuo, eager to try, said, "Then we might have to find the Jintuo Tribe again to exchange for some mineral sand."

Jian Mo: "Let's use up this batch of metal blocks first, then we'll see how things go and replace them."

As they talked, De Jiang asked, "Jian Mo, do you know how to make tools from these metal blocks?"

There are no mineral deposits in the Riverside Tribe's territory, and the people there have never had much dealing with metals.

Although they had used metal tools before, those were obtained through trade with other tribes. Asking them to make these tools themselves would be a real challenge for them.

Upon hearing this, everyone turned their gazes intently to Jian Mo, waiting for him to explain.

Jian Mo actually knew. "We might need a furnace to forge these metal blocks into tools."

Actually, it would be even better if it could be poured.

With their current production capacity, it would be too difficult to melt the metal block directly into water and cast it into the desired tool. They should give up on that idea as soon as possible. It's already quite an achievement that they can even forge the metal block.

Qing Kuo immediately asked, "What is a furnace, and how do I make one?"

Jian Mo: "You can think of the furnace as a small kiln. We put the metal block inside to soften it, then take it out and forge it with tools, hammering it into the shape we want."

Jian Mo explained and gestured until her throat was dry, and finally everyone understood.

Wu Jiong silently handed him a glass of water. "Jian Mo's method is feasible. Let's make the furnace first."

To build a furnace, you must first fire bricks.

They have kilns, clay, charcoal, and the relevant technology, so this is no challenge for them.

Qing Kuo and De Jiang said they would each select sub-beastmen and beastmen and hurry up and gather the materials they would need.

Jian Mo said she would draw up the blueprints and make the bellows in the next few days.