Silence ruled at the declaration before Terry raised his hand. I appreciated his initiative. "Is it open for the farmers as well, sir?" he asked.
"Of course," I replied, then looked at the guards as well. "Farmers, guards, the other classes … anyone that's willing."
"What about the lack of Strength?" Terry asked. "We can't even learn the common variant without it."
"You can still learn the Basic variant, so it's not a problem," I replied. I thought about making a comment on Meditation as well, but I held back, not wanting to confuse things. Eleanor's success with upgrading her sword skill to the Mana variant was promising, but it wasn't something that we could leverage in a few minutes.
I could see many people looking thoughtful, including a few guards, which surprised me. It looked like my beatdown gave them the wrong impression when it came to Forge skill, but I let that particular point go untouched. Any explanation would make my point weaker.
And, it wasn't like having Forge or Repair skills was terrible. As my own experience had shown, they had significant advantages on the battlefield, from rapidly creating traps to actually identifying weaknesses of the enemy weapons.
"I will give you a moment to think," I said, then waved my hand, creating another temporary gate, this time to my fourth-floor base, and filled multiple carts with excess available metal and ore, and I even loaded one of the blast furnaces to the carts before I transported them back to the third floor.
They watched in silence as I rapidly set up a small production line, the combination of my Strength and unlimited mana making it even faster. Soon, I was forging mana swords made of mana steel without using the denser Epic mana.
With the unlimited mana from the dungeon, it merely took a minute for me to finish forging fifty swords, bypassing most steps with mana. "Anyone that lost their weapon can take one," I said.
The guards approached reluctantly, no doubt expecting to receive inferior copies, only for their expression to twist in shock once they tried. "S-sir, this is much better than what we had before," several of them gasped in shock.
"And, you'll receive far better weapons once you prove yourself," I promised. It was an easy one to fulfill. I turned around. "Now, again, a hundred volunteers at first," I declared.
This time, thousands of hands rose, not just from the farmers, but also from the guards. Meanwhile, the auxiliary workers all raised their hands, while the blacksmiths looked shocked. "Much better," I said with a booming voice. "Everyone that wants will have their chance, but for the moment, we only want a hundred volunteers," I said. "Arrange a lottery for the first candidates," I said
Most hands went down, but one hand, belonging to one of the guards, stayed up. "Ask away," I said.
"Sir, I don't understand why you need us," he said. "You can already arm everyone alone, and it wouldn't take a day."
"True, if we're speaking of swords," I said. He looked hesitant. "You're about to say that axes and hammers should have a comparable time, even full plate armors should take less than a week," I added. He nodded, looking even more confused. "Can't you imagine having better weapons?" I said.
"Ballistas?" he said hesitantly.
"What about cannons? Tanks? Planes? Warships?" I asked, each repeat making him look even more shocked. It was clear that they were happy to limit themselves to the offerings of the System, and the idea itself was shocking.
Not just for him, but for everyone.
I was barely able to hold back from letting out a derisive laugh. They were accepting my words with little to no resistance, but it had nothing to do with the actual viability of the idea, and everything to do with the authority I had established by beating them. If it wasn't for my previous display, I could have made the same pitch for days, only to be refused.
I was speaking from experience. I had been laughed out for far more reasonable ideas. The sheer temerity of modifying the suggestion from the skills during the repair had been enough.
I felt like one of the billionaire entrepreneurs back before the System, my ideas were treated as genius regardless of their actual viability. The excitement that spread through the crowd was palpable.
While Harold dealt with the lottery, I walked toward Terry. "I need you to do something for me," I said.
"Organize the farmers with at least Rare Nurture skill. I need you to work on modifying the trees to create a material that is close to plastic."
He looked hesitant. "I'm not sure I know how, sir," he admitted, still hesitant to talk with me.
"Experiment, and make sure to write down every process you use," I said. "I promise I'll do my best to help if you can't come up with a solution in a day or two."
"Excellent," I said as I walked away, happy that I could simply give orders with ease. Before making another move, I closed my eyes, checking the exterior of the dungeon, trying to guess how much time we had before the monsters were at the entrance.
We still had several hours, which might as well be an eternity when the situation was considered. Then, while Harold dealt with the lottery, I focused on my next task: searching for mining opportunities. "Let's see if it works," I muttered as I closed my eyes, trying to use the connection to discover the locations.
Unfortunately, there was no convenient map of every metal deposit that came from the connection, meaning I had to rely on the old method of using the pole with the gap in the middle. It didn't take long for me to find an iron deposit with around ten percent purity, which was enough for the current purpose. I slammed my hammer several times, happy to use my unrestricted mana to turn the area into an open field mine that they could simply fill the carts at and bring them back.
The third floor wasn't as rich as the fourth floor when it came to metals, but the deposit I discovered should be sufficient to teach them while creating the necessary armament.
I grew a line of trees on the way back to show the direction. When I returned, Harold was standing in front of the group of one hundred that were dealing with the aftermath of the skill stone. At some distance away, Terry was leading a team of farmers in their efforts to modify the trees to create a product similar to rubber or plastic.
"These are the first set of volunteers," I asked.
"Yes, sir," he said. "They are the lucky ones."
"Excellent. I have discovered a mine for iron ore. Arrange a team to load them onto the carts and bring them back," I asked, then looked at the ten Blacksmiths that Maria had managed to hire before things had turned into a mess. "Why don't you help me set up a proper production line while they absorb their new skills properly," I said.
"Yes, sir," they said in tandem, their fervor a bit too religious for my liking, but I didn't say anything. It wasn't uncommon for people to feel a sense of unity with the members of their own Class, not too unlike people traveling internationally feeling closer to people of the same hometown despite not knowing them.
The fact that I achieved all of it as a Blacksmith explained the way they looked.
"The first thing we're going to do is set up a blast furnace, create an automated feeder line, and connect it to a line of output, allowing us to create a constant flow of molten iron ..." I started, giving them a quick breakdown of the process. Following that, I showed them how to create a blast furnace, a steam engine, and the connectors, which was easy with the example in front of them.
Especially since, for once, no one argued about the products not being exactly to the System's specifications. It was convenient, but annoying at the same time. I preferred an inquisitive approach rather than the abject worship they were displaying.
While they were in place, I rapidly turned the newly created iron into mana alloys in bulk, not working hard to make them particularly high quality, prioritizing speed. They were essentially low-quality consumables that would allow them to quickly raise their skill level before we started doing something more practical.
"Start with daggers," I recommended as I put together a long list of instructions, from the ideal temperature to start working on the daggers to folding and quenching patterns. "And, once you feel that your skill has hit a limit, use the casts like I had shown, and start forging railroads. We need to be able to move a lot of ore to keep all those blast furnaces busy. And, don't forget to show the new recruits the ropes. I want all of them at the peak of their external skills when I return, and I want you to reach at least Uncommon. Understood?"
"You won't be here, sir?" one of the blacksmiths asked.
"No, I have other things to handle for the next hour or two," I replied.
Things such as hunting enough lizards to forge fire-resistant armor and extra effective ammunition before the bosses arrived.
Once I delivered the instructions, I went to find Harold, and explained what I had in mind. "Do you want me to come with you, sir?" he asked.
"No. I want you to stay here and keep an eye on things just in case," I said. For the next experiment I had in mind, I needed to be alone.