[Blueprint: Forging Table] [Type: Rank 6 Basic Blueprint] [Description: A standardized forging platform specialized for processing high-temperature steel products. Consists of a stone base and a steel plate surface. Capable of withstanding continuous heavy hammer blows and instantaneous impact from high-temperature metals, though the surface will deform over time with heat and striking. The foundational platform for forging steel tools.] [Required Materials: Stone Bricks x25, Lime Mortar x10, Steel Plate x1]
Chuck wiped the sweat from his forehead and set down the bronze hammer, panting heavily.
A forging table...
It was another basic blueprint unlocked through a new crafting process. This forging table was clearly designed to pair with the furnace for hammering work. If he built this and placed it next to the furnace, wouldn't he essentially have a small blacksmith shop?
But anyway...
As the forged steel hammer cooled on the sandstone block, Chuck looked away from the holographic screen. He couldn't wait to use the workbench to combine the hammerhead with a hardwood handle.
With a flash of light, a heavy, solid iron hammer with a metallic sheen was firmly gripped in Chuck's hand.
Is this a quality steel hammer?
He lifted the brand-new tool. The head radiated a deep, steady metallic luster—not sharp like pig iron, nor golden and flashy like bronze, but a calm, substantial color. It felt heavy and solid.
Chuck was more satisfied the longer he looked at it.
But looks weren't enough. After all the hard work to forge his first steel tool, the most important thing was to see if it had the substance to back it up.
He picked up a slightly deformed bronze hammer from the side. The two hammers, glowing differently under the dim firelight, represented two distinct stages of human civilization.
Chuck took a deep breath, touched the face of the bronze hammer lightly against the edge of the steel hammer, then raised his arm and brought it down hard!
DING—!
A crisp, piercing metallic ring exploded over the sandstone, much louder and clearer than the sounds of forging earlier.
Chuck felt a numbness in the web of his thumb. He lifted the steel hammer to check—there wasn't even a white scratch on its edge. Then he looked at the bronze hammer in his other hand; a visible dent had appeared on its face!
"...Impressive."
As expected of steel, its strength was clearly a tier above bronze!
Now, as long as he used the same method to smelt and forge a set of steel wedges, along with steel pickaxes and axes, his efficiency in mass-cutting stone bricks, mining, and logging would skyrocket!
Holding up the iron hammer that symbolized a breakthrough in productivity, an indescribable sense of accomplishment surged in Chuck's heart.
This series of torments had finally yielded the result he wanted!
This was the true Iron Age!
...
With the steel hammer in hand, the next natural step was to build the forging table to facilitate the mass production of steel.
Among the required materials, stone bricks and the steel plate were the difficult ones, but with the iron hammer, their acquisition difficulty had dropped significantly.
For the stone base of the forging table, Chuck thought for a moment and chose the relatively easier-to-obtain limestone bricks for efficiency. A wide base like this didn't need to worry much about erosion from wind and rain, and the part withstanding the hammering would mainly be the steel plate on top.
Limestone bricks could be easily cut and synthesized using the workbench and his existing bronze wedges. Occupying just one queue slot, he could produce a limestone brick every 30 minutes.
Chuck threw all his bronze hammers back into the furnace, combined them with his original set of wedges, and ran full tilt. He predicted he could get the required twenty-five stone bricks in under three hours, and since limestone was far softer than quartz sandstone, he didn't have to worry about damaging his tools.
While the workbench synthesized stone bricks, Chuck fired up the furnace again. Using the remaining ten kilograms of iron ore, he cast a square iron plate about five millimeters thick and 35 centimeters wide, then used the sandstone as a base to hammer and forge it further.
By noon, with the sun directly overhead, the last stone brick finished synthesizing in the workbench, and Chuck's iron hammer completed the forging of the steel plate for the tabletop.
[Forging Complete!] [Forging Quality: 68%] [Pig Iron Plate x1 -> Substandard Steel Plate x1]
As the light faded, Chuck looked at the visibly uneven steel plate on the sandstone surface and shook his head helplessly. Unlike the steel hammer, forging on a rock base was bound to result in this kind of quality. Honestly, getting it into shape at all was decent enough.
Regardless, with this steel plate, he could combine it with the base to form the forging table. Once that was done, the difficulty of future forging work would plummet.
Impatiently opening the blueprint interface, Chuck triggered the newly unlocked Forging Table blueprint. He added the materials one by one. As the progress bar filled and blue light flashed, a simple but vastly superior forging table appeared next to the furnace.
The table was square, about a meter long and wide, and 1.2 meters high—perfect for Chuck to hammer on.
Steel hammer acquired. Forging table acquired. With this, the most troublesome work was done. Blacksmithing would only get easier for him from here on out.
With the task complete, a wave of intense exhaustion washed over Chuck's limbs as he relaxed.
Forging was honestly more tiring than he had imagined. Even with his potion-enhanced body, it was a bit of a struggle. No wonder blacksmiths in movies were always covered in muscle; an ordinary person really couldn't handle this intensity of work.
Time for a break.
Chuck tossed the hammer onto the steel plate of the forging table, extinguished the furnace, turned around, walked to the shade of the awning, and plopped down onto a wooden chair.
Before he could even speak, the women chatting around the dining table inside saw him and sprang into action, swarming around him.
Water, fanning, massages.
"Darling~ You're killing me!" "You've worked so hard, Hubby. Lunch is almost ready." "Mr. Chuck, have some water?"
Surrounded by fragrant breezes and slender hands relieving the soreness in his shoulders and arms, Chuck narrowed his eyes like an emperor, enjoying the moment.
Though tired, a treat like this after hard work tasted indescribably sweet.
Suddenly, a scent of milk wafted over, and red hair draped over his shoulder. Janet bypassed her niece Julia, who was massaging his shoulders, and leaned into Chuck's ear, whispering softly.
"Baby, that silver-haired woman seems a bit restless. Want to go inside and check?"
Chuck raised an eyebrow and turned to look inside the house.
His gaze met a head poking out from the storage room.
Seeing Chuck look over, Valentina frowned and pulled her head back inside.
Chuck sighed.
Just finished work, and now he had to herd cats. Opening a harem on a deserted island, honestly, wasn't an easy job.
...
Stepping into the room, Chuck immediately noticed that the wooden bed had been moved by Valentina to the center of the room.
It seemed she did it specifically to observe what was happening outside.
However, despite the effort of moving the bed, the chain remained locked to the headboard, and the surrounding clutter hadn't changed a bit.
"Come!"
Seeing Chuck actually enter the room, Valentina, who had been restless since morning, immediately assumed a fighting stance. It looked like the moment Chuck nodded, she would rush him.
"Come for what?"
But Chuck ignored her. He walked straight to the bed, bent down to unlock the chain from the headboard, and then, under Valentina's stunned gaze, turned and walked away without hesitation.
"Food is on the table outside. Fifteen minutes. Eat, then we work."
"Hey! You said we'd fight!"
Yesterday's battle had ended abruptly, leaving Valentina feeling stifled. She had waited all morning, only to be told to work. She stomped her foot in frustration.
Chuck didn't even turn his head, just waving his hand dismissively.
"I said work first."
...
Although Valentina's physical stats weren't as high as Chuck's, they were indeed excellent. At least in Chuck's view, she was close to what he had been before awakening his cheat.
So, while the gap was clear, it was rare for a woman to temper her body to this level without external aid, all while maintaining her aesthetic appeal.
Not using her for manual labor would be a waste.
After lunch, the temperature began to rise. The other women hid indoors to escape the heat and nap, while Chuck led Valentina by the chain up the steep slope toward the Redstone Hills.
He had the forging table and the hammer; now he needed to forge the first batch of essential tools.
Steel pickaxes, steel axes, steel wedges, and even replacement steel plates for the forging table...
For the second mining trip, he didn't need much—just enough to make these tools. Next time, he'd bring the steel pickaxe for mass extraction.
So this time, Chuck could have easily done it alone, but he brought Valentina along for one reason: the hardwood supply at home was running low.
When smelting bronze, burning wood directly was barely sufficient since redwood was dense and burned long. But smelting iron required turning wood into charcoal first to raise the furnace temperature, which meant fuel consumption had more than doubled!
Just two smelting sessions had depleted the redwood Chuck had stockpiled over the past few days, so he urgently needed to replenish it.
Arriving at the hematite deposit in the Redstone Hills, Chuck gave Valentina a pickaxe and told her to dig with him. Although she looked reluctant, for the sake of Chuck's promise, she had to pick up the tool and start swinging.
With a capable helper, the mining speed increased significantly. By the time two bronze pickaxes were scrapped, red iron ore was scattered all over the ground.
While Valentina wasn't looking, Chuck stored two large chunks of ore in his inventory, intending to collect the rest next time. He then tugged the chain and headed briskly toward the Redwood Forest.
The sun climbed higher, and the heat intensified. Chuck wiped sweat from his forehead and looked up at the sky; the blazing sun made it hard to keep his eyes open.
He glanced at the silver-haired woman beside him. She was also drenched in sweat, her fiber clothes soaked and clinging tightly to her toned, athletic body.
Chuck realized another heatwave was sweeping in.
Perfect timing.
His livestock pen and greenhouse had passed the test of the storm; now he could see if the island's other extreme weather would threaten his farming and ranching plans.
"It seems no matter what, we're all going to die here eventually."
Suddenly, Valentina spoke up. Walking behind Chuck, tethered by the wrist like a prisoner, her emerald eyes revealed a cold indifference toward life and death.
Chuck smiled.
"You know, thinking like that is exactly why you lose to me every time. You don't take me seriously enough."
Sweat dripped from Valentina's wet silver bangs. Hearing his words, she clenched her teeth but couldn't refute him.
Chuck didn't look back. Watching the Redwood Forest approaching, he took a bronze axe from his waist. Then, without any hesitation, he handed another one behind him, placing it into Valentina's hand.
"So, whether it's you or this cruel island, I will defeat you again and again. And then I will press you down like a bitch and fuck you until you submit."
His blunt words instantly ignited anger in Valentina's eyes. She started to raise the bronze axe, but then slowly lowered it, grinding her teeth.
Looking at the axe in her hand, her anger only grew.
Leaving the pickaxe aside, this bronze axe was definitely a weapon. Yet he had handed it to her so casually while alone with her and with his back turned.
It was undisguised contempt.
She quelled her rage and looked at Chuck's back, retorting coldly.
"Not taking you seriously? You're one to talk..."
"Haha, true."
Chuck laughed, turning his head slightly to give her a meaningful look.
"If you're not convinced, when we get back, you can try to hit me in the face."
"But remember, no matter what, this is your last chance."
"If you lose to me this time, tonight I will do exactly what I said—treat you like a bitch and fuck you until you submit."
Hearing this, Valentina's breath hitched. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the axe handle.
Like many religious Western women who insist on "backdoor only" intimacy before marriage to preserve the hymen they view as chastity...
Even though Chuck had already violated her rear, Valentina's virginity remained. Her womanhood still held a last piece of pure land.
She swore to protect this pure land with everything she had!
Not only that, but tonight, she would stand as the victor and wash away the humiliation of the past few days!
Looking at Chuck's back, Valentina made her vow.